All Points Blog - LBS

Arrington: Facebook, MySpace Blow it on iPhone without Location

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:40:56 -0500

Michael Arrington at TechCruch (via Washington Post) chastises the two social networks because while they offer effective and popular apps for the iPhone, neither added in location, something he says is the only way to draw new users.

But while both applications are useful for heavy users, they won't drive new users to the services because they failed to leverage the killer iPhone feature - location awareness.

He acknowledges privacy concerns, but seems convinced these can be managed. It does seem these and other players are simply "late to the party" giving Loopt, Whrrl and others a jump on the mobile platform.

Loopt Privacy Issues - Not Location Related

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:00:08 -0500

To my amazement this kruffufle is not about sharing one's location, but rather unintended invites going out, per an InformationWeek blog. To Loopt's credit, it addressed the issue, apologized and fixed the problem.

Disposable LBS Apps

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:47:08 -0500

Stan Schroeder over at Mashable write on his idea: Location-Aware Disposable Apps For The iPhone. The iPhone part is just obligatory hype since any mobile with location sensing could support the concept.

So, what is the concept? It's not really disposable, but location-activated installation for apps. One example: when you are near the train station an app would "pop up" for installation with train times. Or, when you walk by restaurants, you'd see pop up installs for menus or reviews.

The comments tend toward, "don't pop up things I don't want" and are worth reading. The real answer in my mind is a broker for such services. The end user would select what sorts of apps they might find interesting and have the broker only pop those up. The categories might be: business, food, transportation, entertainment, etc. The other half of the story is the "disposable" part. Would it be possible for the app to "uninstall" automatically when the user "leaves" the area of interest? That'd be ideal for those who forget to dump unused apps.

Podcast: You are a Sensor

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:00:00 -0500

Clever researchers have determined that you, even without a portable device can be an effective geographic sensor. This week we explore examples of how individuals, sometimes along with their electronic gadgets, can act as effective sensors for disease or natural disaster. Our editors share some proven techniques and explore how this type of data collection might play out in the future.

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Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index with all the info.

Brightkite API Beta Opens (requests only)

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:56:24 -0500

The BrightKite blog has details. Wow it must be really hard to figure out what LBS platform to develop on, let alone use in your day to day life.

via Profy

Nokia's Location-based (beta) Chat

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:14:27 -0500

IntoMobile introduces Chat, the mix of status with instant messaging. The idea is that you use the "Twitter"-like part for status and the IM part for the actual (private) conversations. The location bit? You can share your location publicly via the status or IM options. The app will "automagically" update you to a set "landmark" when you get there.

U.S. Senate to Investigate Web-based Micromarketing and Tracking

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 07:40:41 -0500

The New York Times is reporting today that the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will hold hearings on how Internet marketers and ISP can track your surfing behavior. Watchdog agencies are suggesting that some are violating federal law. NebuAd, an Internet marketing company that works with ISPs to help track web activity is providing a way for Web users to "opt-out" of being tracked. There was no discussion in the article of how ISPs are now geotargeting Web activity but some of those commenting on the article recognized the use of IP-based location-based advertising. Once you know 'what' and 'who,' the next question is always 'where.'

Why Fire Eagle hasn't convinced Rory of the wonders of LBS

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 05:29:36 -0500

Rory Cellan-Jones writes at the BBC blog dot.life about his testing of Fire Eagle. I was disappointed that he didn't seem to get or take advantage of the control users have of their location information, but I was impressed he stated the problems he ran into and how he didn't get LBS.

First the problems:

That's the theory. In practice, I've found a couple of problems. I need to make the effort to update my location via Fire Eagle all the time - though as GPS comes to more phones that could happen automatically - and most of the time I just can't be bothered. And when I do, I'm still not sure why I want the world to know where I am.

I've tried using a couple of other services attached to Fire Eagle - but just downloading and signing up has tested my patience to the limits.

I think my main problem is the lack of a network effect - until there are plenty of location-based services and plenty of people are using them, the whole idea just won't have any mass appeal. And I'm still worried that it's a concept which may appeal more to advertisers and technology developers than to users - there does not seem to be any real "need" waiting to be fulfilled.

He bravely twitters that he doesn't get LBS only to be bombarded with tweeters "amazed that I didn't get it." He also received a tweet from Tom Coates (the Yahoo person leading the Fire Eagle charge) noting the app hadn't really launched yet.

I take a few things away from this story, which I expect is not that unusual. First off, Fire Eagle would not be the app I'd use to promote the wonders of LBS. As I've noted, it's for managing LBSs; in and of itself, it's not an LBS. Clearly, unless you are a bit sold on LBS, Fire Eagle is perhaps not worth your time for the reasons Rory mentions. Second, there's a sense, echoed by the Twitter responses, that acceptance of and demand for LBS is somehow genetic (or should be). That news hasn't reached Rory or dare I say many others on the planet. The marketing machine for LBS hasn't created the demand for some chunk of the market (yet). Finally, there's still this lingering notion that LBS is for advertisers, not for those sharing their locations. If LBS is to be ubiquitous, that sentiment needs to be overcome.

