Accuweather Android app will soon recommend weather-appropriate places to visit
A partnership with Foursquare will soon see the Accuweather Android app recommend local places to visit, based on hyperlocal weather forecasts …
Google Maps for Android gains richer local recommendation search
Google Maps on mobile has since last year had an Explore section where users can find the best restaurants to eat at and things to do in their area. With an update rolling out today to the Android app, it’s becoming a bit more easy to specify and narrow down exactly what you’re looking for.
Prior to today, Explore only used the inputs of distance and time of day to determine what to show you. Users can now, however, specify a nearby neighborhood, category, and type of cuisine to find, on top of the existing inputs. Tapping on a suggested place will bring up more detail like who the vibe is best, or least, suited for, and sometimes it’ll include why Google chose to recommend that place in particular.
It seems crazy to me that Explore in Google Maps was lacking this type of gradual search before, but it was. The new inputs make perfect sense, too — what if I specifically want to find a place to have drinks with friends, and also make sure it’s not too upscale of a place? You couldn’t narrow your results down that far before, but now you can. Well, that’s if you’re in the US or UK, where the Explore update is limited to for now. And if you happen to be in NYC, San Francisco or London, Google will even curate its suggestions into named sections like “Best places for classic Mission-style Mexican food.”
Aside from the new search, the UI has been updated a bit with a card-based interface for swiping through suggested places and their corresponding photos. This interface closely matches what Google rolled out to its search product on mobile for rich content results just a few days ago. Maps for Android also recently saw its directions interface updated with a similar tabbed design displaying duration estimates for every form of transportation to a given location.
Other location-based recommendation apps like Foursquare and Yelp have had what Google is rolling out now for quite a while, it’s worth noting. When I find an APK for this new update I’ll be sure to update this post.
Foursquare reintroduces traditional leaderboards in Swarm update
Location check-in app Swarm continues to become a bit more like the Foursquare app of yesteryear, this time gaining a leaderboard system identical to the original one that helped to make Foursquare so addictive in the first place.
Swarm for Android updated, mayorships and bragging rights in tow
Avid Foursquare junkies (myself included), rejoice – mayorships are back, just now in the Swarm app. You can become the mayor of a place by checking into it more than anyone else in the last 30 days, and only one check-in per day counts towards your rank.
Google reveals new glassware apps for OpenTable, Foursquare, and TripIt
Yesterday Google opened the Glass beta to the general public once again, offering the chance for anyone to buy the wearable device for $1,500. Today the company has unveiled three new travel-oriented glassware apps.
The first of these apps is Foursquare, the popular check-in app that allows users to locate and review restaurants, shopping centers, or any other point of interest. Google also debuted TripIt integration, allowing users easily plan their travel itineraries through Glass. The third glassware app revealed today is OpenTable. Using this software, users can now book restaurant reservations right from Glass.
Foursquare announces Swarm, a standalone app for check-ins
Today Foursquare announced that it will be repurposing its mobile app to focus specifically on search, reviews and finding places to eat. As for check-ins, that’ll soon be handled by a new piece of software known as Swarm. This new application will focus on the social media side of things, giving users an easy way to locate and connect with their friends when out and about.
Timehop now available on Android, lets you relive your social networking past
Popular iOS app Timehop has finally made its way to Android today. Timehop is an app that allows you to see what you were posting on a variety of social networks exactly one, two, three, and four years ago. The app requires that you log in with your Facebook account, but can connect to Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare to see what you were posting.
Timehop helps you celebrate the best moments of the past. What were you doing a year ago today? Two years? Three years?Timehop brings together your old photos and posts from your iPhone, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Foursquare and replays your past a day at a time. You’ll quickly fall in love with checking your daily Timehop. Give it a try today!
You can only view your posts from one, two, three, or four years ago, not anyone else’s, which is somewhat disappointing. But Timehop says the point of the app is to be somewhat of a time capsule for your social networks. If you want to bask in your social network awkwardness, the app is available on the Play Store now.
Foursquare opens up local ads to all small businesses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8JqUlQj43M
Foursquare is squarely moving into Google’s territory with the announcement today that it is officially opening up its local ad platform to all of the 1.5 million claimed businesses in the app. That means that no longer will only a select group of partners be able to offer “Promoted” listings within the app– something Foursquare has been testing in recent months– but now all small businesses will have the opportunity to place local ads.
