**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Today is the Super Bowl of politics — in a way. Election Day 2010.

Every major event like this presents brilliant minds with an opportunity to come up with something truly awesome that takes mobile to the next level. And I always come away wanting more.

The only interesting thing I found this time around, albeit more fun (perhaps pointless?) than meaningful, is Foursquare’s “I Voted” badge. Here’s how it’s supposed to work: any one of Foursquare’s 4 million users that votes (or fake votes via check-in) today can get the badge. Read more

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

SEATTLE — If you ask the head of mobile at Facebook Inc., he’ll tell you we still have a long way to go before social media really spreads its wings in the mobile environment.

“We haven’t yet even begun to see the true potential of what social looks like on your phone,” Erick Tseng said yesterday at Mobile Future Forward. “From our perspective we are still in the dark ages on what that should look like.”

The end-goal sounds simple enough: “All of that social intelligence that you have built around yourself … all of that goodness should be available to you on the phone,” he said. Read more

**As published at digiday:DAILY**

Publisher: SocialScope, Inc  Price: Free  Platform: BlackBerry OS, iPhone and limited Android devices Advertising: None

Functionality: A+
Fun Factor: A
Overall: A+

Just when I think I’ve found my all-time favorite client for Twitter on my BlackBerry, an alternative jumps into my radar and I begin the evaluation process anew once more.

I can’t remember how long it’s been since I requested an invite to check out the beta for SocialScope, but I finally got a code via e-mail last week and was downloading the app on my BlackBerry minutes later. The company has seemingly made an early commitment to developing for the BlackBerry, as it lists a number of compatible RIM devices on its site; there’s also support for the Android-based G1 and the iPhone. Read more

I’ve had the pleasure of attending a handful of 49ers home games in San Francisco this season and it’s not just my team that’s gone through ups and downs over the past four months. Using a cellphone at these games has been hit or miss at best.

Slouching against a car, tailgating way out deep in the parking lot there were never any problems. But as we approached the pearly gates with thousands of football fans in top form, the problems began to emerge.

Things were especially bad last Monday night. A group of us got split up in the mad dash from the parking lot to the gates and we had to rely on ancient forms of communication (sight and sound) to find each other. No big deal. It’s a football game. There’s no crying in football.

If you’ve ever tried to place a call or send a text message in the midst of Monday Night Madness at Candlestick you know what I’m talking about. Right when we arguably needed our phones most (tickets had to be distributed, before yours truly could enter), all of our non-working smartphones made us look pretty dumb. Luckily, we all made it inside without incident and with even more luck the 49ers beat the Cardinals with many incidents on the field. Read more

** As published in RCR Wireless News **

SAN FRANCISCO – The spark that led Motorola Inc. Co-CEO Sanjay Jha to reinvigorate his company’s relationship with Google Inc. was similar to two drunks finding each other in a bar, or at least that is what Jha half-jokingly explained at this week’s Mobilize conference in San Francisco.

As was widely expected, Jha took the stage to announce Motorola’s plan for a new lineup of devices that run on Google’s Android operating system. Read more