Geogad has just released a new improved version of its Android app, Geogad Tours. This new, revised version now includes

• More ways to upload your own video-based tour stops directly from your phone
• Purchase tours directly from your phone
• More maps to identify tour locations
• Improved look and feel to make it even more fun to surf for tour stops

Geogad had the privilege of launching the improved Geogad Tours app at at the 4G Symposium held at Stanford University yesterday. The app was presented to a packed auditorium filled with industry reps from across Silicon Valley. The demo was well-received and went on to win the ”Best 4G Mobile Consumer Application” award. Our thanks to both the judges from Intel, Sprint, Clear, Cisco, Comcast and for Stanford, Sprint, and Clearwire for organizing this wonderful events.

 

 

Google I/O brought large number of developers to San Francisco during the week of May 19-20. We certainly could not let an opportunity like that go by without connecting with other Android developers. The result was the Android Mixer, which was hosted by Informal Android Developer Meetup and held in the SoMa (that is south of Market Street, for those outside of San Francisco) offices of Twilio. It is really amazing what can be accomplished by mixing Android developers with pizza and beer. It was a great chance for the local developers to introduce the out-of-town developers to the amazing place that is Silicon Valley. Some developers demoed their Android applications for the crowd. A list of some of the demoed apps are listed below. All in all, everyone had a great time and are already looking forward to the next event.

 

Questions on the demo display software

 

Several people asked what software was used to display the working apps on the phone onto the computer and then the projector. The free software is called DroidEx. You can get more info on it and how to run the app at http://www.androidguys.com/2009/01/30/projecting-android-on-the-big-screen/.

However, Lance Nanek said that Mark Murphy say that Droid@Screen might be better than his DroidEx: https://gems.codaset.com/jens-riboe/droidatscreen

 

Sponsors

Of course, the Android Mixer would not have been possible without the generosity of the sponsors. Below is a list of the sponsors in attendance at the mixer.

Twilio

Twilio is a simple, powerful, pay-as-you-go api for making and receiving calls and sending and receiving SMS messages. Twilio lets you use your existing web development skills, existing code, existing servers, existing databases and existing karma to solve these problems quickly and reliably. We provide the infrastructure, you provide the business logic via HTTP, and together we rule the world

We’re always looking for smart self-starters. Come run wild in our geek pasture. Twilio is a fast-paced environment for motivated geeks, and rewards the awesome. Do you like Macbooks, automated testing, and distributed data stores? You might be our kind of people. Our open positions include:

 

Lead Software Engineer, Applications

http://twilio.jobscore.com/job_seeker/jobs/job_posting?job_id=bcRh-Kq24r37OmeJe4aGWH&ref=rss

 

 

Software Engineer, Infrastructure

http://twilio.jobscore.com/job_seeker/jobs/job_posting?job_id=bSHjYWq2Sr37U6eJe4aGWH&ref=rss

 

 

Software Engineer (Recent Graduate or Intern)

http://twilio.jobscore.com/job_seeker/jobs/job_posting?job_id=dK2MOapQWr36EleJe4aGWH&ref=rss

 

 

Product Manager

http://twilio.jobscore.com/job_seeker/jobs/job_posting?job_id=d3QWDeo4yr376HeJe4aGWH&ref=rss

 

 

Front End / Web Software Engineer

http://twilio.jobscore.com/job_seeker/jobs/job_posting?job_id=blcvH0iPur35jUeJe4aGWH&ref=rss

 

 

 

Tech Credit Union

 

Technology Credit Union is among the top 1 percent of the nation’s largest credit unions, with more than $1.3 billion in assets and growing. Tech CU has ten full-service branches in the Silicon Valley, and more than 60,000 surcharge-free ATMs nationwide.

 

Whatever the size of your business you need a financial partner that sees your potential. From business checking and savings accounts to lines of credit to payroll processing—at Tech CU, we specialize in meeting your business needs and providing you the personalized attention you need to grow.

 

To find our more about Tech CU, please call us at (800) 448-1467, or send us an email at businessservices@techcu.com.

 

 

 

Here are some cool things that are going on at TechCU!

