fring

We just got this video from one of our users and we could not stop laughing. So, we thought we might share it with you.

His name is Ivekt and he’s from Moldova. He’s got a (very) funny channel on Youtube, dedicated to domestic hints and tricks.

So, check out the video he shot about fring and the rest of his videos – I think he could easily be the next YouTube star… remember where you saw him first.

Enjoy.

Looking to optimize customer retention in these difficult economic times, then the IIR’s Telecoms Loyalty & Churn event is not to be missed by you.

The conference will give operators “the unique opportunity to network, brainstorm with and hear case studies from leading operators from around the globe. Delegates will leave this event armed with the know-how to develop not only efficient and targeted but also cost-effective loyalty programmes and predictive churn models.”

Dan Atzmon, Business Development Director here at fring, will be speaking at the conference on Wednesday the 9th of July at 14:00 on the subject of “Understanding what young customers want from innovative converged solutions and dramatically increase your customer loyalty”.

If you digg fring and wanna come say hi to Dan during the conference, please drop us a line, so we can be sure to schedule enough time for a visit.

We look forward to seeing you from 6-9 July 2009 at the Kempinski Hotel Bristol, Berlin, Germany.

The fring TEAM

While iPhone and Nokia have been busy getting their iPhone 3.0 software and Nokia N97 ready for the shelves, we’ve been busy making sure fring supports them as they hit the market so you get the biggest bang for your buck from day one!

fring now supports Apple’s latest iPhone 3.0 software update

Following Apple’s last week release of the iPhone 3.0 software update, we’re happy to announce that fring now supports the brand new iPhone 3.0 firmware , including the new iPhone 3Gs. What does it require of you!? Absolutely nothing! The version is already on your phone, ready for you to enjoy, with Apple’s latest and bestest yet.

For these of you who don’t have fring’s latest iPhone version yet, get yours today!

The brand new Nokia N97 is avaialble in stores now

Originally announced last December, Nokia’s just announced the official retail release of its much- anticipated N97 device, available in their flagship stores; fring is proud to support this cool, new device with its most recent and most social version to date-  the 3.40 version.

The Nokia N97 flagship phone boasts a large 640×360 sliding/angling touch screen display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Symbian S60 5th Edition, 5 megapixel camera, and 32GB of internal memory.

Those of you who are lucky enough to get your hands on this new device are welcome to download fring today!

We are looking forward to hearing your feedback on the fring experience on the slick, new N97.

The fringTEAM

Hello fringsters,

As you remember, we’ve released 3.40 a couple of weeks ago. We got lots of comments and feedbacks from you as well as some very helpful bug reports.

This is a quick post to let you all know that we’ve just released an updated version of fring 3.40 that should solve the bugs you guys reported about.

This version brings better stability as well as a smoother installation process.

Currently this version is available to Nokia S60 users. A version for Samsung Symbian handsets should be available in the next couple of weeks.

As always, please feel free to try it out and send us your thoughts – we’re always here to listen.

Since the Iranian presidential election results have been published on June 12 and the breaking of protests around the country, Iranian authorities started blocking off various communication means including: landlines, mobile phones, SMS, internet sites (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube), satellite broadcasts & others. Iranian locals seem to have overcome those restrictions and keep voicing their opinion and their personal experiences through various means of social media.

Since Friday, fring has been experiencing a great increase in traffic. As traditional media, internet and telecommunications access to individuals in Iran is significantly restricted right now, fring is giving Iranian individuals access to their favorite web-based social networks like Twitter, Facebook and more, and the internet phone call capabilities via fring, Skype and others, which they are using in the tens of thousands to tell their personal stories/ share photos, and persevere with great resilience and resourcefulness to exercise their freedom of speech.

Last night, on Sky News, Avi Shechter, fring’s co-founder & CEO said: “Our technology enables Iranians as well as millions of other users to bypass traditional telecommunications channels…So we find people are using it quite a lot, especially now in places where it’s quite limited.”

fring was established with the aim to provide an open environment that promotes and celebrates freedom of communication and lets people benefit from the almost unlimited potential that the internet, combined with mobile experience, can offer. Resourceful Iranian youth have just tapped into this mobile – internet potential, via fring, to give them the ability to share their thoughts and images with their friends online and around the world.

Start using fring today to share your story around the world with mobile tweets, pictures, personal profile and more.

It seems that you guys really like the new 3.40 version – that’s great!

Some of you have asked about the manual contact merging, so here’s a little explanation for you:

How does it work?

I have a friend called Tom. Now, Tom is such a good friend of mine that I’ve added him as a friend on MSN, Skype and fring.

On the new 3.40 version I can merge Tom’s entity from these services into one contact on my fring buddy list. Sounds convenient, isn’t it?

How do I do that?

Highlight your buddy on the buddy list and choose Options –> Manage buddies –> Merge buddies.

