Well, that was quick. Yesterday, Google announced it’s beta program for the Google Adsense for Mobile Applications.
Developers can apply for the beta program here. Before you rush over to apply, you should know that developers must agree to the following:
Participate for at least 3 months
At least 100k pageviews per day
Apps must be free
iPhone or Android apps only
Must be ready to implement now, and be live within 4 weeks
For marketers looking to get their ads on these mobile apps, it looks like they are already placing Adsense ads that are targeted to high-end mobile devices. According to Google, they will also open this specific program up to marketers as well.
Find out more in this testimonial video from Urbanspoon:
So what do you think of ads on these free apps? As a developer, are you excited about a new revenue opportunity? Or are you disappointed that your favorite free mobile apps will now have banner ads taking up precious real estate on your phone?
Teenagers in some states are being encouraged to send their questions about sex to an “anonymous” text message tip-line. How can they be sure their questions are anonymous since the organization receiving the texts can see the mobile phone number of the person texting in the question?
In North Carolina for example, The Birds and The Bees Text Line provides replies to sex-related questions from local teens. But is it truly anonymous? Can’t they see the phone number of the person sending in the text and do a reverse phone lookup (or just search for the number online)?
This is an example of why we offer a truly anonymous text messaging tool, where the message does not contain any information about the sender unless the sender explicitly provides it. It’s very popular, and it works on most US carriers.
Regardless, it is an interesting service and while these exist in several states already, none of them appear to be supported by the state themselves, for obvious political reasons.
What would you think of these organizations providing answers to critical questions for your son or daughter? Is it better than the alternative of searching online or asking their friends for answers?
Last year, I recall hearing about a high school Vice Principal was mired in a sexting scandal that indicated he had inappropriate pictures of students on his cell phone. Like most people that heard this story through the news, I was disgusted and agreed that he should not be allowed to be around children in any capacity ever again.
I did not know this person, and it turns out I was quick to judge.
The allegations against this person have been dismissed, but as you can read in his letter to the Washington Post, his name and reputation are forever changed. It’s unfortunate that both the sheriff’s office and the deputy commonwealth’s attorney attorney in this case, Nicole Wittmann, failed to process this case appropriately. In the process, they let down an upstanding member of the community, and let the community itself down as well.
What are your thoughts? Have you seen a similar case where the people in the judicial system that are responsible for protecting the community fail so miserably?
As Google continues to trim the number of stalled or money-losing projects in its portfolio, the Android platform for mobile phones is the latest project to get cut. While not a total shock as Android has continued to limp along in the face of the wildly successful iPhone platform, as well as new competition from BlackBerry App World, it does leave some scratching their heads.
There is no comment yet from Google partners whom have also invested a great deal of resources in developing phones for the new platform, most notably T-Mobile with the G-1 phone. It is safe to assume though that Google will have to either compensate those partners in some way, or perhaps release ownership (and control) of the platform altogether in favor of some open source community, thereby allowing the platform to survive and the efforts of those partners to continue.
I am disappointed as I have to admit I was holding out for a newer Android phone. Oh wel1.
(4/2/09 Edit: Yes, this was an April Fools post, as many of you quickly pointed out. Android is not going anywhere;)
We reported 3 weeks ago that BlackBerry App World was coming soon, and now that day has arrived. You can download BlackBerry App World to your BB today, and start downloading or purchasing applications. While some of the apps are free, those that are not will require a PayPal account to purchase.
An early look at the featured apps shows a combination of the popular (Facebook, Pandora) and the rather mundane (The New York Times “App” is just a link to the mobile website. Really New York Times? Really BlackBerry? A URL is a featured app?? Can’t people just bookmark it in their mobile browser? OK, I’m done.).
Mobile Developers – there is clearly an enormous install base of BlackBerry users out there, and now is your opportunity to own a niche in BlackBerry App World. While the majority of them are business users, they need to find ways to waste time in meetings too!
Interesting to note that at the time of this writing, the BlackBerry home page for North America still says “coming Soon”, even though it has indeed arrived.
BlackBerry App World is almost live! Based on the FAQ, paid apps will start at $2.99, and of course there will be several free BlackBerry apps as well. Initial launch countries will include the US, Canada, and the UK.
Visit the link below to register for announcements and to find out more about submitting an application to the marketplace. And mobile developers, start your coding!
We have never written about deals on phones or other IT gadgets, but I saw this one and felt like I had to pass it on.
iomega has a 640GB external hard drive, with hub, for $79.99 (normally $149.99). I paid more than double that for a 500GB about two months ago, so that’s another reason why I was so surprised to see this price. If USB connectivity is not good enough for you, and you must have FireWire, then you may want to look at their other models, though you won’t get the deep discount on those.
Anyway, here’s the link if anyone is in the market for one. They say the deal ends today, 2/19/09.
If anyone finds a better price elsewhere, please share!
If somehow that does not convince you, let me tell you about the man behind Alltop, Guy Kawasaki. I first saw Guy speak at the Cyberposium at Harvard Business School in 1998. As the keynote speaker, Guy spoke with such passion and purpose, he instilled an enormous amount of energy and excitement in that room. The guy is such an entertaining and motivating speaker, and those that know Guy understand that if he launches something, it’s going to be good, and it’s going to be big.
Think of Alltop is an online magazine rack that’s much easier to browse. Scan the latest headlines from the best sites in almost any category you could think of. If you’re like us, you’ll check out the mobile section.
CES 2009 is buzzing with techie news and announcements that are impacting the mobile landscape and beyond. One of those happens to be Skype’s announcement of their Lite app for Java enabled phones, bringing VOIP calling to your mobile phone.
According to CNET, Skype is now submitting the app to the Android Market, which would hopefully get approved by Google within a few days.
Stay tuned and we will update this post when Skype Lite becomes available on the Google Android Market!
Attention mobile developers — the Rough Cuts version of the Android Development book from O’Reilly is now available. I was a bit ignorant on exactly what ‘Rough Cuts’ meant, so I checked it out on the O’Reilly site. Here is their official description:
When you buy a book on the Rough Cuts service, you get access to an evolving manuscript. You can read it online, download as a PDF, or print. Once you’ve purchased a Rough Cuts title, you have a chance to shape the final product – you can send suggestions, bug fixes, and comments directly to the author and editors.
You have your choice in the Rough Cuts program of purchasing just online access, just the print book when it releases, or the best of both worlds – online access immediately and the print book later.
A second O’Reilly book covering the Google mobile development platform, titled Hello Android, is supposed to be available any day now.
So if you’ve got a few days off to sit around and eat, you can at least sneak a few pages in during commercials. With only one Android phone available today, you still have time to build a great Android App get it into the Android Market before so many Google loyalists herd over to that platform.
Attention mobile developers — the Rough Cuts version of the 
