Thursday, January 30, 2014

SocialRadar: Revolution at the Planet of the Apps


According to a CES recent report, at the end of 2013, about 50 billion mobile apps have been downloaded. 

ABI Research predicted it to be 56 billion while Portio Research’s forecast was 82 billion.  Both project that, in 2017, there could be 200 billion downloads.

In a world where the number of mobile cellular subscribers total 6.835 billion globally, the mobile apps have defined what our planet is and will be.

In search of gadgets, apps, and technologies that could be considered “Miracle, Magic, or Mind-Boggling”, I attended the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, Nevada as I have done over the past ten years.

What makes my last CES trip distinctly significant and most satisfying was the discovery of a new mobile app called SocialRadar.  It is seemingly ordinary software but when applied and adopted by ordinary people, it gives them extra-ordinary powers that they could never have imagined.  Its extensive usage could actually revolutionize the way they think and live.

Only launched on Thursday, January 30, 2014, I was lucky to have participated in Beta Tests conducted earlier, so I have been privy to its capabilities and features albeit on a limited basis.  But as I heard and listened to the explanation and demonstration of Michael Chasen, the company’s founding CEO, and as I get to test the app, I have no doubts about its potential and its ability to attract the number of users that social networks have successfully done.

In their press release, SocialRadar is described as “an innovative iPhone application that gives you real-time information about the people around you.” It combines real-time social network information with geo-location data in an app that is easy and fun to use.

When you walk into a room, enter a restaurant, attend a conference, or go to an event, SocialRadar tells you who are there, how you are connected to them and what they have been up to. Isn’t that amazing?

This could happen because SocialRadar unlocks the location information from your smartphone, listening to your social network chatter to deliver the important and relevant information you need about the people around you. And it does so while giving you full control over your privacy, enabling you to share information publicly, with friends only, anonymously, or be entirely invisible. It sounds like magic, doesn’t it?

This mind-boggling technology actually works by merging data from all of the top social networks, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare and Google+ with live location information from your smartphone to empower people to make smarter real-world connections.

You are already making your profile, photos, status updates, tweets, location, and other information available online either to the public, to your friends only, or to your friends’ friends.  In turn, you also get similar or more limited information.  What is more important is that you get them wherever they or you are, and in real time. Is this a “miracle” or not?

SocialRadar CEO Michael Chasen projects that  "In five years, there will be 5.6 billion people around the globe using smartphones who can broadcast their locations and today 3.9 billion people have social profiles online.”

He also reiterates “our vision was to create technology that combines the smartphone's location and the power of social networks, empowering people to walk into a room and be aware of the people and connections around them.”

Indeed, we can all find so many uses for SocialRadar. 


In a few days, I will be attending LegalTech 2014 in New York.  I will be using my iPhone and the SocialRadar app. As I join the others in the sessions, around the exhibit floor, or in any of the events, I would not be surprised if I recognize several lawyers I know, some former work colleagues, a few from American University, George Washington University, San Beda College of Law and De La Salle University – my Alma Maters; and even some old high school friends from Huntington Beach High in California or Rosales Municipal High in the Philippines.  I will also know what sports some play; one’s job or who has a new one; and other info that my SocialRadar could intelligently provide as sourced from the social networks.

In a city that never sleeps, I should no longer worry about where to look for my friends in the evening.  I expect SocialRadar to help me on this one!

I am always interested in meeting new people. SocialRadar should be able to help me meet people with common backgrounds, hobbies, causes or interests.  Given its features, SocialRadar could be a portable icebreaker, confidently empowering me to make connections with people in an unfamiliar place.

In many other occasions, SocialRadar can help you remember how you know someone across the table that you are sure you have met before.  It can pull relevant data about the person.

The timely launching of SocialRadar would certainly help me in the LegalTech 2014 New York conference.

In an article on Social Revolution, James VanHise, wrote, “Revolution is not something that is created by political elites, but rather by ordinary people when they change the way they think and live.”

In a mobile and digital world where users and consumers change the way they act, behave, and live as new technologies and apps correspondingly affected their way of thinking.  To ordinary people, the effects could be “miraculous, magical or mind-boggling” but revolutionary nonetheless.  And social changes would be inevitable!

I have several reasons why I think that SocialRadar would find social acceptance in the mobile and digital world.

First, the app empowers the user. It is revolutionary and capable of changing user’s ways.

Second, it combines and integrates data and location that users have already made available to the public or to certain personalities in the top social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare and Google+.

Michael Chasen, SocialRadar CEO 
Third, its leader, Michael Chasen, has a proven success record.  Armed with a Computer Programming Degree from American University, and an MBA from Georgetown, he pioneered the E-Learning technology – Blackboard. It became the standard for more than 30,000 universities worldwide.  Selling it for about $2 billion, he is now entering into a new venture no less challenging but more revolutionary in a planet with billions of downloaded apps. 

