Evernote Competitor Springpad Launches Killer Android App

Springpad is an awesome app. Like Evernote, it allows you to save items in a virtual notebook of sorts.

But the app doesn’t stop at saving information; it also pulls in actionable links. For example, if you “save” a movie, you also save links to buy tickets for a local theatre or add that film to your Netflix queue. If you save a restaurant, that entry is accompanied by link to the menu and an Open Table link so you can quickly and easily make reservations.

The idea behind the app — that we no longer surf the web idly or without intention — has led to a highly effective product, one that’s just today launched in the Android Market. The app is free and also available as an iPhone application.

Users can make lists, save items by barcode, save images, save locations using geo-data only and access saved information from a variety of devices, including web browsers. And of course, users can choose to share items on the social web if they like.

Jeff Janer is Springpad’s CEO, and he was kind enough to give us a demo of the Android app today at Google I/O. Check it out, and if you’ve got an Android device, give Springpad and spin and let us know what you think.

How are location services going to change

I have reviewed and written several times about location services, giving you my thoughts and preferences on mobile applications such as foursquare, gowalla, tellmewhere, latitude and others.

Now I would like to try to predict what what it is going to happen to what I think is one of the key avenues for social real time media.

Location as it is now I think it will change. Now you are forced to take your phone, open an application, locate yourself using GSM triangulation and GPS, then check in at a place that should be in the list (or create a new one). Most of the apps are like games: with gowalla you leave and take stuff, with foursquare you become a mayor of a place and earn badges… and tellmewhere has (under my point of view) gotten worse, while it was the one I was betting for.

In the future we should ask ourselves why would you check in in a place. As it is now is more like a trend. Fashion. I would see it useful if you could: get information of the place where you are: menu, promotions, how many people now in, etc…

Also with the right privacy settings, see who is there, and let them know (to those you want) that you are there. This should be done without check in, at least to a close group of friends.

To do it publicly, like it is done now should be done carefully and as it is being done now, baring in mind that it is not that advisable to keep broadcasting your precise location… not safe. Some one could check you are not at home and rob you, for instance. There was a funny site where you could see were people was located so you could go and rob their houses. (It was a funny site sure, not serious).

Continuing with what we would expect from such technology is a tool to broadcast to “your” public (closed group of people) where you are, what are the tips about that place, etc… A tool where you could upload photos, videos, stream, leave tips, comment on the menu, a reward program if you go often, order from your phone products or complementary services or packages, pay,etc… The potential is huge.

This is how I see location based apps in the future. The problem I see is that most of the times venues are in buildings where there is no GPS signal, so no precision in locating people automatically. Also I see the privacy issues a key delicate topic.

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates – Loan

The Future of News

Following with the series of Jeff Jarvis videos, here another video that discusses about the business of news which is changing radically. The old-time economics of supporting a big newsroom, printing the news on paper and getting it to people’s doorsteps seems increasingly unsupportable given the exodus of advertising dollars to internet sites.

If you have dedicated half an hour watching this video, then you should read this very interesting article.

Click here on the left to have it here.
Read more

Location specific apps for your phone

Apple filed a patent in 2008 to have locations specific apps. What does it mean? If you go to a restaurant then a new app in your phone with the menu, or in a library with the books, or … you name it.

Macrumors published this:

Patently Apple points to a newly-published patent application from Apple describing temporary proximity-based or location-based applications that could appear on a user’s iPhone or other mobile device when in a specific area. Content would be managed by a central server that would pair a device’s location as relayed by Wi-Fi connections or other means and deliver appropriate applications based on that location.

The idea is simple. Deliver a location based service to information savvy iPhone users that wish to receive temporary retail and service-based applications. Imagine standing at the entrance of a restaurant and viewing their menu on your iPhone or entering a public library and being able to access their database. The minute you leave the library or the front of that restaurant, the app disappears so that you don’t clog up your iPhone with hundreds of local business apps.

In the patent application, Apple offers several examples of how this technology might be used:

- Restaurant: The patent application describes two possible uses of location-based temporary applications that could prove useful to a user approaching a restaurant. The first is a “Wait Time” icon that would automatically tell the user how long the current wait is to be seated at the desired restaurant. A second “Place Order” icon could allow users to access a restaurant’s menu on their device and submit their food orders electronically.

