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“Appreciate” Is Your Personal Android App Store

An Israeli startup called Triapodi has introduced a new kind of Android app store into the Google Play Store. Appreciate is part app discovery app, part aggregator, and also your personal Android app store.

Appreciate has already seen hundreds of thousands of downloads. People are loving the fact that Appreciate can make app recommendations based on the apps you currently have downloaded as well as apps that your friends have downloaded. To achieve this, Appreciate syncs with your Facebook account and other like users across the Appreciate network.

The app, launched in February, has garnered a lot of downloads and a lot of users because of the relevance in their app recommendations. This is due to their “Appreciate Relevance Engine” technology that scores apps on relevance to the user at a number of different levels.

“As we evolved Appreciate as a platform and improved the AI, we were able to make a complete departure from how other marketplace apps delivered recommendations to their users,” said Amir Maor, CEO of Triapodi. “We know our customer. We understand that generic lists of the market’s most popular apps do not meet the needs of the Android community, and we designed our latest version of Appreciate specifically to give our users 100% personalized and relevant app discovery for the first time. It is all about giving our customers exactly what they need.”

The current version of appreciate has these features:

* Connect to Facebook and see what apps your friends discover
* Get personal application recommendations based on what YOU like
* View for every app how well it fits with your personal taste
* Send applications directly to your friends’ device to install

* Get community updates on hot apps people discovered
* Manage your apps
* Gain quick access through app lists
* Share your favorite apps with other users and Facebook friends
* Widget with quick access to daily recommendations

It’s no secret, the despite the fact that Google’s primary business is search, discovery in the Google Play store is like searching for a needle in a haystack. That’s where you’ll come to appreciate, appreciate (see what we did there). Unlike some third party app stores, Appreciate functions within it’s own app and has it’s unique functionality to deliver the best possible app choices from the Google Play Store.

Try it out today.

Download Link at Google Play

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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.

Washington DC Startup: LightSquared Files For Bankruptcy After Botched 4G/LTE Plan

Many of you know the sad story of Lightsquared, a wireless broadband startup located in the suburbs of Washington DC.

LightSquared was an offshoot startup founded by wireless pioneer Philip Falcone. The company had a firm background in satellite communications under two former names, American Mobile Satellite Corporation and Mobile Satellite Ventures.

It was LightSquared’s intention to take frequencies that had been located near bands used for government and military GPS and use them for next generation 4G/LTE services. They had actually carved out a huge deal to be the 4G/LTE provider for Sprint, the nation’s third largest carrier which also has roots in the same DC suburb of Reston Virginia from their NexTel days.

After months and months of testing and appearance after appearance in front of the FCC the FCC finally ruled in February that “there was no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time.”

The Sprint deal immediately fell apart after that announcement and a large number of LightSquared employees were laid off.

Well one more nail has been put in the LightSquared coffin as the company filed for bankruptcy protection. LightSquared CEO Marc Montanger told the Washington Post that the company hasn’t given up on it’s plan and the bankruptcy protection was to give them some breathing room.

However, at this time they may not have any large scale customers left. Sprint has resorted back to their own 4G/LTE rollout in conjunction with Clearwire for which they own 50% of. T-Mobile has announced their own 4G/LTE strategy which will be funded through their parent company Deutsche Telekom and some of the nearly $4 billion dollars in break up money and considerations from the failed AT&T/T-Mobile merger last year.

source: Washington Post

Hands On With The LG Optimus Vu VIDEO

LG Optimus VU, LG, CTIA 2012, Nibletz, Thedroidguy, Samsung Galaxy Note

LG Optimus Vu (left) next to Samsung Galaxy Note

Last year at IFA in Berlin Samsung introduced an entirely new device with an entirely new form factored. The device, dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Note, was a cross-breed of tablet and phone. Many are calling the device category “phablet” or “phoneblet”.

Samsung is having great success with the Galaxy Note. They recently announced that they’ve sold 5 million of the devices to date.

It didn’t take LG long to develop a device to compete head to head with their South Korean rival. LG’s new 5 inch Optimus Vu looks to do just that.

The Optimus Vu features a 5.0 inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1024×768. LG uses the IPS panel in the Optimus Vu that you can find in the LG Optimus LTE 2.

Like the Samsung device, LG’s Optimus Vu also features a stylus. Their stylus is a little more bulky, about the size of a #2 pencil. That may actually be a good thing as many have found the stylus that ships with the Galaxy Note to be a little too short and a little too thin. Samsung actually offers an accessory to make the stylus more of a pen size. Unlike the Galaxy Note though the LG Optimus Vu doesn’t have a place on board to store the digital pen, which may result in costly accessory purchases.

