There is no limit to the quantity of iPhone apps out there. From apps that make silly noises to apps that calculate your tip on a dinner out, the selection is almost limitless. A new app, Zoetica, launched today offers a solution for those interested in the nonprofit world (an interest of mine). The Zoetica iPhone app aggregated nonprofit tech and social change blog posts, making sure the content is at your fingertips at all times. Continuing with the nonprofit theme, the application is free of cost in the iTunes store.

What makes Zoetica different than other news aggregators is that Beth Kanter, Social Media and Nonprofit expert, hand selects the blog feeds that are ultimately aggregated into the app, ensuring the user will receive the most relevant information in the space. The app was created through a partnership with AppMakr and is in itself an example of the possible use of such a tool for a nonprofit. The service makes app development possible for groups with limited budgets and limited tech skills, something many nonprofits can use. AppMakr offers different price points that allow for almost any marketing budget to include an app in the plan.

For more information about the application as well as possible uses for nonprofits, please visit Beth Kanter’s blog

Google has its search engine, and it email client, and several other applications many of us are familiar with, such as the blogging platform Blogger. And Google also has a bunch of apps no one really pays attention to, or have yet to go mainstream. Then again, many of these peripheral apps don’t need to go mainstream; they’re just a small portion of what Google is trying to do on a rather large scale.

Recent changes and updates to some of Google’s more familiar apps are shedding more light on what Google may have up its sleeves, with some social integration that could enable the search king to better contend with the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

One such change has already taken effect. For Google users that remain logged into their Google accounts while searching the Google web, they will notice some socially driven recommendations at the bottom of their search page. Based on their Google friends network, which largely includes friends on their Gchat and those they share Reader items with, will appear with links to additionally relevant information.

Another upcoming change could be an update system to alert Gmail users as to new activity from their friends around their activity. This could include status updates for Gchat, or photo uploads to Picassa. It could even include social networking updates such as Twitter or Facebook updates, though current information on this possible new feature doesn’t suggest this level of integration upon launch.

The ability to create more of a social network around an email client is an idea that Google, Yahoo and others have been throwing around for a couple of years now. At first it seemed silly, but email is still a centralizing factor in most social media activity. The way in which the web is opening up for more cooperative interaction, there is plenty of opportunity for search engines and email clients to improve their core competencies based on this type of social integration.

What we’re seeing is a social inclusion of content into search results, such as real time trends powered by the likes of Twitter. Facebook, too, is beginning to open its content more to search engines, making it a potentially powerful database of socially relevant information that’s been shared within previously closed networks.

Google’s strength in competing and dually leveraging the realm of social networks is its ability to combine several aspects of its multiple applications. This has been a rather creepy incorporation of socially driven content prior to the popularity of Facebook and Twitter, but the adoption of open sharing and users’ ability to recognize the benefits of doing so has made it easier for Google to implement it’s over-arching plan.

Yahoo has already made several moves in this direction as well, incorporating social updates into its main email interface over a year ago. Pulling in updates and recommendations from some of its other applications, even the newer ones like Buzz, has given Yahoo some time to experiment with these tactics.

As Google furthers its own push into the social networking realm, it looks as though the company is going to focus on providing a utility instead of a replacement to what sites like Facebook and Twitter already offer. This leaves Google in a position of being needed, validating whatever efforts it’s currently working towards.

There have been social networks set up around mobile devices or mobile brands, namely Nokia. It was generally for the purpose of gaining some consumer data based on app usage and other metrics that can be garnered from seeing what users like and don’t like about their phones. So it’s not a far stretch for BlackBerry to be launching a social network for similar purposes. It may be a necessary step for several devices and manufacturers that are supportive of the economy a mobile application platform can provide, especially as pretty much any other platform other than Apple will need all the help it can get.

So RIM BlackBerry is reportedly coming out with a social network of sorts this week, dubbed MyBlackBerry. The network will be for BlackBerry users, giving them a social profile where they can review mobile apps, and even complain about them. It’s biggest potential advantage would be the ability to turn all those reviews and complaints into recommendations and searchable data for making BlackBerry applications more discoverable. This would, in the end, promote BlackBerry’s mobile application platform.

It could be considered a way to get a leg up on Apple’s own mobile application platform for the iPhone, which is rendered through iTunes. Have you noticed that iTunes is notoriously difficult to search? Customer reviews, complaints and other data are hard to come by and the end result is a mobile app economy that supports those with lots of cash and marketing power instead of reflecting the true capacity of the longtail (still epitomized by nearly all things iTunes related).

While user-generated reviews within a social network is a somewhat passe way in which to gain and repurpose information, it can be readily applied to mobile app platforms in this early stage. So far, MyBlackBerry sounds good in concept. But as mentioned on TechCrunch, the network itself is more like a “bulletin board” and the ability to view apps is limited to only those that are supported by your phone.

Is this limiting BlackBerry’s ability to leverage its own network? Perhaps seeing reviews on apps designed for the BlackBerry Storm will encourage other BlackBery users and non-BlackBerry users to make the move to a new device. Opening up a network such as this could really help BlackBerry if implemented well. This could be a tactic other platforms use to one-up Apple’s iTunes store.

[image credit DC to BC]

Google is furthering its global reach by pushing out some new mobile initiatives in Africa. Three new services including Google SMS, Google Trader and Google SMS Tips have been rolled out this week.

