Author Archive

Even if – or maybe even because – Facebook just fueled the check-in hype with Places, the veterans in the market, Foursquare and Gowalla, are being as boring as rocks. At least Foursquare wants to release a new feature, though. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Zuckerberg has officially announced the release of the long awaited Facebook Places. As usual, the service will unfortunately be only available in the USA for now, but in the updates iPhone-App, you can take a look at where you’ve got to click…

Read the rest of this entry »

Just how important the personal website is in the times of social media definitely brings up some opposing ideas, especially when discussing the involvement of a firm in the Web 2.0 world. When it comes to small- to medium-sized industries, Telegate (11880, Klicktel) has found an unusual answer – the Munich-based firm is helping online companies to build their own web presence. Read the rest of this entry »

Technically, Google seems to have finally gotten it: whoever wants to win over the middle-class has to work for it. Somehow, the idea has caught on that the world doesn’t belong to Google, as a new “service-offensive” shows. Read the rest of this entry »

Check-ins have actually always been social: whether through Foursquare, Gowalla, and whatever other programs that are out there, checking-in and letting your friends know where you are and what you’re up to is just about the most “social” feature available by location-based sevices. So what does it mean when competitor SCVNGR is talking about “social check-ins?” Read the rest of this entry »

Checking in can get old after a while. Checking in, collecting points, checking in, collecting points…Brightkite has had a new idea – or at least it should come across that way. The Californians have enhanced their badges with new levels. Read the rest of this entry »

The check-in service Gowalla has given in: the app is now starting up as 2.0 of android cellphones. With this is a number of new features. Read the rest of this entry »

ReachLocal pulled in more that 54 Million US-Dollars with its start up at the Nasdaq a few days ago. Speculation is already running wild within the market: when is the competition joining in? And is this going to be a new market? Read the rest of this entry »

Hopefully not too late: Google opened its new localization service Latitude using the API of other developers. Mountain View has (finally) opened itself up to check-in features modeled after the main competitor Foursquare. Read the rest of this entry »

Just how user friendly are local search engines? This was proofed by Sonja Quirmbach, the search engine expert from the Deutsche Telekom, with Dr. Dirk Lewandowski, professor at the Hamburg University of Applied Scientists. Participants took Google Maps, Bing Maps, and the local search from T-Online under the scope. And the winner? Google. Here is the entry from Sonja Quirmbach:

Read the rest of this entry »