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Yahoo's latest acquisition points to a Google Now rival
Yahoo's latest acquisition is Incredible Labs, the company behind personal-assistant iOS app Donna. Most of the seven-member Incredible Labs team will stay on with Yahoo, though the iOS app will no longer be available for download. Donna, for those who aren't familiar, has been providing traffic updates, weather information and other tips to help you through your daily schedule à la Google Now. Yahoo will likely use Incredible Labs' technology to create a similar app of its own -- we can definitely see it pulling in data from Yahoo's much-loved weather service, for instance.
Donna for iOS is a brainy personal assistant
Donna entered the App Store in the spring of last year. Since then, the app that lets you manage your day has added many new features, fixed a few bugs along the way and done a nice re-design for iOS 7. It's also now free. Donna can tell you when to leave for a meeting, can dial into conference calls, give you the weather outlook for upcoming appointments and let people know if you are running late. It knows when you are on the way without having to input that information, and it provides daily summaries and summaries in the evening for your activities the next day. With all that power, Donna is easy to operate. You do need to sign up for a free account. Favorite locations can be saved, and it syncs with your calendars including Exchange, Google, Apple's iCal and Yahoo. The app can provide driving or transit and walking directions, and using Google Street View, it will show you your destination. I set the app up, and it scanned my calendar and showed me what's coming up. Some of my appointments didn't have addresses, so I added those and saved them as favorites. The company has fully stated its privacy policy, and they pledge to keep your personal information personal and private. The Donna servers do store quite a bit of information about you, because that's what makes the app useful. Of course, this information could be retrieved with a court order, like a lot of other information that comes from your phone, so heads-up. Donna is very useful. It's intuitive to use and can really help you keep track of a busy day. The app settings are granular, so you can decide what notifications you get or don't get, and how much of your location information is shared. The features are similar to Google Now on Android. Some of those functions were incorporated into the Google Search app on iOS, but Donna has more extensive personal assistant functions. Having tested the app, I'll keep using it because it puts a lot of functions in one place. If you are looking for a smart digital personal assistant that goes a bit beyond what Siri can do, (but without voice interaction), give Donna a try. The app requires iOS 7, and it's optimized for the iPhone 5.
Donna personal assistant app updated for iOS 7, lets meeting attendees know if you're running late
If you've ever run late for a meeting but weren't able to tell the other attendees because you're too busy battling traffic, then you might be interested in the latest update to Donna, the personal assistant iOS app from Incredible Labs that debuted earlier this year. Fondly referred to as "her" by company co-founder Kevin Cheng, Donna was designed to act as a smarter replacement for a regular calendar app, doing things like reminding you when to leave for an appointment and giving you the appropriate directions and weather conditions to get you there on time. Version 2.0 of the app, however, improves upon those features by allowing Donna to automatically email or text meeting participants that you're on your way and let them know your ETA based on your location and preferred mode of transportation. It's even smart enough to detect common places like your home or work as long as you've pre-programmed the app to do so. As before, Donna also detects conference calls in your calendar and can dial the number for you if you've set it up for that. If your busy life is in shambles and you're constantly having to apologize for your tardiness, go on and download the latest version of Donna at the link below.
Donna and Carla plan to kick Belle out of the Nokia ball, promise not to be Symbian's last dance
Nokia may have signed a pledge of mobile allegiance to Windows Phone, but that doesn't mean its Symbian faithful have to play the part of the spurned lover. Espoo still sees a future for users of its other OS and plans to dish out the upgrades in two future steps, bearing such '70s disco queen-from-BK names like Carla and Donna. Details of these purported updates leaked out at the company's Developer's Day in Mexico where a blurrycam slide outed the planned progression for Belle-operating handsets. So, what's on deck? Well, Carla'll be the first to hit, bringing an updated Browser (8.0 here), Dolby Surround Sound, NFC functionality and improved widgets, while Donna's party plans were less than forthcoming, indicating that it'd be an exclusively dual-core phone affair. So, clear out some space on that Symbian dance card, these solid gold gals are looking for one last spin on the mobile dance floor.
