frengo

LOLcats mobile: I can has cell fone?

Starting Wednesday, fans of the 'cheezy' Internet phenomenon LOLcats will be able to get updates of the funny, iconic felines from their cell phones. (I bet you thought I was going to say "from soda bottles.")

That's right. With a little help from Frengo, the company behind the popular Facebook app, Flirtable, I Can Has Cheezburger will be pushing daily updates of the newest LOLcat via text and the mobile Web, transcoded from Frengo's servers. The functionality is simple, but sensibly actionable. Users can view past images and share image links with friends via text.

To … Read more

Meet emerging mobile social networks

New social networks are born each day, and at the Under the Radar conference (see all posts) a new batch is on display. Most are in early funding stages, and one is so new it's still in closed beta. The other three are ready for a try-out.

I'll give Frengo this--it's certainly different than most mobile chatting services. Case in point: Neither of Frengo's main competitors, Twitter and Jaiku, asks users to vote, compete in contests, or earn points. In that sense, a bit of the social-discovery element of social networks creeps in. Except, of course, the goal isn't necessarily to become friends with other users. Frengo is more interested in social collision--sort of a tamer, more innocent Hot or Not. Example? The Flirtable Facebook application launched last Thursday.… Read more

Frengo: Prepare for SMS overload

Frengo is a newish nanoblog service that makes it easy to both subscribe to topic areas and to create your own feeds. Compared to somewhat similar services (Twitter, Jaiku, and Pownce), it has a few twists. For one, it's built for the 16-to-30 demographic and is thus a big SMS play. The Frengo founders also have good connections with the mobile carriers, and have managed to get carriers (notably Sprint subbrand Boost) onboard with the service.

As the carriers are raising their a la carte per-message rates on SMS in order to push people into all-you-can-eat bucket plans for … Read more