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Social-ad firm Appssavvy raises $3.1 million

Appssavvy, a start-up that connects advertisers looking for "social media" campaigns with developers and firms that will build widgets for them or get their ads on existing apps, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $3.1 million in Series A venture funding. The round was led by True Ventures, with previous investor Scott Kurnit, founder of About.com, also participating.

Earlier this month, Appssavvy struck a deal with NBC Universal, making it "the exclusive advertising-sales team for the NBC News iCue social-media application."

"Social media has the potential to connect marketers with consumers in … Read more

Hands on with Audi's updated A4 iPhone app

Senior Editor Wayne Cunningham reported earlier on Audi's A4 iPhone app and found that instead of being an innovative way to interface with your vehicle via iPhone, it was merely a game designed to market the newly updated A4 sedan. Recently, Audi updated the app with two new unlockable vehicles and some tweaks to the controls. Having recently purchased an iPod Touch, I decided to take Audi's app for a spin.

The Audi A4 Driving Challenge 2.0, which is a free download from the iTunes App Store, is played by holding the iPhone in landscape orientation. Thumbs … Read more

iPhone apps of the week

It appears that sometimes wishes really do come true. Last week I talked about iGolf, hoping that Version 2.0 would include some sort of course to play through. Apparently this was already in the works. With Version 2.0 you can now play through three holes in addition to hitting for distance at the driving range. It still needs some work (putting requires you to perform a full swing making it less-than-ideal), but adding the three playable holes is a nice touch. I should point out that if you don't have a good grip while playing you may … Read more

iTunes 8.0.1 Released: App Store Update Checking Fixes

Apple has released iTunes 8.0.1, a significant update to the media playback/purchase, and device synchronization tool.

Among the enhancements in this release:

Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist. Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano. Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading. Improves checking for updates from the App Store Improves accessibility with VoiceOver. Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

The new release is available through Software Update or Apple's iTunes page.

If you have problems after applying the update, please let us know.

Microsoft plugs the dike against a Google Apps flood...for now

If you haven't read CIO.com's account of Microsoft's frantic attempts to keep Procter and Gamble from using Google Apps, read it now. As I reported last year, I've personally seen very large companies kicking off large pilots of Google Apps to wean themselves off Microsoft, but I've yet to see such a dramatic response from Microsoft.

Microsoft is blase about Google Apps in public, just as it used to be about open source, but incidents like P&G are making the software giant realize that it has a serious problem on its hands.… Read more

Obama launches iPhone recruiting, campaign tool

Our good friend Raven Zachary is directing the launch of an iPhone Application for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign

The most notable feature "organizes and prioritizes your contacts by key battleground states, making it easy to reach out and make an impact quickly," according to the software.

The application anonymously reports back the number of calls made this way: "Your privacy is important: no personal data or contacts will be uploaded or stored. Only the total number of calls you make is uploaded anonymously." The software is the latest effort by politicians to capitalize on … Read more

Widget maker Gigya gets $11 million Series C

Looks like they're battening down the hatches: Social-network apphaus Gigya has raised $11 million in a Series C funding round led by DAG Ventures.

President and co-founder Rooly Eliezerov called it a "pre-emptive round" in a release Wednesday; the company's Series B round was only seven months ago. But Gigya insists that this new funding is to keep up demand, not to have some disaster insurance in the face of the current financial situation.

Still, economic crisis notwithstanding, Gigya and its brethren may still have a tough road ahead: Blogger Nick O'Neill recently found that … Read more

More App Store tweaks expected with iPhone 2.2

Hot on the heels of the crucial iPhone 2.1 release, Apple appears to be getting ready to release another software update.

We've known that iPhone 2.2 has been coming for a while, with the primary change expected to involve making Safari on the iPhone look more like Safari on the Mac. But AppleInsider has some details on how the interface for the App Store--perhaps the best thing and worst thing about iPhone 2.0--is expected to change.

One notable tweak is that the selection of an application by category on the iPhone will become easier, with wider … Read more

Zoho launches its own app store

Productivity application start-up Zoho is in a tough position: it has to compete with Google Apps. That hasn't stopped the company from pushing forward and trying new stuff.

Case in point: Zoho's Marketplace, which launched Tuesday. Through the Marketplace, Zoho users can make a buck or two off of applications that they built with Zoho Creator, the company's drag-and-drop application development tool.

If you've made an application in Creator, you can list it for sale in the Marketplace and charge a fee, if you want. Zoho doesn't take a commission from the sale of applications, … Read more