I just purchased 3 (yep 3) of the new Nest Thermostats, which I’ll be taking for a test drive in the coming weeks.  I learned about Nest in this great Wired Article.  If you’re unfamiliar with Nest, it’s an amazing new thermostat that was designed by the creator of the iPod.  Nest is intelligent, learning what you like as you use it… It remembers when you wake up, when you go to sleep, and more. Best of all, you can control it remotely from your mobile phone – either iOS or Android, and it looks easy to install (more…)

I’m at Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, CA today to hear about Facebook’s new HTML5 platform… I’ll be updating my notes from the event throughout the day, below. Refresh regularly:

First up… Mark Zuckerberg.

• 350,000,000 people monthly are touching Facebook’s mobile apps. Facebook is pushing on mobile and thinks it’s going to be a big opportunity for developers.
• On mobile apps, social infrastructure has been missing. The app store model is a good way to get distribution, but developing your apps so that they’re fundamentally social will also give you better distribution through the social graph.
• The vision for Facebook’s mobile apps. Facebook thinks that all apps will eventually become social. Mark says he wants Facebook to be on every phone and as deeply integrated into many devices as possible. (more…)

I’ve never been more excited to be working at the forefront of mobile and social convergence than right now.  With every week that passes, my work gets more and more interesting. I’m particularly excited about what’s happening today, as my newest client, Telesocial, launches their social to mobile calling solution – the world’s only free API for initiating mobile calls combined with a secure social to mobile cloud directory.  This is one of the coolest innovations in mobile and social convergence, and I’m not just saying that because Telesocial is my client…Telesocial’s platform is an industry first, and it is great for users, developers, and mobile operators. (more…)

I recently sat down with Henry Vogel, the President and CEO of Apptera to talk about their new Android app, Poptuit.  Poptuit is a multi-faceted consumer-focused app that brings together your favorite people and merchants together with your phone’s dialer, SMS messenger, email client, camera, maps, social apps and more into one easy to use interface.  This app packs a punch and does a ton of things that normally would require several apps to do… It reminds me of a mobile version of Xobni mixed with a social address book, smarter Yellow Pages, Glympse and the new “Family and Friends” app Apple announced today for the iPhone 4s. (more…)

In 2010, the most over-used buzz words in my more mobile-focused circles were “monetization” and “virality”. This year’s buzz word bingo winners are  “gamification” and “gaming mechanics,” which encompass both “monetization” and creating “virality.”  The mobile world is quickly catching on to what the gamers and social web folks have known for a long time – one of the best ways to get people to use your app is to improve engagement through gamification. While these two words are often over-used, it’s with good reason. Introducing gaming mechanics into your app can help drive usage in the short, medium, and long term. (more…)

As I mentioned in my post over the weekend, I’ve been doing business development consulting for a cool company based in Latin America called Movile, and today, they’re launching something pretty cool…Zeewe 2.0.  Here’s the press release:

Today Movile, the leading mobile services company, announces Zeewe 2.0 (go.zeewe.com), the new version of the pioneering HTML5 app store and directory for smartphones and tablets. Zeewe has more than 1.5 million users worldwide, and these users typically use at least 5 web apps that they discover on Zeewe.  Movile also announces the launch of several exciting new features for Zeewe including off-line mode which enables users to use the Zeewe store and select apps without an internet connection on iOS devices. Beside this, Zeewe also now offers developers a payment API that enables them to charge for Apps and transact in-app purchases. (more…)

There’s another great conference coming up for developers.  “Web Directions Unplugged” will take place in Seattle May 12 and 13, and it’s targeted at folks that are designing and developing apps and games using HTML5.  They’re offering a 30% Discount for the Socialize Mobilize community with the code “socialize,” making the show just $695. (more…)

The Global Strategic Management Institute (GSMI) is hosting three mobile + social media events in the coming months, and Socialize Mobilize is a media sponsor.  As a reader of SocializeMobilize.com, you’ll get 10% off the registration cost for each of these conferences by using the promo code “MikeSM” during registration (more information below).

Here are the details of each summit:

(more…)

I recently stumbled across a visual map of the web 2.0 landscape, created by John Battelle and team, called Points of Control.  (Note: If you’re interested in social media and you’re not familiar with John Battelle, check him out… He’s the Program Chair of the Web 2.0 Summit, and his nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter -including me- are a good indication that he regularly has interesting things to say.) (more…)

This year, there’s a new event taking center stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on September 13-14: APPNATION: Show me the money conference.

As you might guess, this show is all about apps and monetization – mobile apps, social apps, TV apps – you name it.  The speaker list reads like a ‘who’s who’ of mobile, web, media and agencies – well worth checking out.  SocializeMobilize.com readers will get 25% off the full conference pass by using the code MHFC25 during registration.

There’s also great opportunity for developers to show off their skills, gain some cross-industry exposure, and potentially win cash through the “Pimp My App Contest”.  Here’s the scoop:

One Great Contest — Two Cool Partners. We are calling on all developers to show off your skills by Pimping The App for Fox’s television show “Fringe”, The City of San Francisco’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau or both. Enter as many individual apps as you like for either or both of our partners. There are separate grand prizes so, who knows, maybe you’ll hack your way to victory for both contests. Sort of like winning both showcases on the Price is Right!. So, start hacking as you have until September 3rd to submit your entries.