Fourth, the new venture is backed by a group of successful IT Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists who are as convinced of SocialRadar and Michael Chasen’s vision. Just to mention a few of them: Dave Morin, Steve Case, Kevin Colleran, Dayna Grayson, Dan Mindus, and Joshua Bogart.

Last, but not least, Michael Chasen is surrounded by a competent,  experienced, efficient and effective Management Team.

(a)           Ghafran Abbas is the Chief Systems Architect and co-founder of SocialRadar. Ghafran was the Chief Architect at TenPearls and Principal Engineer at Time Warner Cable. He has received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in information systems from Johns Hopkins University
(b)         Kevin Alansky is the Chief Marketing Officer and a co-founder of SocialRadar. Kevin spent 12 years at Blackboard where he played a key role in integrating social media into the corporate marketing strategy.
(c)           Shana Glenzer is the VP of Social Marketing at SocialRadar. Before joining SocialRadar, Shana worked as an online marketing and advertising consultant at R2Integrated. Prior to that, she had an eight-year tenure at Blackboard.
(d)           John Fontaine - VP Google Glass. John leads SocialRadar's Google Glass and developer partnership team. Prior to joining SocialRadar, John pioneered core Internet technologies at Blackboard. He was a principal author of Blackboard Learn, the hybrid and distance learning.

Let us join the Social Revolution! Download the app from the Apple Store.  It is FREE!




Thursday, January 23, 2014

The BEST of INNOVATIONS – CES 2014


Another event that I always look for during the International CES is the awarding of the Best of Innovations.  This is where innovators at their best are recognized for producing and launching these new, creative, amazing, magical products for the consumers.

I am sharing them in pictures – somehow they seem to speak louder.  To know more about them, my advice is for readers to do a search or Google each of the amazing products.


















Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The WINNING MOBILE APPS at CES


 There were also two winners – one live and the other online.
PasswordBox was the live winner while Ballerz won the online votes.





I attended again the Mobile Apps Showdown at CES 2014 on January 9, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  As in previous years I also took part in judging the best of the best mobile apps. 

According to the CES recent report, by the end of 2013, about 50 billion mobile apps will have been downloaded.  So it is indeed exciting to know some of the finalists. For lack of space, I decided to list only some that were offered for free.

PasswordBox is the only mobile app that allows you to 1-tap login instantly to your favourite websites and apps without having to type in, or even memorize, your passwords; collaborate, for personal and business purposes, with secure account sharing; create secure notes while keeping track of credit cards and other sensitive personal data in your digital wallet; and empower your ability to assign your digital estate to someone you trust should something ever happen to you.

Ballerz

Developer’s Description: Ballerz mobile game integrates social networking with friends and is compatible with Apple, but soon to be available on all platforms. Through social networking portals, Ballerz makes playing a pick-up game with friends as easy as scheduling an event. No more calling or driving around searching for friends that are already playing a game. With Ballerz you can simply upload your game information via social networking sites and notify all your friends. Ballerz also finds games playing in your area via the gps technology. When you are finished playing, our complex algorithm allows you to be rated, rate other players, and post results through social networking in order to improve your rankings and become the best player in your city!   

True3Dudio

Developer’s Description: True3Daudio – Music Player

Gabrieli – Canzoni e Sonate (Venice, 1608) Imagine a new music experience – as real as being there yourself!

In 1608 the famous Giovanni Gabrieli composed a beautiful concert for the unique acoustics in the Saint Marcus church in Venice, and it has been a favorite of many music lovers ever since.

Its first public appearance was posthumous in 1615. However only now you can enjoy this concert, with a truly remarkable authentic reproduction in 3D spatial sound – based on the True3Daudio technology in the Intelligent Headset by GN Store Nord.

Together with Newcastle University, International Centre of Music Studies, they present this first-of- its-kind app.

In this first release, you can move your avatar on the floor plan of the church, and next release will use your actual movements, so if you close your eyes you can almost..
FEEL THE SOUND MOVE YOU! 
  
Smart Document Scanner

Developer’s Description: Smart Document Scanner is the app that will help you manage your documents, enabling you to scan, scan to PDF, sync, OCR, file and enhance the final scanning result of notes, receipts, invoices, prescriptions, meeting minutes, whiteboards and much more.

Glasses.com

Developer’s Description: The glasses.com app is changing the way people browse, try and buy eyewear.

With 3Dfit technology, the glasses.com app allows users to virtually try on thousands of brand-name frames, each sized to scale on a 3D model of their face. Shoppers can compare frames with side-by-side images, select favorites, and share with family and friends via Facebook, Twitter or email.


Cliiiimb

Developer’s Description: Cliiiimb is an innovative combination of wearable technology and a compelling iPhone app that brings real-time King of the Mountain data to Strava users when they need it most: during their segment, not after. Users can run or ride against a virtual training partner or a previous personal best from segment leader boards. The app tracks your progress while the hardware gives you real- time audio and visual feedback on your position and progress. 


