Alltopstartups » Handhelds

16 Things Your Startup SHOULD Copy From Instagram

Thomas Oppong — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:20:49 +0000

It took hot photo-sharing startup Instagram just three months to reach its first million users, and a little more than a month after that to post its second million. Instagram is a photo sharing application for the iPhone. It allows you to quickly take pictures, apply a filter, and share it on the service or with a number of other services. Instagram pulled in $7 million during its first major round of funding.

Here are the things you should copy from Instagram. Kevin Systrom, Co-founder/CEO of Instagram shared these lessons in various interviews.

Validate your idea quickly by putting it with real users. Your goal is to learn what people like and don’t like about the product and make adjustments quickly.
Validate that you have a market, validate that your market loves your product, and make sure that your product solves real problems for that group.
Products can introduce more complexity over time, but as far as launching and introducing a new product in to the market, it’s a marketing problem
You have to explain everything you do, and people have to understand it, within seconds
When you’re introducing a mobile app, you look around and say, we could be doing 15 different things, but how do we communicate to someone why they would want to download and even sign up for this thing?
In the mobile context, you need to explain what you do in 30 seconds or less because people move on to the next shiny object.
We did too much on purpose. We were trying to figure out what got people amped.
Instagram super clear value proposition helped sky rocket the app to many, many downloads
The best products in the world start out as features.
Often features solve a specific problem.
If you can solve a problem better than anyone else, you have the start of something that can continue to evolve.
Anyone can build filters, anyone can build a photo-sharing app. The hard part is the community.” That community of users is now posting 4 photos every second.
I’m not sure it matters where you start, as long as you’re focused and you’ve got a passion for the platform.
Getting to other platforms is a no-brainer going forward, it’s merely a question of when.
sure the product had the makings of something viral; that you could share and distribute your content across many different platforms. I think this aspect alone had a large part to do with our initial growth.
What would you do differently in regards to launching and marketing the product? We would have started the product on Amazon EC2.

Some of The Best Free iPhone 4 Apps You Should Know

Thomas Oppong — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 14:45:24 +0000

There are over 400,000 apps available for iPhone, iPod and iPad, the iOS 4 and the imminent iOS 5 the appstore will keep recording thousands of apps week after week. These top free apps covers productivity, travel, social networking, news and photography.

Bump : Share you photos, music, messages, contacts, and calendar events with your friends by just picking up what you want to send add the friend in your Bump and simply start messaging.

XE Currency: Downloading XE Currency for free will enable you to convert 180+ currencies on the go. The currency calculator is simple, powerful and comes totally free.

Office² Plus : Office² Plus app enables you to easily transfer, view and share files from MobileMe iDisk, and Google Docs.

Documents Free : It’s a free iPhone app that’s light weight mobile office suite. It enables you to edit and manage spreadsheet & text files on your iPhone.

Tap & Tell :Want to update your favorite social network without the hassle of navigating through multiple apps and log-ins? Tap & Tell allows you to update your favorite social network, easily and quickly.

Gorillacam- It mashes together a slew of features to hugely improve an iPhone’s camera (timer, multi-shot, spirit-level, on-screen grid, ‘press anywhere’ capture).

iPDF : This app is one of the world’s slimmest eBook and PDF reader that’s exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch! You can read books and PDF’s on the fly, search a library of books and pdf’s from all over the world, save your eBooks and PDF’s for reading offline, all this totally free.

RunKeeper Free- uses an iPhone’s GPS capabilities to track your jogging route, and provides mapping and details of pace and calories burned.

BBC-News -Get the latest, breaking news from the BBC and our global network of journalists. By downloading the BBC News app you can view.

Our Stage Radio: OurStage Radio is an entertainment app that offers an exciting way to discover new music through the iPhone.

Loopt – Loopt runs on over 100 phones across all the major U.S. carriers so you can connect with all your friends and family on Loopt.

Slacker-Radio -Listen to free personalized radio on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The award-winning Slacker Radio App gives you access to the entire Slacker music library featuring millions of songs from thousands of artists.

Stanza enables you to download books from various sources (many of which offer free titles), and you can transfer your own ePub, PDF or eReader titles from the free Stanza Desktop.

thetrainline is the free app to beat all others. Journey planning, offline results, timetables and a location-aware ‘next train home’ option are available via a clean, streamlined interface.

Movies -Select a film and the app figures out where you’re located, lists nearby cinemas, and displays times your chosen film is showing.

