Three months after launching in beta, TechStars grad Bondsy is releasing its self-titled iPhone app to the public with the goal of helping friends “trade things you can’t put a price on.”

Bondsy first made its debut on stage last year during TechStars NY’s demo day. At the time, the startup was pitched as “the social network of things” — a highly vague, but also quite accurate description. You’ll see why shortly.

Like submitting an item to Craigslist, Bondsy lets you sell, trade or give away just about anything. The key difference, of course, is that with Bondsy, you’re dealing solely with friends. Aside from making the entire process significantly less uncomfortable, trading with friends opens up an entire world of opportunities.

Founder Diego Zambrano says he’s seen everything from apartment rentals for cash to playdates with fernando the dog in exchange for ice cream. Everything from services to like-new, used and found items are fair game. And without restrictions, Bondsy becomes an entertaining way to foster deeper connections with the people you know.

As Zambrano puts it, “when you aren’t forced to pay with money, things get a lot more interesting.” If your interest is piqued, try out the app for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments below.

➤ Bondsy

Twitter is partnering with more than a dozen new broadcasters and publications to launch Twitter Amplify, a new program that gives brands the opportunity to publish real-time, in-tweet video clips to their followers.

Twitter plans to use this service to nurture the bewildering amount of tweets being sent by users while they’re watching their favorite TV show, movie or a high-profile event such as the Super Bowl. By showing footage in-stream, users are more likely to share these clips with their own followers and persuade new people to tune into the live broadcast.

The company has already partnered with ESPN and Ford Fusion to bring American football fans instant replays, accessible from within a tweet, during every college football game. A few months later, during March Madness, Twitter teamed up with Turner Sports, the NCAA , AT&T and Coke Zero to offer the same in-tweet video clips – but this time for professional basketball highlights.

Roy Hibbert’s BIG block. One of the nicest you’ll see #NBARapidReplay – on.nba.com/Z4vJmb

— NBA (@NBA) May 19, 2013

Twitter is currently offering in-tweet videos for ‘Rapid Replays’ through various accounts owned by Sony Pictures, Sprint and Taco Bell. The potential is huge, both for sports fans and broadcasters looking to engage with their followers. Twitter is therefore looking to expand beyond sports highlights and announced today that the service will be available to a more diverse selection of partners, including BBC America, FOX, Fuse and The Weather Channel.

“We think these types of two-screen sponsorships are a win-win-win,” Glenn Brown, Director of Promoted Content and Sponsorships at Twitter said. ”Users receive spectacular, timely content that rounds out their TV experience or reminds them to tune in. Powered by Promoted Tweets, broadcasters reach new audiences and open up new business lines. Brand advertisers get, for the first time, an integrated cross-platform tool for reaching the social conversation wherever it happens.”

The new companies involved in the scheme include:

• A&E (@AETV)
• theAudience
• Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV)
• Clear Channel (@ClearChannel)
• Conde Nast (@CondeNastCorp)
• Discovery (@Discovery)
• Major League Baseball (@mlbdotcom)
• National Cinemedia (@NCMonline)
• New York Magazine (@NYMag)
• PGA Tour (@PGATOUR)
• PMC (@Variety)
• Time Inc. (@Time_Inc)
• VEVO (@VEVO)
• Warner Music (@warnermusic)
• WWE (@WWE)
• VICE (@VICE)

The launch of Twitter Amplify follows a new Twitter Card category, called Lead Generation, which will allow brands and businesses to request basic contact information from their followers.

When a user expands the tweet, they’ll be able to see a description of the offer, as well as a small button underneath that enables them to instantly send their name, Twitter handle and email address to the brand or business in question.

Twitter is clearly targeting advertisers and marketers, both directly and indirectly, in a big way right now. Monetization, it would seem, is top of the company’s agenda.

The HTC First, the only smartphone to come pre-installed with Facebook Home, is no longer coming to the United Kingdom.

At least not right now, anyway.

The device was originally set to launch with local network operators EE and Orange this summer, but Facebook has reportedly decided to cancel all pre-orders and shipments until further notice, due to “customer feedback” following its availability in the United States.

“Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customization features to Facebook Home over the coming months,” a statement sent to Engadget by EE reads. ”While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the United Kingdom, and so we will shortly be contacting those who registered their interest with us to let them know of this decision.”

It continues: “Rest assured, we remain committed to bringing our customers the latest mobile experiences, and we will continue to build on our strong relationship with Facebook so as to offer customers new opportunities in the future.”

