reDesign

September 10, 2008

I am here, where is everyone else?

Filed under: apple, facebook, flickr, gps, im, instant messaging, iphone, lbs, mobile, social networking, twitter, where, yelp — Rakesh Agrawal @ 12:02 am

Since the iPhone app store came online, I’ve been playing with a number of mobile social networks. There’s no shortage of them: Limbo, Loopt, Where and Whrrl are all attempting to play in the space.

The central idea of mobile social networks is to connect you with your friends while you’re out and about. Unfortunately, they all require you to rebuild your friend list. Early versions of the Loopt app went so far as to spam people in your iPhone’s address book with text messages.

Local events on Where

Local events on Where

Here are some of the keys to success in mobile social networks:

  • It’s the network, stupid. Getting people to create Yet Another Network won’t work. I’ve already created my network. Use it. My only friend on the iPhone version of Loopt is 2,500 miles away — hardly someone I can run into when I’m out in San Francisco on the weekend. Loopt and Where have Facebook apps, but their iPhone versions don’t seem to tie into them.
  • Let me control when I update my location. Location is very personal. Don’t automatically update my location just because I’ve launched your application. I may just want to check something.
  • Let me publish beyond your app. Early adopters who try your app are willing to accept that there is a ramp up period, but they aren’t going to do work for zero return. If I my update my status and no one is there to see it, have I updated my status? Let me automatically publish the information I collect using your app to Facebook, Twitter and my blog. Not only does it give me a reason to use your app, it becomes a distribution vehicle for you, providing exposure to my friends who just might say “How’d he do that?” I taught a lot of my friends about Facebook mobile simply by updating my status from my phone. (Facebook puts a mobile phone icon next to such updates.)
  • Seed your app with other content sources. If I don’t have friends, at least give me other content that makes your app worth using. Where does a good job of this, pulling in content from Yelp, eventful and Zipcar. If you can, get ego bloggers like Scoble to use your app.
  • 128 King St is not a place. Pete’s Tavern is. Whenever posting information, it should include a human understandable version. You’d never post a location of 37.778911, -122.391223; a street address is marginally more helpful. With the margin of error built into GPS and density of urban areas, place names are critical.
  • Let me take pictures. For a long time, mobile developers haven’t had access to cell phone cameras. With the iPhone, they do. The ability to take and send a picture makes it easier to communicate a lot of information quickly. And it adds life to your application. (Bonus points for dropping a copy of the picture in my flickr account.)
  • Tie into IM and SMS. Loopt claims that the most commonly asked question via SMS is “Where are you?” That claim is probably made up marketing b.s. without any hard data. Nevertheless, it is a frequent question. Make it easy for me to answer it. Let me send an SMS or IM that includes where I’m at (Pete’s Tavern, 128 King St.). To anyone. Include a URL with a map and optionally a picture.
  • Don’t spam my friends. What you do with my friends’ contact information reflects on me. If you spam my friends, I will never use your application again. And I will tell everyone you’re a spammer.

Tying into the various APIs I mentioned may seem like a lot of work — and it is. But the alternative is spending a lot of money on distribution and marketing.

See also:

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July 14, 2008

Unlocking the creativity of the masses

Filed under: apple, apple tv, facebook, flickr, geotagging, gps, iphone, ipod, lbs, local search, mobile, mobile search, photography, social networking, twitter, where, wireless, wireless data, yelp — Rakesh Agrawal @ 9:26 pm

With the launch of the iPhone last year (and the millions of dollars in ad spend around it), Apple did more for wireless data adoption than wireless carriers had in the last 10 years. With Thursday’s launch of the App Store, they’re doing it again by unlocking the creativity of the masses.

Wireless carriers had long held on to core cellphone features with an iron grip. Want access to the camera, GPS, microphone or address book? Good luck. It usually involved spending a year or more negotiating with a carrier and then writing and (rewriting) your app to work on dozens of phone models. And when you were all done, you brought it to a market with little distribution support at a price few people would pay.

