iOS Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Serious Startups

Boston Startup: About Last Night The Ultimate Night Life Social App

We love About Last Night for several reasons. First off the crazy Bostonian serial entrepreneurs who co-founded About Last Night are pretty awesome. About Last Night is one of several startups that are incubating in their own personal incubator. Brothers Darren Dodge and Derek Dodge have a bunch of their own startups “cooking in the microwave, we just open the door and check on them” says Darren.

But really, the great thing about About Last Night is the robustness of the platform. They left no stone unturned, but at the same time the UI is appealing and not too cluttered.

About Last Night is about sharing the good times you had last night. The About Last Night crew showed off good times spent Sunday night in Times Square, at Bubba Gumps and other fine establishments around New York.

The app allows you to follow people you don’t know (like Twitter), People you do know (like Facebook) and your favorite night spots and locations (like a reverse FourSquare), again it’s like leaving no stone unturned. It feels a bit like path, but it’s more about the jello shots you did at the Ale House, not waking up at 7:35 with a hangover and brushing your teeth.

They’ve been working on About Last Night for the last six months and they’ve come out with an easy and fun to use app. They’ve got plenty of time to work on even more startups, ya know with the Red Sox sucking and all…

Check out the video below:

Linkage:

Find out About Last Night here

More TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage here

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Apple Now Censors Jailbreak From iTunes Store

Apple, taking a page out of Twitters arsenal and censoring things it doesn’t like has added another one. The word JailBreak will no longer be found in the iTunes store. For those that don’t know, Jailbreaking: iOS jailbreaking, or simply jailbreaking, is the process of removing the limitations imposed by Apple on devices running the iOS operating system through the use of custom kernels.

So with Apple, not liking the fact that people pay hundreds of dollars, or even body parts, to own not rent/barrow the device. They are trying to get rid of any and all evidence about such products. So besides Applications being disallowed for political reasons into the iTunes store, any mention of Jailbreaking will now be as well.

Source: Cult Of Mac

California Startup: Smule Releases Hit App Songify To Android

At CES 2011 (last years CES not this years) hip hop producer/artist T-Pain told us personally and on video, that the “I am T-Pain” app would be coming soon to Android. Well for whatever reason that didn’t happen. But, there’s good news from the same startup developer Smule.

In addition to crafting the “I am T-Pain” app for iOS, which makes anyone sound like T-Pain, Smule has released a handful of other, intensely popular, interactive “music” apps, including Songify. If you’re an Android user and you’ve every seen or played with Songify on a friend’s iOS device then you know how addicting creating your own songs with the app can be.

What makes Songify so great? Well we had a chance to talk with Smule ahead of today’s announcement and here’s what they said:

“Songify has reached 9MM users on iOS and over 120MM songs have been created to date. We get multiple requests a day for users asking us to release Songify on Android.

Our “secret sauce” is using sophisticated artificial intelligence technology to make music creation accessible to non-musicians. Anyone can make music with Songify. Just talk into the phone, and Songify turns your speech into melody. We also made the user interface super-simple, so everyone from the ages of 3 to 93 can (and do!) use the app with ease. When you make music creation so easy, it gives people a powerful new mode of self-expression. “

That’s a lot of user created songs.

It’s been no secret that with midi api’s gone from Android since the release of Android 2.0, Android has lacked in the music creation category. Until now, all the cool creative music apps were on iOS only.

Smule released their popular Songify app to the Google Play store this morning. In addition to Songify and I am T-Pain, Smule is the developer of other hit music apps for iOS like Magic Guitar, Ocarina, Glee Karaoke and Magic Piano (which will hit Android next month)

If you can’t wait to try it, grab it here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smule.songifyin the Google Play Store.

Ur Daycare Locator Aims To Locate

Ur Daycare Locator aims to locate local daycare centers and schools for your child. The service has been tailored to give raw user-generated reviews and easy to use tools to help you make the best choice for you daycare needs. With only a few simple steps you will be able to find several daycare centers in your area or specified area and get directions to them via your favorite maps application or browser on your Android device. The app is now only available on Android, but will soon be available on iTunes for your iOS device as well.

Start screenAt the home screen you can easily access the Directory, Maps, Search, Favorites, Applications and more.

SearchThis is the simple search option that will help you find any publicly listed daycare center within up to 20 miles from your specified chosen or current location.

Results Results are nice and cleanly listed for your choosing pleasure.

Map Maps view give you a better idea of how far your commute to and from the daycare centers will be.

Get Directions With the option to open a daycare centers address directly from your favorite map app or browser, you’ll have no trouble at all getting navigation instructions or driving directions to your favorite daycare center.

