You may already know about (and use!) the Bump app for iPhone or Android. The software from Bump Technologies lets users share contact information simply by bumping their phones together.

Well, that technology just went one step further. PayPal just announced a new iPhone application that lets you send money by—you guessed it—bumping your phones together. The app is currently free to download, but you must login with your PayPal information to use. The app includes a special feature that aids in the notoriously dreaded check-split, down to how to factor in tax/tip. Someone pigged out on a steak while you noshed on a salad? No problem! There’s a feature that helps you figure out who owes more too.

Read more about this money swapping technology here.

Yes, yes, Foursquare is everywhere these days. But what’s all the buzz about? And what is everyone saying?

Well for starters, the location based social networking platform was all the rage at this year’s SXSW. There were dueling parties between Foursquare and Gowalla, including attendance by Ashton Kutcher at the former, and DJ Diplo at the latter. Gowalla may be everyone’s favorite underdog, but Foursquare appears to be leading the LBSN pack, experiencing a phenomenal growth surge of 100,000 users in 10 days surrounding SXSW.

Read more Foursquare news here and here. Excuse us, we have to go count our badges now.

Foursquare is slowly but surely taking over the world.

Much like Twitter, its appeal is somewhat hard to describe, but more than a few folks here at Creative Asylum have been bitten by the Foursquare bug. The idea is this: members use their cellphones’ GPS capabilities to check in regularly from physical locations such as  restaurants, bars and shops. People within their network are notified of their locations, and conversations and discoveries about new places and new things ensue.

We’ve noticed two particularly newsworthy developments with Foursquare of late:

Harvard has partnered with them to create a campus-based game that rewards students with badges and points for exploring the school and surrounding places of interest. Essentially tacks an official Harvard-specific game with a special collegiate badge on the existing Foursquare functionality and purpose.

Twitter and Foursquare Become the New Loyalty Program at Tasti D-Lite - This marks the first time that a restaurant chain has tacked on social media rewards for social media exposure to their customer loyalty programs, and it’s been a long time coming.

Now if only rival Yelp wasn’t completely honing in on their turf!

“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.” —Robert Hintze, founder of BeautifulPeople.com

The lure of egg nog, holiday ham, and gingerbread cookies a little too much for you this season? Join the club. The time to eat, drink, and be merry usually spells out a few extra pounds for all of us, but for members of this online dating site, it meant expulsion.

BeautifulPeople.com just nixed about 5,000 members for packing on the pounds over the holidays. Those members who looked like they had one too many holiday fudge bars welcomed the new year with an expulsion email from the dating site, telling them they could register again when they were back to their fighting weight. In addition to notification of their untimely dismissal, the unlucky bunch received details of recommended boot camps.

Apparently a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Just like too many sugar cookies makes your online index go down.

Sounds a bit harsh to us. What’s wrong with a little more to love?

Hard to believe, but this time last year Facebook and MySpace were even-steven. My how quickly things have changed.

2009 has turned out to be a monumental year for Facebook, a social networking powerhouse that garnered over 200 million new users and raised $200 million. This year, Facebook was the most visited site in the U.S. on Christmas and Christmas Eve. And let’s not forget that “unfriend” was recently given the distinction of word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

Facebook has quickly infiltrated virtually ever corner of the modern zeitgeist. We’re anxious to see what’s in store for 2010 and beyond, but in the meantime, we tip our hats to you, Facebook. It’s been quite a year.

Consider Pepsi’s recent ’sexist’ iPhone app debacle a cautionary tale.

Seems like the prevalence of viral marketing and social networking has not come without its share of caveats. Less regulation and more freedom can be a good thing…or in some cases can fall flatter than soda left out in the sun.

The newest member of the ’sexist’ club is none other than Method. You know those devilish little scrubbing bubbles, crudely leering at the helpless naked woman in the shower? Uh yeah, apparently some view it as sexist and even condoning rape.
Method has since pulled the video. But looks like those scuzzy little suds could take a lesson from Spiderman—”With great power comes great responsibility.” Even on the Internet.

How do you sum up college in 140 characters or less?

Would-be journalists at Griffith University in Australia could tell us. The academic institution just made Twitter education part of the mandatory courseload.

“Some students’ tweets are not as in depth as you might like. But I don’t know if getting them to write an essay is any more beneficial,” said Jacqui Ewart, senior lecturer at the university.

Let the Tweducation begin!

Attention, Finns! Broadband is now a legal right. In a landmark case, the Finnish government became the first country worldwide to sign a law dictating that every citizen has a legal right to a broadband connection.

In other news, the Federal Court in Australia has recently decided that individual judges may decide (on a case by case basis) if they will allow Twitter coverage in their courtrooms.

And, not to be outdone, our very own CIA has just invested in a social media monitoring firm. The agency plans to use technology to monitor International intelligence shared in public channels to get an early edge on what’s being communicated by influencers.

Remember the one where Mike installed a pay phone inside the Brady house to teach the kids about fiscal responsibility? My, how times have changed.

Well, forget Crisco and Carol Brady—Florence Henderson is a woman of the modern age. Or so she’s selling.

Her just-launched FloH Club is a tech-support hot line for older adults who want to become more comfortable with the whole world wide web thingy. The plans and services range from $25 to up to $250 for an entire year.



“…A proficient text-messenger, Skyper and active member on Facebook, she wants to help others learn to do the same.”

Everyone knows that Florence Henderson is capable—shoot, the woman handled six kids with panache and made fried chicken like nobody’s business. What’s a little tech support?

An app that helps guys “get lucky” with 24 different types of women had Pepsi serving up a mea cola yesterday, but consumers aren’t buying it.

The app, released to promote Pepsi’s AMP energy drink, presents guys with 24 types of girls, including such clichés as “Rebound Girl,” “Women’s Studies Major,” “Cougar,” and “Twins.” The app assures guys that it will be a “roadmap to success with your favorite kinds of women,” lets them create “Brag Lists” of girls they’ve gotten lucky with, and even encourages them to flaunt their conquests via social networking.

Pepsi’s half-hearted apology has left many customers cold and even instigating a boycott of Pepsi goods.

Let’s hope the men out there are scoring with this app, because Pepsi sure isn’t.