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As Google receives a good deal of critique for its new personalized internet search, Foursquare has been receiving much positive feedback from its users for its similar direction. The geolocation service has released its “Explore” service, which was previously available on the mobile application, online. Users can immediately begin to discover personally recommended places all over the world under foursquare.com/explore.
Based on the more than 1.5 billion check-ins from the community members as well as numerous tips, users can now receive personalized recommendations for restaurants, bars, museums, or other locations in the vicinity or place of choice, according to the Foursquare blog. The location-based check-in service has implemented artificial intelligence in its search engine: the more a user checks in, the better Foursquare is at finding new locations, according to the post.

“Explore” is not only personalized, but specific: the majority of search engines generate very general results: users searching for “pizza” will get the same list of pizza restaurants, regardless of preference of crust, whether the restaurant could be considered “fast” food, or if the user would rather sit down. The “Explore” tool instead allows users to conduct a full-text search, which helps make the search more specific, so that users only get the results that might be interesting to them, say a pizza restaurant that serves extra crispy crust. But that’s not all: the search can further be reduced in which the user sorts between the categories “Where I haven’t been yet”, “Where I’ve already been”, “Where my friends have been”, or “places offering Foursquare deals” – which are offerings for group check-ins. The geotagging service sees its new web-based feature as a step in the direction of a big idea: “[Foursquare] is always connecting you to the most interesting things nearby, wherever you happen to be in the world.”

Explore is not just an exciting new development, but also means that Foursquare will be joining the local search market – and is already recognizing the need for personalized information.

Meinestadt.de has added a new rating feature to its mobile local-search application for the iPhone and Android. Users can immediately begin to see user ratings for stores, services, and restaurants, and add in their own two cents, all on-the-go. Read the rest of this entry »

Google has taken over the company Clever Sense, which developed the successful local recommendation app “Alfred”. The startup seems to be over-joyed about the current developments, as seen in a press statement. The team is excited to belong to Google. Through cooperation, the company is one step closer to helping the world around itself. Read the rest of this entry »

Tupalo.com – a local search platform which doubles as an international directory and rating-community – has announced a new partnership with the technology start-up Yext. Tupalo users in the USA should now be able to find local service providers even more efficiently with the help of the new Yext information provided. Read the rest of this entry »

The mobile application for the iPhone from Das Örtliche now boasts over one million downloads. What does this success mean? The app provides a dependable, mobile local-search, with which users can find service providers and retailers on-the-go and find the way there with a built-in route planner. Read the rest of this entry »

Now you don’t have to just maintain virtual contact to all of your Facebook friends – with the new app from discounter airline Germanwings, “FriendFlights”, users can book flights directly to their friends throughout Europe. The app lists Facebook friends and calculates flights from your current position to their home. Read the rest of this entry »

In the growing overkill of daily deal e-mails, users are beginning to see the daily alerts as spam in their mailboxes. Daily deal aggregator Yipit is trying to change this with its new app for iPhone users. Users can now find daily deals from over 800 sources, including Groupon, LivingSocial, GiltCity, and many more. Read the rest of this entry »

Future Tap is introducing user experience reports to its mobile, location-based iPhone application “Where To?” with the new 4.0 update. User can rate their experience on the spot at newly visited locations.
Ortwin Gentz, Future Tap’s CEO, described the new feature in a short and concise: “Where is the next Pizzeria, the next dentist or the next hair salon? The local search app Where To? for iPhone finds it at the drop of a hat. It is familiar with 700+ local categories and thousands of brands and chains. The new 4.0 version now displays ratings and reviews and allows to review places right within the app. So users know right away whether a visit is worthwhile.” Read the rest of this entry »

The free location-based recommendation app Alfred, developed by Clever Sense, now offers users “group recommendations”, displaying those locations that other people also enjoy in the latest version of the app, in addition to custom results especially for the users. Read the rest of this entry »

Starting immediately, regional ad customers from meinestadt.de can book directory ads as well as Google AdWords. This is made possible by a strategic alliance between the two internet giants. The city portal offers small businesses full service tools for local online marketing, claims the site. Read the rest of this entry »