Americans are gradually warming up to the idea of buying things via their mobile phones, particularly young adults and men, found a new study conducted by Harris Interactive for the mobile credit card security firm Billing Revolution.

Harris surveyed 2,029 adults from April 29 to May 1; 1,883 of those surveyed were cell phone owners (93%). Close to half (45%) said they think that shopping via cell phones is “somewhat safe,” though just over a quarter (26%) feel that mobile shopping is completely safe.

Regardless, fewer than half of those surveyed (46%) said they would be willing to shop using their cell phones even if safety was not an issue. But attitudes vary based on age and sex, according to Harris. As with many emerging technology-driven habits, younger adults appear more willing to embrace change; 59% of the 18-34 crowd feels that mobile shopping is somewhat safe, versus just 34% of adults over 55. Also, half of men find the concept of cell phone shopping somewhat safe versus 39% of women.

The relative youth, as well as the male-skewing nature of the potential mobile shopping audience seems to influence the sort of purchases respondents indicated they would be willing to make. Harris found that entertainment is likely to emerge as a key mobile commerce category, as willing mobile shoppers said they would be most interested in purchases such as movie tickets, music, mobile video and games.

Officials at Billing Revolution said the survey results indicated that mobile shopping is poised for growth in the near term, as more and more Americans purchase sophisticated smart phones like Apple’s iPhone and spend more time accessing the Internet via these devices. “There’s clearly a large U.S. population of consumers open to the idea of making purchases via their cell phones,” said Andy Kleitsch, CEO Billing Revolution. “With consumers getting more comfortable navigating the Web from mobile phones, mobile commerce is poised for explosive growth, and consumers are very much leading the charge in this direction.”

Google’s Android Market now offers more than 4,900 applications for smartphones powered by the Android mobile operating system, according to the web services giant’s vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra.

Speaking Wednesday at Google’s annual I/O developer event in San Francisco, Gundotra said Android users have downloaded an average of more than 40 applications per user, adding that Android smartphones are now second in the U.S. in mobile web browsing, behind Apple’s iPhone.

5000 apps is a pretty good number. We (Movaya) are about to launch our first premium app in the Android Market next week so we’ll see how that goes.

Interesting article on Mobile Advertising in BusinessWeek that is worth a read.

The article talks about Pandora – a nine-year-old, free online service that lets users design “radio stations” based on their musical preferences. Pandora has become a very popular mobile app as well and advertisers like Best Buy, Dockers, Target, and Nike have started to buy ads on Pandora to experiment with what remains a cheap advertising medium.

“We’ve reached a tipping point,” says Domino’s Pizza advertising executive Rob Weisberg. “Marketers, especially consumer brands, have to take mobile seriously now. You have to be where your customer works, lives, and plays.”

Pandora mobile advertisers are seeing pretty solid response rates to their ads which bodes well for the medium.

With Pet Zodiac and One Of America’s Leading Pet Astrologers.

Every Week You’ll Get A New Horoscope For Your Pet!

Oprah will do anything for her pets. President Barack Obama enjoys playing
with his puppy on the White House lawn. People find their perfect mate through
web site dating where they meet other people who love pets. Some people travel with pets. Others even drink beer with their pets. But now, there’s something new you can do with your pet. We know you’re worried about swine flue, terrorist attacks, pirates boarding ships, losing your home to mortgage foreclosure, the recession, no healthcare, losing your job, vampire video, who’s on twitter and why the latest diet pill doesn’t work, so get ready for some good news.

Pet-ertainment LLC and Movaya Wireless, Inc. are pleased to announce the first ever Horoscope app for your pet.

“My Pet’s Weekly Horoscope” isn’t like those that just show you cute pets, funny pets, the world’s smartest dogs, crazy cats or adorable puppies. “My Pet’s Weekly Horoscope” brings you closer to your dog or cat because you will now have insights into your pet’s behavior. If you want to understand your dog or cat better, know what makes your pet tick and be able to change bad pet behavior, you want to get “My Pet’s Weekly Horoscope” every week.

Can’t wait to see your own horoscope? Now you can find out what the stars have in store for your furry best friend. Animalinks’ pet astrologer Carol Jepson helps you and your pet get closer by forecasting how your pet may feel and act every week. Check out your dog’s or cat’s horoscope and your friend’s pet’s horoscope with our Pet Zodiac featuring twelve of the world’s most loveable pets. Don’t know your dog’s or cat’s birth month? Use our Key Word Match-Ups to find your pet’s sign. Buy this app once and My Pet’s Weekly Horoscope delivers a new 7-day fun forecast every Monday for your pet on your iPhone or iPod touch!

Get it now!

Filed under: Cameras, Digital Camera, Summer Fun

In a pro photography world virtually owned by Canon and Nikon, Pentax’s scrappy determination is admirable. Although it rarely grabs the headlines, this company consistently turns out well-built cameras at good prices.

We’re hoping that applies to the company’s latest SLR, the Pentax K-7, which we got a hands-on look at earlier this month. Priced at $1300, it’s priced against semi-pro cameras such as the Canon 50D, but has many professional features that match far-pricier models. For one, the magnesium-alloy case is completely sealed against dust and water and certified to keep the camera working all the way down to a frigid 14 degrees Fahrenheit. You don’t get that kind of battle-ready performance from the big boys until you step up to pro models like Nikon’s $5000 D3 camera. Just like its price, the K-7′s weight is also way lower: at 27 ounces, it’s about two-thirds the weight of Nikon’s D3.

