Saturday, March 26, 2011

Connected devices are one major reason mobile service providers need more spectrum

Some might argue it is T-Mobile USA's spectrum that is most important to AT&T, not the subscribers. Connected devices consume at least an order of magnitude more bandwidth than smartphones.
http://www.businessinsider.com/charts-of-the-week-the-new-york-times-delusional-digital-pricing-scheme-2011-3/did-groupon-have-a-terrible-february-3

SinglePlatform Auto-Updates Multiple Social Sites

Small business owners are busy people. Updating multiple social media and websites with new information takes time, considerable time if sites need to be updated frequently. SinglePlatform runs a publishing network that updates such sites without requiring discrete sign-ons and postings. Restaurants are a customer set that SinglePlatform seems to be getting traction with, providing an easy way for restaurants to easily menus and specials, for example.

Restaurants have a particularly difficult web presence environment, given the number of review sites, guide sites and travel sites where their information is relevant, and where restaurants would prefer to be visible. Identifying and then updating hundreds of such sites, in real time, obviously is a chore. A big chore. SinglePlatform aims to automate the updating of hundreds to thousands of such sites.

The service also features a built-in pay-per-call ability, which allows users to take action immediately, and thereby provides both a direct response vehicle and campaign or site tracking. SinglePlatform charges businesses a yearly fee to use the platform, as well as a flat-fee per call generated over a certain length. In return, they provide direct user metrics, including time on the site, pages viewed per visits and visits per user per month.

SinglePlatform provides hotels, restaurants, bars and PR firms a unified way to manage review sites, mobile applications, local guides, as well as social media pages, website, and mobile-optimized sites. The chief limitatiion would seem to be the actual social networks, hotels, search engines, local directories, city guides, newspapers, and mobile applications that have signed up to be part of the network.

Dwolla Launches FiSync, Cuts ACH Wait Times by 2 to 3 Days

 Dwolla is launching "FiSync," a mobile payments front end allowing FiSync will let members of partner financial institutions send and receive money by a number of methods, including phone, web, Twitter and Facebook as well as at retail locations.
Dwolla FiSync will eliminate as much as two to three days of delay when Automated Clearing House transactions occur, and will allow users to directly transfer cash from their bank accounts, without the need for a pre-loaded Dwolla account.
For consumers, Dwolla provides the ability to send, receive, and request funds from any other user, charging merchants and others receiving funds 25 cents per transaction. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Investors Talk about Mobile Banking in Africa

 Hunter Newby, investor in Africxpress, and Eliot Samuels, PilotRock Capital, talk about mobile banking in Africa. 

How Important Can Twitter Become?

So far, Twitter has not achieved the broad usage or financial value Facebook has. But some think Twitter will achieve substantial success and leadership in the next era of Internet computing.

98% Smartphone Ownership at South by Southwest

A Google survey at South by Southwest found 98 percent of survey respondents have a smartphone. That's what you call serious adoption.

Google Witholds Honeycomb

Google says it will delay the distribution of its newest Android source code, dubbed Honeycomb, at least for the foreseeable future. The search giant says the software, which is tailored specifically for tablet computers that compete against Apple's iPad, is not yet ready to be altered by outside programmers and customized for other devices, such as phones.

Unless you believe Google has suddenly decided Android isn't open source, you would tend to think Google isn't yet happy with Honeycomb in some significant ways, and doesn't think it is ready for general release, yet.

AI Wiill Indeed Wreck Havoc in Some Industries

Creative workers are right to worry about the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs within the industry, just as creative workers were r...