In the last couple of days, I’ve downloaded more apps than I had in my entire history of cell phone usage (dating back to 1996). There’s one big reason: once developers had access to features like GPS and the camera, they created compelling applications.

The most compelling apps have come from independent developers or startups. Some have used public APIs for other products; although there isn’t an official flickr app, there are several apps that interact with flickr. AOL is the lone exception among large companies, with apps for AIM and AOL Radio.

Here are some of the apps that caught my eye. With the exception of iMilk, all are free. That’s another refreshing change: Apple is making it easy for application developers who want to distribute free applications. Even paid apps can be relatively cheap, with a one time price of $3-$10 being common. (Versus the previous $3-$5 per month.)

All is not perfect in app land, of course. Much like when Facebook launched their app platform, some developers are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. I’ve also had my phone reboot at least half a dozen times when using various apps.

The functionality in some of these apps is limited compared with their other incarnations. For example, in Jott, you can’t send Jotts to others. As these apps are revved, they’ll become even more compelling.

Jott

Jott allows you to record a voice “note to self”. The note is then transcribed and put in your Jott account, which is available by phone or Web. It isn’t as robust as Jott’s

Where

A mobile social network that lets you plot friends on a map, look for restaurant reviews, find and reserve Zipcars and even look at a map of the night sky where you are with the constellations plotted. (Video of the app.)

There are a number of players looking to create mobile social networks. Whrrl, Loopt and Limbo offer somewhat similar apps. Where offers a range of features beyond social, while Limbo is the most social.

(Disclosure: I did some consulting for Where last year.)

Facebook

Facebook took an early lead with the iPhone 1.0 by having one of the best iPhone optimized sites. The lead developer released a toolkit that was used by other developers. The application version adds the ability to upload photos and IM, but lacks some of the features found in the browser version.

AirMe

Upload pictures to flickr (or an AirMe account). The pictures are automatically geotagged with your location. AirMe also tags you pictures with the current weather conditions.

NearMe

See pictures from Panoramio of places around where you are.

Twittelator

See and update Twitter. Post pictures and location updates. Twitterific has less functionality and also has ads.

Urbanspoon

Kind of like a Magic 8 ball to decide where to eat. Uses GPS to find where you are. Shake your iPhone and it will select a place for you.

iMilk  ($2.99)

“Drink” virtual milk. Uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to empty the glass. If you prefer, you can pour it into a glass before drinking.

Remote

Control your Apple TV or iTunes. Play songs, see album art and search your iTunes library. Works over Wifi, so you don’t have to be in line of sight. Much better than the flimsy remote that ships with Apple TV.

Pandora

The world’s greatest music discovery service now streams to iPhone. The app is beautifully simple. Add in an aux in jack or FM transmitter for your car and say goodbye to the $14 a month you’re paying to XM or Sirius.

Yelp

Why settle for the hand-picked (usually glowing) reviews displayed in the restaurant window? Pull out your iPhone and check Yelp. My favorite feature is a filter that limits the search to restaurants that are open now. Very helpful for those midnight cravings.

October 10, 2007

Rocky wuz here

Filed under: facebook, gps, lbs, mobile, where, wireless, wireless data — Rakesh Agrawal @ 7:59 pm

LocPoke

Location-based services have been hampered by the balkanization of carrier networks and a focus on mobile-only implementations. LocPoke, a new Facebook application, is a promising alternative.

I’ve written before about WHERE, a location service platform that has offered GPS-based location status updates for Twitter using a downloadable application. The application is available for Sprint and Alltel phones for a monthly fee.

WHERE’s LocPoke, allows you to show a map of your location on your Facebook profile. This application addresses many of the key barriers to adoption of the Where platform: it works on any network, it works on any phone, it doesn’t require a download and it’s free (except for SMS charges).  Just text your location to the SMS shortcode WHERE (94373) to update your location. The location can be set as a street address, ZIP code, city or neighborhood.

