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New Media News Every Morning

Facebook Launches a New Mobile Site, and it’s Free

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If you don’t own any of the smartphone including iPhone, Android phone, BlackBerry or Palm, chances are you’re accessing Facebook via its mobile site – m.facebook.com. The thing is, accessing this site incur you more data charges than when using native mobile phone Facebook apps. Enter “0.facebook.com” a fast and free mobile Facebook site.

This new mobile Facebook site was made possible with around 50 mobile carriers globally. So, it means that if you’re current mobile carrier is not one of those on the list you won’t be able to access the new mobile site for free. You can still access the old Facebook mobile site though but like I said, appropriate data charges will apply.

Feature-wise, 0.facebook.com will let you enjoy all the key features of the standard Facebook mobile site (m.facebook.com). You can update your status, view news feed, like or comment on posts, send and reply to messages or write on your friends’ walls.

As for viewing photos, the new mobile site will not display them but instead redirect you to another page so as not to slow down the viewing experience on the new mobile Facebook site.

So, check out the list below if you’re mobile carrier is included. Facebook promise to bring in other carriers soon.

Originally posted on May 18, 2010 @ 8:30 pm

Offerpal Unveils GamePoints.com, Enters the Virtual Currency Bout vs. Facebook

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While Facebook is busy preparing its own virtual currency, Facebook Credits, Offerpal Media went ahead and rolled out its own virtual currency system complete with its own website – Gamepoints.com.

Basically, what Gamepoints lets you do is to  accumulate Gamepoints credit as much as you want to. You can then exchange these gamepoints for  virtual currency which you can spend on Facebook games.

To earn game points, you can do the following  activities:

  • Watch a short video
  • Buy music MP3s from iTunes or tickets to popular movies in theaters today
  • Shop online at your favorite stores, including great deals with discount coupons
  • Trade-in used electronics or unused gift cards
  • Complete a survey
  • Subscribe to magazines

After earning enough game points, you can then use them on Facebook games as virtual currency  on various social networking sites such as – FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, Cafe Worl and more.

If you don’t have the time to do the ways by which you can earn game points, Gamepoints.com also lets you directly buy those game points so that you can use them immediately on your favorite social networking site which support virtual currencies.

The list of social games where you can use GamePoints include Zynga’s FarmVille, YoVille, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, Café World, PetVille, FishVille, Vampire Wars and others; Playdom’s Mobsters, Sorority Life, Social City, Tiki Resort and others; Digital Chocolate’s MMA Pro Fighter; HitGrab’s Mousehunt; TheBroth’s Barn Buddy; Tall Tree Game’s Fish World; K-Factor Media’s Castle Age; Tree Room’s My Town; Apps-O-Rama’s Car Madness; Offbeat Creations’ Be a Tycoon; BitRhymes’ The Warlords; Five Minutes’ Happy Farm; and many others.

Originally posted on May 4, 2010 @ 10:52 am

Opera Mini Gets More Downloads from iPhone Owners in March

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Opera’s latest State of the Mobile Web Report is showing some pretty interesting results for iPhone usage and global mobile handset trends. According to the report, the iPhone is now the third most used handset used by Opera Mini users worldwide. Even more interesting is the fact that the other top 20 mobile phones are either Nokia or Sony Ericsson phones.

The report also highlighted the fact that the iPhone is the number one device used by Opera Mini users in the United States. displacing the BlackBerry.  In addition, of the 10 countries using the Opera Mini, the United States and United Kingdom tops the countries where the iPhone is the most used device by Opera Mini users. This is pretty significant since Opera Mini for iPhone was only made available last month.

Going now to the global mobile statistics presented by Opera, in March 2010, Opera Mini had more than 55.2 million users, wherein 25.8 billion pages where viewed increasing page views by 17.4%. Opera Mini has also generated more than 396 million MB of data for oeprators worldwide. And the top countries for Opera Mini usage in 2010 include – Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, Nigeria, Vietnam, United Kingdom and the U.S.

Some pretty impressive stats for Opera Mini, right? Have you downloaded the latest version of Opera Mini on your mobile phone?  What is your phone’s mobile web browser if not Opera Mini?

Originally posted on April 28, 2010 @ 6:51 am

Square Rolls Out Credit Card Payment App for iPhone, iPad and Android

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Are we now looking at the future of credit card payment solution? I mean, does the Square credit card app which is now available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices the future of mobile commerce?  It could possibly be, depending on the success of Square’s credit card payment system which just got out into the open, ready to offer an alternative payment solution not just for small entrepreneurs but big businesses as well.

How Does Square Work?

First, how does Square work really? What do you need to start accepting credit card payments using your iPhone and iPod Touches, iPad or Android devices. Of course you need any of those devices. Then you also need Square’s credit card swiper which you attach to your device’s headphone jack. The credit card swiper is free and even comes with an online dashboard to let you keep track of what you’ve sold.

Once connected to the device, you can now swipe the credit card, and the application will process the transaction.  After swiping you let the customer sign the transaction using a finger. Customers can opt to add a tip before entering their phone number or email address. Transaction receipts are delivered via SMS or email on the customer’s mobile device.

“With Square the goal is to get people in immediately, and make the transaction as smooth and simple as possible,” says Jack Dorsey, the brains behind Square and the cofounder and chairman of Twitter.

Will  It Take Off?

Right now, there are around 1,000 users who are testing the Square card swipers. Dorsey hopes to distribute it to millions more in three months. Some people are actually using the system now out of the pilot program.

The band Spoon for instance is using the Square app for selling their merchandise while on the road. Tipping Point is currently using 25 iPod Touches for taking donations at fundraising events.

Democratic congressional candidate  for New York, Reshma Saujani has been using Square to accept donations for her campaign.

Surely, Square’s credit card app is taking off. But it’s success will still depend on customer acceptance. It’s going to be a change of mindset which is pretty hard to achieve.

Originally posted on May 11, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

LinkedIn Becomes More Integrated with Twitter

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Sometime in November last year, LinkedIn started rolling out some Twitter integration features. If you’re one of those LinkedIn members who integrated your LinkedIn accounts with Twitter, you might also want to go deeper into these integration and install the Tweets app.

This new LinkedIn feature lets you easily find and keep track of your LinkedIn connections on both LinkedIn and Twitter. Once you’ve installed that Tweet app, you can access this from your Profile page by clicking on the “more” tab which you can find at the top of your LinkedIn profile page. Clicking on that “more” tab will display your Twitter public timeline including tweets from people you follow. From that page, you can post tweet to your account.

The new Tweet app also has a new module called – “connection to follow.” What this module does is to give you recommendations on new people to follow which are your LinkedIn contacts.

Another nice feature of the Tweet app is the “connections” category which list down your LinkedIn connections who have already installed the Tweet app. From there you can see their Twitter information, follow or unfollow them and see a sample of their last tweets.

If you’re into Twitter lists, the new LinkedIn Tweet app also lets you create a dynamic Twitter list consisting of your LinkedIn connections. This list displays tweets of your LinkedIn contacts and are updated real-time. It’s like your usual Twitter list built into your LinkedIn accounts.

Alright, enough of this blabber. If you’re into LinkedIn and Twitter, might as well integrate these two accounts.  You may install the LinkedIn Tweet app from this link.

Originally posted on May 25, 2010 @ 8:40 pm