Friday
CauseWorld’s New App Melds The Check-In With The Check-Out
Last night, we wrote about a CauseWorld teaming up with TechCrunch to provide double karma points during the SXSW festival starting today in Austin, Texas. These points, obtained through checking-in at various locations, can be used to donate to charities through big brands that support the app. It’s a great feature, and we hope you’ll use it in Austin. What we didn’t talk too much about is the app itself that enables it, CauseWorld, which just released a new version of its iPhone app in the App Store.
We first covered the app back in December, but now it has been significantly upgraded. One of the core ideas behind the app has always been the intersection of the mobile and physical world (something I’ve thought a lot about as well). A new feature bridges the gap a bit more as you can now scan barcodes on individual items with your iPhone to earn extra karma points. Proctor & Gamble are the ones sponsoring these points on different products they make. It’s a good idea, because even if you choose not to buy the item, it forces you to pick it up and look at it a bit.
This feature points to the bigger idea that CauseWorld parent Shopkick is thinking about when it is ready to launch its flagship product (CauseWorld was born as just a trial site of an idea, but quickly ballooned into an app with over 300,000 downloads). It’s the idea that the cellphone is the only interactive tool you carry in a non interactive setting at all times. So why not use it to make the physical retail space more interactive, Shopkick CEO Cyriac Roeding reasons.
Another huge addition to the CauseWorld app is a social layer. Previously, the app was all about what you did. But now you can hook it up to Facebook (which will earn you bonus karma points) and share the progress and donations you’re making with your friends. On top of this there are new features such as gifting which will help the app virally spread through social networks.
This social layer also allows for a leaderboard to be created showing which of your friend have donated the most karma points. Sometimes social pressure is the best way to get people motivated.
Again, CauseWorld stems from trying out an idea to see what would work with the larger Shopkick plan when that eventually launches. But the response to it has shown Roeding enough that he believes ”the next big thing after the check-in is the check-out.” Given the big brands they’re signing up to support CauseWorld, he just might be right.
You can find the new CauseWorld 1.5 in the App Store here. It’s a free download.
All entries filed under Company Content
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
Tim Chang, principal at Norwest Venture Partners, spoke about where he wants to put his firm’s venture money in the game business on a panel at the GamesBeat@GDC conference on Wednesday. Part of the discussion focused on “game-ification,” or using the techniques of game design to get people more interested in ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
Early this morning, Apple finally opened the floodgates for iPad preorders. You can preorder the tablet at the Apple online store for free home delivery on its launch day, April 3. You can also choose to reserve an iPad for pickup at an Apple store on April 3. The iPad starts ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
The saying a picture is worth a thousand words just got another real-world illustration. FunMobility, a mobile content community, today announced the launch of FunTweet, a website that adds a visual component to tweets that are related to the text. FunTweet is a simple idea, but one that could become popular as ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
We’ve written about FunMobility’s nifty picture messaging app for the iPhone and Android, called FunMail, that allows users to blasts their text into the application, which then breaks down whatever the user typed for context and places fun graphics with your original text. Now, FunMobility has caught the Twitter bug ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
This is the lede, verbatim, from a story that appeared in The Hill yesterday: "The Internet allowed extremists to contact, recruit, train and equip the suspect responsible for the attempted Flight 253 bombing on Christmas Day 'within weeks,' a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Wednesday." What's the implication, that because ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
This February, Microsoft Xbox 360 sales bested those of the Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii for the first time since September of 2007. The February sales figures were: Xbox 360 422,000 units — up 8% year-over-year, Wii 397,900 units — down 47% year-over-year, and Playstation 3 360,100 units — ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
Sonos has now confirmed the Index Ventures investment we reported two days ago. The company has taken an additional $25 million in capital from Index, raising the total raised by the company to $65 million. And Index Ventures Partner Mike Volpi, a former CIsco executive, has joined their board of ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
Disruption 2.0 was the theme at our GamesBeat@GDC conference about the business of innovation in the video game industry. We had a great crowd and it was standing-room only for many of the presentations. We’re grateful to everybody who came and our speakers as well. By way of thanks, we’re ...continue
no responses - Posted 03.12.10
It’s Apple iPad day, and every early adopter worth their salt is pre-ordering one of the soon to be ubiquitous little devices and counting the days until they get their hands on it on April 3. You’ve been waiting on this thing since December 2008, after all. We know you’ve already ...continue