Posts tagged location-based
‘Happy Hours’ Appeals to Your Inner Jimmy Buffet
Mar 2nd
A new app has arrived in the Android Market called Happy Hours and it is likely to be a hit. It’s one of those “genius-in-simplicity” applications that appeals to many of us. Open the app up, let it detect where you are via GPS, and find nearby happy hours. Period. While this might not be the newest idea on the planet, it does offer one advantage over similar apps. Rather than being confined to specific metropolitan markets or one in particular, Happy Hours kicks off with more than 30 to start.
Designed with help from Village Voice Media, the app pulls up over 15,000 happy hours from across the United States and offers up additional resources. Learn what kind of food is service, what the atmosphere is like, and read reviews from other users.
The following cities are already supported by Happy Hours: Akron, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Boulder, Broward / Palm Beach, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Oakland, Orange County, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Saint Paul, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Seattle Eastside, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington DC
Source: Washington Post/TechCrunch
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Garmin Announces nuvifone A50 Ahead of Mobile World Congress
Feb 11th
After more than a year of waiting, Garmin is set to show off their newly announced nuvifone A50 next week at Mobile World Congress. As it turns out, the device is more GPS than phone. Surprise!
The Android-powered A50 features a 3.5-inch, HVGA capacitive touch screen, 4GB of built-in storage, Microsoft Exchange support, full GPS, and other navigation services built-in. The touch only device also comes with an accelerometer, 3 megapixel camera, and the Android Market. With a heavy dose of Garmin, it includes an e-compass and their own cityXplorer maps, as well as real-time, location-relevant information like weather, traffic, fuel prices, safety cameras, and flight status. Look for the A50 to arrive in Europe sometime in the first half of 2010. Pricing and carriers have yet to be announced.
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WHERE Update Encourages User-Generated Content
Jan 25th
WHERE, a popular location-based app that helps users find cheap gas prices, movie showtimes, and more, has been recently updated. Now, rather than simply giving you relevant information, they have made it possible to add your own content. For instance, if you arrive at a gas station and find the price to be different than expected, you can submit your own finding. Show up at an address expecting some good Mexican food only to find they’ve moved? Let WHERE know!
WHERE V1.8.6 is available (for free) today in the Android Market. According to their blog, there are four changes/improvements that are meant to foster a community spirit.
- WHERE reviews button – You can now easily rate or read reviews about local restaurants and businesses with the click of a button.
- “Flag Venue Incorrect” option – A convenient link now lets you easily flag a venue if you notice any incorrect information, enhancing the quality of our real time information.
- “Report a Price” gas feature – Spot a change in price at your local gas station? Share your findings with other users.
- Expanding avatars – Take a better look at the people in your area. WHEREwall users can now zoom in on other users’ avatar pictures.
Other Great AndroidGuys Posts
Google Maps Navigation Reviewed by GPS Blogger
Jan 19th
We’re huge fans of the built-in Google Maps Navigation that comes with Android 1.6 and later. The free GPS service has come along and found itself replacing applications and services from bigger, more established players. Naturally, we tend to show a little bias around here being that we’re all Android lovey-dovey. How does the service stack up in the eyes of GPS bloggers though? We were interested to read the perspective of a writer for a site called GPSTrackLog and find out how they view Google Maps Navigation.
One of the biggest features in Google’s service is that the navigation is tied to the cloud. This means that the data should be always updated, constantly changing and improving. Does that help? We’ll save the meat and potatoes for the full review, but here’s some of the takeaway. Rich Owings, the writer says it’s “Promising, but not ready for prime time. Google has a great start here, but it still needs a lot of work.”
Thanks Rich!
Other Great AndroidGuys Posts
Google Maps Navigation Reviewed by GPS Blogger
Jan 19th
We’re huge fans of the built-in Google Maps Navigation that comes with Android 1.6 and later. The free GPS service has come along and found itself replacing applications and services from bigger, more established players. Naturally, we tend to show a little bias around here being that we’re all Android lovey-dovey. How does the service stack up in the eyes of GPS bloggers though? We were interested to read the perspective of a writer for a site called GPSTrackLog and find out how they view Google Maps Navigation.
One of the biggest features in Google’s service is that the navigation is tied to the cloud. This means that the data should be always updated, constantly changing and improving. Does that help? We’ll save the meat and potatoes for the full review, but here’s some of the takeaway. Rich Owings, the writer says it’s “Promising, but not ready for prime time. Google has a great start here, but it still needs a lot of work.”
Thanks Rich!
Wikitude 4 Now Available
Jan 15th
One of my favorite Android apps from day one has been Wikitude, by Mobilizy. It has always been fun to watch the reaction from people as I show them the first, and arguably best, “augmented reality” app. After starting out with a great app back in 2008, Wikitude just keeps getting better. Today sees the launch of Wikitude 4!
Among the new/improved features are overlays (think “Layar”) with Youtube, Google Local Search, Twitter, and more showing up directly over your camera view. The interface gets a little bit of enhancement as well. It’s also possible to use history and bookmarks to improve your experience.
Wikitude 4 will look up content from all overlays to help you find the places and terms you search for. For example, do a search for ‘pizza’ and you might get tweets from people mentioning the local hotspot, Panoramio pictures, and a Wikipedia entry or two. The results are displayed for you without you needing to know which overlays to mess with!
Look for Wikitude for free in the Android Market today. Read more about the app by heading to Mobilizy’s page.
New Ping Feature in waze Due Shortly
Jan 14th
The good folks over at waze don’t like to stand still very long. Today we received word that a new version of waze, the free, social mapping software, should be going live later today or tomorrow. So what’s new in the app?
Like practically all mobile app updates, this version includes new performance fixes, improved responsiveness and lower memory use. The main, new feature in waze is called “ping a wazer” which gives users the ability to send pings directly through waze to other users. The opt-in service allows other waze ping you and check on weather conditions, road hazards, or just to say, “hello”. Oh, you can ping others without setting yourself up for pings.
If you’ve already installed waze you’re advised to keep an eye out for the update. If you don’t have waze yet, we’re advising you check it out!
