urban

Users who enjoy a little celebrity gossip may be interested in an application that draws from several sources. Urban Gossip FREE tries to accomplish this job on a small scale but fails miserably. The app crashes and is full of distracting ads.

Urban Gossip FREE doesn't consume a large amount of memory and it loads pretty quickly. The user interface is pretty rough, though. It is very busy and hard to read on a screen any smaller than a tablet. Not only is it incredibly hard to read but it is littered with invasive advertising, too. A scrolling advertisement … Read more

Pools aren't just for swimming, you know. Brooklyn art studio Red Paper Heart made some pretty nifty art with a swimming hole and 65,000 ping-pong balls. Before you dismiss that as an exercise in lunacy, take a look at a clever interactive pool party experience for yourself in the video below.

Red Paper Heart created the mesmerizing show in conjunction with city guide Web site UrbanDaddy, all for a tequila promotional event in Hamptons, N.Y.. The art studio programmed some software (using C++) to control the projector-driven light show that reacts to music. To enhance the visuals, the group enlisted a team of synchronized swimmers and some tuxedo-clad scuba divers to class up the joint.… Read more

LAS VEGAS -- A device that plugs into a landline doesn't sound very sexy, but Urban Hello's sleek phone could change your mind.

The French startup's HD voice handset doesn't look like a typical house phone and its features are discreet. The speakers and microphone blend into the design, and its two screens, used for caller ID and to pull up stored numbers, are well hidden. The dial pad is at the bottom of the phone, and if you set it down mid-conversation, it automatically turns into a 360-degree speaker phone (meaning you can talk to … Read more

Urban Airship wants to wed its push notification service with location and history data to provide more accurate and timely alerts.

The company, which provides a push-notification platform to various parties (including CNET), unveiled its Location Messaging Service today. The service allows its partners to tap into a user's location history to provide notifications such as news, deals, and other alerts. Consumers have to opt into the service for each app to allow Urban Airship and that specific app to look into their history and send notifications.

Location-based notifications are seen as a boon to retailers looking for a … Read more

Generally, I'm not a fan of apps shooting push notifications out to my phone.

No, "Words with Friends," I don't care that I'm about to forfeit my game. There's a reason I stopped playing it. I don't need an alert any time I get a new friend on Facebook.

But apparently, notifications do make a difference when it comes to engagement, and sometimes they're what keeps an app from getting deleted off the phone or being one of the myriad of unused "zombie" apps left ignored on a smartphone. With … Read more

I first spotted Josh Ray's Urban Fidelity Kickstarter project on the Stereophile Web site, and it looked really interesting. The speaker is less than an inch thick and uses a made in the U.S.A. 8-inch driver. Completed speakers will sell for $399 a pair! The Urban Fidelity speaker is an "open baffle" design that uses sound from the front and back of the 8-inch driver. The speaker panel is made with formaldehyde-free wood sourced from North American forests and manufactured in Los Angeles, and the paints and inks are water-based and free of harmful chemicals. … Read more

Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi have developed a new kind of self-repairing plastic that could lead to impenetrable cell phones, laptops, and cars -- or the next Terminator.

Team lead professor Marek W. Urban presented the results of the research at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society in San Diego this week, revealing a type of plastic that mimics human skin.

Though self-healing plastic isn't a new concept, Urban says the benefit of his team's plastic is its warning system and ability to repair itself over and over again. … Read more

You wouldn't normally consider keeping a beehive on the second floor of your loft apartment in the middle of the concrete jungle, but Philips' urban beehive concept just might change your mind.

The urban beehive consists of an outside flower pot with a bee entryway above it. A glass container full of honeycomb frames sits on the inside to tempt the little buzzers into making a home.

A pull on the bottom of the hive is a smoke actuator that lets you calm the bees down before you pop off the cover or collect honey. Bees are incredible creatures, but you don't want to piss them off.

The beehive sports a sleek look that will fit right in with your modern sense of style. Philips touts the benefits of pollination, a fresh honey supply, and the educational interest of having a hive at your fingertips.… Read more

Mobile notifications provider Urban Airship has raised $15 million in a Series C round led by strategic investors Verizon and Salesforce.com.

The company, which provides companies with push notifications for mobile apps, said it recently served up its 7 billionth notification and is averaging 1 billion notifications a month.

The Portland, Ore.-based company recently acquired geolocation startup SimpleGeo in an all-stock deal rumored to be worth about $3.5 million.

"With 20,000 customers on our platform, close to 30,000 apps across iOS, Android and BlackBerry we've seen a 1,000% increase in traffic to … Read more