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Panoramio App Available for iPhone

Simon Sage — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:18:51 +0000

I’ve always been a huge fan of geotagging pictures – it gives immediate context to memorable snapshots, and when you’re travelling, it can be really hard remembering where exactly each one was taken. Although I’m glad that my BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) natively geotags pictures, the data is buried in its EXIF data, which is only preserved if you got through arduous sideloading onto PC, and then uploading to your web service (GPSed is the only app that I’ve seen that makes pictures easily shareable). Luckily for iPhone users, Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s location-aware picture-sharing service, Panoramio, now has an app for iPhone that lets you share geotagged pictures over the air. After that, folks on Google Maps and Earth will be able to see your pictures once they’re approved. It would be cool if it all synced up with your Picasa account, but its relationship with Panoramio is still hazy. With an army of iPhone users sharing pictures to Google Maps, I could see Panoramio quickly becoming as useful as Street View. Interested? Grab Panoramio for free from the iTunes App Store.

[via Panoramio]

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Buzzd Released on iPhone

Simon Sage — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:11:17 +0000

Buzzd, a great little Digg-style location-conscious mobile application for venues and events, has found its way to the iPhone. Buzzd lets you rate up, rate down, comment and upload pictures on where you’re spending your nightlife. By plugging into the GPS, you can quickly find out what’s happening in your vicinity, and local search helps you find just the right place. I tried the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) version for a little while, and I found that a lot depends on there being an active community submitting ratings, and since it was still relatively new to Canada (not to mention the fact that Ottawa is pretty quiet to begin with), there wasn’t much to run with However, if you’re in a big metropolitain area, go ahead and download it for free from the iTunes App Store.

[via buzzd]

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Windows Mobile Google App Gets My Location, Suggestions and Map Search

Simon Sage — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:13:43 +0000

The Windows Mobile Google application just got a modest update that includes a few handy new features. For one, it’s incorporating cell tower ID recognition to help provide local search results without needing a GPS fix. The technique, dubbed My Location by Google (NSDQ: GOOG), has been on BlackBerry’s search app since March, and is also available in Google Maps. Typing in a search query in the updated WinMo app will now offer suggestions as you type, potentially saving you some time. Finally, the Maps app now integrates with search – just pick the results with a red pin to open the target in Google Maps. To get started or update your current software, hit up m.google.com in your mobile browser.

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]

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WorldMate Live for BlackBerry Updated with Yelp Reviews

Simon Sage — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:52:16 +0000

Travel application WorldMate Live has updated to version 3.0, boasting new browsability of user-generated reviews from Yelp, along with a few improvements to their calendar sync and hotel booking functions. Honest reviews are great to have when you’re in an unfamiliar city; sure a quick Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search can point you to a store or restaurant, but it would certainly be nice if to know beforehand if you’re wasting your time going there. WorldMate Live has a bunch of other great features, including flight status lookups, a time zone calculator, Outlook integration, and a whole lot more. The 3.0 update is only for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), but they’ve got version for iPhone, Symbian, and Windows Mobile as well. Most of the features are available for free, with a few locked away for Gold subscribers. For more info, visit WorldMate Live, or go ahead and pick it up in the BlackBerry App World.

[via WorldMate]

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Brightkite Now Available on BlackBerry

Simon Sage — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:58:58 +0000

Brightkite is a location-aware social networking app for Android, iPhone, and now BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) that lets you share photos and notes at certain GPS coordinates both with your friends and to the community at large. Using the service requires you to occasionally “check in”, which might be a pain for those who are used to automated location sharing like we see in Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Latitude, but it does open the doors to those who don’t have integrated GPS in their phone. The interesting thing about the BlackBerry app in particular is that it was built by a third party using open APIs, basically making myKite a homebrew job with an official seal of approval; good on Brightkite for supporting the developer community like that. Interested? Give it a try for free in the BlackBery App World.

