Archive for the ‘News’ Category

When you think of the idea of “checking-in” at a venue in a mobile app, you likely think of Foursquare or Gowalla right now. The two gained significant momentum, funding, and users in the location space in 2009. But even with the growth, both services are still relatively small, neither much bigger than 200,000 users. That’s why much larger social networks like Facebook are perceived to be a potential risk to them. And one of those bigger networks has just entered the fray: Yelp.

With the latest version of its iPhone app (version 4) which will be released today in the App Store, Yelp is introducing a bunch of new features. But none is bigger than the new ability to check-in to venues. Considering there are some 1.25 million users of the Yelp iPhone app, with this update, Yelp will already become the largest network offering this functionality by far. And it’s not just check-ins. Yelp is also adding rewards for users who frequent certain venues, and a leaderboard. Yes, they’re also getting into the gaming element of location.

So does this spell doom for Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and the others? Maybe, but maybe not. No one is quite sure how well the concept of checking-in will work when tacked on to an existing social network. Yelp is a great one to try it though since it’s already based around venues. But the social connections on Yelp aren’t like more traditional social networks, so it will be interesting to see if with this feature, users start transferring their more traditional social graphs over to Yelp. From Yelp’s perspective, this is just another way to allow people to contribute to the service without having to write reviews or upload pictures, Yelp mobile product manager Eric Singley tells us. It also adds a new layer of credibility to those who do write reviews because other users can now potentially see that these users have been to the place they are reviewing numerous times.

And yes, the idea is to eventually allow Yelp users that check-in places to see certain deals offered up by the venues. Yelp already has this concept in place with their Sales and Special Offers program that’s about a year old. Already there are over 200,000 of these offers that businesses are serving up, I’m told. Yelp could easily turn this on for the new check-in feature as well, which Singley envisions happening. Perhaps most significantly, Singley doesn’t foresee Yelp using such a feature to augment their business model. While he wouldn’t entirely rule it out in the future, he noted that Yelp had no plans to change the idea of letting venues offer deals for free. This could potentially threaten the Foursquare and Gowalla business models. Right now, neither have paid arrangements with venues for the deals they offer, but eventually they were hoping to turn that on. If Yelp offers venues the ability to give customers coupons for free, it could get interesting.

Just as with Foursquare and Gowalla, Yelp users will be able to get Push Notifications when friends check-in somewhere. There will also be a check-in stream to show you where all your friends are. And as I alluded to, users who go to certain venues a lot will be rewarded with badges. At first, this is limited to a “Regular” badge, which you will get if you check-in somewhere twice in a 60 day span (though Singley notes this algorithm could be tweaked as needed). And this badge will appear next to your reviews on Yelp to let others know that you go there a lot. Singley also left open the possibility of other badges eventually. And while this is iPhone-only for now, the check-in data should be coming to the website in a couple of weeks, and then to the other mobile apps as well, I’m told.

But how the check-in battle will play out remains to be seen. First, we’ll have to see if the concept catches on with Yelp users. And that shouldn’t distract current the users from the wide range of other new features in the latest version of the iPhone app. In fact, “this is the biggest iPhone update we’ve ever done,” Singley says. So what else is new besides check-ins?

Yelp has finally added profiles to the app. You can now see and edit your Yelp profile just as you would on the website. This is an extension of the signing-in ability Yelp added in its last update. Also new is the ability to more easily find friends you may know. The Yelp app can use your iPhone’s address book, or your Facebook contacts if you’re hooked up with Facebook Connect.

Speaking of Facebook, you’ll now be able to share things more easily on that network, as well as on Twitter. This includes Quick Tips and the new check-ins. This could potentially help the Yelp app grow even bigger.

Finally, Yelp has updated the Monocle functionality. As you may recall, this is the augmented reality view of Yelp, and now it allows you to lay your phone horizontally to bring up a map overlay that will work with the iPhone’s compass. And with the new check-ins, you’ll also have an option to view where your friends are in this augmented reality view.

Overall, the look of the Yelp app has been updated too. And you can see in the screen shot at the top of this post, the main page now looks more like the Facebook app. It seems that a lot of apps are borrowing this design these days; LinkedIn did recently as well.

Just as it has always done, Yelp plans to test all of these new features on the iPhone first, then roll them out to the other mobile platforms. Of those, not surprisingly, Singley seems most excited about the Android platform.

With Yelp now in the check-in location game, maybe Google will be kicking itself for not scooping them up when they had the chance. After all, I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot of movement in terms of acquisitions in that field this year.

When the new Yelp app goes live (which should be shortly), you can find it here.

