Wireless Federation

Marc Andreessen (Founder of Ning) and Ben Horowitz (VP and GM of HP’s Business technology oragnisation) have funded Qik (mobile video streaming service). The amount is not yet disclosed. The live video streaming field is very competitive, Qik has integrated a bunch of services, that is Twitter, YouTube, Mogulus, MySpace, Orkut and Justin.tv in its service. The service allows users with a camera phone to stream live video, and get feedback from other “followers” online. It is admired among the bloggers and other citizen journalists.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Frengo (http://www.frengo.com/), a leading mobile social network, today announced the Buzz Platform, a revolutionary approach to creating spontaneous web and mobile interaction among friend circles and broader communities. Frengo leverages the “always with you” immediacy of mobile phones for push-based publishing and one-to-many expression, enabling you to easily connect with millions of people, or just your closest friends. The Buzz Platform allows anyone to create interactive messaging channels called Buzz, and invites participation through a combination of easy to use web and mobile tools.What does Frengo mean by “Buzz”? Buzz is getting out the word, sharing gossip, making predictions and gathering consensus. Your phone is always with you, and with the Frengo Buzz Platform it becomes the perfect channel for sharing interactive content.

The Frengo Buzz Platform is at the forefront of the current trend in micro-blogging appealing to consumers’ desire to share short, easily digestible tidbits of information in real time. Taking instant content far beyond answering the simple question of “Where are you now?” the Frengo Buzz Platform empowers consumers to share any kind of information they feel is relevant and elicit instant feedback from others in a social context.

“When it comes to young consumers their universe is tightly defined by the type of social interaction they have and so-called ‘killer apps’ and ‘features’ mean nothing to them unless they are underpinned by a social benefit,” says Nadja Litschko, Research Associate at the Wireless World Forum, and co-author of the mobileYouth report. “The Frengo Buzz Platform recognizes youth’s need to interact and express themselves with instant and ongoing Buzz - making Buzz a sort of social currency among youth.”

Find Buzz

You can find Buzz by surfing Frengo’s public Buzz directory, or by watching the “What’s Buzzing Now” board - a real-time running list of community wide Buzz at http://www.frengo.com/. You can join and participate in any Buzz via the web or your mobile phone. You can also take an active role in the Buzz by responding to questions, quizzes, and polls, or by creating comments and leaving feedback.

Create and Share Buzz

As a Frengo member you can create an unlimited number of Buzz channels for free that can be shared publicly or kept private within your friend circles. Frengo provides easy-to-use templates for creating your own Buzz channels and will even market your Buzz Channel for you in the public Buzz directory. The more “friends” who subscribe to your Buzz channel, the more Frengo Points you earn, which can be redeemed for things like ringtones, MP3 players, digital cameras and game consoles.

“No one wants to be the only one in the room whose phone isn’t buzzing,” says Steve Manning, Co-founder and chief product officer, Frengo. “Frengo understands that being connected really matters. So whether you are sharing your own Buzz with friends, building a group of loyal followers for your Buzz channel, or subscribing to Buzz from other Frengo members, you’ll always be connected and in the know.”

Frengo recognizes that sometimes the hottest Buzz is the Buzz kept secret; so with Frengo you can build groups of friends and share your Buzz messages privately. Frengo also understands you don’t want your mobile phone number in broad circulation so Frengo protects your privacy by using only your Frengo username to identify you within the community.

About Frengo

Frengo makes it easy for people to connect, create and share content on the web and their mobile phones. Frengo’s Buzz Platform takes a revolutionary approach to spontaneous interaction and communication by empowering members to publish simple alerts or interactive events like polling and quizzing via the web and mobile phones. Members can create an unlimited number of Buzz Channels that can be shared publicly in Frengo’s Buzz directory, or kept private within friend circles. Frengo absorbs the complexity of real-time publishing, web-to-mobile translation, group management, privacy, and carrier networks so you can get your Buzz on. For more information or to join Frengo today visit http://www.frengo.com/

Melissa Burns Mobility Public Relations for Frengo 208-946-4849 Frengo@mobilitypr.com Frengo

CONTACT: Melissa Burns of Mobility Public Relations for Frengo, +1-208-
946-4849, Frengo@mobilitypr.com

Web site: http://www.frengo.com/

The New York Times has a story today about mobile social networking applications - particularly focusing on the new hot thing, Twitter, as well as Jaiku, social image site Radar, and Kyte. While the article doesn’t break any new ground, it does mention some Helio user numbers - saying some 70% of Helio’s 700,000 users (as of the end of last year) use integrated MySpace functionality.

Mobile social networking software, also called mososo by those people who want to make everything into a cute word, has been around for a few years, with some flashes in the pan such as Dodgeball, which Google seems to have not made up its mind about, breaking onto the scene a couple years ago to start the ball rolling. Text has continued to be the killer social app, and maybe Twitter has taken that a half-step forward. Kids today like the social aspects, but some apps’ complexity turns users off after a while. So, what’s the next killer mobile social app? GPS, like Boost Loopt or Helio’s BuddyBeacon? Viral video and images? Push-to-talk? Will it continue to be simple text messaging? Integration with the top social sites only? What new innovation might break this space open finally?

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News