It’s a huge blow for Facebook Home. The service, which combines an interactive lockscreen experience with its new cross-platform Chat Heads messaging service, was met with a rather mixed reaction when it was unveiled earlier this year.

The service is available to a large number of Android users to install as a custom app launcher, but it doesn’t come with all of the functionality found on the HTC First. This is because the hardware was designed from the ground-up to take advantage of the software, thereby allowing Facebook to dive a little deeper into the Android operating system.

There have been rumors that the HTC First isn’t selling very well in the United States, but this hasn’t been confirmed with any concrete sales figures. Regardless, the statement from EE shows that at least in Facebook’s eyes, the dedicated smartphone isn’t ready to be sold to the British public.

“We’ve listened to feedback from users on their experience using Home. While many people love it, we’ve heard a lot of great feedback about how to make Home substantially better,” a spokesperson for Facebook told The Verge.

“As a result we’re focusing the next few months on adding customization features that address the feedback we received. While we focus on making Home better, we are going to limit supporting new devices and think it makes a lot of sense for EE and Orange to hold off deploying the HTC First in Europe.”

By putting the breaks on a wider release, Facebook will give itself some time to improve Facebook Home and fix any glaring problems. It’s a sensible move, given that it’s vital both HTC and Facebook make a good first impression with new users.

Nextdoor, a private social networks for neighborhoods, has launched an iOS app for its service. In doing so, the company is giving the 12,000-plus communities that are currently on the service more flexibility and options.

Previously only available through the browser, Nextdoor has been growing quite rapidly since its founding. According to the company, in its first year, it had signed up residents in 176 neighborhoods across 26 states in the US. In February, there were more than 8,000 in all 50 states. Now, it is available in more than 12,600 neighborhoods. The five cities where Nextdoor is used the most are San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, San Diego, and Dallas.

A mobile app had been one of the most popular requests from users, CEO and co-founder Nirav Tolia told TNW. Indeed, already 30 percent of traffic comes from mobile devices, which Tolia says, is proof enough of the need for a native app.

Nextdoor functions as a way for people to reconnect with their neighbors. Perhaps akin to a virtual neighborhood watch program, residents can sign up and share their experiences, problems, and advice with those that live right down the street from them. Each user is limited to interacting with those in their legally defined neighborhood, which makes sense because those people share a common bond with that area and are most affected by things that happen there.

Fundamentally, Nextdoor’s iOS app is its Web version optimized for the mobile device in a way that users are accustomed to using it. It has a clean design and performs all the same functions as its browser counterpart. Users can share updates about what’s happening in their neighborhood right from within the app while also posting photos using the device’s camera.

The app also comes with notifications and real-time alerts. These alerts are useful in times of emergency, whether it’s dangerous weather, police advisories, or something really important. When one is sent, it is delivered both as a notification and by SMS to ensure that it is seen.

Cities can also pair their law enforcement agencies with Nextdoor to share important information — cities like San Diego and Dallas already have done so.

While the 12,600 neighborhoods Nextdoor extols is a fascinating statistic, what the company won’t reveal is the number of actual users. After all, if a neighborhood has signed up, how many people within the community are actually using it. All the company well say is that there are “hundreds of thousands” of users.

So what’s next after releasing its iOS app? Tolia says his company will release an Android app.

What’s more, Nextdoor is looking to grow its business internationally later this year. We’re told that English-speaking countries will be targeted first, including Canada, South Africa, and the UK.

In 2014, more countries will be added like Brazil, Japan, and Singapore. Many of these countries are ones where there is a lot of citizen demand or the government is heavily interested in implementing the service.

Nextdoor has raised $40.2 million in funding from Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners, Shasta Ventures, and Bezos Expeditions, with $18.6 million from its Series A in 2012 and $21.6 million coming from its Series B last February.

➤ Nextdoor for iOS

Photo credit: Thinkstock

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Today Mailbox, the quite popular email client that landed first on iPhone, announced the release of an iPad version of its app.

The move is hardly surprising, but it does continue the Mailbox story, one that saw the firm launch to mass impact, and then exit to Dropbox for a reportedly nine-figure sum.

TNW met with Mailbox at its new home in the Dropbox offices – try the bacon, it’s excellent – to see the new app. What will become immediately apparent to you provided that you are familiar with the iPhone version of the service is that the iPad build is remarkably similar.

For reference, here’s Mailbox on your phone:

And here is the iPad application:

It’s the same app, with a reading screen appended to the right side. Other visual effects present in the iPhone version persist in the iPad edition, such as swiping to sort emails, and the color scheme.

