Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

1. Check In at Starbucks

"We’re excited to be among one of the first companies to work with Facebook on their new Deals product. We’re collaborating with our friends at Conservation International to help save forests. For each check in on Facebook Places, we’ll donate $1, up to $75,000 to help protect 5,000 acres. All you have to do is stop by and check in!"

2. The iPad and Your Brand: Six Things to Know

"Marketers need to accept that every experience they create is an advert, not just the content they put into media spaces. And, as such, they must accept that this new platform requires them to provide fresh, high-quality and valuable content -- as well as the ability for an instant response to consumer requests."

3. AT&T launches new health practice: AT&T ForHealth

"This practice area is made up of many of the mHealth partnerships AT&T has inked over the years with various companies, including WellDoc’s DiabetesManager, Vitality’s GlowCaps, eCardio’s remote patient monitoring and the Wound Technology Network’s video-enabled wound treatment services."

4. The Office Music Democratizer for Last.fm and Pandora

"There have been many attempts at trying to make office music a democracy, but most involve a complex system that people ignore, or people taking turns running the jukebox. LastFM and Pandora are great solutions (they learn from what you like/hate), but they both lack an easy and public way for everyone to have their say. Our solution? Love it, Hate it, just hit the pretty button on the wall."

5. Mobile is about to be redefined by payments

"The missing link in the coming mobile revolution is the payments piece... This could be about change thanks to a company called BOKU, who have just started participating in a trial with AT&T. The system can work across platforms and is very simple from the user perspective."

6. What a Hundred Million Calls to 311 Reveal About New York

"Launched in March 2003, 311 now fields on average more than 50,000 calls a day, offering information about more than 3,600 topics: school closings, recycling rules, homeless shelters, park events, pothole repairs. The service has translators on call to handle some 180 different languages."

7. Introducing Last.fm Kinect

"Last.fm for Kinect is a light-weight version of the radio app that uses gestures to control the player. It lets you browse and play Last.fm Radio with little waves of your hand. While more intensive actions such as scrolling through artist info are still best suited to a controller, it’s really cool to have a new way to interact with Last.fm."

8. Google Instant Comes to the iPhone

"While Google Instant already speeds up searches on the desktop, this feature is even more useful on mobile devices, where typing is more arduous and instant search results could prove to be a major advantage for users."

9. Now arriving: Stickybits at the London Gatwick Airport

"The London Gatwick Airport installed giant stickybits this morning, officially one-upping our friends at Blue Fountain Media who formerly held the title for creators of the world’s largest stickybit."

10. Gartner report tells corporations to get moving on the iPad

"In a private report to clients, the Gartner research firm is urging CEOs to clear any obstacles preventing IT departments from taking advantage of the iPad."

Tweetworthy is a weekly roundup of the most shared tweets from @MobileBehavior. You can follow us on Twitter here.

1. A VC: Some Thoughts On Foursquare http://bit.ly/9aLaus

2. Why Your Credit Card Will Soon Follow the Audio CD http://bit.ly/9xRlHf

3. The QR Cloud Project http://bit.ly/cLnc2Y

4. Testing Times Square: 'What is Foursquare?' http://bit.ly/9w26fc

5. RecreateMyNight Enables Collaborative Post-Show Memory Creation http://bit.ly/9HyMCe

6. iAds Are Here Today. This Is What They Look Like. http://bit.ly/cyCWI4

7. Yahoo! Launches Android Apps, Plus Web Apps for iPhone http://bit.ly/cOScFi

8. AdMob Data Illustrates Why Feature Phones Aren’t a Strategy for the Future http://bit.ly/cwl0Hb

9. New York’s Museum of Modern Art activates traditional ad campaign with mobile http://bit.ly/bo454P

10. Unlocking the elusive potential of social networks http://bit.ly/cjifdM

Tweetworthy is a weekly roundup of the most shared tweets from @MobileBehavior. You can follow us on Twitter here.

1. Facebook, Pandora Lead Rise of Recommendation Engines http://j.mp/cqM0hL
2. Would a baby app scare guys into safe sex? http://j.mp/ciVVaS
3. Why overheard mobile phone conversations are so irritating http://j.mp/dgZ0TF
4. Facebook Releases Analytics Tools For Sharing and “Likes” http://j.mp/buFSlQ
5. Mobile Payments: A Guide to the Growing Market in Your Pocket http://j.mp/9E02Lo
6. Pepsi Adds Official Bits to Products with Stickybits http://j.mp/9T7r96
7. How the iPad Became Child's Play -- and Learning Tool http://j.mp/bAJ9Iw
8. Apple's iPhone 4 promo videos show Retina Display and video calling http://j.mp/bDgd0y
9. 6 Geeky Devices Connecting the Internet to Your Things http://j.mp/9Sa3a8
10. Best Buy’s Movie Mode Enables Second Screen Interaction http://j.mp/9269hL

Tweetworthy is a weekly roundup of the most shared tweets from @MobileBehavior. You can follow us on Twitter here.

