SOMEWHAT FRANK

Watermark Your iPhone Photos With Photomarkr

via youtube.com

I recently had brunch with Natalia Luckyanova and Keith Shepherd the co-founders of Washington, D.C. based iPhone development startup Imangi Studios. If you are new to Imangi Studios has also created the popular iPhone apps Harbor Master, Little Red Sled and Word Squares.

At this particular brunch they shared their photography application called Photomarkr. The Photomarkr application offers users the ability to put a custom watermark on any photo on the iPhone. The video above shares a quick demo that I shot with my iPhone (so bear with the less than perfect audio and video quality). The application is available for $2.99 in the apps store. Happy watermarking.

iPhone Push Notifications Tested Via AOL's AIM

Apple will soon be launching of the iPhone 3.0 operating system and part of the new system is a push alert notification feature as highlighted at WWDC 2009 this week. Push Notification is the system developed by Apple to remedy the fact that the iPhone won’t allow third party applications to run in the background due to security, battery life and performance concerns. Push notifications are will enable certain tasks (like IMs) that come to your phone even when that application isn’t running.

TechCrunch recently tested Push Notifications using AIM the new 3.0 iPhone software. Watch the video above to see Push Notification in action with AIM but please note the video makes it seem like there may be a delay between an IM sent and received, but it’s basically instantaneous.

Mobile Internet Device Showdown at Computex

Last week, thanks to the Intel Insider program, I journeyed to Taipei, Taiwan to attend Computex Taipei in my search for the perfect mobile Internet device or MID. In doing so I met up with Steve "Chippy" Paine from MID Moves and UMPC Portal and we explored the Intel mobility display at Computex. We look at a handful of mobile Internet devices all with the Intel Atom processor inside which included the Viliv S7, S5 and X70 EX, Clarion Mind, LLUON Mobbit, UMID mBook and Panasonic Toughbooks to determine which one we like the best.

My favorite MID that we highlight is probably the Viliv S7 (shown here) but I also like the UMID mBook and would love to do a head-to-head hands on comparison of just those two. But until then check out episode 80 on SOMEWHAT FRANK as we explore the mobile Internet devices of Computex Taipei 2009 (video above) and let me know which device you like the best.

Moblin 2.0: Social Platform for Mobile Devices

This morning I learned about a pretty slick new Linux open source project called Moblin. Moblin has been around for a couple of years now but the new 2.0 version is now in beta and today at Computex Taipei there was an executive summit (video below) which helped me wrap my head around the scope and direction of the project. Founded by Intel in July 2007, Moblin started as a project looking to enable a new class of devices based on the Intel Atom processor. With the 2.0 version, Intel has handed the keys over to the Linux Foundation to drive this project to the next level as an open source platform of mobile computing.

Moblin 2.0 offers an open platform that developers can build on and see instant gratification by plugging into the Moblin myzone dashboard. The platform and dashboard reminds me of the iPhone application platform but for slightly larger more powerful devices. The myzone dashboard that aggregator a bunch of widgets of information into a startpage experience that is anchored by a tool bar across the top. The dashboard includes social features by sharing a lifestream are which pulls in information from sites like Twitter, Last.fm and Flickr. It also offers a status message system that is said to push updates out to your various social sites that revolve around status updates. Moblin also positions your videos, photos, music and calendar on your startpage.

MIDs Reviewed While Traveling to Computex Taipei

Today, l’m traveling to Computex Taipei, the world’s largest computer exhibition in Asia and second largest in the world just behind CeBit in Germany. I’m traveling 18 hours to Taipei from Washington, D.C. stopping just once in Tokyo, Japan before heading on to the island of Taiwan as part of the Intel Insider program (a brand ambassador program) that I have been a part of for a year now. I will be attending a number of the Intel events in Taipei as well as meeting the Asia Pacific Intel representatives as I look to assist them as they get their own version of the Intel Insiders program started in Asia. I am honored to be attending such an important global industry event, as it offers a super opportunity to see lots of new shiny gadgets and devices. It also affords me an opportunity to dust off my somewhat virgin passport, getting some International ink along with cultural growth.

Since I have a lot of time in transit, I decided to use some of it reviewing two new Mobile Internet Devices, or MIDs, which I recently received: the Yukyung Viliv S5 and the BenQ S6. In this article I will share my perspectives on the two mobile Internet devices.

My CES 2009 Experience Recap

Last week, I previewed my trip to the Consumer Electronics Show as I had just touched down and was getting ready to experience my first CES. Well, I am back from CES and to be totally frank, all I can say is "Wow, that was a good time!" Unfortunately, it took me until today to decompress and get enough sleep to be able to spill details about all that I experienced last week at CES. First things first, a big thank you Intel for sponsoring my trip out to CES as an Intel Insider. It was an unbelievable experience.

So how did the party I co-hosted at CES on Thursday night go? I would have to say it was a success but you can see for yourself by checking out some of the photos taken by Brian Solis (this set of photos & photo below)

Wm. Marc Salsberry also took some super pictures (this set of photos & photo below).

We had the entire Sportsbook Bar & Grill at the Palazzo which was formerly the 40/40 Club owned by hip hop star Jay Z, so as you can imagine we felt like kings in the palace of a hip hop legend. It was pretty amazing and the attendees were top-notch. I never thought as a corn-fed Northern Illinois sixth grader attending a junior high sock hop wearing what I equated to MC Hammer "hammer pants" (which are rather baggy pants) that I would years later host a CES kickoff party in Vegas that MC Hammer would attend. I guess you just don't think about stuff like that as a 6th grader growing up in a small town. Oh and we both wore regular pants to the event.

