SCVNGR, a location-based gaming service, has tallied 500,000 users since rolling out consumer apps in May. Now the service is relaunching its iPhone and Android apps, with improvements aimed at heightening the game play and social aspects of its service. Read more »
For third-quarter social media and real-time technologies, most of the action was in consumer services, and much of it — from social gaming to location-based services and advertising dollars — was influenced by Facebook. Here is a brief look back at the NewNet action highlights from last quarter. Read more »
There’s been a flurry of activity lately in local mobile advertising, which is often called the Holy Grail of marketing. Players like Google and Facebook have an edge thanks to their sheer size, but smaller players will have a place at the table if they keep ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Location-based shopping services (LBS) have made many headlines recently, and studies have shown that users actually like receiving ads and offers well-targeted to their interests. Couple that with an influx of Tier 1 venture capital and the show-stopping Facebook Places, with which several startups have already joined forces, and it’s no wonder LBS is suddenly such a hot topic in the mobile sector. That doesn’t necessarily mean LBS shopping apps will be easy to implement. A number of challenges — privacy concerns, scaling issues and check-in integrity among them — provide a potential barrier to widespread adoption. This note examines both the drivers and inhibitors for making location-based shopping services a mainstream phenomenon, and includes focused profiles of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Loopt, Foursquare, BrightKite, Whrrl, Gowalla, Plancast, Groupon, AisleBuyer, Bizness Apps, Offeretti, ShopAlerts, Shopkick, Bakodo, Stickybits, Yelp!, Geodelic Sherpa, WHERE, MyTown, InCrowd, SCVNGR, Waze and Layar. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Navigation service TeleNav has introduced the OnMyWay app today for the iPhone and Android platforms. OnMyWay sends email alerts notifying folks when you are getting close to arriving for a meeting. More importantly, the app will automatically send alerts when you are running late. Read more »
Foodspotting, a startup that allows users to share photos of their favorite dishes with friends and other food-lovers, has landed a $750,000 seed round from a series of investors led by Aydin Senkut and Dave McClure’s 500 Startups fund, as well as Google executive Steve Lee. Read more »
As Facebook tries to take the idea of location-based services mainstream with the launch of Places, other services are looking to add value by using location data to make recommendations for users. Two startups who have their eye on this prize are The Hotlist and Hunch. Read more »
Waze today launches version 2.0 of its social-based navigation and mapping application, adding a number of small changes and one big feature. The new Waze Groups allows users to create small groups that can easily share traffic information and track the location of group members. Read more »
According to a recent survey, fewer than 5 percent of U.S. online users have ever used a location-based application such as Foursquare on a mobile device. And almost 85 percent of those who responded to the survey said that they were not familiar with location-based services. Read more »
Foursquare is in talks with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft about deals involving the service’s location-based checkin data, CEO Dennis Crowley told The Telegraph. None of the search providers have confirmed this, but such deals would make sense given their interest in making their results more real-time. Read more »
Timed perfectly with the Boston Marathon is today’s launch of RunKeeper for Android. I use this app to track my workouts and have them automatically mapped online for a training history. There’s even a live broadcast feature so friends and family can “watch” you move. Read more »
Want to share your location and progress while you’re en route to meeting with your friends? Check out Glympse, which just added Facebook support to its iPhone and Android apps, which now means people expecting you can track you via Twitter, SMS, email and Facebook. Read more »
The sixth edition of O’Reilly Media’s annual Where 2.0 conference wrapped yesterday, possibly the most exciting edition to date due to the the realization that we need to build services that let people manipulate their world, not just learn about it. Read more »
From a comparison of auto and PC industries to problems associated with the location-based advertising to tips & tricks of reading startup term sheets — here is a selection of five articles to read. And after you are done, check out Hitchhiker’s guide to financial regulation. Read more »
In California, an effort to reduce carbon emissions came into conflict with the function of certain electronic devices — and the state’s Air Resources Board (ARB) has come down in favor of the electronics. ARB announced Thursday that the so-called Cool Cars rulemaking will now “cease.” Read more »