2.    Check the box near the contact or the contacts you would like to merge with your buddy and click Save.
This process can also be done directly from my buddy’s profile screen by highlighting your buddy, choosing Options –> View Profile –> Options –> Merge buddy.

Cool. The first step is done.

How do you call/chat this contact?
I see that Tom is now online and I wish to make a call to him. I choose him from the contact list and hit the green button. I’ll choose the service I wish to use and click the joystick.

To start a chat with Tom I can click on ‘options‘ –> ‘Chat‘ and start typing my message. Now, the first message will be broadcasted to all the services that Tom is currently available on. The conversation will continue on whatever service Tom will choose to reply on. Simple.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and comments about this feature and about the brand new 3.40.

Developers from around the world will once again gather at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference aka WWDC09 from June 8-12.

Alex Nerst, a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer here at fring, will be attending the conference and would love to meet up with other fringsters & media in attendance.  So if you digg fring and wanna come say hi to Alex, please drop us a line, so we can be sure to schedule enough time for a visit.

We look forward to seeing you guys in Moscone West, San Francisco.

The fring team

We’ve been listening to what users of social media really want, and especially our community of fringsters and we came up with some new solutions mashing up all your separate communities of friends into one manageable, mobile interface via fring. It’s all happening in our new version 3.40 launching today.

A lot of people now have several social circles developing in parallel. From now on, fring lets you easily create one rich, dynamic profile for each of your contacts so you can see what anyone is up to at a glance, and interact via all your mutual social networks/services directly from one combined profile. It’s all happening on fring!

So what does it mean?
• No more multiple listings for the same friend!
• Viewing a fringster’s profile, you can see whether he’s currently available via fring, Skype or MSN, and other IM services.
• We “hint” you when a friend from your regular phone book or another social network like Skype, AIM etc is also a fringster so you can add them to your fring friend list and complete their personal profile.
• You can control how your fring world sees you! You can update your own fring profile photo, mood status and nick name

How do you do it?
• To merge together multiple contacts, follow these steps: In buddy list, select the user you want to merge > Go to “Manage buddies” –>  “Merge buddies” –> it will take you to your buddy list. Scroll down to other names for the same contact that you’d like to merge –> Click OK to check the box next to each –> Hit Save. You’re done
• To update your profile click on Options–> Edit my profile–> Options–> and choose Update picture/ Update mood text/ Change nickname.
• When initially registering to fring, you will be alerted of all your GSM and social community friends who are already fringsters. Once you start using fring, we’ll let you know when other friends become fringsters by clicking Options –> Manage buddies –> Friend finder.

These new features currently work on all Symbian devices; Windows Mobile and iPhone are coming soon. Get your new version today.

A full feature- list for the new version can be found here.

Official press release is available here.

Have fun – and as always, let us know how the new unifying fring works for you!

fring Team

Starting in New York City on September 18th 2007, Alex Boylan and Zsolt Luka started on the journey of a lifetime.

“Covering 159 days, 16 countries, 4 continents, and 45,000 miles, Around the World For Free follows Alex’s trek from New York City to the untouched lands of Dominica. From a deportation in India right into a war zone in Kenya, from the scorching deserts of Chile to the destitute poverty of Cambodia and beyond.”

During this amazing journey Alex and Zsolt made hundreds of new friends, saw amazing places and got to play with some exciting new technology.

After a stop over in South Africa the guys implemented the then newly launched fringME! widget onto their website. A Nokia N95 was provided by fring and away they went. Although life on the road was fast and furious and mobile internet connections somewhat slow and sometimes outright junk, the guys did not despair and made the regular effort to keep trying despite some difficulties they ran into, this early stage beta testing helped fring pave the way for revolutions in future technologies and for this the fring team would like to thank them.

Around the World for free has now been compiled into an 11hour TV series and is currently airing on WGN America.  We just received an exclusive fringy extract from episode 6 entitled ‘South African Kaleidoscope’ The full version of episode 6 will air on Monday evening 18/5/2009 at 9EST/9PST on WGN America.

The guys have also recently taken social media to the next level by implemented a live twitter feed during the show. During each episode of Around the world for free, followers of the twitter group can now interact with both Alex and Zsolt and get exclusive behind the scenes info during the show.

fringsters follow @atwff to show your support.

“IIR’s Mobile Advertising 2009 is the premier event for thought leaders and decision makers in the mobile marketing and advertising industry. The event – which this year takes place in Amsterdam from 12-14 May – will bring together advertising agencies, media planners and the mobile value chain to drive growth and revenues from this nascent market.”

Boaz Zilberman, Chief Architect and co-founder at fring will be on day 2 of the event to discuss the topic of“Overcoming the challenges of delivering successful creative mobile campaigns”

We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam 12-14 May.

For more information or to book your spot follow this link.

If you’d like to meet up at the event, please drop us a line here.

The fring team