 

i-Gala: Wireless Digital Photo Frame

i-Gala Wireless Digital Photo Frame from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

I take lots of photos. I post many of them to Flickr and sometimes even email them my friends and family directly. I recently got a chance to check out the latest version of the i-Gala Wireless Digital Photo Frame by Aequitas Technologies that features an 8 inch 800×600 touchscreen display, 1GB internal memory, Wi-Fi and connections with Gmail, Microsoft Windows Live FrameIt and Flickr. This means the frame can connect directly to these services to retreive and display photos. The frame is $240 and can be purchased directly from the i-Gala/Aequitas site.

Check out episode 58 on SOMEWHAT FRANK in the HD video (above) as I recently got a chance to sit down and talk with the founder of Aequitas Technologies, Heikwan Cheng as he explained the new frame in detail. This new frame is just in time for the holidays and should make a super holiday gift for anyone who likes photos.

Thummit For Mobile Recommendations

Last week I got a chance to attend a dinner and demo night for the new startup called Thummit. Thummit is a new service that looks to offer simple, social and portable recommendations. It is currently focused on the restaurant scene and offers a way to send recommendations via text message or Twitter. You can simply text thumbs up, down or maybe to Thummit and the service does the rest. Thummit can also send restaurant recommendations back to you via text message. If you are trying to make a dining decision between a couple of different restaurants Thummit can help by enabling you to setup a poll among friends and then send it out via text message.

Video: MyDropCard SMS Business Cards

I have previously questioned if technology will replace business cards as well as explored some printers taking fresh approaches to keep business cards alive. Recently a couple of text or sms message business card providers like  TextMarks and a few others have emerged to help you ping your information to anyone by text message. Just this week a new product emerged called MyDropCard which offers users the ability to send a nicely formatted email of your contact information all with a simple text message as the initiator. It just takes about 30 seconds to create an account online and then you can start sending dropcards to new contacts you meet. It also keeps track of all your contacts for you too.

MyDropCard was a product of the most recent incubator DreamIt Ventures which had its investor and demo day this week in Philadelphia. Check out video episode 43 on SOMEWHAT FRANK as I explain MyDropCard.

Fight High Gas Prices By Finding Parking Fast

Filling a vehicle with gas might be the current problem for many, but finding a place to park the car has been an issue for a lot longer. Several companies have fired up to help frustrated drivers park their vehicles.  Two previous posts addressed the parking problem with Parkwhiz and Parking Hunter - and I am sure there are a few more similar products.

The new kid in the parking reservation camp is BestParking.com, a free online search engine and rate calculator for Manhattan’s 1,030 parking facilities with a free mobile version available.  Founded in 2006 by 20-year old college student Benjamin Sann, BestParking.com offers a very simple design. Interestingly, the site was inspired by “an episode of Seinfeld in which George refuses to pay for a parking space.”  The company consists of 3 full-time and 6 part-time employees.

Video: AOL Radio iPhone App & Listen Anywhere

The Apple iPhone application was opened last week and AOL launched the AOL Radio application. The application is free and worth giving a try and a listen. It allows users to connect to both XM and local radio stations. It even is able to connect users with popular stations in larger markets. For example, I might want to listen to a popular Chicago station sports talk radio station like AM 670 the Score while in Washington, DC and AOL makes this possible.

I gave it a try and was shocked at the utility. I also now understand why the AOL Radio application was awarded by Apple for its superior design. I demonstrate some of the value the AOL Radio application adds to the iPhone as episode 33 of the SOMEWHAT FRANK TV video podcast.

Apple MobileMe Syncs Everything For A Fee

The release of the new 3G iPhone and the launch of the Application Store secured the spotlight last week but there was another release which caught my attention. Apple launched MobileMe to replace the .Mac service which has been around for awhile. Though the .Mac migration may have had a few hiccups, the new MobileMe service offers users who pay just $99 per year an Apple run exchange for keeping contacts, calendar events and email synced to a PC or Mac computer and iPhone or Touch. The release positions Apple into a new space as a supplier of personal enterprise computing solutions. Apple takes on "free" email providers by locking up new me.com users to an account on a yearly subscription. Will this change the "free" email standard?

Which iPhone Apps Are You Queuing Up?

I just got the latest version of iTunes and have been poking around the new iPhone application store. So far I have been impressed by the applications that are offered. I started to queue up a number of applications that should be added to my iPhone as soon as the 2.0 software update is released (or I could download it early here). I took a quick screen-shot of the applications I will be adding as soon as I get the iPhone 2.0 firmware update, they are as follows:

AIM, AOL Radio, Baseball, Eventful, Evernote, Facebook, Google Mobile App, Light, Local Picks by TripAdvisor, Loopt, NetNewsWire, NowLocal, NYTimes, Remote, Twitteriffic, Typepad, Whrrl & Yelp

The two that I have not seen yet are Flixwagon and Qik as they both have made public statements here and here respectively saying they will be working on the iPhone . I am hoping they are released soon as they stabilize and perfect the service offering.

I am curious to see what you will be added to your iPhone - let me know in the comment section below.

Brightkite Impressive Mobile Social Network

Mobile social networks have come a long way since Google acquired Dodgeball back in 2005 as both mobile devices and online product offerings have improved. Twitter and other mobile enabled lifestreaming and communication products have taken off as users have grown more accustom to text messaging. That said, I finally got around to give, the Colorado-based startup Brightkite a try and was impressed by it.

The 'my' Trend, How To Freeload at Web 2.0 Expo, Google Genetic Index Coming, AOL Top Ad Network By Reach & Is Content A Commodity?

Photo of the Week: This past weekend brought out some warmer spring weather which brought out the joggers like this photo captured on film in Chicago by my friend Araceli Arroyo.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 4.20.2008