For the moms

Let me start off by saying thank you to my own mother, who I know has not been the same since giving birth to me. Thank you for being sick as a dog for nine months, then frustrated for the next two hundred and fifty seven. Thank you for using a wooden spoon instead of a baseball bat, for making sure I made my sheets every day before I left to visit friends, for making me put in an application for Army ROTC, and for the laundry. For you men out there, give a big hug and a smooch to your mom this Sunday. Even if she's mean to you, remember, in the words of Bill Cosby, that she "brought you into this world, and can take you right out."

So besides lavishing your mom with gifts (remember that Mother's day is on Sunday if you live under a rock, or about to be) there are some ways that you can make her life a bit more manageable, all located on her phone.

Flixel Gives Smartphone Users the Power of Cinemagraphs

Flixel logo

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) images have always been a way of bridging the divide between a still shot image and an animation.  However, there has never been a way to have a still image that allows for a still image to have a section of it animated (such as the eyes of a person) - at least not until now.  Flixel, a free application available only for the iPhone, gives smartphone owners the ability to create their own beautiful cinemagraphs.  Pioneered by fashion photographers Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg, cinemagraphs take the concept of GIF images and add it to a unique canvas - freezing part of an image and letting the rest play through an endless loop.  This app gives both design fanatics and average iPhone users the opportunity to create and share like never before.

MasterCard Introduces the PayPass

In an early post, we introduced PayPal's payment innovation and the Google Wallet, but now MasterCard is quickly following in their footsteps.  Today, MasterCard introduced their PayPass Service, which has three components: the PayPass Acceptance Network, PayPass Wallet, and the PayPass API.  These three components combined help streamline your shopping experience - making the process quick and easy.  

Drop it like it's...a phone?

Ever get frustrated? Bad Question. How often are you frustrated? If you're like me, you can get frustrated by all the annoying things that come along with life: coworkers not calling you back, getting emails that really yank your chain, or when you get that text that nobody can hang out. It just makes you want to curb stomp that little mobile device. So what do you do?

Well this device from Sonim can take that beating. While it's not a smartphone by any means (so you can't use Facebook) it's something that I would seriously consider purchasing. Coming in at a hefty $525, which isn't too off from buying the new iPhone 4S, Sonim boasts that the XP3300 can withstand a beating: "[water] 2 meters deep is no challenge for this IP-68 rated, water and dust proof handset, which can also be dropped from 2 meters onto concrete. The 2 inch high-resolution display is protected by a class leading 1.5mm thick Corning® Gorilla® Glass lens for the highest scratch and shock resistance." Sounds tough to me. If you doubt it, just take a look at the video.

Cell phone flasks: giving a new meaning to drunk dialing

Most people carry a cell phone around nowadays.  These devices are probably the only things that don't get a second glance when passing through security at bars, clubs, events, or games.  On the other hand, alcohol is one of the most difficult items to get into an event with extra screening (pat-downs, metal detectors, etc.).  For the party animals that feel the need to have a continuous buzz throughout the night, they may be faced with options that aren't quite satisfactory - including drinking heavily beforehand or emptying their wallets on overpriced venue drinks.  Many people settle for these options.  However, some ingenious inventors have devised flasks intended to fool security and allow people to waltz right into an event bearing their booze of choice.  While I am not an advocate sneaking alcohol into events, I feel that these creative products (or concepts) were worth featuring in our mobile technology blog; and they would make a great gift for college friends or family.