Loopt aims for that mobile, social and real-time sweet spot with Pulse
Mobile social network Loopt is getting into the real-time game with Pulse, which will bring recommendations for things to do to depending on where you are and what’s popular at the moment.
It pulls in data from content partners like Zagat, Daily Candy and Thrillist along with its own users’ activity to figure out which places are busy. CEO Sam Altman calls it “social local discovery” — where should you go given where you are now… Continue Reading
Nokia’s NAVTEQ buys Acuity Mobile for location-based advertising
NAVTEQ, the arm of Nokia dedicated to mobile mapping and advertising, announced that it bought location-based advertising firm Acuity Mobile for an undisclosed sum. The deal follows NAVTEQ’s initial $2.8 million stake in the firm last year, as well as years of licensing its technology.
There are few advertising methods as seamless and relevant as location-based advertising on your mobile phone. For example, let’s you’re walking by a Godiva chocolate store — you might never have… Continue Reading
Loopt works around Apple, AT&T to add always-on location tracking for iPhone
When location-based social network Loopt debuted its early-to-market iPhone app last year, then-VentureBeat writer MG Siegler dubbed it “nifty, but crippled.” The handicap: Apple wouldn’t let Loopt’s app run in the background while you used other apps or pocketed your phone. Apple blocks apps from running in the background to keep them from running down the phone’s battery. So if you were on the move, Loopt didn’t keep up with your changing location.
Loopt’s engineers and… Continue Reading
Whrrl revamps its iPhone app just in time for SXSW
When you think of location-based social network apps on the iPhone, you probably think of Loopt or Brightkite. But it was actually Pelago’s Whrrl that was the first app to get funding from Kleiner Perkins’ iFund, to develop a location-based network for the iPhone.
While it had some success, it, like the other location apps, has been hampered by the iPhone’s inability to run third-party apps in the background. So now, Pelago is relaunching Whrrl for… Continue Reading
If authorities want your location data, they’re going to have to friend you on Latitude like everyone else
Those who are deeply disturbed about the rise in location-based applications and services and their impacts on personal privacy, can breath a small sigh of relief tonight. Google, which recently entered the space with its Latitude location network feature, has agreed to take a stand for user location privacy, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It’s the second company doing location services after Loopt to adopt the policy, which the EFF summarizes as basically, “come… Continue Reading
While people worry about Facebook photos, a million users let Google know exactly where they are
Why should location-based social networks be worried about Google? Because its new Latitude product was able to gain over a million users in just a week, Google’s vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra told an audience at the Mobile World Congress today.
Latitude is Google’s service that uses your location to place you on a Google Map. If you have friends who are also using the service, you can see how close they are to you… Continue Reading
Google enters the location-based networking fray with Latitude
Google has just launched a new aspect of its Google Maps product called Latitude. It’s a social layer that goes over Google Maps to show your location information in real time. If you think Google is already creepy with the amount of data they have about you, you’re going to hate this.
But as I see it, this is Google getting ahead in the social networking game, rather than playing catch-up, as it has had to… Continue Reading
Push, the movie, coming soon. Push, Apple’s notification system, not.
At last year’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) where Apple showed off the iPhone 3G and the App Store for the first time, the company noted that third-party applications would not be able to run in the background on the iPhone, but said that a solution for that would be coming. That solution, called Push Notification, was due to launch in September, just a few months after the iPhone 3G and App Store’s July launch —… Continue Reading
Skout brings location-based dating to the iPhone
There are some who view any kind of location-based social networking as creepy. But there are others who see it as the key ingredient to move online social networks into the real world. And one type of network in particular could lead the way: Dating sites. At least, that’s what Skout is hoping for with its new iPhone application.
Set to be unveiled this week at the iDate conference in Miami, Skout claims to be the… Continue Reading
MG’s ten favorite iPhone apps of 2008
Now before I write anything else, let me just say that these are my ten favorite iPhone applications of 2008 and not necessarily what I think are the ten best iPhone apps — because really, there are so many diverse apps, how can one judge which are the best of them?
Also, this list includes no iPhone games because that category has become so robust that I’m going to make another list just for that. [Update: Here’s the list… Continue Reading
Loopt unifies location-based services across all the major mobile networks
Most people have probably heard about the location-based social network Loopt thanks to its nifty, but crippled (more on that below), iPhone application. But the service is available most of the other major networks, on a wide variety of phones. Actually, make that all of the major networks, because starting today it’s launching a beta version of its service on the AT&T network.