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As far as XBMC forks go, Boxee certainly appears to have the most heat. It has VC money pouring in, flashy deals with content providers, and you’ll soon be able to buy a dedicated D-Link box to more easily use it on your TV. But Boxee isn’t the only XBMC-based media center that’s worth your time. It’s not even the first XBMC fork to go out and make a name for itself. Plex, which is exclusive to Mac OS X, was Boxee before Boxee was cool. I recently talked to the lead developer, Elan Feingold, to get a better understand of what Plex is, what it does, and where it’s going. Needless to say, if you’re running Mac OS X, you ought to give it a shot. It’s good.

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Apparently, Yahoo didn’t like the bad press it was getting following its decision to shutter its own Shopping API and instead strike a deal with PriceGrabber to use their data. Neal Sample, Yahoo’s Vice President of Open Strategy has a rather passionate post today on the Yahoo Developer Network Blog responding to the criticism of the news. Among the key quotes:

• “I’ve read the commentary here on the blog and out in the blogosphere. I’ve also read some of the speculation about what this means — and it’s dead wrong.”
• “Yahoo!’s commitment to developers and to open platforms is not going away. Not at all.”
• “As Yahoo! continues to refocus and rewire, businesses change and priorities shift. Strong leaders make tough decisions all the time.”
• “The Open Web is not a rose garden. You know that.”

I dunno. I’m sure Sample believes everything he’s saying, but it’s hard for the rest of the web to believe it when Yahoo keeps shutting down services left and right while outsourcing other core aspects. He makes the case that the Shopping API is “an isolated consequence of a strategic partnership that will improve the Yahoo! shopping experience for consumers.” But that doesn’t speak to the countless other services Yahoo has had to shut down (or is thinking about shutting down). Sure, they may have to do it to make ends meet, but it might be better to be more communicative up front rather than telling us what we “know” after the fact.

Sample does acknowledge that Yahoo has to get better about communicating changes like this (and promises his team will going forward), but come on, this has been going on for several months. The only thing surprising about all of this is that Yahoo seems surprised that people are pissed off. Maybe instead of pouring money into a cycling team, Yahoo should have put resources into the Shopping API, which some developers clearly loved.

The fact of the matter is that the Open Web should be what we (meaning everyone on the web) make of it. The thing that isn’t a rose garden is Yahoo right now. That’s too bad. But that’s no one’s fault but Yahoo’s.

[photo: flickr/informatique]

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Yesterday, we noted that $5 million had be raised in donations for Haiti though text messaging in the U.S. alone. Today, that number surpassed $10 million, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced. Perhaps more importantly, some of the big players involved in the donations are making moves to make sure the money gets to Haiti faster.

As some people noted in the comments yesterday, there had been talk of 90 day delays for this money donated via text to be released to the various organizations helping out in Haiti. Since then, a number of the companies have committed to giving the money immediately. Verizon, for example, is giving its share (of the then $9 million), $2.98 million, immediately to the American Red Cross. Sprint, meanwhile, is giving 80% of the $1.2 million it has raised so far immediately. AT&T has apparently raised the most so far with $4.2 million (of the larger $10 million) and is also thinking about ways to get the money to Haiti faster.

All of this money has been raised with the help of mGive simply by people using their cellphones to text HAITI to the number 90999. Doing so will automatically donate $10 to the Red Cross, which will be added on to your bill at the end of the month. But that’s not the only way to give over text message. Here’s a list of many of the ways to text to help Haiti:

• Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross
• Text HAITI to 25383 to donate $5 to International Rescue Committee
• Text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to the Salvation Army in Canada
• Text YELE to 501501 to donation $5 to Yele
• Text RELIEF to 30644 to get automatically connected to Catholic Relief Services and donate money with your credit card
• Text HAITI to 864833 to donate $5 to The United Way
• Text CERF to 90999 to donate $5 to The United Nations Foundation
• Text DISASTER to 90999 to donate $10 to Compassion International

[photo: flickr/ydhsu]

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This just came in through the tip line purporting to know for certain that the iSlate event will happen at the Yerba Buena Center in San Fran on January 27th, just as others have reported. The agenda should include a new SDK (probably iPhone/iSlate 4.0) and that most iPhone apps presumably run on the iSlate.

In addition to the introduction of the iTablet hardware recent rumors have said that a new software development kit for iPhone OS 4.0 could be revealed at the presentation.Tthe new kit may includes a “simulator” that allows developers to adapt their iPhone applications for different screen sizes and resolutions i.e. the iTablet, or whatever it is called:-)

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As you may have heard, Verizon made some headlines today by unveiling new, cheaper plans to its customers. Specifically, they cut the price of their unlimited voice plans by $29 down to $69.99. As some noted, this looked to be a way to undercut its biggest rival, AT&T. Not surprisingly, AT&T is now matching that offer.