The benefit over, say, Google’s ads platform for local businesses, is the ability for merchants to actually see if their ad leads to a real customer walking into their store:
Today, we’re opening Foursquare Ads to all small businesses around the world. We’re moving past the days when business owners have to figure out if a “like” or a “click” has any meaning in the real world; now they can tell if someone who saw their ad actually walks into their store. We built this to be simple and flexible, learning from our four years of data and relationships with over 1.5 million claimed businesses. Any merchant can monitor how many people have viewed their ad, how many have tapped on it, and how many actually came into their store. Merchants know what they’re paying for – real actions and real customers.
Business owners interested in creating ads on Foursquare can do so at foursquare.com/ads.
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Bing launches final redesign, says users prefer site over Google
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySwn_1o8zfs]
Earlier this month, Microsoft’s search engine Bing unveiled a new style that looks strikingly like Google’s homepage user-interface, but today the Redmond, Wash.-based Company branched from the design and announced a host of new features.
The redesign is still very Google-esque, but the notable aspect to this change is that Microsoft is continuing to make jabs at its primary competitor all the while conducting an obvious rip-off. The Windows-maker even detailed to users in a Bing blog post that its search relevance and quality surpassed Google’s when all signs of branding were removed from the search engines’ homepages:
From the outset, we knew that serving relevant results that were equal to or better than the other guy was table stakes. To track our progress, we conducted tests that removed any trace of Google and Bing branding. When we did this study in January of last year 34% people preferred Bing, while 38% preferred Google. The same unbranded study now shows that Bing Search results now have a much wider lead over Google’s. When shown unbranded search results 43% prefer Bing results while only 28% prefer Google results. What this means is that in 3 years we’ve made some real progress in core relevance and search quality, and while search is becoming so much more than just web results, having a rock solid foundation is important for the future of Bing and search more generally.
Screenshots are available below.
Famed ‘Instagram’ app is now available at Google Play
The widely popular “Instagram” iOS app is now available for Android devices at Google Play.
The iTunes-friendly version showcases 30 million users and holds Apple’s 2011 iPhone App of the Year crown. The Android community patiently waited for a Google variant, and now it can finally propel mobile snapshots to the retro days with snazzy filters and effects.
“Today, we’re excited to bring you Instagram for Android,” announced Instagram on its official blog. “We’ve been meticulous about translating the Instagram experience to the Android platform. The Android app offers an extremely familiar Instagram experience when compared to the iOS app.”
A screenshot gallery is available below.
Google hires Digg founder Kevin Rose
Hot off the wire from AllThingsD:
Rose’s mobile app incubator Milk yesterday announced it was shutting down its only product, Oink.
Google is not outright buying or “acqhiring” Milk, the sources explicitly said, but Rose and some others from the company have been hired. It’s not clear what will happen to Milk after Rose joins Google.
His social and more recent local background would seem to make him a natural at Google+. Rose is also an Angel investor having thrown in with Fab, Zynga, ngmoco, Foursquare, and Twitter.
Interestingly, Google was very close to acquiring Rose’s Digg four years ago, but the deal never went through.
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NYTimes: Google X Glasses will be sold by year end with augmented reality interface
In what seems to confirm our earlier reports, (here and here), The New York Times’ Nick Bilton offered more information today on the Heads Up Display Glasses that Google is building. Some of the new bullet points are as follows:
- The glasses are not designed for constant wear; although, Google expects the nerdiest users to wear them a lot. However, they will be more like smartphones—used when needed.
- Internally, the Google X team is actively discussing the privacy implications of the glasses, and the company wants to make sure that people know if someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera is recording them.
- One of the key people involved with the glasses is Steve Lee, a Google engineer and creator of the Google mapping software Latitude.
- The other key leader on the glasses project is Sergey Brin, Google’s cofounder, who is currently spending most of his time in the Google X labs.
On a personal note, I think this will be the most exciting technology product release this year.
Marisa Mayer talks about SoLoMo at LeWeb
Silicon Filter grabbed some pertinent quotes from Marissa Mayer’s interview today at LeWeb on Mobile, Local, Social (SoLoMo). We’ll have the video up when it becomes available. Notables:
- Google+ was a pleasant surprise. Comparing to the low bar set by past efforts, we’ll give this one a “#obvious tag.
- “We save two years, every day, of idle time using Google Maps and Navigation.”
- Google+ Check-In Deals Coming Next Week (goodnight FourSquare?)
- On the location space in general, there is still a lot of competition
- Android is a vehicle for delivering Google services