Frankly, it’s a great move. The core reason that Mailbox took off as it did was that its design, and user experience were incredible. Those success are repeated in the iPad app by not changing them. In testing, it takes under a minute to become fully comfortable on the new app if you are already a Mailbox user.

It is in fact so stripped down, that you cannot use it in any view but landscape. I suspect the app will be both well received, and highly used.

Mailbox: What’s Next

While I had their ear, I walked with Mailbox’s co-founder Gentry Underwood about its future plans, current growth, and the move to Dropbox. Regarding when it will arrive on the Android platform, the company demurred to comment, stating that it doesn’t comment on release schedules. Though the line was delivered with a knowing smile; they have heard that question before.

How has growth been since it was acquired? The service says that it is “excited” by the rate that new people are singing up, and by “the frequency that they stick around.” No hard numbers, however, it will share.

The reason is actually somewhat interesting: Underwood told me that it doesn’t want to get into a position in which it is optimizing for user numbers, and not user experience. The company, instead of trumpeting user levels, merely wants to “build a great user experience,” and then “get that to as many people as possible.”

If you are a fan of priority inbox, or Gmail’s labels, the company knows that you want that support inside of its product. When? No comment. Underwood did inform me that it is not complete; more, at some point, is coming.

How well has Mailbox fit into the Dropbox family? The fair analogy it seems is that Mailbox fits inside of Dropbox as Instagram has slotted into Facebook. Not too much product pressure, but instead a focus on keeping up what made the service so popular to begin with.

In Underwood’s words, both Dropbox and Mailbox both want to “take the friction out of work.”

Finally, and just for fun: Mailbox brought a mere 14 people to Dropbox. It’s core team is now 16. Now you know.

Top Image Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

There’s no shortage of third-party alarm clock apps for iPhone, there’s Suno and Rise for starters. But another one has just hit our radar that may be worth your $1.99.

Wakey wakey

Wake has been beautifully designed, with flips, slaps, swipes and shakes very much the order of the day.

When you first launch the app, you’ll see a simple circle with the current time in the middle. You then run your finger around the perimeter of the circle, and the time moves up, or down. You can also tap the ‘hour’ or ‘ minute’ component to increase/decrease each one individually so that you don’t have to scroll all the way through the 24-hour clock.

With your desired time set, you then swipe up from the bottom of the screen to select your desired days (including recurring), and preferred wake-up sounds, then click the ‘tick’ button to confirm.

You can add up to eight alarms, each accessible by pulling down from the top of the screen – to activate one, you pull it down quickly and it will light up. To delete an alarm altogether, long-press it and then click the little ‘x’. There’s also a night-mode, which you can activate by swiping in from the left.

Now, there’s three separate ‘Alarm Styles’ to choose from: ‘Slap & Flip’, ‘Shake’ and ‘Swipe’, each of which can be accessed by swiping from the right on your screen.

The former lets you ‘snooze’ your alarm by hitting your phone, like an old-school alarm clock. Alternatively, you can flip it over to turn it off. On this mode, you can actually also use the ‘Swipe’ feature to snooze or dismiss it, which is also available as a standalone ‘Alarm Style’, sans ‘Slap & Flip’. This is actually a little confusing, as both ‘Slap & Flip’ and ‘Swipe’ look identical when the alarms are activated.

For ‘Shake’, you can set how vigorous your wrist-movements need to be to turn the alarm off. And the more you shake, the closer you get to achieving your goal, with a color-change slowly engulfing your screen until the offending noise disappears. This may be particularly appealing to heavy-sleepers.

It’s worth noting here that Wake won’t work in the background, so you must have the app open before you go to sleep. It will, however, still work while your phone is in silent mode, which is definitely a good thing,

Wake is the handiwork of Toronto-based design agency Tiny Hearts, the same folks behind another app we covered a couple of years ago called Pocket Zoo.

“A few months back we set out to create a simpler more beautiful alarm clock for ourselves,” explains Tiny Hearts founder Robleh Jama. “Our goal was to modernize the alarm for iOS, taking inspiration from minimal interfaces like the original iPod click wheel, the Nest thermostat, Clear for iPhone and the iconic Braun alarm clocks designed by Dieter Rams.

“Along the way, we started experimenting with a more intuitive and natural user interface, one that went beyond touch to the point where it was invisible. That brings us to today. After 6 months of hard work, obsessing over countless tiny details and over a hundred builds we’re proud to share Wake with the world.”

Wake is available to download from the App Store now, costing $1.99. Meanwhile, check out the Wake promo video below.

➤ Wake Alarm | iOS

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Feature Image Credit – Thinkstock