 Awesome Drop |
Awesome Drop (File Sync) Platform: Android Trying to get your photos and music on your android device can be a real hassle. Either you pull out a cable and connect your phone to your computer, or you have to go through some complicated process of creating an ftp or some other crazy approach. Awesome Drop simplifies everything by giving you a web based system to easily and seamlessly transfer media content to your phone without a wire and even through a 3g connection. Price: Free |
App of the Day
January 27th, 2012 | Jonathan GodfreyApp of the Day
January 26th, 2012 | Jonathan Godfrey SoundHound |
SoundHound Platforms: iOS, Windows Phone, Nokia, Android Never ask the question “What’s the name of that song?” again. SoundHound enables you to, with the push of a button, listen, identify, read lyrics, and even buy any song that you hear. Even more, you can even sing lyrics to your phone and get the desired search results. Finally, you can share the songs you find with your friends through social network integrations and see which songs are highest trending. Price: Free |
App of the Day
January 25th, 2012 | Jonathan Godfrey Good Morning |
Good Morning Platform: Android Some of the first questions when you wake up in the morning are, what is the weather? and what do I have to do today? If only there were an alarm clock that would tell you this information…Well Good Morning does just that. At its core its an alarm clock, but you can set it to also tell you the local weather, and all appointments for the day. In addition, it can play your favorite songs at the same time. Price: $2.95 |
App of the Day
January 24th, 2012 | Jonathan Godfrey Uber  MyTaxi |
Uber, MyTaxi Platforms: iOS, Android Disruptive technologies challenge existing marketplaces with innovation or new business models. Incumbent industries may seek to entrench themselves to avoid transformative change, but that head in the sand strategy seldom brings long-term success. Through an innovative use of mobile apps, we are seeing a new way of hailing taxis that doesn’t involve standing in the street whistling at cars. It’s so obvious that it makes you wonder why we haven’t seen it earlier. Uber in select U.S. cities, and MyTaxi in Germany and Austria, both offer its customers the ability to order a taxi with a mobile app. Smartphone GPS localizes this process and supplements, or provides increased demand for, existing transportation services. In Europe, over 7,000 taxicab drivers and 80,000 subscribers use MyTaxi to help find, book, rate and estimate fares for taxi rides. The app has proven so successful that Daimler has invested 10 million euros to acquire a 15% stake in the company. Stateside, Uber provides a more upscale service enabling customers to use their smartphones to order limousine travel. This has proven very popular in New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Surprisingly, however, the municipal authorities in the nation’s capital have taken a hard line on the new service. Just recently, the D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman himself conducted a sting operation on the new service, impounding a driver’s car after enjoying a ride. In a city where the powerful taxicab lobby provided considerable support to the mayor’s campaign, these recent developments are hugely disappointing to Washington consumers. Most confusing to Uber officials is the lack of communication from the taxicab commission which refused to explain the infraction or respond to emails, using only twitter to express its displeasure. Disruptive change is clearly underway in Washington. Let’s hope city officials recognize sooner than later that this is a positive development for the consumers and drivers, and let innovation take its course. |
ACT Meets with Silicon Valley Kids Apps Developers
January 23rd, 2012 | Mike SaxToday I will be meeting with mobile app developers as the featured guest at today’s Silicon Valley Apps for Kids meet up. Bill Martin, of SmarTots, will lead a discussion with me about the critical questions of COPPA and Analytics for Kid’s Apps. COPPA is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a law which the FTC is seeking to update in a way that may pose challenges to app makers.
ACT has been meeting with developers around the country to highlight effective ways to protect mobile privacy. Working with groups like Moms with Apps and PrivacyChoice.org, ACT is working to help developers understand how to update their privacy policies and mobile strategies. These efforts have helped app makers recognize the business practices attracting the attention of federal regulators and to anticipate possible changes in the legal landscape.
ACT has long been working with Congress and the Administration on their efforts to update COPPA. The app marketplace emerged well after the passage of COPPA in 1998, and we fully support the extension of these child privacy protections into the mobile space. We have cautioned regulators, however, about the potential negative consequences from overly broad provisions and continues to work with the FTC to bring a measured clarity to its rules changes.
We’ve been pretty busy in this regard. ACT testified about COPPA at the House Commerce Committee hearing in October, before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearings in May, and filed comments with the FTC. Its guidance on mobile privacy issues has been sought by the Administration, the FTC and Congress as Washington considers a variety of ways to address online privacy.
A link for the Silicon Valley Apps for Kids event today is here.