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CitySourced Allows Mobile Complaint Reporting

Simon Sage — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:05:20 +0000

I popped my head into the live stream of the TechCrunch 50 to hear about a really great app for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), and soon the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, that allows you to send geotagged pictures of problems around town (graffiti, potholes, etc.) and send them right to city hall. Cities can view the complaints with picture and text on Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps in order to analyze trends and sent to the appropriate department for action. Kevin Rose suggested a Digg-style rating system to prioritize existing problems, which makes really good sense. Take a look at the video for the full pitch – it’s worth watching the end when the developer gets razzed for supporting the Pre because Palm invested in them. If you want to get involved, you can contact the developers on info@citysourced.com

[via TechCrunch]

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Yelp Arrives on BlackBerry

Simon Sage — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:11:22 +0000

After looking into the new Yelp apps for the iPhone and Palm Pre, it turns out a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) version was churned out recently as well. While not quite as snazzy as the iPhone’s augmented reality angle, the BlackBerry app should offer all the same points of interest reviews you need while on the move. GPS integration lets you automate the searching process a bit, but even if you don’t have GPS (like I do currently on the BlackBerry 8520), you can always input your location manually. I was initially really excited to see the app, but unfortunately you can’t write reviews from your device, which strikes me as the best way to do it – right there, while you’re at the restaurant/store/club/whatever and are able to take and upload pictures right from the floor. Ah well, maybe in a later version. Yelp for BlackBerry is available in the U.S., Canada, UK and Ireland – just head on over to yelp.com on your mobile browser to get downloading. I’d really like to see this in App World soon, mostly for the handy microSD archiving feature.

[Yelp via CNet]

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DUBMeNow Updated With Location-Based Connections

Simon Sage — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:37:09 +0000

DUBMeNow is a snazzy little application for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), iPhone and Android that came out awhile ago whose key feature was to automatically update your native address book whenever information changes – phone, e-mail, address, you name it. The catch, of course, was that both people needed to be registered users in order for the exchange to happen. An update released today includes GPS integration as well as a whole batch of social network support that may very well help convince the skeptical to install the mobile app. A new “locate” feature finds where you and your potential business card swap-ee are situated, and automatically prompts both to make the switch. You can also tweet who you’re meeting, send LinkedIn requests, and keep tabs on their Facebook account. While I still find the process a little more convoluted than, say, contxts, or even QR codes, but I’ll probably keep the new DUBMeNow app arhived on my Bold on the off-chance that folks I meet at trade shows are already signed up. If you happen to shake a lot of hands in your line of business, check it out in the BlackBerry App World, iPhone App Store, or Android Market.

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Augmented Reality Android Traffic App Looks Down the Road

Simon Sage — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:29:07 +0000

This is pretty cool. Some basement developer in Toronto has cooked up an Android app that figures out which geocoded traffic cameras are on your estimated route, allowing you to check out conditions down the road before you get stuck in a jam. Trust me, having gone down the 401 a few times myself, it’s not somewhere you want to be around during rush hour. For a wider view, you can also look at traffic conditions in map mode. I’m still not sold on the interface in the proper augmented reality portion of the app, which overlays a list of bullets of the traffic cameras in the direction you’re pointing the phone, but it’s nothing a few good coats of paint can’t fix. Proximity alerts for speed traps and user-defined points of interest are also snazzy features, and make this a really well-rounded driving companion app. It looks like they’re working on some real estate points of interest for the future, too. If you’re in the Toronto area and packing a Magic or Dream, check out Augmented Traffic Views in the Android Market. Best of all, it’s free!

[via Wired]

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Twitter to Add Location API

Simon Sage — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:18:12 +0000

Twitter, the long-standing mobile social network of choice, will soon be able to pull your GPS coordinates if you’re tweeting from a supported device and opt in for the service. This means individual tweets will be geolocated, allowing you to easily see who’s tweeting what around you. There are already a few augmented reality apps that are trying to tap into that demand, but with an official API soon available for developer preview, those apps will likely see a significant boost in readable tweets.

