As a leader in mobile social technology we’re constantly looking at how people are using their devices and social networks to stay in touch, communicate, and engage with the world around them. Today we’re encouraged and touched by how these technologies are being leveraged to help the people of Haiti in their time of need.
Blogs and social media are now the best way to get information from the country and numerous text-to-donate campaigns are offering a simple and fast way for people to help. We’re seeing first-hand how mobile and social technologies are emerging in their importance and in their ability to do good.
Was 2009 really the year of the app? I know iTunes ended the year with well over 100,000 apps listed and Android burst onto the scene like a nuclear flash. But that might just be the tip of the iceberg… Apps on iTunes are expected to triple and Android to quintuple in this year. And, with strong smartphone sales this holiday season we’re expecting 2010 to start with something of an appstravaganza if you’ll indulge my cheesy humor.
Of course we think the first application people should download in 2010 is GyPSii, and seeing as this is the GyPSii blog that should come as no surprise. But don’t take our word for it! Ask the guys at Pocket-lint who listed GyPSii in their article “First five…Android Apps to download,” describing it as “Very Powerful. Very Useful.”
If you got a new Android phone this holiday season – check out this walk-through:
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, is part of the US Department of Defense whose mission is to accelerate technological advancement. A response to Sputnik in 1958, the organization has researched and tested everything from psychological warfare to ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet.
The organization is still interested in the Internet. Specifically they’re trying to understand how information flows through social networks. To get a better understanding of the process the organization created the DARPA Network Challenge.
The idea is simple yet brilliant. This Saturday DARPA will install 10 large red balloons in pedestrian locations throughout the continental US. The first person or team to correctly locate all 10 balloons will win a healthy bounty – $40,000.
Anyone can participate, but those with the best chances have been organizing their team for weeks and recruiting scouts. To win, competitors will have to monitor Twitter, Facebook, GyPSii and other social networks for the most current information, tips, and clues.
We hope to see some scouts using GyPSii and ask our users to keep their eyes open and tag anything they see. So if you see any big red balloons floating in the sky be sure to take a picture and geotag it with GyPSii.
Here and Now a radio program out of Boston put together this story on the Challenge, check it out.
Earlier this month we announced that Unispace powered by GyPSii is one of the 10 apps that comes on-deck with the iPhone in China through China Unicom. Since the launch Unicom has been promoting the app in print, tv and even bus-billboards. Here is a tv spot translated into English.
Jeff Lin’s view from the audience at Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong. Later in the day Jeff, Managing Director of GyPSii APAC, was on stage himself presenting GyPSii’s vision for the future of mobile social networking. Jeff also sat on the panel discussion, “Winning Formulas for Mobile Social Networking.”
The article underscores how important mobile phones are in driving economic development in emerging nations by offering an avenue to interact with the formalized economy. And further that mobile technologies are bypassing the need for PC-based solutions in some areas – a trend we’ve been personal witness to in China.
The striking conclusion I pull from the piece is that mobile phones—whether smart or simple, in the developed or developing world—are the most ubiquitous and profoundly meaningful pieces of technology on the planet. We’re moving to an age where mobile phones are not a utility but a necessity.
This article by Ron Callari of Digital Media Buzz, explores growth predictions for the location based social networking market. It quotes ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte “initiatives like GyPSii may ultimately reach a status comparable with existing social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.” Thanks Dominique! We tend to agree.