Apply Ur Daycare Locator makes it even easier by providing an easy to fill out application form that can be sent directly to your chosen daycare center. You don’t have to print and deliver your applications anymore.

Favorite List The favorites list makes it easy for you to save and access the daycare centers contact info when you need it.

Conclusion

After using this app for a few weeks running through the different features while looking for the perfect daycare center to enroll my son at, I’ve found that Ur Daycare Locator has saved me a ton of time and allowed me to discover daycare centers that I didn’t even know were in my area. It is an important decision to pick where our children spend their time and who will be watching them. Let Ur Daycare Locator help you find the perfect daycare for your kid(s). Give the app a try on Android from the Google PLAY Store here Ur Daycare Locator for Android or if you’re an iOS user you’ll have to wait a bit. It will be available on iTunes soon.

Source: Ur Daycare Locator

Zynga Sues Kobojo Over The Use Of “Ville” In Their Social Games

A French developer has created an egyption based social game where you need to make egyption pyramid cities. The game is called PyramidVille and it plays on the classic model of Zynga’s Farmville, Cityville, Frontierville and other Ville style games.

Zynga has now sued the French developer over the use of the word Ville. The suit, which was filed in a San Francisco court, is asking a judge to ban Kobojo from using the word “Ville” in the US release of the game.

Zynga’s attorney Dennis Wilson said Kobojo’s use of Ville was a “willful violation of Zynga’s trademark by a competitor seeking to exploit Zynga’s hard-earned reputation in the social gaming space.” With the game’s focus building an Egyptian city, we can see where the confusion may come in to play.

According to this report Zynga tried to work this out with Kobojo but they willfully ignored the social game studios requests. Kobojo has already released a mobile version of PyramidVille.

Zynga build a franchise around their Facebook integrated social games. Their first game, Farmville, became a blockbuster hit. CityVille followed soon after that.

Zynga has also made a presence in the social mobile space after purchasing “Words With Friends” they’ve also got a version of Hangman played with friends. Their first mobile game, Zynga Poker is also a big hit.

Their most notable mobile news was the nearly $200 million dollar purchase of New York based game studio OMGPOP. Zynga acquired OMGPOP after their hit game Draw Something was able to knock Words With Friends out of the top spot in the mobile games arena.

The staff of OMGPOP was absorbed into Zynga and Dan Porter, the CEO of OMGPOP became Zynga’s Vice President of their New York operation which to date only includes the Draw Something title. We ran a feature story on Dan Porter and his unique use of HBO hit series “The Wire” characters as the names of OMGPOPs conference rooms.

Source: ABS-CBN News

Rovio Mobile Finally Has A Follow Up Game To Angry Birds

It took over 50 games for Finnish game development studio Rovio Mobile to come up with the smash hit Angry Birds. Angry Birds has grown to over 1 billion downloads and a merchandising arm worth hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars.

Rovio Mobile has done two spin off games of their franchise Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Space. The latter becoming the fastest growing mobile game in history after being released in March and shown off at SXSW.

The company announced their 2011 earnings results on Monday. In that call they revealed that Angry Birds had generated $106 million dollars in revenue in 2011. “The strong growth in revenue clearly demonstrates the popularity of the Angry Birds brand.” CEO Mikael Hed said. He continued; “The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products. To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services.”

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Plantronics Introduces Back Beat Go BlueTooth Headphones At CTIA 2012

Plantronics, a trusted name in audio headsets and devices designed to make business and communication easier, has released a new product at the CTIA 2012 show in New Orleans last week. The headphones that go by the name Back Beat Go, connect to any Bluetooth enabled device for up to 4.5 hours of listening pleasure.

With the Back Beat Go BlueTooth headphones by Plantronics there’s no wires and no hassles. They easily fit into your pocket, purse or backpack and provide full on stereo sound. Now you can listen to music, chat with your friends, and watch movies on any BlueTooth enabled device, be it your tablet, phone or computer.

In addition to the 4.5 hours of listening time the Back Beat Go headphones have up to ten days of standby time. They also give you maximum room to move allowing you the freedom to be up to 33 feet away from the BlueTooth enabled device. Best of all they go from dead to fully charged in 2.5 hours.