You can also text a phone number to identify your location. If you’re having dinner at Azie, you can text “dinner@4155380918” and the map will show the name and address of Azie. This method is too cumbersome to get wide adoption, but it points to a future where we’ll be sending actionable data instead of freeform text.

Friends can also prompt you to update your location. A friend clicking on the “LocPoke” button triggers an SMS prompting you to update your location. This capability can be limited to friends that you select. I’d like to see the option to click on the location to get driving directions.

The Social Map feature allows you to see where your friends are. It’s of limited use until LocPoke takes off.

June 7, 2007

Getting Google Street View in your pocket

Filed under: google, gps, maps, satellite navigation, street view, where, wireless, wireless data — Rakesh Agrawal @ 8:09 am

WHERE Street View imageWHERE has released a clever hack that lets you pull up Google Street View pictures on your cell phone. Just find a business and if it’s in Street View coverage, you’ll see a link to view the picture. Google’s own Mobile Maps application doesn’t do this.

It’s fun, and in theory, you’d be able to see where you’re headed. In reality, that’s not often the case.

Maps have a Last Block Problem — the locations provided by today’s mapping systems are approximations based on how street numbering systems typically work; no one has gone down the street and plotted where every address is.

In ordinary cases, locations can be a few hundred feet off. That’s not a huge problem for driving directions, but if you’re expecting to see a specific business there’s a good chance you’ll be disappointed.

I’ll talk about an idea for solving the Last Block Problem later.

via O’Reilly Radar

More on: WHERE, google, maps, Street View, location-based services, wireless

June 5, 2007

WHERE gets personal with easy-to-create custom widgets

Filed under: google, gps, lbs, maps, mobile, mobile search, where, wireless, wireless data — Rakesh Agrawal @ 4:01 pm

My WHEREI’ve written before about the WHERE platform, a location-based service platform that allows developers to create custom location applications. Now just about anyone can do it, with very little technical knowledge.

You go to Google’s My Maps, plot your points and then go through a simple process to create your widget. (Behind the scenes, WHERE is using KML, which is becoming the de facto standard for identifying locations.)

I was easily able to create widgets that allow you to find the nearest Metro station in the D.C. area, the restaurants reviewed in Tom Sietsema’s 2006 Dining Guide, my own guide to my neighborhood and a list of restaurants I want to try. You can see my custom widgets in the phone at right. (The links take you to the Google My Map; if you’re a WHERE user and want a link to the widget, email me. Unfortunately, there’s not yet an easy way to publish them.)

Clarendon BallroomThe widgets even include photos. If you come across Clarendon Ballroom in my guide to Clarendon, you could pull up a picture of it on your phone, along with my review.

WHERE also supports a CSV import, so groups or people that have existing databases of content they want to use can just upload the data instead of first plotting it on a Google Map.

Right now the widgets aren’t live. For example, if I add or change information in my Clarendon guide, I have to recreate the widget. Even though that process is simple, it shouldn’t be necessary.

More on: maps, gps, Google

March 23, 2007

Stupid Twitter GPS trick

Filed under: gps, twitter, web 2, web 2.0, where, wireless, wireless data — Rakesh Agrawal @ 7:20 pm

where

Watch my progress from the cab, to Dulles airport, to the moon rover, to the plane, to Denver International Airport, to my rental car, to Vail Pass and finally sitting in my hotel room typing this.

Done with Twitter GPS. Now if only I could string them together in an animation like TwitterVision.

March 17, 2007

The world’s atwitter about Twitter

Filed under: blogs, flickr, gps, instant messaging, lbs, mobile, social networking, twitter, web 2, web 2.0, where, wireless, wireless data — Rakesh Agrawal @ 11:21 am

You know you’ve made the big time when the Wall Street Journal writes about you. (Either that, or you’ve jumped the shark.) Twitter got a lot of love this week, both from the Journal and at the SXSW conference.

