Blackness? There’s an App for That Too!

Funny man Elon James (@ElonJames) has been so busy with promoting “blackness” that he has just launched the free This Week in Blackness app. If you’re a fan, you probably already follow his tweets and his This Week in Blackness site. The TWiB app is simply an extension for your Apple or Android mobile device that will “keep you up to date on all sorts of blackness happenings” while on the go.

Using the app, you can read and comment on his latest blog posts, watch the latest “This Week in Blackness” Videos; check out items available in the store, and get caught up on Elon’s tweets all from the TWiB app. If you have a favorite post or video, you can create an account and create favorites of the app’s content, so you can quickly refer to it the next time anybody feels the need to challenge your “blackness” (or so-called lack thereof).

As more of your favorite Web destinations spin off into a mobile app, you might be tempted to follow suit. If you’re ready to leap into the wide world of mobile apps, you should follow Elon James White’s lead and check out iSites. Powered by Generation Wireless (GENWI), iSites enables anybody to create and manage iPhone/Android apps in one place.

Following a model similar to WordPress (using templates instead of coding), you can either populate your app with RSS data that’s already captured on your site, and/or use information from your social networking accounts (Twitter streams, Facebook/Posterous/Tumblr posts, etc.). Once you’ve got the data, you can customize/brand your app using the iSites template that walks you through adding colors, logos, and other features and imagery to give your app a polished, professional look that will be easy to interact with on iPhone/Android mobile devices. You can recoup the cost of the app ($299/yr. for iPhone & $99/year for Android) by monetizing your app via your Admob account. You can even customize how ads are viewed on your app.

So if you don’t really have a problem with your “blackness” but want to make sure you stay up on all that is “black,” check out the TWiB app. If you just want to create a mobile app that helps you define your “Purpleness”, check out iSites.

About the Author
Terrance Gaines is a husband, father and self-proclaimed Technology Evangelist who shares tech news, reviews, tips and tricks on his blog BrothaTech.com as well as other sites and in print media. You can also find him talking "all things tech" on Twitter @BrothaTech.
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