AT&T customers with “feature phones” will now have the option to get unlimited voice minutes for $69.99 a month. Text message plans will remain $20 a month for unlimited usage, so they’re matching Verizon’s $89.99 unlimited voice + text offering too. But wait, before you get all excited, you should note that “feature phones” do not include the iPhone. That is apparently a “smartphone” which is different in AT&T’s eyes (and Verizon’s for that matter). Smartphone owners will have the option to get unlimited voice plus data for $99.99, which is still a nice discount over previous unlimited iPhone plans which ran $129.99.

But what really sucks with these “unlimited” voice and data plans for the iPhone is that you’ll still have to pay $20 on top of that if you want unlimited texting too. So that’s $119.99 for truly unlimited iPhone usage. Again, cheaper than it was, but come on, why can’t we include text messaging? Because the carriers would make a lot less money without that rip-off pricing in play, that’s why.

These new plans go into effect this coming Monday, January 18. Existing customers will also be able to alter their plans without any sort of penalty, including no contract extensions, which is great.

Here are the full details of AT&T’s changes which were just announced:

DALLAS, Jan. 15, 2010 – AT&T* today announced new unlimited plans across all devices –including its industry-leading lineup of smartphones — to provide more value and choice for customers who want to talk, text and surf on the nation’s fastest 3G network.

“With more than twice the number of smartphone customers as our nearest competitor, we are committed to offering great value and choice for customers who want to talk, text and surf on the nation’s fastest 3G network,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “Our new plans reflect customers’ continuing desire to do more with their phones – including talking and browsing the Web at the same time.  Plus these new plans make it even more attractive to choose AT&T which already offers customers the best 3G experience and the industry’s most popular and innovative devices.”

The new plans, which will be available beginning Monday, Jan. 18, can be ordered at AT&T’s 2,200 company-owned retail stores and kiosks, through convenient online service at www.att.com, or at one of the thousands of authorized AT&T retail locations.

• Feature Phone customers may choose unlimited talk for $69.99. Family Talk customers (prices assume two lines) may choose unlimited talk for $119.99 per month.  Texting plans remain unchanged at $20 for unlimited plans for individuals and $30 for Family Talk plans.

• Quick Messaging Device customers may choose unlimited talk for $69.99 and Family Talk plans may choose unlimited talk for $119.99 per month (for two lines). These plans require a minimum of $20 per month for individual plans and $30 per month for Family Talk plans in texting and/or Web browsing packages for new and upgrading customers.

• All smartphone customers, including iPhone customers, may now buy unlimited voice and data for $99.99.  For smartphone customers with Family Talk plans (prices assume 2 smartphones), unlimited voice and data is now available for $179.99. Texting plans remain unchanged at $20 for unlimited plans for individuals, $30 for Family Talk Plans.

Beginning Monday, existing AT&T customers can change to any of the new plans without penalty or contract extension with the online account management tool at www.att.com/wireless.

For customers who do not choose an unlimited voice plan, AT&T offers Rollover, which lets customers keep the minutes they don’t use.  In addition, AT&T offers A-List, which offers unlimited calling to up to 10 domestic phone numbers.

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Last month, MySpace finally completed its deal to acquire troubled music startup Imeem. Unfortunately for imeem fans, the bank shut the service down as soon as the deal was completed, redirecting them to a MySpace Music splash screen. MySpace was subsequently trashed by outraged users who wanted their playlists back. Today, they’re getting what they asked for: MySpace has just sent out an Email to imeem users, informing them that they’ll be able to restore their playlists using a new import tool. We’ve confirmed with MySpace that the feature is now live.

The process is simple: users enter their imeem Email address, hit “Import Playlists”, and will find their imeem playlists restored under the “My Music” section of MySpace Music. The playlists will behave as normal MySpace playlists do, but will be labeled to indicate that they originated from imeem. The process should be seamless for most users, but there are a few caveats: MySpace won’t be able to restore songs where there are differences between the imeem and MySpace music license catalogs. MySpace says this won’t be an issue for most songs, but didn’t have an exact percentage for how much of the catalogs overlap.

It’s worth pointing out again that MySpace didn’t really have anything to do with the shutdown of imeem — it would have shut down anyway as its licences expired and money ran out. We’re hearing this actually took quite a bit of work from MySpace’s end, as they had to pair up thousands of songs to prepare for the import process.