- Public Library: Upon entering a library, a user could see an application automatically appear on their device that would allow them to search the library’s digital database of books and other content without having to secure a position at one of the library’s linked computers. The application could then automatically disappear from the user’s device once they exit the building.

The patent application is solely credited to Apple engineer Scott Herz and was filed in November 2008.

MAXroam cheap international roaming

Living in the US you can travel around using your own data plan, with you iPhone, iPad, Android or whaterver. In Europe it sucks as everytime you change country you roam.

I was looking for prepaid plans in Spain, Switzerland and France for iPads or just as a USB modem (3G) when I found this:

MAXroam. You can travel with cheap international roaming. It will always be cheaper if you buy a prepaid bundle in the country where you go, but it looks fine.

To consider ;-)

Jeff Jarvis on privacy, publicness & penises

Get next beta from Skype (windows) with group video calling

Click here to download the latest Skype beta for windows that comes with a free trial of group video calling. Video call up to four of your friends – all at the same time. Everyone on the callwill be able to see and hear each other.

Note: group video calling currently works with Skype 5.0 Beta for Windows only. Everyone on the call needs this version of Skype, otherwise the group video call won’t work.

The question is, who is going to pay for the service once the trial is over? How is it going to be? Everybody in a conference video call should subscribe? If so…

I see the interest for companies, not individuals. People is used to get skype for free, even with video.

Jeff Jarvis interview with BestBuy

“What Would Google Do?” author, journalist and blogger Jeff Jarvis talks about the impact of the digital world on society and business and what it means for the future of Best Buy.

grove: bamboo cases for iPhones

For $99 you can have a unique iPhone cover made of wood (bamboo) that fits your iPhone to the micrometer.

Take a look to their website: grove

These are beautiful, unique and expensive cases to make your iphone a unique piece in harmony with the nature.

You can buy a plain case for $89 or add your own design engraved with laser on the back. You can also choose from a set of artwork they have.

Jeff Jarvis: This is Bullshit

As you know there are few books that I keep mentioning because I love. One of them is “What Would Google Do?” from Jeff Jarvis. I also listen every week to Jeff  (Gina Trapani and Leo Laporte) in “This Week in Google” or TWiG. I follow him in twitter… so basically I like the way he thinks.

Here you have a video from one of his chats called “this is bullshit” at TEDxNYED.

It talks about lectures as an outmoded form of education and news.

Here are his notes (which won’t match the talk exactly). All the videos are now up at the TEDxNYED site.

Udemy Launches Virtual Learning Academy

Online video education is a space that is growing rapidly, and even attracting the attention of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who thinks that web-based learning sites will revolutionize education. Today, Udemy is launching as a learning site that aims to democratize online education by enabling anyone to teach and learn online.

Udemy, which was incubated at the Founder Institute, provides the basic tools so anyone can create their own online course in minutes on any subject they like. Educators can upload presentations, videos, and write blog posts for their online course.

Udemy also enables instructors to engage with their users, providing participants with the ability to “subscribe” to courses so they are more engaged. They can also ask questions via the discussion boards and publish links and comments on course to Twitter and Facebook.

One of the most compelling features of Udemy is the live virtual classroom, where
instructors can host a live video conference with students using Udemy’s proprietary live video technology. Udemy Live has a whiteboard, presentation viewer, chatroom, and file-sharing component. Over 10 videos can stream on Udemy Live and 1000+ users can watch a session.

Founded by Gagan Biyani, Eren Bali and Oktay Caglar, Udemy hopes to become a portal for any education content, from a yoga class to a calculus seminar. While the online video education space includes a number of worthy competitors including EduFire and Myngle, Udemy ‘s live video technology is impressive and fairy simple to use. And perhaps as more universities and colleges offer online resources for students, video startups could license their technologies.

Silentale, the Dropbox-for-communications, opens to the public

After nearly a year in private Beta, Silentale, which is calling itself the “Dropbox for communications”, opens to the public today.