Twitter asks simply “What are you doing?” More precisely, it’s what are you doing right now. In 140 characters or less, you describe what you’re doing. Then any of your friends (or the whole world) can see what you’re doing. You can see what I’m doing right now. If you really care, you can get notified on your cell phone or by IM anytime I update what I’m doing.

Rakeshlobster on Twitter

I was introduced to Twitter about a month ago by the design harem at AOL: Carol, Lisa and Nicole.

My first reaction was “Who gives a shit what I’m doing right now?”

Twitter is essentially a lightweight blogging platform that significantly reduces the PITA factor of blogging. I have to sit down and think to blog, and I typically spend 15-45 minutes on each blog entry – thinking through what I want to write, uploading pictures, making links. Twitter dispenses with all that – with only 140 characters, there isn’t much thought necessary.

You can also customize the background that Twitter shows on your page. It’d be even slicker if you could put in a flickr stream and have it rotate through pictures. (For example, my photos tagged “twitter” or “favorites”.)

Much like slickr, it’s an easy way to passively keep track of what your friends are up to. People aren’t thrusting their lives upon me; I can keep up as much or as little as I want.


Twitter GPS

Twitter’s value increased greatly with the Twitter WHERE widget. (See my post on WHERE.) With WHERE, I can quickly and easily answer not only what I’m doing right now, but where I’m doing it from. The Twitter widget includes in each entry a link to a map of where I was when I posted the entry. You can see where I was when I wrote this entry.

In real time, it also serves as a passive invitation to friends. If someone wants to come hang out with me as Murky Coffee, they know where I’m at.

The last block problem makes that a little tricky. Because GPS has a degree of inaccuracy and because places aren’t always where maps expect them to be, the location that is displayed needs clarification. My Twitter shows me at 1105 N. Kirkwood. Although you could see Murky Coffee from there, the actual address is 3211 Wilson Blvd. It would be nice to be able to select from a list of businesses near the location and send that information in the Twitter instead.

Right now each GPS Twitter entry is isolated. But it’s not hard to imagine pulling up a map with the friends around you. Or being able to create a track log of where you’ve been.

I’ve told my friends that if I ever go missing, they should check my flickr account to see if I left a picture of where I last was. With GPS Twitter, they’ll know where I was.

WHERE in the world am I?

Filed under: gps, lbs, local search, mobile, mobile search, where, wireless, wireless data — Rakesh Agrawal @ 10:18 am

WHERE on a Samsung A900I needed to get out my rant about carriers locking up location services before I talk about WHERE. (They refer to themselves in all caps, and because I like the service, I’ll do the same.)

WHERE is a platform that allows application developers to create location-aware applications that run on mobile devices. Developers can design applications that work on mobile devices without having to write Java, re-write for various handsets, deal with the carriers and all of the other nonsense that goes with mobile product development these days. It’s the toolkit that carriers should be providing to developers.

There are 20 or so WHERE widgets now. Among my favorites:

  • Irish Pubs. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
  • Zillow. Stand in front of someone’s house and pull up pricing information.
  • Local. Location-enabled local search.
  • Location notes. Leave a note associated with a specific location and see notes other people have left.
  • Twitter. More on that later.

These aren’t necessarily the ones I’d use every day, but they are creative uses of location that show off the real power of location-enabled services.

Pretty much any application with open APIs can be adapted to run in the WHERE environment within a matter of days. With so many public APIs out there, even a modestly talented developer could create a compelling WHERE application.

Some applications I’d like to see:

The other key benefit WHERE provides both to developers and users is an easy-to-use Web site that allows users to configure which widgets appear on their phone and in what order. This kind of desktop/mobile integration will be very important in driving the adoption of wireless services.

Right now, WHERE is only available on a few handsets and only on Sprint. At $2.99/month, it’s the closest thing to free.

It has a lot of potential to drive adoption of location services by skirting most of the roadblocks the carriers have thrown up, both for consumers and developers.

Theme: Silver is the New Black. Blog at WordPress.com.

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