Zubie

Developer’s Description: Zubie makes driving safer, easier and less expensive. The Zubie app uses data collected from the Zubie Key (free with service), which is a hardware device that plugs into the OBD port of your car and monitors your driving and your cars health.

Perfect365

Developer’s Description: One tap is all it takes! Perfect365 is a unique face enhancement app that lets users easily apply a natural touchup or a trendy makeover to their photos with a single tap. Using advanced facial detection and photo editing technology, users can create studio quality images to post online or send to friends in seconds. There’s never been an easier or more entertaining way to get perfect portraits. It’s time to get your selfies on! 


Maluuba

Developer’s Description: Maluuba is a personal assistant app that provides exact results for everyday queries. It is a do- engine that allows users to speak naturally to their mobile phone to get stuff done. Whether it’s looking up movies playing at nearby theatres, or figuring out where you are going to stop for dinner, Maluuba will be there providing fast, precise results.

NQ Mobile Security

Developer’s Description: More than 383 million users around the world trust NQ Mobile Security to protect them from malware, spyware, phishing, viruses, hacking, eavesdropping, and other threats. NQ Mobile Security’s cloud-based database is the world’s largest catalog of mobile threats, with intelligence on over two billion risk-assessed and rated URLs and 1,400,000 mobile applications, and is responsible for first detecting and resolving over 75 percent of all new mobile threats.

NQ Mobile’s technology leverages its proprietary mobile threat database, which is the largest in the world, a powerful “cloud+client” architecture, and state-of-the-art virus detection software to provide users with the strongest mobile security on the market. 

Iris

Developer’s Description: A Remote Control for your Home.
Your relationship with your home is a close one. Iris gets you closer with simple wireless home control and monitoring.

Iris is your one-stop solution for creating the smart home of your dreams. With the DIY expertise you expect from Lowe’s, Iris lets you set up a reliable and easy to operate system customized to your home.

TiVo’s App for iOS

Developer’s Description: TiVo’s App for iOS provides an advanced, second-screen companion tool, enabling you to browse & discover content, stream live & recorded shows & even download programming for on-the-go viewing.


Doubling as a TiVo remote, the app manages recordings and allows you to browse the channel guide, information on actors, themed Collections of movies and TV shows including Academy Award winning films, new Fall TV programming, Shark Week, etc. all without interrupting what you’re watching on the TV. Your mobile device is now a remote, dashboard, discovery device & screen all in one, allowing true content control from anywhere. 

Babiis

Developer’s Description: A Common Sense Media Research study from November 13 recently showed that 38% of children under 2 are using tablets and smartphones (compared to 11% 2 years ago) this number going up to 72% for under 8.
Babiis is the first social network for babies & young children (1-5).

A new iOS App revolutionizing the way toddlers are going to play, learn and interact with their families through all their mobile devices.
After a 2 year development, they came up with an amazing product that proposes a large panel of social network features into a baby-friendly user interface, allowing everyone to receive video- messages from their children and send some back, wherever they are, and whenever they want.

Babiis is also a social gaming and learning platform, allowing baby to learn new words, read stories, play some games like never before thanks to his family’s involvement in his digital/online experience 

CrowdFlik

Developer’s Description: CrowdFlik is the revolutionary mobile video app that makes capturing, creating and sharing mobile video better than ever. CrowdFlik is free and easy to use. Anyone can use the CrowdFlik app when they are capturing video on their smart phone. Just open the app and start filming.

CrowdFlik’s proprietary technology combines and synchronizes all video captured via the CrowdFlik app. CrowdFlik organizes the captured video based on event – using time and location – and gives users the unprecedented ability to easily create custom edits of any event using the proprietary and intuitive CrowdFlik ‘CreteFLIK’ function. Users can easily create multiple custom Fliks of any length and share, view or save them. CrowdFlik gives users the ability to share and post their edits to their Facebook page, twitter, and other social media sites. 

DocuSign

Developer’s Description: Sign documents and get signatures quickly and easily from iPad or iPhone. A must-have app that will save you time and eliminate the need to print, fax or mail documents and forms for signature.

Safe, secure and legally binding, DocuSign empowers you to sign documents and get signatures from anyone, anywhere, whether they happen to be standing right next to you or are halfway around the globe.

Cerego

Developer’s Description: Cerego is the best way to learn faster and remember longer. Discover hundreds of courses, build your own, and easily improve memory performance as you learn, all 100% free.

Cerego is built on a powerful adaptive learning engine that has been trained by over 1.3 million learners and over 3.7 million hours of study time. Research in neuroscience, learning theory, and cognitive science are built into the platform, and every course is personalized to you so you learn at your optimal pace.

I advise you to try all of them.  They are all FREE.  I guarantee you will be a better-informed person I promise you!


Check out their websites.  These are all amazing if not magical products!