 

 

Enter Tech CU’s SWIPE FOR GOLD Anniversary Sweepstakes! at http://rumble.tcu.com/resources/news_events/news/Swipe4Gold.htm?click=FLASH

 

 

Happy 50^th Anniversary Tech CU!

Thursday, May 27, is Tech CU Founders Day at http://www.techcu.com/resources/news_events/news/50year_celeb.htm?click=FLASH

 

 

Seminar- June 24: How to Buy a Home in a Changing Market

 

http://www.techcu.com/resources/news_events/events/June24_event.htm

 

 

 

Become a TechCU Member Company~

 

http://www.techcu.com/Resources/Membership/member_companies/become_mc

 

 

 

Sprint

 

 

4G WiMAX Developers Symposium

 

1. Sprint™ ADP would like to invite you to attend the 4G WiMAX Developers Symposium to be held on June 15 at Stanford University. You will hear from industry leaders and Stanford faculty members who develop and deploy this technology. They will discuss new ideas on how you can create, develop and apply your new ideas in this next-generation mobile Internet technology.

 

Topics will include:

 

4G WiMAX wireless broadband application trends and forecasts 4G developer marketing strategy with Symposium sponsors: Cisco, Comcast, Intel, Sprint, Time Warner Cable and CLEAR Discussions on new 4G WiMAX devices, developments and services

 

2. There is limited seating for this Symposium. We urge you to register soon to reserve your seat. There is a nominal charge of $25 for the event. Sign up at http://scpd.stanford.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=6650469

 

3. Thank you for your continued interest in the Sprint ADP. If you have questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at SprintADP@sprint.com

 

Learn more!

 

See you there!

The Sprint ADP Team

 

 

 

T-Mobile

 

T-Mobile was happy to participate in last month’s Android Mixer. As the leading provider of Android handsets and Google’s first partner with Android, T-Mobile is always looking for innovative ways to further Android development. Please watch for the launch of our new Android handset this month! Also, as an added commitment to the developer community, T-Mobile has just created a portal designed specifically to give developers discounts on all Android handsets. You can visit this site at www.t-mobileportal.com/androiddevelopers We hope to add to this site making it more robust and including the lastest info on all things Android!

 

Thanks again for all your support and we look forward to seeing you at another mixer soon.

 

 

Android Demos

Below is a partial list of the apps that were demoed in alphabetical order by title.

 

Alarmoid

Demoer: Beth Mezias

On the Android Market: Yes

Description:

Alarmoid is a service to shut off and then automatically restart sound on Android. Set a timer on the fly, set a schedule. Let the phone ring only for a contact group during quiet time or set it for all calls to vibrate. This is an easy to use, highly configurable app. http://sites.google.com/site/mezcocorp/

 

 

AutoTrafego

Demoer: Adam Beal, Lance Nanek

On the Android Market: Yes

 

Description:

A fun game where you control the traffic lights of various cities and try to save everyone’s commute. The stunning graphics are thanks to having a professional game artist on the team.

Market link for free lite version: market://details?id=com.speknid.autotrafego.lite

Market link for full version: market://details?id=com.speknid.autotrafego

 

 

Congress

Demoer: Eric Mill

On the Android Market: Yes

 

Description:

“Congress” is a pocket directory for your elected representatives and the bills they make and vote on. It connects to Twitter, YouTube, the news, and other information sources for a comprehensive look into the workings of Congress. For a QR code, screenshots, and more info, visit http://sunlightlabs.com/blog/2009/congress-theres-an-android-app-for-that/

 

 

Geogad Tours

Demoer: Georgi Dagnall

On the Android Market: Yes

 

Description:

Explore popular travel destinations with audio and video clips. Find nearby tours and tour stops with your phone’s built-in GPS, with the search features of the Geogad application, and with built-in dynamic mapping and directions. Upload video-based tour stops right from your phone. The newest version includes advertisements and coupons for local businesses and an augmented reality view. For more info, go to http://www.geogad.com/geogad/android

 

 

Herdcall

Demoer: Sekhar Ravinutala

On the Android Market: Not yet

 

Description:

Call a social huddle: easily set up meetings with your contacts at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail, and Yahoo! http://herdcall.com

 

 

ShowUsLive

Demoer: Vinh V. Lam

On the Android Market: Yes

 

Description:

Have you ever been in Location A and wondered what’s going on at Location B? We provide a service to allow you to do just that. How? Our service harnesses the power of social network and mobile apps to let you view live videos of the locations. For example, you can view different restaurants or clubs to see how crowded they are before you go there.