Continue reading Pentax K-7 — a Pro SLR, at a Semi-Pro Price

Pentax K-7 — a Pro SLR, at a Semi-Pro Price originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 20 May 2009 10:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced pricing and nationwide availability for the highly anticipated Palm Pre phone, offered exclusively from Sprint.

Palm Pre will be available nationwide on June 6 in Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online at Sprint.com for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

Sprint has high hopes for the device:

“It’s the highest confidence I’ve ever had going into a device launch that this is going to be a blockbuster,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president for product and technology development at Sprint. “I’m pretty sure we’ll know within the first week.”

My wife and I both have iPhones and this weekend she was mentioning that she has yet to find a game that she “just loves to play”. Now, to be fair, she doesn’t have a lot of time to surf through the thousands of games in the App Store but I have found quite a few that she likes, just none that she is addicted too.

Well, I may have found one tonight in Bed Bugs. Developed by Igloo Games Bed Bugs is highly addictive and very fun. You play the role of a sleepwalker who climbs out of bed and is bombarded by all different types of Bed Bugs that are doing their best to wake him up. At each level (I made it through 9) a new Bed Bug is introduced and each of them have to be handled differently.

Some you can’t touch. Others you have to touch multiple times and in the latest level, some you touch once but you better not touch them again.

The game starts out pretty easy but gets progressively more difficult as the new Bed Bugs get introduced and you have to keep your fingers moving to keep your Sleepwalker asleep.

This is a game that is simply perfect for the iPhone and iPod touch and everything about the game is done extremely well: the sound, the graphics, the controls and the game concept are fantastic.

This is Igloo’s second iPhone game. Dizzy Bee was the first and although I have personally not played it, it has gotten tremendous reviews so it’s no surprise that these guys have nailed it again with Bed Bugs.

This is a game for all ages and I’m excited to show my kids this one as well. It is currently selling for $1.99 in iTunes and I highly recommend downloading it now.

Filed under: Cameras, Advice, Editor’s Picks, Reviews, Digital Camera, Summer Fun, Father’s Day

Question: I’m planning a vacation with my wife and kids this summer, and I want one camera to cover it all. Something small enough to take around with us wherever we go, and most importantly, super durable and waterproof so we can take it to the beach without giving daddy a heart attack. Any suggestions?

Hey reader: “Tough” cameras have definitely been the rage lately, with several of the big manufacturers recently unleashing new models into the wild. Over the past few years, Olympus has definitely led the way in this category with its Stylus Tough series of nearly unbreakable cams.

But we aren’t in love with the Olympus photo quality. So we were excited when Panasonic brought out the ultradurable DMC-TS1 earlier this year.

Continue reading Which Rugged Camera Should You Get?

Which Rugged Camera Should You Get? originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 15 May 2009 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Citing independent market research, AT&T announced its customer base now boasts twice as many smartphone users as any other U.S. mobile operator, reporting that close to 32% of its postpaid subscribers now use an integrated device. According to AT&T, more new and existing customers activated integrated devices in Q1 than the carrier added in new postpaid subscribers. AT&T credits the smartphone user growth to its 3G network and nearly 20,000 U.S. WiFi hotspots.

“AT&T made a big push to be the mobile broadband and smartphone leader many years ago and it’s clearly paying off in a big way for us and our customers,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We’ve taken integrated devices mainstream and nearly a third of our postpaid customers use one. Our industry-leading 3G and Wi-Fi networks make mobile data accessible to everyone—from road warriors with advanced smartphones to texting teens with quick messaging phones. We offer something for everyone.”

This is an impressive statistic as smartphone users outspend non-smartphone users considerably and are generally more profitable as well.

The folks at Sonic Boom recently released their latest iPhone game – iZombie: Death March

I downloaded the game last night and had a great time killing lots and lots of Zombies. The game is very straight forward – you play as a lone gunman surrounded by Zombies who come at you from every angle. Simply touch the screen where you want to shoot and “pow!” the Zombies go down.

There are 6 missions or chapters to choose from:

1. Point Blank
2. Guardian
3. Bunker
4. Graveyard
5. Runaway
6. Extraction

And in each chapter you can choose from four different difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Death Wish or Nightmare. As the descriptions indicate, the chapters get increasingly more difficult.

I played all 6 chapters and mixed in varying difficulty levels. My personal favorite (pictured) is Runaway where you are in the back of a pick-up truck gunning down Zombies while trying to drive away from some crazy monster chasing you down the highway.

The game is also made more interesting with the clever storyline that is displayed between chapters. There are some great quotes in here including my favorite:

“Time flies when you have a gun.”

There must be something weird going on in the Zombie space because between this game and Popcap’s new PC game “Plants vs Zombies” I’ve been spending too much time killing zombies, but boy, is it fun.

SonicBoom is offering iZombie Death March for an introductory price of $1.99 through iTunes. The game is very well done and it’s a fun diversion for 5 minutes or longer. I highly recommend downloading this title and don’t be surprised if you find yourself groaning BRAAAAAAINS!! every now and again after playing it.