Betting that Brizzly will be huge, ex-Googlers are working on things

Thing Labs in their San Francisco office. Chris Wetherell, middle left, and Jason Shellen, middle right. Credit: Mark Milian / Los Angeles Times

The mad scientists at Thing Labs have a very impressive track record.

On the sixth floor of a trendy building in San Francisco's recently renovated Mint Plaza, four former Google employees -- scratch that: five former Googlers, with today's addition of FriendFeed's (now Facebook's) Ben Darnell -- and a few others are working on things. Some very interesting things.

Founder Jason Shellen is purposely fuzzy with his description of ongoing projects. Whereas Google famously has "20% time," a policy that lets engineers spend one-fifth of their day working on anything they want, Shellen says his workers get "100% time."

For the last five months, the majority of that time has been spent building Brizzly, a Web application that combines your Twitter and Facebook profiles into a single interface.

After gaining some viral interest through its invitation-only sign-up system -- a strategy that has worked exceedingly well for Gmail and now Google Wave -- Brizzly is unlocking its doors today. Anyone can sign up and plug in their social network credentials.

But Brizzly remains in beta despite having tens of thousands of users. The product is ahead of most desktop apps in its stability and interface but is not yet a replacement for Facebook because you can't fully browse friends' profiles, view events or upload pictures. And the app currently lacks some newer Twitter features like geolocation, which is available in only a few programs anyway, and standardized retweet, a project originally spearheaded by Thing Labs' vice president of technology, Chris Wetherell.

So why should you care? There's plenty of websites and apps for accessing Twitter. TweetDeck and Seesmic, like Brizzly, can pull in Facebook as well. And while Brizzly is stuffed with potential even now in such an early stage, Shellen's track record hints that there's much more to come.

Google Maps' Street View under Swiss scrutiny

Google Map's Street View of Hollywood Boulevard near Highland Avenue. Credit: Google Inc..

Internet search giant Google is facing court action in Switzerland because it isn’t meeting the country’s demands for tighter privacy protection with its Google Maps' Street View service, according to a Swiss government official.

Hanspeter Thuer, data protection commissioner, announced today in a statement that he plans to bring a suit against Google in the Federal Administrative Tribunal, according to an Agence France Presse report.

Thuer said Google rejected many of his recommendations after it went online in August.

Street View is a feature that lets users pick a point on a map and see a panoramic street-level image of the surroundings. By adjusting the location of the point, a user can take a virtual walk down the street. Google constructs the images from panoramic photos taken by cars it has equipped with cameras.

Faces had not been sufficiently blurred, and people were concerned about being shown near "sensitive locations, for example outside hospitals, prisons or schools," he said.

Google argues that it provides measures to protect privacy by making it possible for people to contact Google and ask to have pictures of their property removed from Street View. The company also said it spoke with privacy regulators and gave them an opportunity to raise questions.

“We’re proud of the blurring technology we’ve developed for Street View, and are confident the product is completely legal, but we wanted to go the extra mile to address Herr Thuer’s concerns,” the company said in a blog post.

Google ran into a similar problem in the U.S. this year when a Pennsylvania couple took the company to court, saying the feature was an invasion of privacy. A judge threw out the case in February, siding with Google, which said "complete privacy does not exist" and argued that photos and building plans of the couple's home were already available to the public on local government websites.

In the blog post, Google indicated it planned to fight the Swiss case as well: “We will vigorously defend Street View in court and we’re committed to continue bringing the benefits to Swiss users.”

-- W.J. Hennigan

Anaheim wants to know if there's an app for that

"It's a Small World" attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim. The city is looking for some help with apps. Credit: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times.

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle wants to use phone and computer apps to improve his city. But instead of calling on software developers to create imaginative apps, he initiated a public competition.

Any U.S. resident over the age of 16 is encouraged to submit an app idea to The Great Anaheim Apps Challenge, which began at the beginning of the month and ends on Nov. 30. Winners will be determined in of each of the following five categories: water and power, parks and recreation, public safety, tourism/sports/entertainment and anything Anaheim.

If improving Mickey Mouse's city is not motivation enough to participate in this competition, the city will give $5,000 in cash and gift prizes to the victors. They will be announced on Jan. 5.

So far, the city has received more than 300 submissions, including an app that would provide online train schedules and real-time status alerts. Another proposed app would display photos of situations that require a city response, such as a car crash or a building defaced by graffiti.