 

 

tmi:Mobile

Demoer: Harold Alexander

On the Android Market: Yes

 

Description:

tmi breaks history up into sections and allows the user to select the section they want to delivered to them. Go to tmiapp.com for more info

 

TransiCast

Demoer: Joachim Pfeiffer

On the Android Market: Yes

 

Description:

A transit service browser. Next bus and train arrivals for San Francisco, Portland (OR) and Chicago Bus. For more info, go to http://www.transicast.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advances in mobile phone technology has been occurring rapidly, despite some of the best efforts of the carriers. After all, if it was up to them, we would all be paying $0.10 to send a 160 character SMS text message vs. downloading and watching YouTube videos for free. It does not pay to be a dumb pipe.

Sprint has been really difficult about opening their network to developers who want to build location-based services. In the recent past, they charged $5000 for access to their location SDKs. More recently, they have been working with third parties to give developers controlled access to the end customer’s location.

According to some informal testing run and reported by developers who attended last week’s Informal Android Developer Meetup, the Sprint-based Android smartphones are not providing location info from the carrier network. Fortunately, developers can still get the location info from the phone’s built-in GPS chipset. Given this alternative way to get location that is not dependent on the carrier, it is confusing as to why Sprint still has not opened their system more.

In related news, Sprint is adding more third party location providers to their network with its addition of technology from TechnoCom Corp. Just what developers need, more fragmentation.

The competition among the wireless carriers have heated up to the point where Sprint and Verizon are about to open their systems to make them really useful for their customers. (Finally!) Sprint and Verizon are working on ways for apps on high end phones to be able to locate the user. It is a year behind the iPhone and 3 months behind the Google phone, but better late than never. The real question is will developers put much effort into developing for these platforms? For example, Sprint is planning to open their systems using partners like uLocate and WaveMarket. These solutions have been out their for a while. What is the new incentive to create apps around these other companies’ apps? And what kind of hassel will developers have getting location info in this round about way?

Alltel is working with Trimble to create a new app that lets uses plan and keep track of their travels on their phones. They can also attach photos, audio and video from the trip to specific lat,lon coordinates. As opposed to several free Web 2.0 services that have these functions, this service cost $40/year. Some people might pay for it for the convienence, but only if they are unaware of the free options.

RCR Wireless had a great cost analysis from Shawn Conahan on what the balance sheets might look like if a big wireless carrier like Sprint decided to switch from being a tightly controlled carrier to a more open “dumb pipe”. The analysis is great because he compares the actual reported numbers and to his theoretical numbers. Conahan’s analysis is not very rosy for the carrier, and that is assuming that they can charge their customers around $50/month. This value is basically what they are pulling in now.

I think the analysis is wonderful for a talking point, but I have to disagree with the assumption on what the carrier would be able to charge their customers. As I have discussed previously, the carriers make their money on charging lots of money for voice. They can’t charge much for data, and the prices for data are dropping like a rock. Competition is increasing from unexpected sources. For example, Skype and other low cost voice communication methods are able to offer low cost communication by piggybacking on the data delivery services. Whether you use Conahan’s numbers or a lower revenue number that I think is more reasonable, the results are the same. The carriers just can’t survive being a dumb pipe.

The difficulty of being a dumb pipe is clearly shown by the Earthlink Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia. It has been built to cover 80% of the city at no cost to taxpayers, and Earthlink can’t even find anyone to give the network to. Even the city of Philadelphia does not want to pony up the money to keep it running.  How bad is a business model when you can’t even give it away for free?

On a related note is Google bidding for wireless spectrum last month. When Google was talking about buying wireless spectrum, I figured that it was just a ruse. Google knows how to work on the edge of the network, but they know nothing about running one of these costly, complex and low margin networks. They would be crazy to get into the data network business.