2008 January 10 | money news blog

10 01 2008

Last.fm hits Windows Mobile

Posted by: in Social Informant

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Windows Mobile, Web services, Freeware, Social Software, Mobile Minute, web 2.0

Fancy Last.fm? Fancy Windows Mobile? Then you’d probably fancy the Last.fm Windows Mobile app currently in development, which happens to be called Last.fm Mobile. The Pocket Personal computer version includes scrobbling and experimental radio functionality, but the Smartphone version can only scrobble from Windows Media Player.

The app has a healthy backing of supporters at the Last.fm forum, which is where you can learn where to download and how to install Last.fm Mobile. You’ll need Windows Mobile 5 or 6 and the .NET Compact Framework 2.0, which should be included with Windows Mobile 6.

Last.fm offers tools for discovering new music, social networking, and, of course, listening to music. The addition of WM functionality only makes it that much more useful.

[via MR MOBILE]

10 01 2008

Chat with your Facebook contacts with Social.im

Posted by: in Social Informant

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Look, we know you’ve already got about two dozen chat clients installed on your personal so you can keep in touch with your contacts using instant messengers from Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL, and other services (seriously haven’t you ever heard of Pidgin?) But the latest entry in the instant messaging game is actually worth taking a look at.

Social.im is an instant messaging client that lets you chat with your Facebook contacts. The idea is that while your friends might use any number of different chat clients, there’s a good chance they use Facebook. We don’t know if that’s true, but the first time we ran Social.im 60+ names showed up in our contact list, which is something we can’t say for any other new instant messaging service we’ve ever tried.

What makes Social.im different from all the Facebook applications that let you chat with your contacts is that you don’t run Social.im in a web browser window. Rather it’s a standalone program that logs into your Facebook account sans web browser. Of course, your friends need to download and install the client before you can chat with them, but Social.im makes it simple to send messages to your friends letting them know about the service. You know, if you want to be that guy.

As a chat client, Social.im is pretty basic. There’s no file transfer or image sharing features. There’s no voice chat. But the client does include a status bar letting you know if you’ve received any new Facebook messages, pokes, friend requests, or wall posts since your last login. Clicking on the icons brings up Facebook in a web browser. It would be nice if you could also right click on a contact’s name to bring up their page in a web browser, but this is still an early release.

Social.im is available for Windows only at the moment, but a Mac version is coming soon.

[via VentureBeat]

10 01 2008

Earth Class Mail raises $13 million

Posted by: in Raising Money

Filed under: Raising money, Investments

Wednesday, when I checked my mail box, I had to throw most of the stuff away. Essentially, the task is really about weeding out lots of junk mail.

Well, Earth Class Mail thinks it has a superior way. In fact, the company raised $13.3 million this week from investors including Ignition Partners and the Keiretsu Forum.

Basically, the service grants for on the web delivery of regular postal mail - for consumers and businesses. Yes, it’s a cool “clicks and bricks” business model, and I think it could see lots of traction (I would like to use the service, actually).

Earth Class Mail has assembled an impressive team, with operators from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX). Although, I think that Kenn Dahl, who is a board member, will be key. After all, he’s the president of Prime Recognition, which develops sophisticated optical character recognition software.

Interestingly enough, there’s also a cleantech angle. That is, Earth Class Mail will recycle your mail.

And, based on the mail I get, I think I could save a few trees.

Finally, if you want to check out other interesting venture capital deals, check out DealProfiles.com.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar On the web Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

10 01 2008

Nokia Sports Tracker gets a Facebook app

Posted by: in Social Informant

Filed under: Utilities, Social Software, Beta

Nokia Sports Tracker is an astounding application for Nokia N series smartphones that uses GPS to enable users to track their activities. Do you’ve a friend who has a Garmin ForeRunner? These are incredible GPS watches because they give you exact statistics about distance traveled, average speed, elevation gain, etc. Well Nokia Sports Tracker gives you the same information by using the GPS in your Nokia phone (such as the N95).

Nokia has taken the next step by allowing you to share this information with your friends by developing a Facebook application. Now you can share your latest workouts and routes directly in your Facebook profile. Information such as your speed, distance and time are automatically stored to your training diary.

Enjoy sharing your route, speed, and distance with your friends with this smart new Facebook Application.