The LG Optimus Vu runs on top of a 1.5ghz dual core processor. It has 1gb of RAM and supports 4G/LTE (as does the Galaxy Note). It features an 8mp camera on the rear which shoots 1080p HD video.

The LG Optimus Vu is available now in Europe and Asia. The LG Spokesperson in the video below wouldn’t mention anything about a U.S. release.

Cricket Holding Huge Mother’s Day Sale

If you’re out and about today and you still haven’t gotten your mom anything for Mother’s Day, you may want to check out your local Cricket Wireless store. What’s better than getting your mom a great Android powered smartphone that is pay as you go so you’re not stuck with a long term bill?

Cricket announced a last minute Mother’s Day Sale to reach all those last minute shoppers looking for the perfect technological gift for mom.

The sale includes a good mix of Android powered smartphones, phones with Cricket’s Muve Music and even the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Here are all the deals from the prepaid carrier:

ZTE Score (MSPR $149.99, $69.99 after instant discount and web discount) is a value priced, full featured Android smartphone that includes Wi-Fi capability, XT9 Trace for easy text entry, 3G Real Web Browsing and a 3.2MP camera/camcorder.
Huawei Ascend II (MSPR $179.99, $99.99 after instant discount and web discount) comes packed with a 3.5″ HVGA touch-screen, Wi-Fi capability, 3G Real Web Browsing, 600MHz processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and a 5MP camera/camcorder.
Samsung Vitality (MSPR $219.99, $129.99 after instant discount and web discount) fast 800 MHz processor, 3.5″ HVGA touch-screen and easy access to social networks is designed for an interactive experience. Samsung Vitality is loaded with a 3.2MP camera/camcorder, Wi-Fi capability, 3G Real Web Browsing.
Huawei Mercury (MSPR $249.99, $229.99 after instant web discount) offers a beautiful 4″ display and is powered by an ultrafast 1.4 GHz processor, features an 8.0MP rear camera, VGA front camera and an Android 2.3 OS. Named by PC Magazine as the best pre-paid smartphone in America

The Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 is available in Cricket company-owned stores (MSRP $499.99, $399.99 after instant rebate). Running on Android 3.1 Honeycomb OS, with a beautiful 10.1″ widescreen TFT (1280 x 800) display offering HD clarity, a super-fast dual core 1GHz processor, a 2MP front facing/ 3MP rear-facing camera, the Samsung Tab is perfect for watching movies, cruising the internet and sharing photos with family and friends.
The Crosswave Broadband Device, which is available in Cricket company-owned stores (MSRP $149.99, $24.99 after instant rebates and bundled with Samsung Galaxy Tab), creates an instant mobile hotspot and supports multiple Wi-Fi devices nationwide. Bundle the Crosswave with a Samsung Galaxy Tab and receive additional discounts worth up to $225.00 for a final Tablet + Crosswave all-in price of $424.98 (does not include monthly broadband service rate plan).

Head into your local Cricket store now or hit Cricket up on the web here

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

Asus Releases Demo Video For New PadFone

Asus really burst onto the Android scene with their tablets last year. The Eee Pad Transformer sold pretty well for a computer company mostly known for it’s lower end netbook computers. The Eee Pad Transformer was one of the original Tegra 2 powered Android Honeycomb tablets. It features a sleek looking design alongside top notch features for it’s release time last year.

They were able to follow up the Asus Eee Pad Transformer with the first Nvidia Tegra 3 powered tablet dubbed the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. They were even able to thwart off a trademark case from Hasbro, the toy maker who owns the trademark for the Transformer branded toys.

Last year rumors started flying around that Asus was going to release a tablet that had a phone powering it. They showed off this device, called the PadFone at both the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, and again in late February at Mobile World Congress. Many tech enthusiasts and Android enthusiasts alike have been biting their nails waiting for the device to actually hit the market.

Well it looks like that time is getting closer as Asus has posted an official demo video highlighting the features of this exciting new device.

While we weren’t sure what a tablet phone (not a phoneblet like that Galaxy Note or LG Vue) would be like, we soon discovered that it’s similar to the Motorola Atrix series of devices. However, instead of a keyboard, laptop type dock, it docks into a 10.1″ tablet screen.

