Posts tagged location
Google Maps 4.4; Introducing “Places”
Jul 26th
Google has just released version 4.4 of their wildly popular Maps app with yet another new feature making your device that much more useful: Places. Like the recently added Navigation, Places will include it’s own icon and allows you to browse nearby businesses in different categories, or search for a more specific establishment. Default categories include restaurants, coffee, bars, hotels, ATMs, attractions, gas stations, and you can even add your own category to browse. Once you make a selection of a place you’d like to view, you can check out the phone number, location, get directions, or read reviews.
Google Maps 4.4 for Android devices on 1.6 or higher is available in the market now. If you’d like, you can also scan the QR code below, or click this link from your phone’s mobile browser.
Via Androinica
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Chili’s 4sqr extravaganza
Jul 21st
Who here uses 4 Square for their Android device out there? Who here likes chips and salsa? Chili’s is running a promotion right now, where if you check in to Chili’s with 4 Square on your Android device and then show it to your server, you get free chips and salsa. Free things rule right? It should be mentioned right now that you need not be the mayor, because the offer is available every time you check in. Want more free stuff? When you do check in, if you post to Twitter and use the hash-tag #FREECHIPSCHECKIN, you’ll be entered to win a $50 gift card from now until August 2nd. If I catch anyone from mid-Michigan checking in, you just may receive some company. So quick, what are you waiting for? Go get your free food on!
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Where In The World Is Android? (Poll)
Mar 18th
We asked you all this past week via a poll in the AndroidGuys App, “Where do you and your Android live?” We had an awesome 400 responses this week! You can see the results of the poll in the bar graph on the left. The conclusion we can draw here is that the majority of the AndroidGuys community is located in the United States and Europe. For detailed results of the Poll, see below:
| Canada | 9 | 2% | |
| Central America | 6 | 2% | |
| Caribbean | 1 | 0% | |
| South America | 0 | 0% | |
| Greenland | 0 | 0% | |
| Africa | 0 | 0% | |
| United States of America | 262 | 68% | |
| Europe | 90 | 23% | |
| Middle East | 4 | 1% | |
| Asia | 7 | 2% | |
| Russia | 0 | 0% | |
| Southeast Asia | 2 | 1% | |
| Australia | 2 | 1% |
Do you have the AndroidGuys App on your Android yet? Get it and start voting this week when we start a new poll. Have ideas for a poll you think we should do? Let us know in the comments!
Might We Suggest…
Google Suggest Gets Location-Aware, Too
Jan 15th
Ostensibly to save you time typing in your search query on mobile devices, the search suggestions are now based on your phone’s current or last known location. Ideally this will improve the relevancy of those suggested results by optimizing them based on where you are.
In order to take advantage of the new feature, you’ll have to turn on “Save recent locations” and “Allow use of device location” under the Settings link on the google.com home page. You may also have to refresh the google.com page on your phone’s browser in order to see the location-optimized suggestions.
It’s another step in Google’s march into local territory. Anyone have predictions on what will be next?
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New Tweetdeck for iPhone Brings Geotagging and Maps
Jan 8th
Of course, to have your tweets tagged with your current location, you must enable geo-tagging in the settings; iPhone’s GPS will do the rest. The coolest new feature is definitely “View on map”, which lets you see all the geotagged tweets from a certain column on a Google Map, and zoom in on them to get more info.
Other features include being able to choose which style of retweet you prefer (i.e. the old one vs. the
For an overview of all the new features in Tweetdeck for iPhone v1.3, check out the video below.
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Flook Takes a Playful Social Approach to Location Discovery
Nov 26th
There are a number of different services blooming as location-based mobile technology finally hits its stride, from Foursquare check-ins to augmented reality-enhanced surroundings courtesy of Layar and others. Flook (warning: iTunes link), a new entrant to the iPhone app store, takes a different, more whimsical approach to social location information.
Users are prompted to create “cards” at interesting locations by snapping a photo and adding a title and caption. You can find cards nearby you or around the world, “collect” them, comment on them, and follow the cards of people posting interesting locations. Plus, email a card or get directions to the location depicted from your current location, and track your total “Flook score” based on your activity within the app.
The interface is playful and fun to match the type of content Flook is hoping to capture: interesting, beautiful or otherwise curious tidbits in the world around you. Upon launching the app, “a colorful landscape of robots guides the user to browse or create,” which is just as unusual as it sounds (see thumbnail above right). Finding and creating cards are both easy processes, with the former handled by a simple finger swipe mechanism. Cards are automatically ordered by both “nearest and “best” so you’re more likely to stumble upon something good.
When creating cards, a simple photo snap and a bit of text is all that’s required. If other users comment on your cards, you’ll see a notification (from a robot, of course) in the “Find new” home screen. If you start a card and want to finish it later, you can leave it in draft mode and come back to entries under construction. You can hook your Flook account into your Twitter account to automatically tweet new cards you create.
Flook is a free app that’s an interesting and creative twist on location-based services. It’s social, fun, interesting, and can help you learn new facts and places to go in your local world or while traveling. It has that simple yet useful and potentially addictive game-like mechanic to it that’s bolstered by its playful design.
Let us know if you have a chance to check out the app and what you think. Have you spotted any interesting new locations?
Reviews: Flook, Twitter
Tags: discovery, flook, iphone, iphone apps, lbs, location, Mobile 2.0
Now You Can Tell Twitter Where You Are
Nov 20th
Twitter announced it would be adding locations to your tweets back in August, and they’ve been making changes to their API to enable the functionality since late September. The geolocation functionality is now complete, and a number of developers of third-party apps who have been working on building location support into their applications should begin rolling out the new features soon.
As we reported earlier, all of the location information is completely opt-in. To enable it and allow Twitter to attach geographic information to your tweets, head to the Account section of your Twitter settings and scroll down to the location section. There’s a checkbox for enabling the geotagging, and a button that will allow you to delete all the historical location data from your tweets if you want to erase your tracks.
Along with enabling the geolocation support, Twitter tweaked its privacy policy to explicitly include geotagging and to remind users that what they post to Twitter is (unless protected) public in nature. In a world where tweeting can get you robbed or sued, it’s a not superfluous reminder that we should participate in our own sensible privacy policies when using social media tools.
Will you be turning on geolocation support for your tweets? Let us know in the comments.
Reviews: Twitter
Tags: geolocation, geotagging, lbs, location, privacy, twitter
