Mark Brenneman

Mostly Mobile 
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Discovering mobile applications

With so many applications in the iPhone appstore discovery is becoming more of an issue. There are just too many. It is becoming such an issue that applications are being created to help you find applications. These include Chomp (iTunes link) and Appolicious (iTunes link). 

So, how do you increase discoverability? On the web, the search engines helped discoverability. Google's brilliant move was to use links as a ranking system. Also, Adwords helped smaller sites buy their way to discoverability. What are the equivalent data structures for mobile applications? With such a scattered marketplace (Apple, Google, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Verizon and other carriers are all making application stores) how will apps be discovered across platforms? 

Or will the appstores continue to be cluttered with thousands of applications? Maybe the next step is making applications for finding applications that help you discover applications. For some reason, I doubt it.

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Apps on my iPhone

I have been jumping between phones lately, but mostly using the iPhone. I love using the iPhone to discover, read, and keep up with tech content on the web. There are 3 apps that I use for this:

  1. Tweetie (iTunes link) - I look through my feed on the way to work to see what is happening. Anything that looks interesting I will save for batch reading later using my second app:
  2. Instapaper (iTunes link) - I love this app. I can save articles from any computer and read them on the train or plane (even without an internet connection). For the articles I would like to keep as a reference I use the third app:
  3. Del.icio.us (iTunes link) - I love having my bookmarks wherever I go.
These three apps help me filter my feeds and stay on top of what is happening.

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Filed under  //   apps   iphone   mobile  

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Making location check-ins more valuable

I was reading Mashable's take on Foursquare's integration to Facebook (here: http://bit.ly/8f3iff). When reading the comments I kept seeing the same concern. Why would my Portland friends want to see where I am in San Francisco? This is increasingly becoming a problem as more and more services publish to Twitter and Facebook. A lot of it is just more noise.

Example: A friend just sat down (and checks in) at Frjtz in San Francisco and my iPhone buzzes in Mountain View. How does that help me? By the time I get up there my friend is gone and I will have to enjoy the delicious fries alone. 

Foursquare has gotten this partially right by limiting the check-ins you see to your city, but by integrating Facebook that all goes out the door. My friend in Scotland will now see (at 8am his time) when I am playing liar's dice at the local bar. That doesn't seem very valuable.

The key component missing is the recipients location. I want my Foursquare check-ins published to me ONLY if I am in a reasonable vicinity. Problem is... the precious iPhone can't do this. That component requires background processing (updating your location intermittently using GPS). One solution is connecting Twitter (push check-ins to me if the check-in came in the vicinity of my last twitter post) but that is not reliable either. Anyone else have a solution?

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Welcome

This is my first post. I will make it short and sweet. This is my
place to talk about what I like:

  1. Mobile. These sensor-accompanied computers are changing the world. Always on. Always in communication.
  2. Events. I love finding unique events around where I live. I will 
    broadcast some of them here. I also think that cell phones are going 
    to make discovery of cool things to do much easier. More on that 
    later.  
  3. The power of sensors and simple communication. Twitter + sensors 
    are allowing for innovative, connected products.

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