23 of The Hottest Technology Startups in Singapore

Thomas Oppong — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:31:40 +0000

One of the key sectors where a lot of Asian startups are growing is social gaming. With the explosive pervasiveness of social networks, social gaming has witnessed exponential growth in Asia. About 10 social gaming companies in Asia are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Singapore is a small country located in South East Asia. It has a population of around 4.5 million. Singapore is considered by many to be a developed country, today Singapore has many high-tech companies and startups in diverse sectors and industries. The following are 23 of the hottest startups in Singapore you should know.

Chalkboard, location-based local ad network, yourchalkboard.com
Foound, iPhone app for organizing hangouts, foound.com
Wego, travel search engine, www.wego.com
Short Term Apartment Rental, www.shorttermrentals.sg
Gothere super-enriched location map of Singapore, gothere.sg
Pechora Technologies, creator of GotoCamera, www.gotocamera.com
FlickEvents, event management app, www.flickevents.com
Jipaban social shopping, www.jipaban.com.sg
Zopim live chat solution, www.zopim.com
Socialwok, social network for collaborative enterprises, www.socialwok.com
BuUuk, augmented reality guide for food and drinks, buuuk.com
OrSiSo, social streams aggregator, www.orsiso.com
Bookjetty, social bookshelf, www.bookjetty.com
Common Totes, community of tote bag designers, www.commontotes.com
8squirrels, crowdsource fund-raising, www.8squirrels.com
Viki ‘fan-subbing’ collaboration hub for TV, movies, www.viki.com
Pigeonhole speaker-audience interaction tool, www.pigeonhole.sg
Give start and fundraising project, give.sg
GameVentures online social games, www.gameventures.com
Anacle Enterprise asset & energy management software, www.anacle.com
AppyZoo / Stickery children’s education apps with feedback mechanism for parents www.appyzoo.com

Your iPhone Can Now Be Used To Evaluate Fish Freshness

Thomas Oppong — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:16:33 +0000

The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fishery and Aquaculture Research (Nofima) has just launched an iPhone app so consumers can evaluate the freshness of a batch of fish. The app was released on the European Seafood Exposition (ESE) in Brussels.

The freshness of the fish may be evaluated via a few steps, including odour, texture and the appearance of the eyes, skin and gills. The final result appears immediately.

“With the aid of competent seafood research, we have a good basis for being the leading seafood nation in the world. We can increase the export value first and foremost through innovation and development. This app is a good example of applied research,” says the Managing Director of the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC), Terje Martinussen.

“This method is the best tool available today to assess freshness. You don’t need to know how old the fish is as this method calculates the remaining shelf life of the fish,” says Project Manager Joop Luten from Nofima.

The “How fresh is your fish?” app is available in 11 languages including Norwegian.The app is free and available to anyone with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Features:
- Selection of fish species for the assessment
- Selection number of fish to be assessed
- Guidelines for assessment
- Instructions for measurement rigor
- Shelf life fish species
- Available in 11 languages (English, Norwegian, Icelandic, Dutch, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Danish, and Italian).
- Makes full use of HD graphics on the iPhone 4 Retina display.
- Photos can be added to the end results.
- End results can be stored for future reference.

Qualcomm Releases An Augmented Reality Platform For Android Phones

Thomas Oppong — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:33:47 +0000

Qualcomm Incorporated has announced the immediate commercial availability of its Augmented Reality (AR) Platform for Android smartphones.

Offered through Qualcomm’s online developer network, the release marks the successful completion of the Company’s beta program. Developers can now build, market and commercially distribute applications based on the Qualcomm AR platform.

Qualcomm’s AR platform will enable a broad range of experiences that entertain, engage and inform consumers with a new form of interactive media.

The platform’s rich feature set enables developers to build high-performance, interactive 3D experiences on real world images, such as those used in print media (books, magazines, brochures, tickets, signs) and on product packaging.

Augmented reality helps users get information about their surroundings, enhances their social networking experience and also comes in handy as a marketing and translation tool. But the highlight will no doubt be the gaming experience. With the help of AR, you will be able to merge virtual reality games with actual reality.

#The platform supports multiple development environments.
#The Qualcomm AR Android SDK supports native Android development with the Android tool chain, including the Android SDK and NDK.
#The Qualcomm AR Unity Extension supports rapid development with the Unity 3 game development tool.
#A web application is also included for creating and managing image resources that can be used with either development environment.

