Our goal for all UberCab users, called clients, is for you to feel like a baller every time you use UberCab. We want you to not only arrive at your destination safely, simply, and efficiently, but we want you to arrive in STYLE.

UberCab clients typically use their iPhone application (also works via SMS) to request a black car limo service within a matter of minutes.

As an UberCab client you’ll get:

• one click iPhone requests
• location based dispatch
• on demand limo service
• in app billing – no cash needed

For Drivers

Drivers working with UberCab are able to turn down time into profit. Simply, we’ll keep you busy and making money.

UberCab operates as a lead generation service for limo companies. By using our iPhone application drivers become available for client requests that are designed to come from clients closest to you.

As an UberCab driver you’ll get:

• immediate ride requests
• never worry about billing
• direct client communication
• a supplement to your existing business

For Partners

There are huge benefits to being an UberCab partner. These are the companies that have multiple cars in their fleet and want to join/partner with UberCab with multiple cars.

When you have multiple cars driving on the UberCab platform you’ll receive actionable analytics about your cars and the trips they’re taking. Better analytics and visibility means better management and more profit!

As an UberCab partner you’ll get:

• real time fleet analytics
• detailed trip logs
• direct customer feedback on ALL trips
• simple billing solutions for fleets

For more information on UberCab or the UberCab team check out our About page, or follow us on Twitter and our blog. Our app will be in the iPhone app store VERY soon too, so keep an eye out!

This week I had back to back experiences with iPhone payment systems. I figured I’d document it here and show the differences between the two. Also I’ll shed some light on which, in my opinion, will win.

First, above is the image I took after signing my iPhone based receipt generated by Square. I had a delicious coffee at Sightglass Coffee in SOMA, SF. Just like at Starbucks I order my over-priced (it is SF) Latte and she whipped it up. Then when asked cash or card, I obviously said card and she pulled out a wifi enable iPod touch. The iPod had a funny little ‘square’ plugged into the ‘jack’. The barista (if they’re called that outside of starbucks) sturdied the square and swiped my card. Then she handed me the iPod for me to sign with my finger. The next step was a prompt with the request, “how I would like my receipt, sms or email?”, so I requested email and entered my address. Very simple, I was done.

Below is the email that I received with a link back to my web based receipt.

This is an image of that receipt on Square’s web site. I was very intrigued by the inclusion of the “This is your first payment here.” This data got me thinking about the possible foursquare integrations, etc. It’s inherently social because Square begins to use payments as checkins (like Foursquare). They can tie in the location, with the transaction, with other peoples transactions around the same time. With a Blippy / Square combo you could have payment authorized checkins, with the social blast of the transaction.

My next experience was at the Apple store on Market St. in San Francisco. The experience was similar in that when I pulled out my credit card for payment I was greeted with an Apple device, this time an iPhone. This iPhone was sitting in a cradle of some sort that had a slot for the card on the right hand side. Much larger than the Square but still with one swipe I was charged, not interacting with the phone at all. The person manning this device asked for my email which he punched in and I was off. $30 bucks later for a Snow Leopard update, I got an email that was similar to Square’s except it had a PDF attachment with the receipt.

This is the Apple receipt. The gist here is that it just gets the job done. The payment process was simple but there isn’t really anything interesting about this, we’ve all seen a receipt.

So which system do I think will make the most impact? Well, if Apple lets Square into the app store which they must or it will be a PR nightmare, I really think that Square’s system has a significant upside. Here’s why:

1) The experience was a bit smoother

2) The trust is higher in that I was required to sign the receipt and if someone else were to use my CC I would immediately get an email about the transaction (once I associate my cc to my email, this should be automatic).

3) The distribution of the tiny Square device that plugs into any jack (not just iPhones) is small and cheap. They even plan to try and distribute these devices for free.

4) The potential integration with other social systems is huge. Although not everyone tweets, or blogs, 400 million people are on facebook and there are tons of interesting ways that venues could use this dynamic, recorded by actual transactions, to reach new customers.

Lastly, adoption is the only worry. We need to start to condition people to understand that a mobile device is no longer just a cell phone. With UberCab we’re training drivers that a mobile device can help then attract new business. With USAA’s new iPhone app you can actually deposit checks using images of those checks taken from an iPhone. This is not a phone anymore, it’s a computer, and with things like Square, UberCab, or new banking systems the world is changing literally in the palm of our hands.

For those interested in how I slept last night, here’s your answer. This graph, capture by the Sleep Cycle iPhone App, shows when I was in my deepest sleep and when would have been best to wake up. I went to bed at 11:21pm last night and woke at 6:23am, 7 hours and 2 minutes of sleep. If this morning is any indicator to how the app works, it’s amazing. I was SO refreshed and ready to crush it this morning it was amazing. No caffeine necessary.

