Archive for February, 2011

Everything seems to be evolving into some sort of social network nowadays, and online radios don’t want to miss out on this. With Soundtrckr, users have the ability to personalize their own music stations, while keeping in tune with the latest hits out of the local vicinity.
The free app is currently available for the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, and the Ovi Nokia, and can even be used here in Europe, unlike the popular US-based Pandora service, which still displays a screen every time a computer in Europe tries to access it declaring: “We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.” Read the rest of this entry »

As the first German rating community, the Das Örtliche partner golocal has launched an iPhone app with augmented reality. With the new feature, users can not only see their surroundings in real time using their camera, but also receive information about locations on-site through the live symbol masking.
Those who download the free app in the app store and then register can directly jump into the service: after clicking on the “Radar” symbol, or going into the “Alles in der Nähe (Eng. Everything Close-by)” rubric within “Radar”, little signs pop up around the current view which display the current contact point of the user. With a touch of a finger, handy information like the name of the location, address, distance, as well as ratings from community members can be displayed. With this, users have the ability to know where the next café, restaurant, hotel, theater, museum, or movie theater is. Augmented reality is made possible through the iPhone camera, compass, and GPS. In addition, users can use all the functions of the PC version, like checking-in, uploading pictures, and the reading and writing of ratings.

Social media has pretty much revolutionized the way we communicate. But there is still a lot to be done, especially in the world of mobile check-ins. There are definitely two shining stars in this relatively young realm, namely Foursquare and SCVNGR.
Shortly after the DLD Conference 2011 (we report), Foursquare announced that it had over 6 million registered users. In addition, the service announced in its official blog last week that it had released the app in five new languages, including French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and German. This will make the check-in service more attractive to markets outside of the US, which have been in need of a jumpstart after a long hibernation. Read the rest of this entry »

The mobile local search Poynt is now available in Germany as app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The application will be complimented by the local search engine suchen.de, which is already a cooperative partner for the Poynt apps for Android and BlackBerry.

Those that download this free app in the iTunes App Store won’t have any problems on-the-go. Poynt can help users find the next café, hotel, or shopping center without any major difficulties. The app can also display information about public offices and tourist sights. For all of the results, information is displayed including contact information, websites, or for movie theaters show times. Read the rest of this entry »

The micro-messaging service Twitter is now being appraised at a fat 8 to 10 billion dollars, at least in the eyes of Google and Facebook. The finance branch appraised Twitter’s worth to be around 3.7 billion dollars last December. Read the rest of this entry »

The Finnish mobile provider Nokia wants to win back its power in the world of cellular devices with help from Microsoft: Last week, the companies announced their collaboration in the making of a new smartphone, which they hope to have as a major competitor of Apple and Google. Read the rest of this entry »

The first comprehensive media Local Media Conference will be held in Germany along with the Internet World 2011 in Munich on April 12th. For one entire day, everything will revolve around local media and markets. Read the rest of this entry »

As announced at the DLD 2011 by Marissa Mayer, Google’s local recommendation service Hotpot was not only released in Germany at the beginning of February, but is now available in a total of 38 languages. And that’s not all: the ratings and comments from friends are now viewable in the normal Google search results.

Google is following close behind Facebook: the search engine prime didn’t release its recommendation service until November of last year. Soon afterwards came the integration with Google Maps and the new iPhone app. And now the Hotpot recommendations are tied in with the normal search results. For registered Google users, who say, are looking for a restaurant in a particular place will now see the ratings and comments of their friends complete with names and photos. Through the personalized recommendations, the search results should become more relevant for users, claims Google.

An intense fight has broken out between Google and Microsoft. The search engine giant has accused their competition of taking Google search results and using them on Bing. Microsoft has vehemently denied the accusations and is now claiming that Google is guilty of manipulation through click-fraud.

One allegation after another. Media reports are discussing the possible name-and-shame campaign going on between the two internet giants. Rather than behaving like adults and discussing the issues in a factual manner, the accusations are beginning to sound like childish reactions in the style of “a Roland for an Oliver”. Read the rest of this entry »

The local deal search kaufDA cannot be stopped. The Berlin-based company is now making mobile mobile. Which means: through cooperation with the marketer arcado, kaufDA is now putting more effort in mobile coupons.
The service is following the trend of the online coupon. At the beginning of August 2010, the company took over Deutschlandcoupon, which was a provider for local online coupons. And as of September, customers of the German general store Schlecker were able to use their mobile to download coupons to be used on Gillette products. Read the rest of this entry »