Here’s the Email message being sent to imeem users:

We’re happy to share that we’ve recreated your imeem playlists on MySpace Music. We spent a lot of time and effort to make a home for your music on our platform. Beginning today you’ll be able to access your playlists. Here’s how:

1) Access your playlist by clicking here: http://www.myspace.com/music/import-playlists. You will need to be logged into MySpace. Click here to login or signup for MySpace.

2) Enter your imeem e-mail address.

3) Click import and we will retrieve your playlists.

4) Upon completion, your playlists will be stored in “My Music,” our playlist management tool. All playlists can be identified by the name “import_[yourplaylistname]”

This process isn’t perfect and while we expect most of your content to have migrated from imeem to MySpace Music, we appreciate your understanding if any discrepancies between the two music catalogs affected your individual playlists.

If you have questions, please visit http://faq.myspace.com/app/home.

Thanks,
The MySpace Music Team

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Last month, we saw the launch of Qik VideoCamera, an iPhone app that brings local video recording to both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G (neither of which support video recording out of the box). The app’s release was significant given Apple’s longstanding ban on video recording applications, but it left something to be desired. For one, it recorded at a mere 7 frames per second —  far less than the 30FPS the iPhone 3GS built-in video recorder can achieve. Today, Qik is releasing a new version of the app that more than doubles that rate to 15 FPS, and includes a number of new real-time effects.

Granted, 15 frames per second is still only half that of the iPhone 3GS rate, but the resulting videos will be far less jerky. And it may make the app the fastest recorder on the market —  Qik cofounder Bhaskar Roy says that the fastest competing app only gets to 10 FPS.

Users will also be interested in the updated app’s new video filters, which include a Black & White mode, B&W with red highlighting, a filter that reverses red and blue, and a mirroring mode. The app also adds digital zoom, audio boosting and live brightness control. Roy says that the new filters are applied to video on the fly, so users don’t have to wait for post processing (he says you can also apply multiple filters at the same time). However, these filters do degrade the speed of the video capture back down into the 7-10 FPS range.

Note that Qik also offers a Live Recorder app, which allows users to broadcast their videos live to the web from their phones. There are also quite a few competing apps out there, like Ustream’s Live Broadcaster (which also does local recording).

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As AOL started its long-awaited layoffs of 2,500 employees this week, one high-profile officer who is rumored to be leaving is chief technology officer Ted Cahall. Whether he is taking a severance package or simply leaving on his own accord, we don’t know, but sources tell us that he is already communicating to some of his direct reports that he will be leaving. He would be joining other high-profile AOL departees such as former SVP Eric Bosco and many others.

Cahall joined AOL in 2007 from United Online, and prior to that he was the CIO at Cnet. He was in charge of AOL’s ISP infrastructure, which is a declining business that TIm Armstrong is squeezing for all the cash he can get out of it. Cahall also invented DynaPub, the publishing system AOL uses for its own content. But a new content-management system called Seed is being pushed by CEO Tim Armstrong to make it easier to churn out Website content from both AOL staffers and contributors.

It is not clear how much of Dynapub is in Seed or whether it is an entirely new system. Regardless, Armstrong and Cahall probably did not see eye-to-eye on the technology direction of the company. I’ve reached out to both Cahall and AOL for comment.

Update: AOL spokesperson Tricia Primrose says “No, he’s not leaving” and that he remains CTO.

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Businesses are becoming increasingly interested in using location-based check-in services like Foursquare to encourage people to come to their stores. But those networks still have a relatively limited reach, and the majority of patrons haven’t heard of them. PlaceWidget offers a potential way to help with that.

The simple service uses the Foursquare API to allow any venues to embed a widget on their website. This widget, which prominently features the Foursquare logo shows the venue name, its address and phone number, and the number of people checked in. This is a good way to spread the word about Foursquare if businesses want to start using it more to offer up special deals to customers, and to entice them to come back.

And the widget also offers the venue a way to give thanks to its best customers. Below the standard data, the widget shows the Foursquare mayor of the venue, along with their picture. For those unaware, a “mayor” is the Foursquare user who checks-in to the venue the most amount of times. The widget also shows how many mayor preceded the current mayor.

Finally, the widget also shows the Tips for that venue that Foursquare users leave about what to try, buy, or do at that particular place.

Creator Brad Kellett says that Foursquare co-founder Naveeen Selvadurai gave him the idea on the Foursquare dev mailing list. It’s a solid one that both venues and Foursquare should love. And creating a widget is three simple steps. Once you do that, you’ll get a snippet of JavaScript to embed in your site and you’re good to go. Kellett also says that a WordPress plug-in is coming shortly to make it even easier to create and customize these widgets.

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