This may confuse some people because the iPhone is only available in the U.S…. Continue Reading
Loopt for Android is like Loopt for the iPhone — but with background location!
The location-based social network Loopt today launched its service in the Android Market. It reminds me a lot of the iPhone version of the service except for one major difference: The Android version can update your location even when the application itself isn’t open. Yes, it runs in the background.
That has been a major point of contention for iPhone owners. While Apple doesn’t allow third-party applications to run in the background, the more open Android… Continue Reading
Loopt still homing in on location networking on the iPhone
Apple clearly has high hopes for the location-based social network Loopt. It has shown off Loopt’s iPhone application at conferences, featured it on its displays and even made it central in one of the new iPhone commercials. But Loopt hasn’t yet reached its potential on the device. Everyone is still trying to figure out the best way to do location-based networking. It’s a work-in-progress, and updates to Loopt’s app show that.
Tonight, the company rolled out… Continue Reading
Surging on an iPhone commercial, Loopt looking to sell or raise money?
It looks as if Loopt may be looking for an out — or more likely, an insane new round of funding. The location-based social network for mobile devices has supposedly hired the investment band Allen & Co. to find a potential sale or investment partner, TechCrunch is reporting.
But what’s crazy is the apparent valuation Allen & Co. is putting Loopt at: Over $500 million. Now, I like Loopt as much as the next guy, and… Continue Reading
Brightkite finally launches its iPhone app. Could this be the one that launches LBS?
Location-based services (LBS) are becoming a dime-a-dozen in Apple’s App Store. Some, such as UrbanSpoon, Yelp and AroundMe are quite useful and popular. But those simply focus on finding places and activities (and mainly food) nearby your current location. More complex LBS social networks, which focus on tracking you and your friends, haven’t yet caught fire. Brightkite, which just launched its iPhone app, has the potential to change that.
The LBS social networks like Loopt, Where… Continue Reading
Facebook 2.0 for the iPhone, tastes more like regular Facebook
As promised, Facebook has rolled out a new, more robust iPhone application. Version 2.0 brings many of the features that are found on the regular Internet-based version of the social network, but had been lacking in the first few iPhone iterations.
Included in the update are: Notifications, the full News Feed, people search, friend requests, photo tagging, photo captioning, full Mini-Feeds, inbox search and message attachments. The update also promises to be more stable and run… Continue Reading
Loopt Mix makes Loopt a much more powerful people connector
Version 1.1 of the location-based social networking application Loopt has just gone live in Apple’s App Store. This update carries with it a big new feature: Loopt Mix. This feature solves perhaps the biggest problem facing many of the location-based networks: You can’t find anyone else using them.
While Loopt Mix may or may not make your actual friends join Loopt, it will show you others around you who are using the service and have opted-in… Continue Reading
iPhone apps like Whrrl preview the power of location, but there is far greater potential
With a global positioning system (GPS) chip now in the iPhone 3G, location services are becoming important to many mobile application developers. Each day, we’re seeing new iPhone apps launch which, if they’re not centered around location, rely heavily on it for core functions. But because Apple will not allow any applications to run in the background, it is hampering much of what location-based services (LBS) can do, as Brady Forrest rightly argued on O’Reilly… Continue Reading
Loopt helps the groupies find the right bus
Some fans love to follow around their favorite bands and will do so across the country. If you happen to be into bands such as Shwayze, Chromeo, 3oh!3, The Submarines, The Secret Handshake, A Cursive Memory, Meiko, Valencia, The Medic Droid or Bayside, you’re in luck. Now you can pinpoint their exact location when they’re on tour this summer using the location-based mobile social network Loopt.
Even if you’re not into obsessively following around your favorite… Continue Reading
Roundup: IPOs slow to a crawl, China gets music sales, Facebook competition kicks off and more
July was slowest for IPOs in five years — A measly 56 companies went public last month, raising $5.6 billion. Pretty depressing, compared to last year’s figure of 190 companies and $31.7 billion. This month is expected to be similarly slow, with a pickup coming late in the year or early next.
From free to 3 cents for music in China — Chinese startup Wawawa has a great idea: Actually charging for music in China, where the notion… Continue Reading