Facebook Stalking App

Using your phone to Facebook ‘friend’ a person you’ve just met is a frustrating experience –carefully spelling out names, looking through the photo list to find yourself, etc. Well, Facebook appeared to find a solution in the form a new app — Find Friends Nearby. An app that uses GPS to let you select from a list of nearby Facebook users. TechCrunch was tipped off this past weekend to the new app — initially known as “Friendshake”. The app had been quietly rolled out with no announcement. The app seemed like a useful tool for exchanging contact information with one or multiple people with minimal effort. So why did Facebook kill it only a few hours later?

Path is an application that is based upon the concept of “sharing your life journey” with your family and your closest friends. Path was launched in 2010 in San Francisco, CA by a former Facebooker. Since its debut, some 3 million people have downloaded the application.

Path is an intimate social networking tool based on smart journal that allows users to tell their story, share pictures and choose the 150 people whom they wish to share those with.

On July 6-22, immerse yourself in NY_Hearts: LES, a virtual love story you can experience through an app.

Audio books are ‘in’ but imagine a whole new way of storytelling –with an app. An app through which you hear the real sounds and see the real sites of the narrative –as though you’re actually there!  That’s the idea behind the Moveable Feast app.  The app allows you to create and share “multimedia narratives.”  It can be a tour when you’re far off traveling, within which you can include images, videos, and text –all connected to GPS coordinates and a “virtual trail” that others will be able to follow using their iPhone or desktop. 

Is social media as reliable as the mainstream media for news? It’s hard to say if news on social media can be trusted, but it is surely an effective complement to mainstream media.

It was a software consultant who first tweeted about the events leading up to Osama Bin Ladin’s capture and death. Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) tweeted that “extraordinary choppers” were in his area of Pakistan. He didn’t know at the time that it was a U.S. operation to capture Bin Ladin. Because of his tweets, several mainstream media outlets followed up on the story and found that Osama had been captured and was dead. Before long, the entire internet was abuzz with the Osama news gone viral.

Similarly, is the story of  Neda Soltan, an Iranian woman shot in broad daylight during one of the Iranian protests. A video of the travesty surfaced on the Internet, later spreading like wildfire via social media.

Nokia’s implosion results in 10,000 layoffs.  BlackBerry is also teetering; is RIM following suit?  Path, a new social networking platform, gains traction –Facebook may have a problem. And is GigaOM up for sale?

Read on to see the stories making headline news on the tech scene this week!

Two extremely enterprising University of Washington juniors, Mariah Gentry and Kyle Bartlow, have designed a product to safe keep your iPhone –it’s called the JoeyBra.

The JoeyBra was created for women who are constantly on the go and struggle to find a place to put their ID, keys, or phones.

New and enhanced features are in store with the upcoming iPad and new iPhone 5; including iOS 6 facebook integration. That’s because Apple’s new iOS 6 is loaded!

We’ve got all the highlights:

New York is a big city! Finding the nearest restroom is not just a tourist thing. We’ve all encountered a “close call” with nature! How do we cope with the fear of having to hold “it” in?

Imagine pulling out your phone and having it direct you across the street to a clean, public restroom. Leave it to Charmin. They’ve developed a bathroom locator app called SitorSquat that works with GPS to locate for you the nearest and cleanest public restroom!

Rounds is a favorite Facebook video chat app. After about an estimated $5.5 million in funding from Verizon Investments, Rhodium, DFJ’s Tim Draper, and other investors, web users will soon be able to use Rounds without having to log into their Facebook accounts!

If you’re unfamiliar with Rounds, it has become popular for its interactive video chat functionality, which for example, allows you and a friend to watch YouTube together or play each other’s favorite games.

Pair is a FREE one-to-one networking app premised on exclusivity; it’s made solely for private communication between two people. Pair is designed for couples, and unlike other instant messengers, this app encourages you to keep consistently in touch with your partner.

The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” is a thing of the past. Pair is all bout exchanging and viewing intimate messages on a timeline, sharing photos, handwritten messages, or sketches. It even shares your location with your partner.