Other features include:

• Amazingly light, incredibly small wireless stereo earbuds with Bluetooth® technology

• Compact design easily slips into your pocket, and tangle-free cable keeps things simple

• Enjoy your favorite music or movie with up to 4.5 hours of listening and talk time

• Three sizes of cushioned eartips and optional stabilizers make the fit custom, secure, and comfortable

• Inline controls make it easy to take calls, skip tracks, and adjust volume

• Bluetooth® technology lets you connect to smartphones or tablets for music, movies, and calls

• Big sound in a small package – sound isolating buds for rich stereo

• Headset battery meter automatically shows on screen for iPhone® and iPad®

• Download the Plantronics MyHeadset™ app for a battery headset meter on Android 3.0 tablets, and Android™ 4.0 phones and tablets

Pairing the Back Beat Go BlueTooth headphones is a cinch!

For more info on the BackBeat Go headphones click here

NY Startup: Fancy Attracts Silicon Valley Backers For Social, Reverse Groupon Platform

If you like something, fancy it? Feeling kind of British? Well it’s not a British thing it’s an internet thing and it’s a new startup in New York that’s attracting some investors from the Valley.

Even though he didn’t get Instagram, that hasn’t stopped Twitter (and Square) co-founder Jack Dorsey from investing in an innovative disruptive new social platform. It’s also attracted the likes of Chris Hughes( Facebook) and Maynard Web of Ebay.

Although he hasn’t invested yet, Fancy has struck the Fancy of Ashton Kutcher. Kanye West, Bar Rafaeli and Selma Hayek have all become celebrity activists of this new kind of e-commerce platform.

So what is it? Fancy is part store, blog, magazine and wishlist. Anyone can join Fancy and when they do they can share the things they love and like with others. When their social friends across Fancy, like something, merchants can step in and offer a “Groupon in reverse type deal”. This is going to create a new, disruptive and competitive e-commere market place.

Fancy has 500,000 users across their web app, iOS app and recently introduced Android app. It’s great for users because they can see all the things their social friends like. It’s great for merchants because they know what’s in demand.

Fancy is free to join and get started. As Fancy tells Nibletz.com everything that you see on Fancy is either for sale or can be for sale.

Linkage:

Check out Fancy here at their website

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Dallas Startup: Qwiqq Check Into The Things You Love And Buy; Is Great For Merchants Too

In 2012 using your mobile smartphone you can check into almost everything. You can check into venues, concerts, stores, malls, the music you like and the tv shows you love. Now you can check into the things you buy and love with Dallas’ Qwikk.

The Dallas startup, founded by John Phan and Jack Wrigley, launched in 2010, right as another startup focusing on things people like was starting to bubble. Yes I am referring to Pinterest. But here’s the deal. I’m a 30 something year old man and while I have a Pinterest account, I feel out of place on the network that is admittedly geared towards women.

Qwiqq isn’t like that. It’s about sharing the deal you just got or the great thing you just bought. Perusing Qwiqq is not about just beautiful dresses and recipes for cupcakes. Qwiqq’s intuitive and easy to navigate user interface allows you to post about anything. Categories include health, food, bar, fashion, beauty, arts and entertainment, sport, tech, pet, home and car. So yes dudes and geekettes can post about their favorite phone, computer or that sweet ride.

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Startup Interview: Meshin’s CEO Chris Holmes, Plus You Could Win An iPad!

Most app developers and development companies have been going to iOS before the Android platform. Trends are showing that’s starting to change. One of the companies that has released to Android before iPhone is Meshin.

Meshin’s co-founder Kristen Galliani explained to Nibletz.com that Apple doesn’t allow apps to call into other apps, that was one of the main reasons they needed the more open architecture of Android to build Meshin, an email and message aggregator, and Meshin Recall. Meshin Recall syncs with Evernote and helps organize your notes by using dates from your calendar. There is a lot more in store for Meshin Recall. The Meshin team is on the tip of the iceberg of the contextual intelligence space.

Meshin is about to unveil their Meshin Recall product for iOS and they are currently looking for Beta Testers to sign up. If you sign up for the iOS beta and refer the most people you could win one of those flash “New iPads” go here to do that.

Meshin came out of the Palo Alto Research Center with their biggest chunk of funding coming from Xerox (remember that little company that makes copiers and fathered the Mac?). PARC needed someone to bring Meshin to life and that someone is Chris Holmes.

With more than 25 years in the tech start up arena and some huge accomplishments under his belt he was the perfect fit.

Check out the interview after the break

Uh Oh iPhone App Downloads Dipped 30% In March

Something has happened and the world is undoubtedly all shaken up about it. Fiksu has reported that Apple iOS app downloads dipped 30% in March 2012. Yes, take cover, this is news of monumental proportion.

The number of daily iPhone app downloads decreased from 6.35 million in February 2012, to 4.45 million in March. Now we bravely wanted to suggest that it may have possibly been caused by the mad rush to get to 25 billion apps. Apple was holding a huge contest to commemorate that huge milestone. Unfortunately for the month of March, that happened on March 3rd.

