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
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
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
Lloyd! Whrrl adds you to Entourage’s entourage
As more location-based services come out, one definite problem I’ve been experiencing is a lack of membership. That is to say, most of them work great, but no one I know really uses them, making them fairly useless. Whrrl, the location-based social network has a new feature today that may up its adoption.
The service had teamed up with Deep Focus which handles the marketing for the cable television channel HBO to promote the hit show… Continue Reading
Loopt strikes a deal to make massive use of GPS data cost effective
Loopt, the location-based social network, uses GPS technology in cellphones to figure out where you are. Because of this it can tell you things such as which of your friends are around you, or what restaurants you are near. Unfortunately, the cost of accessing this GPS data, doing a “dip” as it’s called, has been very prohibitive. Consumers may not realize it as much, but it’s a problem in selling an application like Loopt to… Continue Reading
Location-based social network Whrrl launches for the iPhone
Update: Whrrl has not been snubbed by Apple. As of Friday morning, it’s now the 10th application from the top of the list on “featured” apps, if you go the AppStore from your iPhone. On the iTunes home page, Apple has put Whrrl in the first set of companies featured under “new”. (Whrrl is in the first tab, and in the fourth). So Apple so far appears to be trying to treat these companies fairly…. Continue Reading
Pelago raises $15 million to expand Whrrl both in the U.S. and abroad
Social networks built around location are a hot item, and getting hotter.
It’s one thing to have a group of contacts which you can update with words from a mobile device (think the micro-messaging service Twitter). It’s another to be able to quickly update your exact location on a map and have others see it. Add to that the ability to review places (think: Yelp) as well as tag places you would like to go, and… Continue Reading