Now, if these APIs plugged into something like Fire Eagle, you would be able to update a number of location-based services whenever you tweet, but exact details are a little skimpy right now. Biz Stone makes a point to say “the exact location data won’t be stored for an extended period of time”, which seems like a shame to me. For example, it would be really nice to share your geotagged tweets from a road trip, and show what you had to say about where you stopped and what you were doing. The idea that the coordinates would just evaporate after a couple of months is pretty lame, although we might put some emphasis on the word “exact”, and presume they still keep location data for, say, the city-level. Exciting news, in any case – we’ll be watching intently for when the feature goes live.

[via Twitter Blog]

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Urban Kite now Available on Android

Simon Sage — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:03:33 +0000

Another cool app for Android out today is Urban Kite, an app which lets you add comments to particular points of interest in your area. The nice thing about Urban Kite is that its points of interest are populated by Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Local and the comments are made through Twitter and bit.ly. Being able to share your thoughts on a particular restaurant without worrying that they’ll just be sent to a sheltered community that is used only by those who install the app can be a deterrent for these kind of services, but if your comments are going out to Twitter and Google as well, it’s easy to see Urban Kite getting popular. A feature coming soon sounds pretty interesting: “Discover like-minded local experts in your area via the places you have in common and find out what else they do for kicks in the neighbourhood”. A bit of a match-making service, no? Check it out on the Android Market, or swing by their site for more info. Can we get a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) version soon?

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OpenTable offers Dinner Reservations on BlackBerry

Simon Sage — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:35:21 +0000

The Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre wasn’t the only handset to get support for OpenTable lately – a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) version of their app is also now available. A quick search will not only help you find restaurants in your neighbourhood (organized by cuisine category, if you’re feeling picky) and allow you to reserve a table right from your mobile. Viigo had offered some of OpenTable’s service not long ago, but a dedicated app will be a good choice for those who eat out often. Check out OpenTable’s standard website to see what’s available in your area, and if you’re happy with the selection, download the app for free from App World. Oh, and OpenTable is also available for iPhone, if you’re into that kind of thing.

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Google Latitude Coming to iPhone Today

Simon Sage — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:56:59 +0000

Details are slim, but word has it that Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s location-sharing service built into Maps for Mobile will be hitting iPhone before the end of the day. The announcement that Latitude would be making the jump was made by Google VP of Mobile Vic Gundotra at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference not long ago. We had seen Latitude working in the mobile Safari browser in a demo before, Fire up your App Stores, iPhone users, and get ready to catch up to Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM). Jussayin’.

[via Fortune]

UPDATE: So, apparently it’s not a separate app, they’re actually using the Safari-based Latitude model – hit up m.google.com/latitude to update your location. I dunno, doesn’t that seem a little… unwieldly?

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Acrossair Helps Find Your New York Subway Station

Simon Sage — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:07:11 +0000

Acrossair is showing off a great new location-based augmented reality app for the iPhone that helps New Yorkers work their way around the subway. As you can see from the video, it makes good use of direction detection the iPhone 3GS by showing you both which stations are in the way you’re facing the camera, as well as how far away they are. If they can include all of the functionality of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps for Mobile’s transit directions, then I think we’ve got a winner for the new public transportation app of choice. Acrossair has already earned an award for their London tube version of this app, and testing is underway for San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Berlin, and Barcelona, even though the software is still awaiting App Store approval. With any love, we’ll see versions popping up for even more metropolitan areas in the future.

I’m curious how it works underground in systems that don’t have data coverage – Barcelona won’t be a problem, but New York is still testing the waters. To keep up to date on the progress of the New York Nearest Subway app, be sure to check out Acrossair’s site.

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Google Search on iPhone 3.0 Locates Position

Simon Sage — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:59:32 +0000

Google has updated their mobile search page for those visiting through Safari on iPhones running OS 3.0. Now your search will take into account My Location, to provide location-contextualized results. The feature has been included in the iPhone Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Mobile App for a long time already, but this is a cool addition for those who haven’t bothered to install it (who knows why anyone wouldn’t, though). I’m curious if the function extends to searches initiated through the search field in Safari’s address bar, though…

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]

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LiveJournal Now Location-Aware on Windows Mobile

Simon Sage — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:40:05 +0000

Hey wow, LiveJournal’s still around. Whodathunkit? Not only that, but they’ve announced that anyone blogging on their service through a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Gears-enabled Windows Mobile device can now geotag their posts. All you have to do is hit the Detect button in the Location field, and it’ll figure out where you are. Even without Google Gears, the detect button will work on desktop using your IP address, which can drill down to the city without any problems. Cool stuff overall – now to go over my old LJ blog, where the magic started.