This feeble attempt to look at the possible bright side was foiled by more data from Fiksu. They found that iPhone users downloaded fewer apps in March than any other month since the iPhone 4S launched in October.

Fiksu contributes part of the decline to the cooling off period that came right after the honeymoon period for new iPhone 4S users. Also, we can take into consideration those who upgraded from a previous iPhone. Upgraded iPhone users have probably used their previous iPhone to download and try as many apps as possible to vet the apps that they really like. Now, graduated to a new iPhone they don’t need to download every app they come in contact with.

Business Insider also reports that Apple has cracked down on developers using third party bots to download their apps and over inflate their number of downloads. This may actually be a more clear picture of the health of the iTunes app store. Don’t for a second though, think that 4.5 million downloads is shabby.

source: SAI

NY Startup GiddyUp Launches Social Mobile App For Short Term Planning

GiddyUp Co-Founder Elliott Goldwater asks a very relevant question these days, of the last 10 social apps that you downloaded how many do you still use right now. So I did an inventory. I’ve downloaded 36 apps that fit in the social mobile space. Here are the ones that I still use, at least in some kind of moderation: Hootsuite (all the time), Facebook (all the time), Instagram (quite frequently), Path (moderately), Pinterest (minimally), Sonar (moderately), Glancee (moderately), Trover (a little more than moderately). I’ve dumped countless others including Highlight.

So why bother with another social mobile app. Well as Goldwater points out, Giddy Up is a social mobile app in the truest form. The app allows you to plan and attend events and then communicate through the app using your actual friends regular contact info, novel huh.

Event hosts must sign up for Giddy Up however their friends don’t have to. While Giddy Up has integration with Facebook, and Twitter (with Privacy Controls) the foundation for the event is built upon actual contacts in your contact list. The user creates an RSVPable event.

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Interview: Chicago Startup Toodalu Has It All Figured Out, Reward With Cash, Donate To Charity

Great things happen in Chicago, despite what anybody else says. Toodalu is one of those great things. Founded by three friends that met in (dare I say) Chicago’s thriving tech scene, Todd O’Hara, Ravi Singh and Chris Lubinski, they set out to provide another mobile startup that caters to the reward/engagement/loyalty space but they’ve hit something on the head with greatness, and that is CASH IS KING.

With the new Toodalu app when you shop at a participating merchant you get 5% cash back on your credit card and another 5% donated to charity. Which charity? Whichever one you want. We know that Target lets you donate to a ton of charities but with Toodalu you don’t need to have your charity on a list, it just needs to be a real charity.

“The user can choose ANY non-profit to give to! That’s the key element that excites our users and merchants. In addition, a user can select up to one hundred different charitable organizations to support and select how, exactly, they wish to distribute the giving by allocating percentages.” O’Hara told us in an interview.

Not only is Toodalu of epic greatness because they’ve already figured out the reward and the charity but it’s simple. We got a chance to catch up with O’Hara, who by the way Trevor was up at 10pm answering questions for us, way past the 5pm Pando curfew. The first thing we wanted to know is how did you stumble upon such a great idea:

Toodalu is a new breed of loyalty rewards. Just link any credit or debit card to your Toodalu account and when you use that card any partner location, 5% of every purchase is donated to the charity of your choice. We are proud to help charities raise boat loads of money while attaching purpose to the purchases of our users. The idea was born from the question,”how can we increase participation rates for charitable giving?”

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Denver Startup: Closely Gives Small Businesses A Competitive Edge With Perch Dashboard

As a small business owner how do you keep track of what your closest competitors are doing? Do you wear blinders and pretend they aren’t there? Do you shop at competitor locations to see what they’re doing? Do you plant spies? Do you set up Google alerts?

While some of these things (except wearing blinders), may seem effective, they all involve time and most small business owners don’t have that. Luckily there is a Denver based startup called Closely that is looking to simplify the monitoring of your competitors in one easy to use dashboard they’re calling Perch.

Perch is currently in a closed beta. The founders at Closely are hoping that Perch will give local merchants a snapshot of competitors marketing activities and help merchants build ideas of how to respond.

“We found that the majority of businesses don’t quite yet understand the level of activity surrounding them,” Closely CEO Perry Evans told Street Fight in an email. “As the application that they learn to rely on for daily tracking and watching, we’re in a front row position for helping them participate.”

Evans, started his career in technology as head of the Mapquest publisher group so he’s very familiar with the benefits of LBS, group deals and the other technologies that are preying and benefiting local merchants.

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