Earlier this month Pelago’s mobile service Whrrl launched an updated version at the SXSW conference in Austin, TX. Today, the company is revealing some useful enhancements to Whrrl v2.0, with SMS and email integration along with digital camera functionality.

You may recall that Whrrl is a mobile-to-web service that enables users to create collaborative stories around a particular event, contributing content through photos, videos and more. With location-based capabilities and an inherent community that can be built up around these collaborative events.
Read the rest of this entry »

Are you interested in location-based hook ups? SNAP Interactive, the company behind the Are You Interested application on Facebook, is going mobile with its new app that’s now available for iPhone users (get it here). With over 12 million monthly active users on its Facebook application, SNAP is looking to convert a lot of those users to the mobile realm, giving a new meaning to instant gratification.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ribbit has partnered with Best Buy to display yet another way in which its phone service can be integrated for a unique solution that makes so much sense in hindsight. Using Best Buy’s recently released Remix API, Ribbit has created an application Called Consumers Price that allows consumers to make shopping on Best Buy a little bit more social, and a lot easier to do. It’s called social mobile commerce, and it combines the best of both worlds for an altered approach on how to convey, access and share information regarding retail products and online shopping.

There’s a few ways in which Ribbit’s phone integration makes shopping more social. The first and easiest way is through voice comments that Ribbit enables with a call-in feature. Instead of leaving a text review of a Best Buy product, you can use your phone to call a number and leave a voice review for others to hear. Of course, such comments can convey much more emotion and manage to drive the point home, similar to how easily integrated video comments have done the same for blogs and product review sites.
Read the rest of this entry »

Zynga’s at it again. The social gaming company has launched a mobile version of Scramble Live for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

The game itself, if you’re unfamiliar, is a grid of letters that can be connected to form words (think word search with options for all-directional word creation). While the words themselves cannot be re-ordered, the grid can be rotated in its entirety. This gives you additional perspectives in order to find your words. As with many other Zynga games made for the iPhone, Scramble Live takes advantage of the accelerometer, though this particular use case may not be as exciting as an action-oriented video game.

I gotta admit this game is pretty addictive for me in its online Facebook app version. I know… I’m a sucker for word games and they’re of the few things I get viciously competitive about. So I’ll be happy to take advantage of some of Scramble’s social features in order to beat all of you.
Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook may have overtaken MySpace here in the U.S. but MySpace mobile is reporting significant growth, at an even faster rate internationally than its U.S. growth. According to MySpace, the last six months has shown over 50% increase in mobile usage for the U.S., with an 80% increase in mobile usage in Europe. The Asian mobile market for MySpace has gone up 60% in that same time period.

So what’s with all the mobile growth? Smart phones like the Apple iPhone, and an increase in social media driven mobile applications make it easier to stay connected with friends and share media across social networks even when you’re on the go. To ramp up MySpace’s mobile efforts, the mainstream social network has announced the support in conjunction with the Palm and Nokia at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with more mobile announcements to come as co-founder Chris DeWolfe will be keynoting on Thursday.
Read the rest of this entry »

Another iPhone accelerometer game from SGN is being released this weekend. SGN’s Mafia: Respect & Retaliation is kind of reminiscent of Sin City, thanks to the 3D graphics and location-based game play. You participate by completing “jobs” in optional real-world locations, including The Empire State Building, Central Park Zoo, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Miami Seaquarium, or the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which is an interesting way of incorporating physical locations with game play. Aside from these set game locations, players can also play based on their own locations around the globe.

The good thing about this location-based game is that it’s social, which is an important feature that SGN has been incorporating into some of its more recent games. The social aspect of Mafia in particular could really add to the appeal of this game. With social features, players can compete these real-world tasks against local players, or challenge their friends. There’s also the option of playing against other users based on their geographic location around the world.

In adding this social layer, SGN continues to build a user-centric network around its games, broadening the appeal and the usability of each new release it has. Seeing as Apple hasn’t made its mobile devices entirely social on its own accord, third parties with their own network approach have been able to leverage the permeation of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch in order to expand their products, services and advertising.

TimeXchange is a time-sharing application that has seen the good, bad and ugly aspects of online social networking. A service that set out with a social perspective in mind, TimeXchange has spent the last couple of years determining the best way to fit into the social scene for an area of data sharing that isn’t quite so glamorous.

Thanks to open platforms and more importantly, the Apple Application Store, TimeXchange is seeing a great deal of growth and adoption as its service is made even easier to use. Today, the company announces that it’s opening its mobile platform for the purpose of encouraging developers to build even more applications that will further benefit end users and take TimeXchange to the next realm as a social utility for time-sharing and project management. Below is an interview with Jim Figliulo of TimeXchange.
Read the rest of this entry »

When SGN’s iBowl game was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch, we noted that there’s a lack of social interaction for this Wii-like game. That’s all changed, with SGN’s current update to the popular mobile game. Users can now play a live bowling match against up to four people, making his game much more social and engaging.

This is a big step in the right direction for SGN’s iPhone-specific games, as Apple’s platform doesn’t provide an inherent social network for connecting users across various applications, including games. Because of this missing component on Apple’s platform, we’ve been waiting for SGN to release an update that could provide a more social means for interacting with other users on some level.
Read the rest of this entry »

Israel-based Snaptu is a new mobile phone platform that bundles various mobile applications into an easily managed series of catalogs for your phone. There are two main problems that Snaptu is trying to solve with its mobile platform, and that’s the automation of web content to remain user friendly in the mobile environment, and create a seamless experience for end users seeking to access applications through their mobile device.
Read the rest of this entry »

Application developers like 12seconds can’t yet tie in the iPhone’s video capabilities, so what’s a video-based service to do? Since 12seconds.tv has taken the Twitter model and applied it to video updates, it’s almost necessary for the company to have a viable mobile accompaniment for users that are always on the go.
Read the rest of this entry »