Eight mobile LBS apps: Which for you?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 8 Jul 2008 06:00:00 -0500

ChannelWeb offers up a slideshow of eight "cool" location-based apps. A few were new to me. But I think the important thing the list highlights is the fact that there's a slew of them out there and it's going to take quite a bit of energy on the part of the providers, carriers or potential users to sort out which is the right one.

Loopt Launches Web, taxi-based videos to build the brand

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 07:09:02 -0500

The campaign launches today and is aimed at tech-savvy young consumers. The webisodes feature David Price, host of the Internet's "Middle Show," (never heard of it but apparently it's in the late night vein). He uses Loopt's mobile friend-finding technology as he travels around New York City. There's a Loopt ad and a plug from the host for Loopt around the episode.

New weekly episodes will appear for two month on social networks like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace and on TaxiTV in 6,000 New York taxi cabs. I'll be curious to see what the advertising mavens think of this.

- MediaPost

LightPole Wants You to Know...

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 06:00:00 -0500

This is old news (May 13 is the blog post announcing the plugin) but LightPole wants us (and you) to try out a plug-in for Moveable Type blogging platform. (We use Seredipity, so we won't be testing it.)

As you may have heard, LightPole, Inc., a mobile application service provider focused on the "Long Tail" publishing market, co-developed a Movable Type plug-in with SixApart that allows Movable Type bloggers to geo-tag their entries, add and manage related points of interest (POIs) and publish feeds that can be used to create LightPole channels seamlessly delivering content to their readers' mobile phones. We thought it might be particularly compelling to you and encourage you to give it a try.

The GeoType Plug-In for Movable Type allows you to associate locations with blog entries. It creates locations for each blog entry, which are pushpin points that appear on a single map. Also, a map can be shown which displays all of the locations for the entire blog. Locations can be found using addresses or by scrolling the map, so you do not need to find or lookup the coordinates for your location like many other plug-ins force you to do. The plug-in also allows for these blog entries to be published to mobile devices using the LightPole Publishing System.

To download the plug-in point to your browser click here: http://plugins.movabletype.org/geotype/.

For additional instruction, check out the documentation at http://blog.lightpole.net/plugins/docs/index.html

If you are already a LightPole user, great. If not, go to http://www.lightpole.net/user/signup to sign-up for free and get these benefits and more.

Podcast: Location Determination Goes Hybrid

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 1 Jul 2008 01:00:00 -0500

Skyhook announced a hybrid location determination software solution that can tap into GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell towers to locate devices. What does that mean for knowing where you are anytime, anywhere? Is this step forward accompanied by an increased sense of location privacy comfort? Our editors explore the new technology and offer a suggestion for tackling the privacy bugaboo.

TA Chief: There Will be iPhone Turn by Turn Directions

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:46:44 -0500

This tidbit was in Reuters coverage of today's Google/Tele Atlas deal:

De Taeye said he expected real-time, turn-by-turn navigation applications to be available for Apple's iPhone despite reports that Apple's rules for developing iPhone software appeared not to allow it.

"We are making sure that navigation is an application that is allowed," De Taeye said. "If there is any restriction on the platform, that indeed has to do with the restrictions that we have in our contracts. Navigation is allowed, provided that the right fees are paid."

Get out your checkbooks!

Nrme: Geofencing for messages

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:20:51 -0500

TechCrunch looks at Nrme, a soon to be released only for the iPhone app. The big deal? You only received messages from those within 9 blocks (no idea how that's determined). There's no following like Twitter and idea is to get information about what's in walking distance in a city say, or in a constrained environment like a concert venue or large conference center (think about San Deigo's for example...)

Again I note, this is a feature I'd like to have with my messaging tool of choice. I don't want a special app to provide that feature. I don't expect this to take off, rather, I expect other providers or third party developers to add in this same sort of tool.

LBS Apps for Android Run Into Delays

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:47:54 -0500

The Wall Street Journal today cited delays in the delivery of Android-based mobile phones due mostly to the carriers themsleves. But some of the issues relate to changes that Google is making to the code while it puts the finishings touches to the final release. Two LBS applications developers, Buzzd and the Weather Channel Interactive, were mentioned as running into problems. Nihal Mehta from Buzzd said that since there weren't any Android phones on the market that it was difficult to test their software. Louis Gump from the Weather Channel had basically good things to say about Android but that because of the revisions that Google was making that there would be some rewrites to his code that would have to be made.