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Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

So, how do you like the iOS6? Oh what’s that, you’re still waiting for it to load? Well be patient my friends, the ever-so-slight upgrades will be well worth it. Yes folks, the iOS6 has arrived, the iPhone 5 is on its way, and Apple fever is reaching its usual levels of hysteria. Add to that a new set of lawsuits for the tech giant, this time as a co-defendant with its chief rival Google, and you’ve got yourself a pretty eventful week. Well believe it or not, there was in fact more going on in the world of tech than the chaos surrounding Apple, so as always we’re here to sweep up the scraps that got past the vacuum cleaner, and give you a rundown of the latest mobile web news from the week. Read More…

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

“To be a successful father, there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.”

- Ernest Hemingway

That’s right everyone, this weekend we celebrate those brave heroes of the household who suffered through all the terrible things we did to them over the years. We realize your weekends are likely booked with cookouts and baseball games and tie-shopping outings, but as we always do we wanted to leave you this week with a little roundup of some of the week’s most pressing stories. As usual, the mobile web news machine did not disappoint this week, so check out some of our favorite stuff. Read More…

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

Wow, what an uneventful week. What’s that? A 900 million user, 85+ billion dollar company is doing what today? Okay fine we’ll talk about it. Facebook is going public folks so grab your popcorn and pull up a chair in front of the stock ticker. Today we’ll see if stock traders worldwide have bought into team Zuckerberg’s promise to continue their growth, or are turned away by Facebook’s admitted struggles to capitalize on the mobile platform. Either way, the move promises to be exciting, and is bound to have some major impacts on the mobile and global web landscape.

While Facebook may have stolen all the headlines this week, let’s not forget that there was plenty more going on in the world of mobile. As always we did our best to keep tabs on all the happenings, so why not take a break from sweating the stocks, and check out some of our favorite news from the past week.

  • • Last week some of the most important minds in the mobile and web development game gathered in Amsterdam for one of our favorite mobile conferences, Mobilism. Earlier this week some of the amazing presentations from the conference began to hit the web, like this one from the great Lyza Danger Gardner (@lyzadanger)
  • • Augmented reality might just be the next step in web, and this week the people at Wikitude took AR to the next level by introducing a feature that connects augmented reality directly to the mobile web. Using the smartphone’s built-in camera, now you can get real-time assistance by simply surveying your surroundings. Check it out here.
  • • BONUS: We came across this product called Electric Imp that is designed to connect every electric device in your house via the cloud. Pretty awesome stuff.

Okay everyone, that’s all from us for today. We hope you and your portfolios all have a great weekend, and of course, make sure to connect with us on Twitter @fiddlefly, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest for more updates and info about the mobile web.

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

“Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.”

-Unknown Author

With the first quarter of 2012 now just about in the books, it is tempting to take a minute and reflect on the events that have taken place so far this year. Unfortunately for us, trying to wrap our head around all the enormous leaps and near light-speed developments that have gotten us where we are today would likely make our heads literally explode and in turn probably put a damper on our productivity today. That’s why instead we’ll stick to what we always do, and keep our fond reminiscing to just the week past. Here are some of the stories we loved this week.

  • If you haven’t seen Google’s Mobile Playbook that was released this week, drop everything (unless you’re reading this while holding a small child) and go read it now. Amazing information, awesome ideas, and really fantastic advice. Of course once you finish reading it, make sure to come back to your favorite mobile web blog (ahem) for more cool stuff.
  • Remember that guy you saw on the subway who was smelling his phone? Well, it turns out he might not actually be crazy.

That’s all for now everyone, time to put April in the books and coast on into May. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for new developments from us here t FiddleFly, as well as in the world of mobile. We’ll be doing the same so make sure to follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly , Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.


Will wallets go the way of the Walkman?

One of the most interesting things about trolling the tech blogosphere is coming across new technologies that look to change the way we live our lives. It seems almost daily we are hearing about gadgets and ideas that will revolutionize the way we interact. From IKEA’s smart TV, to the James Bondesque Pebble smartwatch, to that little Project Glass thing from some company called Google, the market is ripe with innovation, and the world of ecommerce is no different.

A story that caught our attention today out of the UK, where the financial services company Barclay’s announced the introduction of its newest feature, a pay tag that attaches to mobile devices and allows near field communications (NFC) payments. Although technically the pay tag can attach to anything, the folks at Barclay’s designed and recommend it for use with smartphones, citing the notion that ,”the item we’re most lost without is our mobile phone”.

We’ve seen companies again and again take strides to make mobile payments simpler and more efficient, however more often than not these initiatives are of the digital variety. Companies like Facebook and Google have addressed the flaws in mobile billing and mobile payments publically, and while there may not yet be a perfect solution, the wheels are in motion.