Google SMS is actually a collection of mobile apps that provides access to information such as news, local weather, sports, etc. This information comes through via SMS, and can be considered a mobile RSS of sorts. Next is Google Trader, which is a mobile “marketplace” for buyers and sellers and is actually a part of the Google SMS suite. Whether you’re selling livestock or you’re seeking a seller to buy a new car, Google Trader is a mobile classifieds on a hyper-local level.

Google SMS Tips is Google’s version of mobile search, where a query can be sent in via text message and the response will be sent back in the same manner. Search is at the core of what Google does, so this may be one of the more important mobile apps to come out of Google’s release today. As Google SMS Tips may be more encompassing than the other apps, it’s the core of what Google’s simplified mobile access can provide to the widest range of users.

The Google SMS Tips app is particularly interesting because of the trend we’ve seen in the past few years, where search has been attempted in a more semantic realm, in part for ready mobile use. But more importantly we’ve seen this trend for mobile access to search content based on SMS as a channel for distribution. With services like Cha-Cha there was a great deal human capital invested into the service, while other tools such as kgb have been going mainstream in their approach to gain new users.

But as Google has always been interested in dominating the mobile realm, and has only increased these efforts with the introduction of the Android platform, the new services released today are both specific to the region and indicative of Google’s long term plans for its mobile strategy.

The idea behind this particular mobile push is to provide Google services to those that have mobile access but may not have regular Internet access. It’s an initiative that several companies have taken in order to grow their global presence, but finding the right balance for mobile services, translated content and compatibility with mobile platforms is something that these companies must deal with when reaching for that worldwide scale.

See here for more details.

by Kristen Nicole

MySpace launched a new feature on its application platform last night, which allows developers to distribute notifications to users regarding the apps those users have added to their MySpace account.

Why is this notable? Because notification alerts are the best way to distribute information about a given application. They’re the bridge that closes the gap between MySpace users and the applications themselves. They’re tiny reminders that the application a MySpace user has added to their account is still there, and needs some attention.

Notification alerts are also the worst thing that could happen to an application platform. OK, not the worst thing, but they’re easily regarded (or disregarded) as spam. Too many notifications about applications can feel like an overwhelming bombardment of irrelevant content to a user. They’d probably be more responsive to a notification alerting them to a new photo tag or a friend request.

It’s the reason why MySpace waited so long to allow developers to distribute notifications in such a manner. But how does MySpace plan on curbing the spam, now that it’s taken a considerable amount of time to work on this particular feature offering? The notifications will display in a MySpace user’s channel, which means they’ll be less assertive, hopefully translating into something that feels less spammy.

There’s a fine line that MySpace is walking here, especially as a good portion of MySpace activity has been hailed as spammy in the past few years. While Facebook is currently dealing with spammy attitudes towards applications and their interaction with end users, MySpace is being even more cautious in its future releases in order to avoid the perception of spammy behavior. Nevertheless, the opening up of notifications is a feature that’s highly requested by developers, and it’s ultimately up to the user to determine what types of apps they will keep on their profile.

That’s not to say that MySpace can’t continue to tweak things in order to make application notifications feel less spammy. I’ll be the first to admit that notifications can be annoying. When I log onto Facebook and see that only 3 of my 36 notifications aren’t app-related, my heart sinks a little. The prodding notification nudges enticing me to play a game or take a quiz can get irksome. So MySpace, Facebook and all the other platforms can have increased user options for selecting which apps send out notifications, as well as modifying frequency and distribution methods overall.

by Michelle Lentz

Over on his New York Times Tech blog, David Pogue has listed a couple of free downloads, just in time for Christmas. They include PC Pandora (which lets you spy on those using your computer) and an original Christmas music set from sampling company Garritan.

There’s more in the comments too, which is where you always find gems. So far, you’ll find Mac Heist’s Giving Tree and Jaduka. I’m sure the list will grow.

Happy holidays!

__
Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology
Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Michelle Lentz

It’s amazing how much happens in the tech world when you take a vacation. The latest news is that LinkedIn is taking the Facebook tact and adding applications. The difference is that LinkedIn Apps are all productivity focused and, in theory, will help promote your profile even more.

Right now, the following apps are available to spruce up your LinkedIn homepage and/or your LinkedIn profile:

Amazon Reading List

Slideshare

Linking your WordPress or Typepad posts to your profile

Huddle Workspaces

TripIt

Box.net

Google Presentation

Company Buzz

According to Chris Brogan, you should drop everything and run over to LinkedIn and add Apps to your profile. I took his advice and added the WordPress and SlideShare apps. I’d love to be able to add my other blogs, but the BlogLink app seems to be a bit buggy. I assume that will work itself out.  I think that the blogging apps (when they work) and the Slideshare apps are just brilliant.

That said, I’m a little worried about this development as well. I love that LinkedIn is actually doing something. However, you can’t control where the applications appear on your public profile – at least not that I could find. I’m afraid LinkedIn profiles might become as messy as the old Facebook profiles or MySpace. I hate clutter.

What do you think? Will you add LinkedIn apps to your profile? Do you think they’ll help promote your talents? Are apps a bad idea, contributing to the clutter? Let us know in the comments.

–
Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology. You can also catch Michelle presenting on Twitter at the upcoming DevLearn ’08 in San Jose.