Dolphin Browser version 2.0 was released for iOS and is now available for download on the App Store. Similar to the company’s recent Android update, the mobile browser for the iPhone and iPad now features Dolphin Connect, which enables the user to sync all of their important bookmarks across platforms. For instance, iPad owners who have an Android mobile phone are good to go with the latest update. This should make for a consistent user experience regardless of mobile platform.

The app’s Webzine received several enhancements, including bringing 16 of the most popular channels directly to the home screen for easy, one-touch access. The company also announced that they’ve surpassed 10 million users and in celebration are giving away a trip to Disneyland for one lucky Dolphin user. This also includes a guest. The prize is five nights at the Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Find out all the details on the company’s blog.

FREE!

Dolphin Browser

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: BROWSE BY DOODLE
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2011-08-30 :: Category: Productivity

Facebook announced today the addition of both social reporting and password reset to their mobile apps.

Social reporting, a feature available on the web-version of Facebook since March, allows users to submit a report on content they are unhappy about both to the posting user and Facebook. “Safety and child psychology experts tell us that online issues are frequently a reflection of what is happening offline. By encouraging people to seek help from friends, we hope that many of these situations can be resolved face to face,” says the social reporting page itself. This feature will now be available on mobile devices, as Facebook reports that almost 70% of these reports result in the original poster removing the offending content on their own. Makes sense why they’d want this on mobile apps, as many of us do our Facebook activities from our iPhones.

The second feature, mobile password reset, seems like a no brainer in a world with continuous access and private information coming and going from websites and iPhone apps like Facebook’s. If the comments to the announcement are any indication, many users will benefit from this enhanced security precaution.

[Via: ReadWriteWeb]

Looking to “liven up” contacts on mobile devices, LiveContacts has created LiveContacts for iPhone, Android, Windows 7 Phone and Symbian devices. The app promises to “spice up” the standard contact app on mobile devices, offering to save new phone numbers, photos, and addresses as they change, in real time. We’re assuming that the app will use a web-enabled back end to search out contacts publicly available information, then offer to sync it to the iPhone and other devices if it is different than the information stored there locally. Users will also be able to search the very same publicly available information for people they wish to contact.

In addition, LiveContacts will sync users’ contact information, and then connect that information to any other phone enabled with the same account. This could be a boon to users with more than one iPhone, or possibly a combination of different devices. In addition, if the device gets lost, LiveContacts will allow users to sync the data to a new device, through a simple login. Cloud-save saves the day once again!

LiveContacts will be “available soon,” so stay tuned right here for an update as soon as we know more.

It’s no secret folks love using the Facebook app on their iPhones and it seemed like just a matter of time before a dedicated Facebook app made its way over to the iPad. Funny story – sometimes foregone conclusions aren’t as foregone as you think, and it would seem that Facebook currently has no immediate plans to create an iPad app. The reason? Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that the iPad “Isn’t mobile.”

The initial response to such a statement is one of sound and fury, but it seems that Facebook’s true planning is actually a bit more elegant than Zuckerberg let on. According to company Mobile VP Erik Tseng, Facebook is trying to figure out a unified strategy across all tablet devices so that there can be one tablet-optimized Facebook for Apple, Dell, HP, etc. The thinking goes that Facebook is currently tinkering with an HTML5 version of the service which will present a user-friendly, unified experience across all devices.

Furthermore, Facebook fanatics can still put up wall posts or upload embarrassing pictures via the traditional Facebook website which is easily accessible on the iPad’s web browser. It may not be as streamlined or elegant as the iPhone’s Facebook app, but it’s still perfectly functional.

Even though there’s no official iPad Facebook app on the immediate horizon things are far from dire. While it would be nice to go to an tablet optimized version of the social networking site in one click, having to navigate for a few more seconds has never killed anyone and it won’t start now. I’m sure we’ll all find a way to manage somehow, and we’d rather Facebook take their time and get it right then rush out a half-baked app that barely works and proves to be more cumbersome than helpful.

[via Mashable]

Following our report on the launch of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Square app and payment service for iPhone, Visa and DeviceFidelity have joined the iPhone payment market with a solution named In2Pay. This time, enabling iPhone uses to make contactless payments with their device rather than receive them.

Announced today, the In2Pay solution allows iPhone users to make “contactless transactions” by positioning their iPhone in front of a contactless payment terminal. In order to use the service, the iPhone must be housed within DeviceFidelity’s protective case, which uses microSD technology. The case is said to allow “mobile contactless capability” to the iPhone and is compatible with the 3G and 3GS models.

In a press release, Visa says: “By placing a removable In2Pay microSD into the protective case, iPhone users can take advantage of In2Pay’s secure contactless capabilities where contactless transactions are offered. They range from buying goods in retail stores and at unattended kiosks, to transit ticketing, and even securely accessing buildings and computers networks.”

Trials of the service are scheduled to start during the second quarter of this year.

The service builds on Visa’s payWave technology for contactless transactions and uses the DeviceFidelity In2Pay technology to make use of any mobile phones with a microSD memory slot. This suggests that the iPhone may not be the only device Visa is aiming In2Pay at. The iPhone, of course, does not currently support microSD and therefore needs a casing to house the microSD card.

“The more than 200,000 apps on the App Store are an integral part of iPhone users’ lives.” said Amitaabh Malhotra, COO, DeviceFidelity. “With our In2Pay solution, we want to give both iPhone users and app developers the power to do even more, by putting the convenience of interactive secure mobile transactions, right at their fingertips, anywhere they are.”

The In2Pay case is apparently designed to stay attached to the iPhone and offers a micro USB slot for charging and syncing their device.

It will be interesting to see how the service will be priced by Visa when it comes to roll out the service and, whether or not the DeviceFidelity case will be free or part of a subscription package. While the additional case could be seen as a benefit to some, many iPhone users dislike the idea of any housing that adds weight or thickness to the device and others preferring specific cases.

Finishing up our interview with August, I ask him about what it is like being an iPhone developer in the lime-light, or Celebrity Developer. He talks about how much fun it has been to break out of the traditional role from time to time, and how it has really helped out his programming business.

I also get his opinions on Apple’s filing to have jailbreaking iPhones judged illegal, what that means to the development community, and how jailbreaking is actually beneficial to the App Store and making the iPhone a popular development platform. August also tells us why he has avoided it.

Most importantly, August gives us the breaking story about the soon to be released app, YOWZA!!, and how it will change the way you shop and use your iPhone.

Listen to how August met Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman on Heroes) on Twitter, and joined forces with Rick Yaeger from MacMerc, to create a whole new business model for an iPhone app, and how they have tackled the problems of turning your iPhone into a money-saving shopping tool! And it’s going to be FREE!

Here is a little taste from Greg himself.

Enjoy!

You can check out August’s digital book, Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari on your Kindle from Amazon, or buy it in PDF format here.

We’ve been working the past couple weeks on an Mobile Safari version of 148Apps.com. It’s now ready for your mobile viewing pleasure. Just go to http://148apps.com with Mobile Safari to see it. We’ll still be making a few adjustments in the coming weeks but let us know if you see any problems with the mobile version.