Camera+ iPhone App Records 2 Million Downloads in 3 Months

Thomas Oppong — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:23:29 +0000

tap tap tap, the U.S. developer behind Camera+ said it has reached 2 million downloads and at least $1.9 million in revenue through paid downloads and in-app purchases.

Camera+ is an iPhone camera replacement app that offers a variety of effects and features that the default camera and Photos app do not offer.

A statement issues on the company’s blog by John Casasanta said that:

Fresh off the heals of the Camera+ 2.2 release including our killer feature, Clarity, I’m happy to announce that this weekend we’ve sold our 2 millionth copy of Camera+. This milestone by itself is pretty remarkable, but what makes it even more incredible is how fast we went from 1 million sales to this 2 million point… it happened in under 3 months.

Experience Advanced Mobile Augmented Reality Right In Your Browser

Thomas Oppong — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:43:00 +0000

junaio is the most advanced mobile augmented reality browser, a mobile companion and instant source of information about places, events or bargains. What’s on at the movies, where is the nearest cash dispenser, taxi stand or subway station?

The best steak in town, or the hottest show? Finding your way inside exhibitions, getting added information on products, ads or news articles. This and more at your finger tips with junaio®, your mobile companion.

Download junaio for free on the iPhone App Store or Android Marketplace and experience the Augmented City of junaio.

Sekai Camera Makes The World A Playground With Augmented Reality Gaming

Thomas Oppong — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:14:29 +0000

Sekai Camera allows you to make the whole world a playground with Augmented Reality gaming, and communicate with other users using Air Tags – messages that float on the spot!

Sekai Camera is realized though a combination of technologies, including client-side software deployed on iPhone, Android and other OS platforms, and also highly scalable web computing systems.

In addition, Sekai Camera integrates with services provided by mobile carriers, existing data/service providers, and location technology companies, which combined, enable this dynamic location-based information retrieval service.

It uses the GPS and compas in the iPhone 3GS to determine where the phone is and in which location the phone is pointing in. Using Sekai Camera, you can play various apps, including games and twitter clients.

Sekai Camera for iPhone is recommended for use on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. The app can be downloaded on iPhone 3G, but users will not be able to fully experience and appreciate the app because iPhone 3G lacks various features, including a compass and advanced processing power.

Shadow Cities is Attempting to Turn Real-world Cities into Multiplayer Games

Thomas Oppong — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:56:53 +0000

Shadow Cities is a new location based MMORPG for iPhone. Neighborhoods and familiar streets are part of the game world that is visible to you through your iPhone.

Step in. Take the role of a modern mage, learn magic and see your surroundings with new eyes.Hunt Shadow Spirits and use spells and strategy to battle for the control of your city with other players.

The gameplay works as you wander around, hunting down spirits to build your mage experience and unlock spells. You can do this actively or by leaving catcher units in an area, which automatically catch spirits for you.

Both elements are powered by mana, which is the game’s basic energy. You get a certain amount of mana regularly over time, or buy it using real cash.

Controlling an area occurs as you install dominators to claim the energy gateways that are scattered over the city. The team with the most dominators on each gateway control it, and collect its energy. This has to be harvested manually. You can attack (and heal) dominators too – again using mana.

In addition, each realm can be claimed by an individual mage, who becomes its Shadow Lord, if they use enough mana to buy it, or outbid its current owner.

Available at the appstore

“Monster Free Apps” Presents A New Way To Get Paid iPhone Apps for Free

Thomas Oppong — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 23:41:46 +0000

Monster Mobile has arrived in the mobile application world with the release of their premier iPhone application, Monster Free Apps. While free iPhone apps are not new, this app keeps on giving – different paid apps for free every day.

One of the best ‘little-known-secrets’ of the iPhone app community is that paid apps go on sale for free every day. Developers use ‘free sales’ as a way to expand their user base, and hopefully, get a few positive reviews.

“The problem is, these sales are pretty low-key,” explains co-founder Manny Coats. “While developers may be happy to offer their app for free for a limited time, they have no solid way of letting people know about it. So most people miss out on knowing that a good-quality app was free for a short while.” Monster Free Apps wants to fill that gap.

While there are websites and available apps that list discounted paid apps, Monster Free Apps features a daily push notifications that alert users to available free applications.

“We’re doing all the work for you,” he states. “You don’t have to remember to check in every day. We’ll send you a daily message letting you know about some of the top paid apps that are being offered free for that day. All you have to do is read the message and then decide if you want to take advantage of the free app.”

Available at the appstore