CloudTalk Launches Voice Social Network for iPhone and Android

Emotion may be the missing element in Facebook and Twitter posts. A new mobile social network called CloudTalk adds this by having you use your voice to post, as well as allowing text, photos, and videos. CloudTalk today released mobile apps that let users interact with the primarily voice-based social network on iPhones and Android phones.

San Francisco-based CloudTalk's Chairman and CEO David Haden demonstrated the new app to PCMag.com last week. Hayden had previously released a CloudTalk predecessor, called Pana.ma in 2009. Not only can users leave voice messages in a social network feed, but our meeting was recorded using the service. CloudTalk also lets users create and participate in public communities; current examples of these commnunities include Digital Photography, Singles Club, Music, and Apple Talk.

A Web version of CloudTalk is available, but it's still in beta, and doesn't include all the features of the mobile apps, such as community content. "We're leading with the smart phones, because that's what people use for communication. We're at a transition where the mobile is more important than the Web," said CloudTalk's chief marketing officer, John Linney.

Unlike Facebook or Twitter, though, you don't have a set group of friends or contacts for all your group conversations in CloudTalk. Instead, you invite selected contacts as participants for each conversation, and can add more if necessary. The conversations remain available, so you can add to them at any point in the future and all participants will be updated, somewhat similar to how Google Wave works. Users can also send private messages to contacts, but unlike in Facebook, you don't get to see all of another user's contacts on a rich profile page, and you're not prompted to add friends. It sounds a bit like T-Mobile's Bobsled, but with an emphasis on messages, rather than VOIP calls.

"The friction caused by phone calls when we can't take them, and voice mail that feels like a dead end, is making it harder to use our voice in daily communications with our social circle. CloudTalk stands out as the only platform to put the power and convenience of voice at the center of the social communications experience," wrote Hayden on a company press release, announcing the service. "CloudTalk makes talking as easy as texting, so we can freely use our voices to convey emotion, avoid misconstrued tone and get a message across far more quickly and powerfully than text alone."

Not only does voice add emotion, but some concepts are just too involved for a simple tweet to do the job. This could be of particular interest to businesses, which may need to collaborate with complex instructions and descriptions, either for procedures, strategies, or products.

CloudTalk iPhone and Android apps are free and available starting today on the Apple App Store and the Android Marketplace. Look for an in-depth review of the service on PCMag.com in the coming days.source

First Intel-branded 3G, 4G chips debut

Add capApple's iPad uses what is now an Intel 3G chip--formerly Infineon.
(Credit: Apple)

Intel announced shipments of the first 3G chips--and future 4G silicon--that sport its branding today at Mobile World Congress--the fruits of its acquisition of Infineon's wireless business.

"Intel Inside" takes on a new meaning with 3G chips. After the acquisition, Intel Mobile Communications has overnight become a major supplier of so-called baseband processors, which handle the 3G connection and are one of the most critical chips in a smartphone or tablet.

Intel's--formerly Infineon's--3G chips are used in prominent devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

Announced today, the XMM 6260 is designed for smartphones and can be coupled with a smartphone's application processor or offered as a standalone solution for PC modems and data cards, Intel said.

The HSPA+ technology "comprises a fully integrated HSPA+ system solution supporting HSPA category 14 (21 megabits per second) in the downlink and category 7 (11.5Mbps) in the uplink," according to Intel.

Intel's MWC wireless rollouts don't stop there. The world's largest chipmaker also announced LTE technology, generically referred to as 4G.

The multimode (LTE/3G/2G) platform XMM 7060 "is suitable for integration in LTE-enabled portable devices such as mobile handsets, data cards/dongles and other embedded solutions," Intel said.

The 3G silicon is shipping in volume now, while the LTE solution will be available for volume shipment in the second half of 2012. Though the world's largest manufacturer of chips, Intel will not be making these products, instead consigning production to an Asia-based manufacturer.source

A free cloud service for building smartphone apps

 Conduit, an application developer for Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, is now making its app-building tools available free. The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company has developed a website for building an application once that will run on five smartphone platforms: iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Nokia's Symbian.

The service uses feeds from your website or social networks. "You can slice and dice it how you want" for the mobile app, said Dayna Verstegen, marketing director of the company.

The app-building site also walks the developer through the application process for each smartphone marketplace, whether it's iTunes or the Android marketplace. Conduit also runs its own marketplace and apps built in on the free platform will be added to it.

Apps built on the free service will display ads, which is how Conduit makes money from the service.

The company started out building browser apps for companies in 2005 and grew to include mobile apps. Clients range from large and high-profile companies -- eBay, TechCrunch, Fox News -- to small business owners, such as a high-end pet store in Baltimore, Verstegen said.

The free cloud service, Conduit Mobile, launched this morning and there are now 2,000 mobile applications that have been built.

The company said it had 230 million users active as of February and 230,000 customers.

It will continue building custom mobile applications through a revenue-share model as well.source

iPhone vs. Android

Many Verizon customers are asking themselves whether they should stick with the carrier's Android devices or jump ship to iOS.
PCWorld editors Tom Spring and Robert Strohmeyer both have strong views on the subject, and they're ready to present their arguments. First up, senior editor Tom Spring explains why he's had it with Android.
Read the Remaning on - http://www.pcworld.com/article/218104/head_to_head_iphone_vs_android.html