New York City's public transit system has begun implementing Mastercard's PayPass technology on select buses. It uses near field communication to allow for "contactless" payments and transactions.

According to MTA's Aaron Donovan:

"...this year we are piloting a new fare collection technology that will eliminate the need to swipe a farecard, will cost the MTA less to operate and will ultimately provide additional benefits to subway, bus and commuter rail customers, including faster bus boarding, better regional interconnectivity, and the ability to select between pay-per-ride and unlimited-ride fare options over the phone or via the web."

While the PayPass setups have been spotted on several buses, the pilot program doesn't begin until this summer. We previously covered Zoompass Tag, a service that lets users pay for goods with a quick tap at any location that supports PayPass. The Zoompass Tag is attached to the back of any mobile device, an affordable work around the fact that most mobile phones do not support NFC. If the PayPass trials succeed in New York City, perhaps we'll see a system for mobile payments begin to spread.

At last night's Digital Divas event for Social Media Week, we were able to score a couple of the new Square mobile payment devices to take donations for Haiti. The product, from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, hasn't hit the market yet, so guests got a sneak peek at the technology.

These small square devices plug right into a phone's audio input jack and let you swipe credit cards to make financial transactions.

More often than not, it took several swipes for the transaction to go through (but that's why it's still being tested, after all)

Once the card is swiped, you sign with your finger -- something that isn't easy to do right now, but could become more natural (just as teens are more dexterous with their thumbs thanks to texting).

Then, the best part, you can email yourself a receipt. This is currently an option at the Apple Store, and I can't wait until it becomes common practice.  No more hanging onto tiny scraps of paper!

Receipts are accessible on a secure site online, and you can even search for them on their site.

To collect donations, we created a Square account in one person's name. However, Square is going to let you create a payer account yourself to speed up and secure every payment. By attaching your photo to your account, Square users will be able to visually confirm you are the card holder. Coming soon you will also be able to send text message to authorize every payment in real-time.

The service itself is actually going to have a built in microdonation system to make giving easy and routine. Just as many grocery stores and pharmacies now ask if you want to add a small donation to your bill, Square will enable microdonations  by giving a penny of every transaction you take to a cause of your choice.

They are also building in a loyalty feature (that reminds us of what Foursquare is trying to do): "If you frequent a place that accepts Square, they will let them know you’re a repeat customer. That 10th cappuccino may be on the house, no paper coffee card required."

In developed countries, where people are used to using credit cards, this type of product may be the future of mobile payments, at least in the near term. The key is that it's tapping into an existing behavior, not creating a new one.

See a video of Square in action on TechCrunch here.

Wallet of the future? Your mobile phone [CNN]
In Asia, your mobile lets you make payments, access the subway, control your TV, and even open your front door. While some wonder if the technology will translate to the U.S., others think that mobile payments will take off here within five years. The article also goes over the low to high tech ways to pay, including RFID, barcodes and SMS.

Facebook Grew Twice As Fast As Twitter In July [TechCrunch]
Between April and July, Facebook grew 30% in unique U.S. visitors, while Twitter only grew 25%, an increase that could be attributed to the launch of  their “Everyone Button".  This gave Facebook members who didn’t have public profiles (i.e. most people) the option to share items in their stream with everyone else on Facebook on an item-by-item basis. Not only did this drive more people to Facebook, but it also increased the time spent on the site.

Yellix Dials in to Mobile Social Networking [Kelsey Group Blogs]
There is a lot of potential to leverage the phone's address book as the ultimate social network. To this end, Yelix has released an app for Android phones that automatically shows Facebook picture and status when receiving a call from a friend.

User Interface IS the Holy Grail [Wireless Week]
The user interface on a mobile phone is of the utmost importance, and its future lies in cloud computing. The cloud will lead to increasingly sophisticated applications, which in turn will offer the end user a higher degree of personalization.

As Ad Spending Declines, Magazines Move to Mobile [GigaOM]
Nearby Now seeks to move magazine advertising to mobile phones. The digital shopping service app lets users find and reserve products they’re looking for in local brick-and-mortar stores, as well as directing users to web sites to purchase products online.

“Leaf” Phone Runs On Solar Power, Doubles As Wristwatch [PSFK]
The Leaf is a cellphone that runs on solar power and is made of flexible material that enables it to double as a wristwatch. Lower-end phones might end up being simple, small, and eco-friendly.

