Instant messenger app IM+ raises $10M

Shape, the company behind online instant messenger service IM+, announced Monday it has raised $10 million from Russian brokerage firm Finam.

IM+ is an online instant messenger and mobile app that connects with multiple instant messaging services including Aol instant messenger, Jabber, Skype, Google Chat, and Facebook Chat. You can send instant messages from multiple accounts in one interface and save your chat history. The service has more than 17 million monthly users.

Shape also … Continue Reading

It’s not just for food porn anymore: Meet the new Foodspotting

The other night, over a heated (ha ha) conversation about soup, a new acquaintance asked me, “So, what’s the best soup in San Francisco?”

Being a huge fan of soup (I lead an exciting life), I wished I had an answer to that question. But how to find out? Ask all my fellow soup fiends at the next Soupaholics Anonymous meeting? Organize a soup crawl of every restaurant in the city?

In the end, it … Continue Reading

New to-do list app Clear simplifies and color-codes organization

Is there such a thing as being too organized? A new to-do app called Clear aims to cut down on the amount of time you spend managing to-do lists so that you can actually, well, do things. The app is being demoed for the first time Thursday at the Macworld/iWorld expo in San Francisco.

There is no shortage of feature-filled to-do apps in the App Store. Apple even launched its own in October called Reminders, … Continue Reading

Airbnb launches Android app, saves itineraries locally

Airbnb, the website that lets you turn your house into a nightly hotel, introduced its Android application today, along with a new mobile website.

Airbnb lets people list their homes online for short-time renting. The company says that nearly 10 percent of its traffic comes from mobile users. Currently, the company only has an iOS application, which has been downloaded 500,000 times. But as popular as iPhones are, they are still not the No. 1 … Continue Reading

Call of Duty Elite finally accessible via an iPhone app

Game maker Activision Blizzard is finally launching a mobile app for its Call of Duty Elite service. Now fans of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 can engage with the game and the social networking service built around it via the iPhone, starting on Tuesday.

The iPhone version of the service includes a subset of the services available on the gamer social network, which has been available since November on the Xbox Live online service … Continue Reading

From Android app to big business? ShopSavvy raises $7M for mobile shopping service

ShopSavvy, a barcode scanning startup with applications for the iPhone and Android devices, is making the mobile shopping experience more social and ramping up hiring, thanks to $7 million in fresh funding.

Led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, this is ShopSavvy’s first formal round of funding, despite having first launched its Android application more than three years ago.

ShopSavvy has somewhat accidentally blossomed into a viable business. “I don’t think we realized what we had,” … Continue Reading

Review: Quora’s new iPhone app is great for casual and experienced users

Quora, the much buzzed-about social question-and-answer service, has released an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, ending a long period of relative quiet from the company since it opened to the public over a year ago.

Quora users have long been able to use the company’s mobile-optimized HTML site, but a native app was one of Quora’s most popular requests.

I’ve been testing the beta version for nearly two months now and can confidently … Continue Reading

Brightkite founders launch Forkly, a fun app for foodies

A new food-focused app called Forkly brings the discovery of delicious dishes to center stage — and it’s a beautiful stage, indeed. The app, which is currently on the iPhone but coming soon to Android, is the latest venture from Brady Becker and Martin May, formerly known as the founders of location-based service Brightkite.

Becker’s goal in creating Forkly is to give foodies a way to take pictures of good meals, describe specific items they … Continue Reading

Spin out an iPhone app prototype ASAP with Cabana

Cabana, an online service that lets developers quickly create a mobile application for the iPhone or other mobile devices, announced today that it is coming out of beta at the Launch conference in San Francisco.

The application lets developers drag buttons and other simple functions onto a test screen for a mobile application. They can then dive into a flow-chart style interface that basically lets them program the app with some simple functions. They can … Continue Reading

SoGeo unveils location-recommendation app Whatser

SoGeo, a service that collects and analyzes location data for users, today announced the launch of Whatser. It’s a free mobile application that suggests where to go based on places that you like and that your friends like.

According to the company’s announcement, the iPhone app is available in the app store.

Whatsers allows users to follow friends and other user’s collections, which are locations tagged as “favorites.” Based on those collections, the app suggests … Continue Reading

Official Digg iPhone app launches

SoGeo, a service that collects and analyzes location data for users, today announced the launch of Whatser. It’s a free mobile application that suggests where to go based on places that you like and that your friends like.

According to the company’s announcement, the iPhone app is available in the app store.

Whatsers allows users to follow friends and other user’s collections, which are locations tagged as “favorites.” Based on those collections, the app suggests … Continue Reading