Super Bowl XLVI is this Sunday (in case you hadn’t heard). Some people watch for the game, some people watch for their team, some people watch for halftime (it’s Madonna this year) and some people watch for the commercials. But this year there’s something else to watch – your phone. Here’s a run down of some of the best Super Bowl apps, from a variety of sources.
The official New England Patriots app (for iOS, Android and BlackBerry) and New York Giants app (also on iOS, Android and BlackBerry) are highlighted in all of the “best” lists I found – for obvious reasons.
If you’re a fan of the game (but not necessarily of the Pats or the Giants) check out these Super Bowl specific apps:
Countdown to Super Bowl 46 (Android)
SB XLVI Guide (Android, iOS)
Super Bowl XLVI Official NFL Game Program (iOS)
As we eagerly await the arrival of the iPhone 5, pick sides in the Android v. Apple war and watch to see if Windows Phones can actual give the big 2 a run for their money it’s easy to forget just how far mobile phones have come. So take a quick break from testing that new mobile app and appreciate the fact that our phones are no longer the size of bricks or attached to bags.
Thanks to Wilson Electronics, Inc for putting together this great infographic and to Online Marketing Trends for posting it!
We know the world (or at least the U.S.) is getting more and more mobile-centric. Online shopping stats for mobile devices exploded in 2011 (see here and here). In addition to shopping, we use mobile devices to read, surf the web, play games, get the news and the latest scores, keep in contact with friends, acquaintances and total strangers, take photos and videos, do our banking, just about anything you can think of. We’re so attached to our mobile devices, in fact, that it’s beginning to be a “mobile-first world,” according to GigaOm.
In the last day, I’ve gotten two notes from start-ups that began on the web but have seen their businesses transformed by mobile, as users increasingly shift their consumption to mobile apps and browsers. This might seem obvious in a world in which services like Twitter and Pandora now get most of their traffic from mobile. But it bears highlighting because the trend is happening across all sorts of apps and websites and that has implications for developers, publishers and businesses, who must now consider what a mobile-first world looks like.
The latest examples came to me from online design store Fab.com, which just launched in June and then pushed out its first mobile apps for iOS and Android in October. In just three months, it said that 30 percent of its traffic is now on mobile. MyYearbook, a social networking site that was bought by Quepasa last year, said, thanks to a big holiday push, it now has 54 percent of its traffic coming in on mobile.
The world’s congested mobile airwaves are being divided in a lopsided manner, with 1 percent of consumers generating half of all traffic. The top 10 percent of users, meanwhile, are consuming 90 percent of wireless bandwidth.
Arieso, a company in Newbury, England, that advises mobile operators in Europe, the United States and Africa, documented the statistical gap when it tracked 1.1 million customers of a European mobile operator during a 24-hour period in November.
The gap between extreme users and the rest of the population is widening, according to Arieso. In 2009, the top 3 percent of heavy users generated 40 percent of network traffic. Now, Arieso said, these users pump out 70 percent of the traffic.
Using two servo motors, an Arduino Uno microcontroller, the accelerometer data from an iPad, as well as an old Android smartphone for a camera on the car, Vermeulen was able to create what may be the greatest racing video game ever.
As 2011 draws to a close I thought we’d join TechCrunch in honoring the great tech minds that have left us this year. TechCrunch writer, Robin Wauters, came up with a list of 17 notable deaths in the past year and is eliciting names he may have missed from readers:
As we approach the end of 2011, at least according to the Gregorian calendar, I thought it would be good to take some time to commemorate some people who’ve passed away this year, but have lived enough to make an impact on the tech industry – and more broadly, the world – before they did.
Obviously, it’s impossible to list every person in the tech industry who’s made his or her mark and passed away this year, but if you think there are glaring omissions, please let us know.
Here are the names on the list so far:
Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
Dennis Ritchie (1941-2011)
Bob Galvin (1922-2011)
John McCarthy (1927-2011)
Robert Morris (1932-2011)
Ilya Zhitomirskiy (1989-2011)
Paul Baran (1926-2011)
Max Mathews (1926-2011)
Julius Blank (1925-2011)
Jean Jennings Bartik (1924-2011)
Norio Ohga (1930-2011)
John R. Opel (1925-2011)
Michael S. Hart (1947-2011)
Daniel McCracken (1930-2011)
Kenneth Olsen (1926-2011)
Patricia Dunn (1942-2011)
Steve Lacey (1968-2011)
To read about each person’s contribution to technology, visit TechCrunch >>>
And we here at uTest wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe New Year!
Since it’s the end of the year dozens of reports and articles have been coming out recapping the “Top ____ Apps of 2011.” We have lists for the top iPhone apps, the top iPad apps, the top Android apps, the top games, there’s a list for almost any category you can think of.
I’ve resisted posting those lists here on MobileAppTesting.com because A.) there are approximately 164 lists floating around online (full disclosure: I totally made up that number, but there are quite a few) and B.) I haven’t found a list I really liked. I was holding out for a list of THE top apps of 2011 – no matter what platform or type, just the ultimate most popular apps from the past year. Mobilewalla has finally delivered! TechCrunch has the scoop:
Mobile analytics firm Mobilewalla has ranked the top apps across all four mobile platforms for 2011, using its own ranking system known at the “Mobilewalla Score.” Instead of looking at raw user ratings, this scoring system is an algorithm that analyzes a variety of factors in addition to ratings, including an app’s position within its own category, volume, social media sentiment and more.
Super Bowl XLVI is this Sunday (in case you hadn’t heard). Some people watch for the game, some people watch for their team, some people watch for halftime (it’s Madonna this year) and some people watch for the commercials. But this year there’s something else to watch – your phone. Here’s a run down of some of the best Super Bowl apps, from a variety of sources.