App of the Day
January 20th, 2012 | Jonathan Godfrey Moms with Apps |
Moms with Apps by BabyBinks Platforms: iOS Moms with Apps, a coalition of educational apps developers, introduced an app for parents with a searchable database of family friendly apps. This group cares about their products, education and the future of technology. Search apps by category (science, math, reading), educational books, a comprehensive list of family friendly developers and a lot more information. This app is a must-have for parents, educators and those interested in education technology. Price: Free |
Apple’s Textbook Business Model
January 20th, 2012 | Mike Sax
iBooks Author
On Thursday Apple introduced iBook Author, a new authoring tool that makes creating interactive iBooks as easy as putting together a Keynote presentation. By making it easy to bring content to life, Apple hopes to revolutionize learning and revitalize the market for textbooks in education.
The business model that Apple has chosen for iBook Author is to give the product away for free and make money when books created using iBook Author are sold in the iBooks Store. As part of the license agreement, you can give away books that were created using iBook Author for free, but if you sell them you have to use Apple’s iBook Store.
This has sparked a number of strong reactions. ZDNet’s Ed Bott wrote an article titled “Apple’s mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement” and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, usually the voice of cool and common sense, described the practice as “Apple at its worst“.
This manufactured controversy is grossly inappropriate. iBook Author is nothing more than an authoring tool that produces a document in an open file format. Apple is giving away a free tool to support its own platform. There are plenty of other ways to create electronic text books. Companies like Adobe will surely step in and offer fantastic authoring tools that support a multitude of file formats and electronic bookstores. Much ado about nothing.
App of the Day
January 19th, 2012 | Jonathan Godfrey iMapMyRun |
iMapMyRun Platforms: IOS, Android, Blackberry iMapMyRun is a GPS-enabled app that tracks your route as you go for a run, hike or bike ride. It records the your time (and splits) and displays your progress on a map. The app keeps a history of your activity so you can keep track of your progress over time. The $1.99 version is ad-free. iMapMyRun is also one of the apps selected by Facebook to feature in its new timeline layout so you can publish your workouts straight to your Facebook profile if you wish. Price: Free, $1.99 version |
Bad Business Model?
January 17th, 2012 | Jonathan GodfreyAt today’s Internet Caucus event on Capitol Hill, TechDirt’s Mike Masnick addressed congressional staff and tech representatives contending that the problem of online piracy is solely the responsibility of the content creators. His message was, if someone is stealing your content online, it’s your fault. Piracy is actually good for the marketplace, he claims, and if you can’t make money with people stealing your works then clearly you have a bad business model.
This is the argument made by those who claim content owners should expect their products to be stolen because they’re too expensive. Funny that you don’t see the theft of many luxury cars using this “explanation.” People who advocate on behalf of online piracy like to portray the victims of this theft as corporate monoliths undeserving of any sympathy.
We have a different view. ACT is the app developer trade association representing small business software developers. Small businesses account for more than 80 percent of the top apps. And our members are experiencing a piracy rate approaching 30%. We are constantly innovating and our industry has grown from nothing to a $7 billion in 4 short years. Clearly we have a successful marketplace. So how do we match up to Masnick’s bad business model assertion? We charge 99 cents for an app.
99 cents!
Where is the room to find innovative new pricing structures to disincentivize theft when our starting point is so low? More troubling is that we’re seeing the emergence of pirate app stores that have the look and feel of an authentic marketplace. A Russian gangster makes the money off app sales while our small business app developers get nothing.
Through all of our discussion after today’s debate one thing remains clear. There is an urgent need to fight online piracy. It is a problem that costs American jobs and businesses for which we need common sense solutions. Blaming innovators for online theft is not a serious attempt to address this problem.
App of the Day
January 17th, 2012 | Sara KloekAction Movie FX
Platform: iOS
I returned to the office after about a month of travels for work and play. My coworkers welcomed me back with a fairly empty office (most were attending the 8th Annual State of the Net Conference) so I decided to blow up my boss’ desk.
Just kidding.
Action Movie FX (free) allows me to take a video and insert all sorts of fun special effects like helicopter crashes, tornados, car crashes and large rock demolitions. Lots of fun. Especially in the office.
Price: Free. In-App purchases (additional effects) 99 cents.
Link
Twitter: actonline- “@Gizmodo: It's Official: #Google Is Evil Now: http://t.co/1EdhtMWT”| how will #FTC view no opt out option after Buzz settlement? #privacy
- Uber/MyTaxi cases illustrate good and bad responses to disruptive technology. Head in sand won't work. http://t.co/VkZvgBvD #uberdclove
- @NetChoice says to auto dealers: Time To Take the Wheel, http://t.co/6UuGhKyI