Other features of the PadFone include:

– 4.3″ SuperAMOLED qHD display
– Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with Adreno 225 GPU
– 8mp camer with LED flash
– three internal memory sizes 16/32/64
– HSPA+
– HDMI out
– 1520 mah battery

Check out the video below:

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

CTIA 2012: Video Intel Android Powered Orange “Santa Clara” Phone

Back in February at Mobile World Congress it was announced that Orange would be one of the first, if not the first, to bring an Intel powered Android device to market. Presently just Lenovo and Orange have Android phones with Intel’s Z2640 processor ready to go.

We saw the first Intel reference design in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and now we’re starting to see the phones emerging from that design.

Orange has been packaging phones under their own brand for years. Now they are looking to release a few smartphones under the Orange label. Orange has turned to Intel to power a new phone called the Orange “Santa Clara” smartphone.

More after the break
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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

Kansas Startup Front Flip Takes Their Virtual Scratch Card Platform National

In Overland Park Kansas, home to Sprint, a new startup called Front Flip has been trying out a new and fun way of engaging customers and increasing loyalty in Kansas, Chicago, Columbia, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and St. Louis. As we’ve reported with startups like Lokalty and FreebeeCards the loyalty, rewards and engagement space is heating up big time right now. Part of the reason is because local merchants are becoming tired of killing their margins with daily deals sites that only attract a customer one time, and that one time is typically at a loss.

That’s one of the reasons why Front Flip co-founder and CEO Sean Beckner created Front Flip.

“The market is ready for a change. Daily deal programs aren’t building customer engagement or rewarding loyalty — in fact, they have rather the opposite effect,” Beckner said in a release. “Front Flip’s mission is to help businesses engage with their customers in a fun and exciting way both inside and outside the store by increasing understanding and building customer loyalty.”

More after the break
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3 Fort Lauderdale Entrepreneurs Launch MyNyte A Mobile Nightlife Social Startup

Three young entrepreneurs in Ft. Lauderdale have teamed up to launch an innovative new social mobile startup called MyNyte. The focus is to answer the question “What are you doing tonight” and then team up with your like-minded friends to do the same thing. Essentially, the app helps eliminate the hours of planning, phone tag, text tag, email tag, voicemail tag and any other kind of tag you can play as you plan your evening.

This app is pretty hot, how hot? Well Tyrese for one has been tweeting about it. MyNyte’s co-founder Jimmy Caylor says that Tyrese isn’t the only celebrity that’s checked out the app. A social mobile startup like this could not have picked a better market to introduce itself in as south Florida. We all know that Miami, South Beach and Fort Lauderdale are the hubs for night-time entertainment.

The three guys that founded MyNyte are no strangers to nightlife and the partying scene. Through their own personal experiences and the experiences of their friends they’ve made sure that MyNyte has everything taken care of.

Planning your night- MyNyte helps you scout the perfect places. Whether you’re looking for an upscale night of martinis, cocktails and lounging or you’re looking for the hottest clubs with the best people MyNyte uses your profile to match you up with the action.

More after the break
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Chicago’s Groupon Acquihires Ditto.Me

Lately the news about Groupon hasn’t been the good news we’re used to hearing. First, there is a group of investors that are suing Groupon suggesting that the Chicago based startup had cooked the books. Also over the weekend Groupon disappeared from Apple’s iTunes app store.

That hasn’t stopped them from making acquisitions though. Social check in, recommendation, chat with friends app Ditto.me was just acquired by Groupon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed however a post on Ditto.me’s website clearly indicates that this is a total acquihire.

Ditto’s founder and CEO Jyri Engestrom posted this on ditto’s website:

“We can’t reveal what we’ll be working on at Groupon but we are excited to give it 100% – to enable this, we’ll be winding down Ditto. On April 30th we’ll switch off the service and remove the app from Apple’s and Nokia’s stores*. We think you’ll love what we and Groupon dream up next.”

If Groupon manages to come out of the investor lawsuits unscathed and whatever this issue is with the Apple iTunes app store they have their work cut out for them. As a pioneer in the daily deals space, they are just like FourSquare. FourSquare was a pioneer in the check in space, but then after checking in that was it. The same thing holds true for the original Groupon, you’ve got group deals, and daily deals, everyone has those now.

Groupon may be using this acquihire of Ditto.me to make their daily deals and group buying app more social. Perhaps share deals with friends and then go in together? The technology is definitely there as is the technical know how from Engestrom.

We’ll be watching this one closely.

source: Forbes