The good news: Shazam, the popular music service that allows you to identify a song by holding your device up to a speaker for a few seconds, has released a premium version of their iPhone application called “Shazam Encore” [iTunes link]. For 5 USD (or 4 EUR or 3 GBP) you get: faster song recognition, the ability to see where you where when you identified a song, music recommendations based on the songs you looked up, find out which songs are being identified the most, and a car mode that helps you identify what’s playing on the radio.

“Since our launch on the App Store, Shazam has achieved a huge following with iPhone and iPod touch users and is now one of the most popular music apps in the world,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “We have listened to our iPhone and iPod touch users and have created a new app which answers their requests to take them on an enhanced music journey that will change the way music lovers experience and learn about music.”

The bad news: New users of Shazam deciding to use the free verison will be limited to only 5 uses of the Shazam service per month.

[Via: Shazam Press Release]

Mobile payment solutions provider CHARGE Anywhere is “going Android” with a dedicated application which it argues is the first PCI PA-DSS validated Payment Application for the platform. All major card processors support CHARGE Anywhere’s mobile payment software and payment gateway solutions, hence seamless integration with virtually every merchant account provider is guaranteed.

To put this mumbo-jumbo into plain words, CHARGE Anywhere for Android enables merchants to easily and securely accept credit and debit card transactions at the point-of-sale or point-of-service.

The software also supports optional hardware such as a Bluetooth printer with integrated card reader, enabling for printing of receipts on the spot… Additional details are available from CHARGE Anywhere’s website.

On the heels of its recent iPhone app update, Remember The Milk updated its Android application adding some cool new features to the mix. Here’s what’s changed in the version 1.1.0 (codename “Bender”):

• Widget customization – you can now choose between two different sizes (2×2 and 3×3) and customize what the widget shows: tasks due today, all tasks, or tasks from a specific list (Smart Lists, included).
• Start screen customization – allows for customization of the screen that the app starts up on from the “Settings” menu. Choose between screens like “Today,” “Tags,” and “Nearby,” or select a specific list (or Smart List) to start on.
• Quick Search Box – available in Android 1.6 and later.
• HTC Tattoo and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid support – meaning that QVGA and WVGA screen resolutions are now supported!

In a nutshell, great update hence it’s a must grab for all RTM fans who are at the same time Android device owners. Look for the RTM app in the Android Market.

[Via: RTM blog]

Software-as-a-Service company Medallia is proving once again that iPhone is a decent business device, not just a multimedia toy. They’ve released a dedicated application in the AppStore simply called Medallia for iPhone, bringing customer experience and enterprise feedback management to the palm (NSDQ: PALM) of a hand. As a result, Medallia customers can access, monitor, and respond to real-time customer feedback while on the go. The application is free to all subscribers of Medallia’s Enterprise Feedback Management Platform and it works with all iPhone models.

Commenting on the announcement, Medallia’s President Amy Pressman said: “Our clients care about the rapid delivery of actionable customer feedback that is easily accessible at all times. Organizations that focused on customer satisfaction before the recession have outperformed their peer groups and delivered higher rates of customer retention in this challenging economic environment. To maintain a competitive edge, these organizations rely on real-time feedback, not information captured weeks or months ago. We developed Medallia for iPhone so our customers, who oversee divisions across all industries, can hasten the cycle of feedback and response to improve customer satisfaction and retention.”

Finally the AppStore link is here, but if you’re a Medallia customer you’ve probably already grabbed the app.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Best Buy have announced a partnership whereby Best Buy employees will offer to install the Google Mobile Application for customers purchasing mobile phones from a retail Best Buy store. It wasn’t mentioned how much money Best Buy would receive from Google, but rumored estimates range from “I’m going to leave my job and order a trophy wife from Russia” to “I’m rich, bitch”.

Press Release, with massive amounts of bullshit press lingo stripped out, after the jump.

Read the full article »

Bell busted out their fresh HSPA devices yesterday, and today we  have a similar official announcement from telus (NYSE: TU). Earlier this week, we had a chance to sit down and take a look at the new toys; most of the players you’ll already be familiar with, but here’s a rundown of telus‘ take on each one.

First up we have the Hero, HTC’s Android avenger, jam-packed with their custom Sense user interface. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t packaged in Sprint (NYSE: S)’s slick, smooth, curve casing, but telus apparently wanted to capture the European flavour by offering something unique to North America, although it’s arguably reminiscent of Rogers (NYSE: RCI)’ HTC Dream in terms of aesthetic. Prodding a little bit about other Android hardware in the future, telussaid that they’re really not interested in vanilla builds – they really want to see some unique experiences with each manufacturer, and I couldn’t agree more. If you’re hoping to see the Hero on another carrier up north, good luck; telus said they’ve nabbed the Canadian exclusive on the Hero, and it sounded indefinite. The price point is also killer: $99.99 on contract, $499.99 off contract.

Read the full article »

Sound the air raid sirens, duck under your desks, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s wireless network is undergoing a pretty hardcore service interruption. From their Twitter account:

All – We’re aware of the current service disruption. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates as more information is available.

Hoboy. Those T-Mobile customers out there, feel free to leave a comment with your own technical problems, how long they’ve lasted, where you’re located, and if/when service has been restored. We’ll update this post as soon as we hear more about the issue.

Mobile payments company Billing Revolution announced that it now has a status as a Mobile Commerce Partner with PayPal, enabling PayPal merchants to conduct mobile credit card transactions using their existing PayPal Payflow Pro gateway accounts.

There are roughly 45,000 merchants that process transactions via PayPal Payflow gateway, and all of them now have the ability to sell their stuff to consumers on a mobile phone — although it’s unclear just how many of them will sign-up for the service.

And that’s about all we got to share regarding this news. Plus there’s the quote from Andy Kleitsch, CEO of Billing Revolution, who said: “Enabling mobile transactions for all PayPal merchants represents a strategic step forward for Billing Revolution. PayPal merchants wishing to conduct mobile credit card transactions can now safely and easily use Billing Revolution to process transactions through their existing PayPal accounts.”

Now we only have to see whether merchants will show interest and actually start implementing the new mobile payment feature. We certainly hope they’ll jump on board…

Here’s another example of great use of mobile technology for good. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a mobile food voucher pilot project to aid 1,000 Iraqi refugee families in Syria.

Here’s how it works (from the press release):

Iraqi refugees living in Damascus will receive a text message on their mobiles providing a code enabling them to cash in all or part of the “virtual voucher” at selected government shops. They will be able to exchange their electronic vouchers for rice, wheat flour, lentils, chickpeas, oil and canned fish, as well as cheese and eggs — items that cannot usually be included in conventional aid baskets.

Each family will receive one voucher per person, worth US$22 every two months. After each transaction, families will receive an updated balance, also sent by SMS to their mobile numbers.

Apparently this is the first time mobiles have been used to deliver food vouchers, and we applaud UN for pulling this out. The project was developed in collaboration with Syria’s General Establishment for Storing and Marketing Agriculture and Animal Products (GESMAAP), and mobile operator MTN, which donated SIM cards…

Facebook’s mobile site and mobile applications have been very well received by social network addicts around the world, which makes you wonder why the guy in charge of it all, Jed Stremel, resigned? After 4 years with the company he probably realized that Facebook is nothing more than a useless time suck creating a false sense of companionship while doubling as a playground with a barbed wire perimeter that you’re forced to live in for the rest of your life. That or he is just tired of working with people half his age, his shares have vested, and now he can go look for work at a company that is actually doing something useful.

Good luck Jed.

[Via: mocoNews]