Contest details can be found at www.AnaheimApps.org.

-- Melissa Rohlin

Quitting smoking isn't child's play. Or is it?

You can play music on the iPhone with the Leaf Trombone app. Researchers believe they can come up with a similar app for smokers to help them quit smoking. Credit: Peter DaSilva/Los Angeles Times .

In a few years if you see a person nervously blowing on his cellphone for five minutes, do not call the cops. He might not be a crazy person who forgot to take his meds; he might just be a smoker trying to quit smoking.

Columbia University's Teachers College announced today that it received a  $150,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through the foundation's Health Games Research national program to develop a smart phone app that emulates the physiological responses smokers get from smoking.

The first apps are likely to be for Apple Inc.'s iPhone or iPod Touch. The user would control the game by blowing into the device's microphone in response to different color and sound stimuli coming from the handset. Researchers hope that it will be able to elicit the same brain patterns, heart rate levels and relaxation responses that smokers get from smoking. The game, Lit: A Game Intervention for Nicotine Smokers, is expected to be released in about two years.

Breath therapy has been used to help smokers quit smoking for a while, but it's hoped that the game will  disseminate this technique to the masses. "You don't have to learn anything; the game will cause you to breathe the right way," said Charles Kinzer, professor of education in the Communication, Computing and Technology Program and the Game Research Lab at Teachers College.

Technology is being used in another way to help smokers quit smoking. Researchers at the GRAP Occupational Psychology Clinic and the University of Quebec in Gatineau recently found that smokers who crushed virtual cigarettes experienced a significant reduction in nicotine addiction.

Tobacco use is still the leading cause of death in the United States, according to a statement from Kinzer and the Lit project team. It added that 70% of adult smokers say they want to quit, and more than 40% try to quit each year.

Kinzer said, "If we can capitalize on the motivational aspect of games and the availability of mobile devices, there is tremendous potential to positively affect heath and wellness for smokers who want to quit, and this would have implications for healthcare costs as well."

--Melissa Rohlin

Online radio comes to the BlackBerry

The WunderRadio app brings online radio to BlackBerry phones. Credit: Jerome Adamstein.

BlackBerry phones are highly functional and many models have terrific keyboards, but they aren't exactly hip, especially when it comes to apps. In that department, iPhones win hands-down.

But finally, one of the best-liked online radio apps has come to the BB. WunderRadio, which can access Internet stations from around the world, has been released in a version that can play on the Curve and other models (the complete list is on the app site).

The app, which has a highly usable if not beautiful interface, allows you to search for a station by category -- talk, sport or music. Next comes a screen that allows you to choose a genre (not surprisingly, the category with the most genres, by far, is music) and then up pops the available stations.

At the top of the list will be your local stations, determined via the phone's GPS capability.

Then you start up the station, which can take the better part of a minute to engage, but once it starts playing the sound is surprisingly good on earphones.

If it starts playing, that is. Several of the stations turned out to be duds -- often because the Internet address of the station needed to be updated. (Radiotime, the company that organized the programming, invites listeners to notify it when a station can't be accessed.)

When it worked, it never failed to bring a smile to testers, whether listening to an all-Baroque station from Paris or Soca direct from Trinidad.

Two of nicest things about the app: You can save favorite stations for relatively quick access, and the radio pauses when you get a phone call.

Worst thing about WunderRadio: Although it functioned well in areas with Wi-Fi (we tested it on the Curve, which has Wi-Fi capability), it didn't work at all on an Edge cell network. Perhaps folks with phones that can use 3G networks would fare better.

You can try for yourself. The BB version of WunderRadio can be downloaded and used for free for 10 days. Then if you want to continue using it, there's a one-time fee of $9.99.

-- David Colker

Bathroom scale goes Wi-Fi

This body scale puts your weight online. Credit: Withings.

Here's maybe the best reason yet to make sure your Wi-Fi connection is secure from snoopers.

A French technology company, Withings, has introduced the first-ever bathroom scale with Wi-Fi capability. And if that wasn't enough, it also has an iPhone app.

All you do is step on the scale, and your weight shows up on a personal Web page (hopefully, that's secure too) or the phone screen where you can compare it to past readings. You can even get a graphic showing weight loss -- or gain -- over time.

This could perhaps bring on a new wave of smashed computer screens, or broken iPhones from them being thrown across the room.