What is so interesting about Barclay’s initiative however, is that it does not neglect the fact that mobile users are actually mobile themselves. An improved mobile web allows for connectivity free of spatial restrictions, so in theory the mobile web should actually promote more physical interaction and increased user mobility. Though Barclay’s initiative does not specifically utilize the mobile web (as the pay tag functions identically as a standard credit card) it will end up being the perfect complement. Now after mobile users search for a restaurant or shop via their smartphones, they can visit it and pay with the same device.

Of course, the pay tag method seems practically antiquated already. It feels almost inevitable that smartphone producers will eventually embed chips that allow the same type of physical payments, but for now the pay tag seems like a step in the right direction.

Smartphones and mobile devices have unified the web community, and innovations like adding NFC technology to these devices will only further unify the consumer commerce experience.

So, unfortunately for all those luxury leather retailers out there, the end of the need for carrying a wallet may be near. If we may make a quick suggestion, it may be time to do yourselves a favor and start making phone covers.

Tell us what you think about mobile commerce, and as always, follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly ,Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Industry heavyweights give up a billion dollars for Lent.

Maybe there was simply some lingering cheer left over from the holiday weekend, or maybe there’s something in the air that the rest of us aren’t seeing, but yesterday it seemed the climate was just right for some huge, HUGE checks to be signed. We all heard about team Zuckerburg and its billion-dollar acquisition of everyone’s new favorite photo sharing program Instagram, but the Facebook gang wasn’t the only one making game-changing moves on a not-so-quiet Monday.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced it would be buying 800 patents from AOL for just over a billion dollars, and, not to be outdone, AT&T announced its own billion dollar deal, selling its majority stake in Yellow Pages to Cerberus Capital. All of these transactions made big headlines in business publications worldwide, but as always our interest is focused on the mobile world, which promises to see a significant impact from each of these deals.

The obvious place to start in this discussion is with the darling deal of market Monday, which saw Facebook realize its biggest weakness, photo sharing, and address it by tossing a defensive billion dollars at one of its biggest threats. While the deal was a genius tactical business move (if you can wrap your head around the concept of spending a billion dollars being tactical), it also promises to have some major impacts on the mobile web landscape.

With Facebook being the most downloaded app of all time, and Instagram climbing the charts faster than any app ever, the two forming an alliance makes perfect sense and is sure to change the way we share photos on the go. We’ve already seen the folks at Facebook make big strides in supporting the mobile web with their commitment to web-based apps, and bringing one of the most effective mobile photo sharing companies along for the ride will only help their case.

AT&T may have been on the other side of the buyers and sellers table yesterday, but that certainly doesn’t mean the company won’t see a benefit in terms of its mobile presence thanks to yesterday’s blockbuster deal. While selling a down-trending company won’t necessarily skyrocket AT&T’s business, and the company itself admits it expects to see little financial benefit from the sale, jettisoning Yellow Pages will allow AT&T to turn its focus to mobile initiatives in a hope to compete with competitors’ growing businesses.

While AT&T was cutting the fat to look to the future, Microsoft was busy doing some strategizing of its own. AOL has long been looking to transition to a more media-focused initiative, recently purchasing The Huffington Post and Techcrunch, so Microsoft was happy to buy up 800 tech patents from AOL, many of which were mobile-oriented. Microsoft has been very publically trying to keep up with competition in the mobile game such as Apple and Google’s Android market, and the acquisition of a slew of new patents may be just the beginning for the tech giant.

So, which billion-dollar baby will have the biggest impact on the mobile world? Well, despite the insistence from the folks at Facebook that nothing will change at Instagram, the sale likely has the most immediate implications of the three moves. Easier sharing of better photos, all streamlined through the mobile landscape, will almost instantly change the way we connect and communicate.

In the long run however, the new weapons that Microsoft acquired may end up being the biggest game-changer. We’ve seen Apple falter sans-Steve Jobs before, and considering some recent slip-ups, it’s not altogether crazy to think it may happen again. Of course, there’s a new rival that Microsoft will have to face head on this time around in the form of a little company called Google, but however the game shakes out, it’s going to get interesting.

Tell us about your thoughts on the billion-dollar deal day we just saw in the comments section below and of course make sure to follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly , Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest for more mobile web

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

Good Idea: Finding Easter eggs on Easter. Bad Idea: Finding Easter eggs on Xmas.

– Jack Handy

Time again to pack up the coffee mug and head home for the weekend. While you’re shuffling kids into the car for that nice long road trip to a relative’s house you’re not that fond of anyway, or stuffing your face with far too much honey-glazed ham, we know you won’t be far from your mobile device of choice. That’s why as always we thought we’d take this chance to send you into the weekend by taking a look back at some of our favorite developments in the mobile world from the past week.

That’s all for now, have a great Easter weekend, enjoy the start of passover, or just take some time to relax. We’ll see you all back here on Monday but until then make sure to follow us on Twitter @fiddlefly and check us out on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest for more mobile web developments.

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