I’ve always used my mobile phone as my alarm because I like the consistency that provides when I’m traveling for biz or pleasure. As long as I have a power outlet I can trust that I’ll wake the same way. For some reason when I’m using someone elses alarm clock I get really nervous about falling asleep, not sure why, I’m just weird.

Although I do like using my mobile phone as my alarm I was not all that impressed with the iPhone’s alarm. When the most appealing sound for waking up is a barking dog, you know that the options aren’t great. So, on a twitter recommendation (I believe from @msg) I checked out the Sleep Cycle app.

Here’s how it works:

You set the time you’d like to wake up (6:30am) then it tell you to place the iPhone in your bed. I put it just under my pillow.

Throughout the night, a person’s sleep moves between different sleep phases – from deep sleep to nearly-awake. Sleep Cycle analyzes the movement in the bed to determine in which stage of sleep a person is in and, according to the app itself, “uses a 30 minute window that ends at your set alarm time to wake you up when you are in the lightest sleep phase… a natural way to wake up where you feel rested and relaxed.”

We’ve all waken up in a funk, and hopefully, we’ve all waken up fresh. If this app can guarantee that you’ll be fresh in the morning it’s worth much more than $0.99.

Some of the limits are, the phone must be plugged in; the app must be left on (do not lock the phone); the phone is placed face down on the bed and be next to – not under – your pillow (I put it just under and it worked very well). Also it apparently takes about 2 days of calibrating, so the graph above might not be perfect since it was my first night. When the alarm goes off, the sounds are soothingly subtle and get increasingly louder as the vibrate feature of the phone also activates from intermittently to constant. One thing I actually love is that there is no snooze. It knows when you should wake up so it doesn’t give you the option to delay waking up, which makes perfect sense.

Many folks have used Withings.com to send their weight via a WIFI enabled scale to Twitter. This type of tech that can affect how your body feels is awesome. I love tools that bring the web to the world and the world to the web. If I can can feel 20% more alert during the day due to the Sleep Cycle app it may become one of the most valuable apps I’ve purchased.

Have you tried out Sleep Cycle, let me know what you think. Also, if you have other app recommendations PLEASE let me know!

Events are the things that bring us together, in real life, around a specific topic. Whether it’s a Victoria Secret Fashion Show, or a Monday Night Football Game, or an app launch party, people collect together in real life or with a shared common experience like watching the same TV show at the same time. Increasingly, the discussion around those events is becoming interesting and profitable.

Google and Bing, who do search better than anyone have realized that the real time conversation is incredibly valuable, which is why they both have agreements to use Twitter data — live conversation information.

I had a conversation with Justin Shaffer this week and he described the service as “collective storytelling”. It brings people together around an event so that they can discuss it. When I checked in at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game, Foursquare told me there were 8 others at the game who had also checked in. Now Hot Potato allows the people at the game, and the ones at home watching in engage in discourse.

Within Hot Potato you can add comments, images, or video to add to the conversation creating a powerful social network of people who experiencing something together. The service can currently be reached through their website but is optimized through the iPhone app (they’re working on other app platforms). Hot Potato also leverages Facebook Connect so no need for yet another username and password. When it comes to sharing the conversation and drawing others in, you can share the updates to Facebook or to your Twitter stream.

Where the Twitter hashtag does a decent job of measure how many mentions a topic has gotten and picking up trending topics, Hot Potato allows for a better use of that conversation content. Most people have heard the phrase “content is king”. That’s wrong now. Shaffer pointed out in our conversation that content is losing out as the most important aspect of experience. Now the social interaction is king. The conversation that is building around topics is more important that the event itself in some examples. Would anyone care about the Tiger Woods fiasco if people weren’t talking about it like they are? Doubtful. The interaction and conversation is now the most important aspect and Hot Potato now curates that better than anyone.

iTunes link to app here

These days it seems like 25% of the ads on TV are for app this or app that. The iPhone app store just hit 100k in applications. Now the Verizon/Motorola/Google Droid comes out and says iCan do everything that the iPhone can’t. You know, Droid Does. One of the coolest things about this Droid phone is the fact that the app store will be just as open and the internets. If you know how to build an app for it, do it, no controlling application or approval process from Apple, Google, or anyone else…at least that’s what they say.

So, where is the money to be made in the App Economy? Well obviously the content creators, the folks who have the most data, whether that’s news, images, or a social graph. Those will always win. Then there are the builders, those who build the best apps will get the most attention, tons of shops have already popped up as the app developers, web developer just doesn’t market as well these days. Mobile is , so if you’re a developer and want to stay relevant, I’d be mastering the iPhone SDK and the Android 2.0 SDK (software development kit). Then come the aggregators, these folks make things easier on the users, and this is what I want to touch on today.