The Wi-Fi Body Scale also measures body mass index and recognizes up to eight users, so the whole household can join in.

The price: $159.

In a press release, a Withings official declared that the company strives to make products "that make everyday life better."

Well, in this case, it would depend on the day.

-- David Colker

How Google Wave could transform journalism

Google Wave lets users collaborate live on documents.

The tech world is awash with excitement for today's scheduled release of 100,000 invitations to preview Google Wave.

Seems like everyone is buzzing about how the collaborative Web tool will revolutionize how we do business, organize parties, manage projects with friends, cheat on homework and market brands (trust us, we've seen the news releases, plural). The term "Google Wave" has been on Twitter's top-trending list all day.

For the last two months, while we've been testing the Google Wave developer preview, we have been talking amongst ourselves about how this thing could change (or add to) what we do. So, here's a list of a few wild ideas we had for using Wave.

Collaborative reporting: You may notice that double bylines aren't very common. That's because trying to co-author a news story stinks.

The process usually involves one reporter talking to and researching a few things and another following a different set of sources and finally combining their findings toward the end. This can result in a mess of incompatible and unrelated research that gets either thrown out or somewhat-awkwardly wiggled in.

We're not going to e-mail our co-writers with every new lead and minute detail we dig up. But if we're sharing a virtual notebook, we can scan through ...

Appiphilia: The skinny on Weight Watchers app for iPhone

Remember to put your iPhone down when it's weigh-in time. Photo by: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

The battle of the bulge is one many of us have fought at one time or another. It helps to have a buddy going through it with us. So, those of us who never part with our iPhones can have a constant built-in weight-loss companion (or nag, as the need might be).

Now competing with the numerous offerings in the App Store for diet and exercise, Weight Watchers recently added its app to the mix -- and we gave it a try. 

CNN's new iPhone app takes mobile news to the next level

An exception among the generally innovation-averse old-media crowd, CNN has often shown that it is not afraid to embrace new technologies or, when necessary, to invent some its own.

Continuing that trend, the network and its market-leading website, CNN.com, have released a new iPhone app, a kind of fully loaded Swiss Army knife for news. 

The app's features include old-school written articles, live streaming video, localized traffic and weather, and -- coolest -- the ability for users to upload cellphone photos or video to iReport, the network's online haven for amateur reporting.

That will be the first time CNN has created a direct uplink from a mobile device to its iReport platform, an enhancement that could make it easier for users to transmit the kind of on-the-ground citizen reports that have grown common during high-profile events.

CNN says its video upload and download features will work fine on the open cellular network, where video features are typically pokey.

The application, available for $1.99 and initially hosting in-app advertising from Chevron and Lexus, is definitely testing the bounds of app simplicity, nearly mimicking a full website with the number of features and multimedia options. 

But CNN, with rather unabashed bravado, believes that its users want all that heavy firepower.  The new app "is one of the best user experiences around," said Louis Gump, vice president of CNN Mobile, in a statement, "and will quickly become an essential daily news source for many iPhone and iPod Touch users."

Some of that confidence is earned, of course. CNN.com is still the highest-trafficked news site, and it also owns one of the most followed Twitter accounts. 

The current king of iPhone news apps is, arguably, NPR, which gives unfettered access to archived content from a huge list of radio stations. But CNN's bold move, bringing TV news to the iPhone, could mean a duel for media app dominance is afoot.

-- David Sarno

iPhone screen shots: CNN

Appiphilia: A Chase to legitimize iPhone photography

Does having a 2- or 3-megapixel camera on your cellphone make you an artist or a photographer? Chase Jarvis would argue it does.

“Yeah, everybody is an artist,” he said.

The 38-year-old commercial photographer is a kind of platform-agnostic photo-evangelist. Still buzzing from the limited sleep and excitement of the recent launch of a 256-page book of his iPhone photography ("The Best Camera Is the One That's With You"), a new iPhone app (Best Camera) and related photo sharing social network, he told us he's hoping to generate a bit of a pop cultural movement. 

Now that nearly everyone has some kind of camera in hand, "there's no barrier to entry," whether a kid playing with Dad's phone, a professional photographer or a grandmother tapping out snapshots of her day.

“My [65-year-old] mom is a great example. She was never programmed that she is a creative type,” he said. But when she got an iPhone, “it enabled something in her…. There’s no drama in this thing that you’re supposed to talk to your friends on.”