Made-For-Mobile Comics: The Future of Pulp? [CNN]
To follow its audience, the comic industry has been slowly but surely offering paid content on the mobile screen, a move the print industry seems to have come to terms with.

Nokia Rocks the World: The Phone King's Plan to Redefine Its Business [Fast Company]
Nokia is evolving from a hardware company into a content provider, with grand plans to become the biggest entertainment media network in the world. Can they do it? "Look at the real world: It's not about people in the high end," says one Gartner analyst. "The real world is people in the middle, and Nokia owns that world in terms of numbers. They may not own mindshare, but they certainly have a lot to work with."

Xbox Gaming Platform May Soon Span Web, Console, Mobile [Ars Technica]
A recent job posting from Microsoft suggests that they are looking to bring the Xbox Live, Windows Mobile, and other similar properties closer together. More specifically, there's talk of a "casual and social gaming platform" that would be available across platforms and devices.

Augmented Reality Game Plus Facebook Equals Gaming for the Future? [Technomix]
Zugara's “Cannonballz” game uses the motion capture technology from their Webcam Shopper to “appear” in the gameplay. In this case, they are dodging cannonballs while trying desperately to save their friends (which are imported via a Facebook Connect integration) and accumulate points. Once their game is over, people can share their scores and the game by uploading it to their Facebook stream.

In Terms of Mobile Data Traffic, a Month in 2014 Will be More Than Whole 2008 [IntoMobile]
ABI Research has found that mobile data usage is going to increase so much that by 2014 there will be more data transfers in a one month than in all of 2008.

Cell Phone Sales Declined 6% in Q2 2009, Smartphone Sales Grew 27%
[Unwired View]
Research from Gartner points to the decline of cell phone sales in general, while smarphone sales have gone up 27%. The demand for "more than just a phone" is high.

"Take Back the Beep" Challenges Cellphone Networks to Play Nice [Fast Company]
David Pogue hosting an online campaign to force cell-phone networks to stop those annoying 15-second voicemail intro messages. (Um, voicemail? So 2000 and late.)

Square iPhone Payment System [CoolHunting]
A project called "Square" by Self Edge NYC has developed a small appendage that enable mobile payments through the iPhone. The users plugs this small plastic square in the headphone jack, and it can be used by any type of vendor who gets the payment directly in their bank account.

Rationale for Joining Social Networks by Generation [BitBriefs]
Research reveals why different generations have adopted social networks. 91% of Gen-Z did it for "fun", while only 38% of baby boomers did it for that same reason.  22% of Gen-Y and Gen-Z joined because they were invited, while 46% of baby boomers joined that way.

Ads Follow Web Users, and Get Deeply Personal [NYTimes]
For all the concern and uproar over online privacy, marketers and data companies have always known much more about consumers’ offline lives and, recently, some of these companies have started connecting this mountain of information to consumers’ browsers. The result is a sea change in the way consumers encounter the Web. Not only will people see customized advertising, they will see different versions of Web sites from other consumers and even receive different discount offers while shopping — all based on information from their offline history.

Virtual Worlds are Getting a Second Life with 39% Growth [The Guardian]
While Twitter and Facebook may have taken over front pages, virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, Entropia Universe, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and Second Life are all profitable thanks to business models based on a combination of subscriptions and micropayments. The growth is mainly spurred by tweens and teens, promising the platform a solid future.

“Preparing Us For AR”: the Value of Illustrating of Future Technologies [Pulse Laser]
Understanding the potential for augmented reality goes beyond the camera embedded services. AR is the opening act of the way Internet will eventually have a "physical" presence in our lives.

Paris Hilton Game on Mobile Phones in India [Priyanka’s Blog]
A Paris Hilton game where users find jewels for the Hollywood celeb is set to launch in India on mobile phones, raising concerns about Western influence and role models.

Arts Orgs Go Mobile [NYConvergence]
The Arts, Culture, and Technology group met in Manhattan to discuss how mobile can integrate with art --from mobile museum guides to live texting and sharing photos.

Brands Who Think We Can't Wait to View the World Through Their Silly Mobile Apps? Priceless [MobileInsider]
The rush to develop a mobile app has lead many brands to have a bad and inefficient mobile strategy. Understanding that it's about its actual utility to users, more than the brand's clout or image, is the first step in being relevant. We couldn't agree more.

Military May Ban Twitter, Facebook as Security ‘Headaches’ [Wired]
Because of hack fears, the US military is considering banning access to all social networking sites. The ban might extend to the whole department of defense, but military personnel, that are already limited in cell phone usage, might be the most affected.

HD Voice Push Could Face Resistance in Washington [The Jeff Pulver Blog]
The technology for HD mobile voice calls is there and industry players are pushing for it. But with 3G and broadband not offered everywhere in the US, the battle might not become a priority for anyone out there.