[LiveJournal via wmpoweruser]

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Shazam Plays Nice with Twitter and, For Some Reason, Google Maps

Simon Sage — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:19:35 +0000

Shazam for the iPhone, most prominently known for its music identification service, just underwent a nice upgrade thanks to OS 3.0 that includes three new features. First up, and arguably the most useful, Shazam now lets you send your tunes to Twitter so you can share recently-discovered music to all your loyal followers. Blip.fm has a pretty strong foothold in this kind of thing, so we’ll see how Shazam manages to compete. Second, Shazam has added what they call postcards, which are basically collections of songs that you’ve found that you think a particular friend would enjoy. Lastly, and most strangely, is new geolocoation support, so you can see where you were when you tagged a particular song. This feature just confuses me. Don’t get me wrong, I love location-based services and am all for getting people to use GPS for something other than driving directions, but I really couldn’t imagine a circumstance in which you would need to recall and make that connection between music and place. Neither “where was I when I heard that song?” or “what was playing when I was there?” seem like questions people ask on a regular basis. Maybe I’m crazy – is there some kind of geolocation/music cross-section that I’m missing, here? You can grab the new version of Shazam for free from the iTunes App Store.

[via Shazam]

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IBM’s Seer to Bring Augmented Reality to Android

Simon Sage — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:07:24 +0000

Layar was one pretty snazzy augmented reality app for Android we’ve seen recently, but IBM is working on another called Seer. As you can see from the demo video, it’s more or less the same kind of thing: an image generated from the phone’s camera is overlaid with contextual information based on GPS coordinates and facing. Filters like “restaurants” or “bars” can shave down what’s being shown. They’ve got some cool twitter integration so any tags you pull up can show the latest geotagged tweet from the event. Live event information like match schedules will also be included on the tag. If you happen to be into tennis and attending Wimbledon, you can pick up Seer here once the event begins next week.

Video after the jump!

[via AndroidGuys]

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Nokia Beta Tests Indoor Positioning System

Simon Sage — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:05:38 +0000

Another project coming out of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Beta Labs is currently on trial at the Kamppi shopping centre in Helsinki, Finland, which will allow folks to find out where their friends are at the mall via Wi-Fi poisitioning and send them text messages directly from a floor map. Wi-Fi positioning isn’t anything especially new, but being able to use it accurately enough to determine where people are inside of a building is pretty neato. It’s easy to imagine large, Wi-Fi-drenched campuses making use of such a positioning system, especially if it’s integrated with a native messaging app. As with anything from the labs, we’ll see if it ever makes it to the light of day, but there’s certainly hope for it.

[via Nokia]

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Zhiing Lets you Send Turn-By-Turn Directions to Friends

Simon Sage — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:00:58 +0000

A new free messaging client is out for Android, Symbian, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and iPhone called Zhiing, which lets you recieve and send turn-by-turn directions to your buddies online as well as on mobile. One of the cool ways that Zhiing improves accuracy is by plugging into multiple GPS services, including Wi-Fi positioning through Skyhook, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps, cell tower ID, and native location apps like BlackBerry Maps and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Maps. Checking across all those sources is a fine way to zero in on the most accurate location, no doubt.

Even if your friends don’t have Zhiing, you can send directions to your location with a mobile web link via SMS. If Zhiing could be used as a multi-platform IM client (i.e. able to talk with friends on Google Talk, AIM, Windows Live, etc.) and simply send your location as a Google Maps link, it would be a definite bonus. Browser plug-ins let you do it right from Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome.

Zhiing is also impressive in that they’re launching on all major platforms (iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian and BlackBerry) right from the get go, although some are more beta than others. A premium version with voice-enabled turn-by-turn directions will be available in the near future. To give it a shot, head over to Zhiing.

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