People always complain that the iPhone app store sucks to navigate and they’re right. It’s terrible. Nobody really knows what the Droid app ecosystem will look like because it’s going to be user generated and the users just aren’t there yet. One huge opportunity regardless of platform is application discovery. The proven model of discovery in almost any vertical these days is through the social graph. This means, what apps are my friends downloading, I want them too.

Enter, Appolicious. The social graph for apps. They’re creating compelling ways to discover new apps through a Facebook enabled social network and an easy tool to upload your entire (iPhone only for now) app collection…and if they’re smart, which I believe they are, there will eventually be no limit to which app ecosystem you’re interested in. Within Appolicious, when I search for foursquare I’ll eventually see both their iPhone app, their native Android 1.0 app, and their new Droid app, and also their Palm Pre and Blackberry apps (yet to be released). I want all apps, all platforms, and all my friends reviews.

How many app developers, content creators, and others will want to get a piece of that pie within Appolicious’s soon to be powerful network of people who own apps? Answer: All. This will likely become the most powerful site for application promoters and marketers because this will be the primary tool for application discovery. You might have said, “yea but Apple will just do it and wipe them out”, this application ecosystem diversification is exactly what will give Appolicious staying power.

Alan Warms, the Chicago based CEO of Appolicious, wrote an interesting post back in October about how free apps are the future (I agree) and this statement shows he clearly has a good grasp on where this application economy is going and how best to participate in it.

With yesterday’s announcement (10/15 Apple announces in app purchasing), every company out there can offer a free iPhone App, thereby reducing the friction of driving adoption, knowing that over time they can work with their consumers to find offers that make sense for both parties.

Alan is taking a big bet on Apps, and I think it’s a safe one. Applications, through the increase of mobile computing will become the quickest, easiest way for users to reach the web and the content they need. They’ll increasingly see their smart phones and mobile devices as their tool box to accomplish specific tasks and their apps will be their tools. We all know how much easier a job is with the right tools.

Here’s an interview Alan did with Robert Scoble about Appolicious.

image via flickr

I don’t normally post a bunch about WordPress hacks, but since this caused me trouble for so long I thought I’d go against that norm. These 3 plugins have really made the menu on this blog simple and easy to manage. I highly recommend adding them to your plugin army and make WP that much better. Just like the apps to the iPhone, plugins are what make the WordPress platform so rock solid. No more custom hacking, just plug and play simplicity and they even work if you change themes.

The Exclude Pages Plugin

Exclude Pages handles the problem of all your top-level pages being thrown into your navigation. It simply adds a check box to the Edit Page screen that lets you choose not to include the page in user menus. Brilliant.

The Page Menu Editor Plugin

Page Menu Editor adds a new Meta Box to the Edit Page screen letting you choose a new Page Menu Label. What this means is this: you can have a different (usually simpler) title for your menu link than the actual title on the page. This is the number 1 reason why I usually hand code my menus. Again, brilliant.

In addition, Page Menu Editor also lets you add a custom title attribute. Also kind of cool.

The Page Links To Plugin

Page Links To lets you add a link to say, an external non-WordPress forum, or an external non-WordPress photo gallery, by publishing a new blank page like forum, or gallery, and then choosing to link it to another page. Also useful for adding an RSS link to your header without having to code anything.

Don’t forget: You should follow me on twitter here.

I found these plugins through themeshaper.com image from randy stewart

This post alone is now one of the strongest opposing factors in my battle to hold out on getting an iPhone. At this point it’s only a matter of time.

Check out Blake’s post on Communication Segmentation here.

Instinctiv.com want to make your iPod or iPhone smart! They describe the features of their application this way:

“The random shuffle was a cool feature when it first launched. But, let’s be honest, it left out the most important element: you. After all, your taste in music isn’t random-it’s instinctive.

That’s why Instinctive Shuffle was created. This smart new app goes far beyond the random shuffle and actually makes song recommendations to match whatever mood you’re in. So you can explore and experience your music in a whole new way.”

By skipping the songs that you don’t want to hear Instinctiv captures these decisions and learns from your preferences/choices. It sounds very similar to Pandora.com’s free music streaming feature but takes it directly to you and your iPod. I’m a fan of any tool that helps my music experience become a better one.

Instinctiv Shuffle™ is the first product by Instinctiv (formerly Predict Systems), a company dedicated to changing the way that consumers experience their entertainment.

Let us know if you’ve used Qik or have a new 3G iPhone.