Mobile App Highlight Gi...

Checkins are not the future. They interrupt the moment and quickly become outdated. Highlight , a mobile app launching today, offers a better gateway to serendipitous meetups. All you do is download Highlight , turn it on, and let it run passively in the background. Then when you come within a few blocks of another Highlight users who’s your Facebook friend or that you have friends or interests in common with, Highlight sends you a push notification and lets you message them. Highlight’s founder Paul Davison excitedly explains, “Nothing effects our lives and happiness more than the people we’re closest to, but the way we learn about them is totally random.” When his sister moved to the US from London and needed to meet new people, Davison got the idea for Highlight. Davison previously worked for Benchmark Capital and at Metaweb through its acquisition by Google, but is now half of the extra-lean bootstrapped two-man team behind Highlight called Math Camp, inc. The iOS app’s home screen shows a reverse chronological list of all the people you’ve crossed paths with. Clicking through to someone reveals basic information they’ve added, mutual friends and interests, Highlight status updates, and a log of every time you’ve been nearby them. The app can drain battery life as it runs GPS in the background. However, Davison says he hasn’t heard many complaints from users, and it should become even less of an issue as the app is further optimized and mobile tech improves. Highlight’s internal message feature can help you meetup with friends who might be in the coffee shop next door, or introduce yourself to potential business contacts, buddies, or romantic interests. A pause button lets you go off the radar until you next open the app if you don’t want to share your location. By default your profile can appear to anyone you cross paths with, but a privacy option lets you restrict visibility to friends of friends only. Some people are still sure to think Highlight is creepy right now. Like many great social technologies, though, Highlight may be ahead of the curve. Davison insists creating a safe, trusted network where both men and women feel comfortable is a priority. “Whether we do it or someone else does it, I know this 6th sense is going to exist and it’s going to change the world”, Davison believes. “In the future we’ll look back and say ‘I can’t believe we didn’t have it and walked around blind.’” Highlight could disrupt existing location services like Foursquare and Facebook Places, or at least spur them to evolve. Those companies may attempt to copy its passive functionality, so Highlight needs to establish traction now. But really, Highlight does something new. The way Instagram makes you see art everywhere you look, Highlight makes you feel connected where you were once surrounded by strangers. Highlight is now available for iOS to anyone in the US.

Dunkin’ Donuts Ru...

Foursquare and Facebook Places anchor New York-area promotion.

Microsoft Begins Rollin...

Microsoft promised just a few days back that the Windows Phone 7.5 update (otherwise known as “Mango”, because updates need funny little names now) would roll out “sometime in the next week or two” — and sure enough, said roll out has just begun. As for who it’s rolling out to… that’s still a bit of a mystery. Check out this statement: Today we’re starting the roll out of Windows Phone 7.5 to more than 98 percent of existing Windows Phone customers. This is a simultaneous, coordinated, global update that cuts across carriers, phone models, and countries. This time, almost everybody is going first. Then, just a few sentences later: So we’re deliberately starting out slow. This week, we’ll be making the update available to 10 percent of customers. So, good news: Hurray! 98% of people will get the update beginning today! Everybody goes first! But the bad news: only 10% of people actually get to install and use it. A slow roll out makes sense, of course; previous Windows Phone 7 updates have gone as sour as to brick handsets . Their message just isn’t entirely clear, and their “ Where’s my update? ” isn’t very helpful: again, they say they’re “delivering” the update today, with a special little asterisk clarifying that the update might not actually go live for a few weeks. Messy. Forgotten what’s new in Windows Phone 7.5 ? Here’s quick recap of the highlights: Facebook Places support integrated Dynamic Live Tiles for third party developers Contacts can be grouped and pinned to homescreen Twitter/LinkedIn support Windows Live Messenger and Facebook Chat Threaded messages and e-mail A suite of Bing stuff (Song ID, QR code reader, Album/CD cover identifier, etc.) New camera UI Internet Explorer 9 Ringtone management Front facing camera support Optional, depending on the carrier: Visual voicemail, internet tethering Crunchbase MICROSOFT Company: Microsoft Website: microsoft.com Launch Date: April 4, 1974 IPO: NASDAQ:MSFT Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured. Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market. Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and... Learn more

New Facebook Tab Makes ...

Social giant also testing feature that transparently tallies Facebook Places interactions.

Facebook Imitation Not ...

Because this reminds me of that time when Facebook unveiled that the Facebook Places logo was, no joke, a “4″ in a square , I’m just going to copy the intro sentence to that post: On the right is the status and photo update interface for Facebook’s iOS app, updated to a 3.5 version yesterday. On the left is the iOS interface for the current leader in the status update space Twitter . Notice anything interesting? Sure you say, a standard mobile status update box isn’t exactly a UI opus. But it’s the little things, like how the people tagging icons are in exactly the same place on both apps, that matter. Also, this is what the Facebook iPhone status update interface looked like before the 3.5 version. Heh. Apparently I’m not the only one who sees the resemblance between the two, as Twitter mobile designer Bryan Haggerty has tweeted out comparative screencaps of both, with the comments, “Seriously Facebook?” and “Okay Facebook, enough with the flattery.” Interestingly enough, Haggerty used to work on the mobile team at LinkedIn, which, coincidently, was at some point itself on the receiving end of claims