Google has started asking users of its mobile social networking site, Dodgeball, to start using a Google account sign-on, Web designer Chris Messina noticed.
Dodgeball, you’ll recall, is the company that lets you send friends a text message telling them which bar or restaurant you are crashing, so you can meet up if they are close.
However, that’s a lot of hassle — to message Google with your whereabouts every time you move, only to have Google make your presence known to your friends. And then when those friends move, you get blasted with yet another SMS (and knowing Google, it’ll probably be filled with ads soon).
This is what Dodgeball’s homepage tells you, below:
But why not let your friends know where you are automatically, without having to email Google? Indeed, that’s what Palo Alto start-up Loopt lets you do. Granted, you have to sign up with Sprint/Nextel’s Boost provider, but that carrier relationship gives Loopt your location automatically — so that it can show your friends where you are with a simple pin on a map — without you going through the hassle of letting them know. And if you want to hide from them, it lets you do that too. And if your friends move to another bar, you don’t get spammed every time.
Indeed, Loopt has a nice little answer to Dodgeball, on its Web site (seen here:)
Chris sounded a little miffed about the Dodgeball password change, suggesting he was being shanghaied into Google’s universe of other services. At least there are alternatives.
4 Comments
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Erik Schwartz said:
The hard part about making it location aware automatically is dealing with the carriers. The problem isn’t technological, it’s economic, the carriers want a HUGE split of revenues. Margins on this stuff are iffy to start with, now you give the carriers 40% off the top? You’re not making anything.
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Peter Cranstone said:
There’s an alternative to dealing with the carriers - why not let the website know where you are in real time by transmitting your GPS coordinates to it. There’s an example of this working on our website. Once the web knows where you are, then with “your” permission you can let your friends know where you are.
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Danielle G. said:
So you’ve mentioned the fact that the user has to be on the Boost network in order to use Loopt. True… But not just that - all of the friends that one invites to Loopt have to be on the Boost network too! And how many of those does one have?
Also, with giving away location involuntarily or automatically, the user opens himself to various threats, like stocking…
And lastly, let’s not forget about battery life… The phone is going to be dead in a matter of a few hours if ones location is being reported every few minutes…
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betting terms said:
This is a great web site. I have some great web pages myself if you are interested to share. But I should not go on about my site too much, that is not fair, right?