The service is a kind of personal CRM system, providing a searchable backup of your contacts, messages and attachments across various communication channels, including email and social networks Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s designed to address the fragmentation of electronic communication, combining a unified address book and archive of messages .

Adopting a classic freemium model, Silentale comes in two flavours, a free and paid version. However, premium accounts are being waved for users who sign-up before the end of May.

The free version is limited to 5 services (accounts) and can only be used to import 6 months of messages. The premium plans, which are being introduced on 1st of June, offer up to 10 accounts and the ability to import 2 years of messages for $49/year, or for businesses that need to manage multiple channels, a $99/year price plan that supports up to 20 accounts with unlimited import. However, premium accounts are being waved for users who sign-up before the end of May.

Since launching in private beta, Silentale says it has processed more than 50 million messages and 10 million contacts. Interestingly, users have been archiving data from an average of 4 accounts, which would full within the free version, so perhaps that doesn’t bode so well for the company or suggests that Silentale is really targeting business and enterprise customers not individuals.

The Paris-based company offers an API for third-party developers, and a Firefox add-on is currently available that shows a contact’s details and the latest messages exchanged when viewing an email from them or browsing their profile on the likes of LinkedIn, Salesforce, Facebook etc.

Additionally, Silentale says it has an accompanying iPhone app in the works, which is very close to release, along with one for Android and an Outlook plug-in.

2 hidden ways to get more from your Gmail address

I recently discovered some little-known ways to use your Gmail address that can give you greater control over your inbox and save you some time and headache. When you choose a Gmail address, you actually get more than just “yourusername@gmail.com.” Here are two different ways you can modify your Gmail address and still get your mail:

• Append a plus (“+”) sign and any combination of words or numbers after your email address. For example, if your name was hikingfan@gmail.com, you could send mail to hikingfan+friends@gmail.com or hikingfan+mailinglists@gmail.com.
• Insert one or several dots (“.”) anywhere in your email address. Gmail doesn’t recognize periods as characters in addresses — we just ignore them. For example, you could tell people your address was hikingfan@gmail.com, hiking.fan@gmail.com or hi.kin.g.fan@gmail.com. (We understand that there has been some confusion about this in the past, but to settle it once and for all, you can indeed receive mail at all the variations with dots.)

For me, the real value in being able to manipulate your email address is that it makes it really easy to filter on those variants. For example you could use hikingfan+bank@gmail.com when you sign up for online banking and then set up a filter to automatically star, archive or label emails addressed to hikingfan+bank. You can also use this when you register for a service and think they might share your information. For example, I added “+donation” when I gave money to a political organization once, and now when I see emails from other groups to that address, I know how they got it. Solution: filtered to auto-delete.

(from google)

All Google Services To Be Available on Google Apps Later This Year

This post is part of our ReadWriteCloud channel, which is dedicated to covering virtualization and cloud computing. The channel is sponsored by Intel and VMware. As you’re planning your Cloud Architecture, check out this helpful resource from our sponsors: Using a Data Center Relocation To Create A Virtual Infrastructure.

At Google Atmosphere last month, Google Apps President David Girouard said that the company gets lots of requests to open more apps from the Google portfolio.

Google responded to those requests today and later this Fall will make available all Google services for Google Apps customers. No date was set. The apps include Blogger, Google Reader, Google News and others.

Historically, this has not been a simple task. Google Apps customers would have to work through a different account to use apps such as Blogger. That changes with this update.

In a post today on the Google Enterprise blog:

“For example, coworkers will be able to publish their organization’s blog on Blogger, share project images with Picasa Web Albums, track industry news in Google Reader, advertise online with AdWords and much more, all without switching back and forth between multiple accounts. While these additional applications won’t initially be covered by the core suite’s support and service level agreement, this change will open up the spectrum of Google’s functionality to businesses, schools and organizations using Google Apps and we’ll evaluate future support options.”

Google states the underlying systems will need to go through a significant overhaul. It will require IT Admins to have fill control over what can be accessed.

Google will be working with Google Apps admins to so they may plan ahead on which apps are available to their user base.

(via readwriteweb)