About
RAKESH AGRAWAL
I am Senior Director of Product at Audible.
I have been designing and marketing Internet services since 1993. I have worked at Tellme, AOL Search, uReach Technologies, washingtonpost.com and startribune.com.
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Category Archives: local search
Using Google Maps as a virtual notepad
I get recommendations on restaurants all the time from various sources – friends, the Post food critic’s weekly chat, articles I read, etc. I’ve had scattered approaches to keeping track of them. I used to email them to myself. Then … Continue reading
Google Maps launches local reviews
In a potentially huge blow to local services like Yelp, CitySearch, and AOLCityGuide, Google is now offering users the ability to leave reviews for businesses they search on. To date, Google has aggregated reviews from those sites and others in … Continue reading
Posted in city guides, google, local search, maps, web 2, web 2.0, yelp
6 Comments
Outside.in puts neighborhood news on the map
Brady at O’Reilly Radar has a great post on Outside.in. The startup aggregates local blogs, organizes them by neighborhood and plots them on a map. I’ve written before about the importance of being hyperlocal. If I were running a media … Continue reading
Posted in city guides, geotagging, journalism, local search, maps, media, newspapers, web 2, web 2.0
Comments Off on Outside.in puts neighborhood news on the map
Maps on maps on Yahoo! Travel
One of the things on my map wishlist (and the to blog about list) for a long time has been finding maps on the map. Say what? There are many venues that are gigantic. Think the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center, Giants … Continue reading
Posted in local search, maps, travel, yahoo
1 Comment
Google Maps: extreme close up with Street View
Google today released Street View, allowing users to zoom in to street level in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Denver and Las Vegas. (I can’t help but think Denver was selected to get a dig in at Mapquest.) It’s the … Continue reading
Posted in google, local search, maps, street view
10 Comments
User-created content search comes to Google Maps
One of the features promised when Google’s My Maps launched was that the content created would be searchable by users. I stumbled upon this feature in action while searching Maps today. This map was created by a local bar, showing … Continue reading
GPS for Blackberry and Calendar come to Google Mobile
Google announced GPS support on the Blackberry 8800. This is a huge move. It’s great that a major U.S. carrier, Cingular AT&T, is allowing free access to location data. I would have expected them to disable GPS access. I love … Continue reading
Posted in google, gps, iphone, local search, maps, mobile, mobile search, wireless, wireless data, yellow pages
5 Comments
Search your neighborhood on Google Maps
You can now search Google Maps by neighborhood in 50 U.S. cities. Some sample searches: “bars in adams morgan dc” “museums upper east side, ny” “pizza portero hill sf“. I’ve long complained that ZIP codes are a terrible crutch used … Continue reading
Posted in google, local search, maps, yelp
3 Comments
How to get traffic to your front door
As I’ve been traveling over the last few weeks, I’ve been amazed with the number of businesses that make it difficult for people to visit them in person. I’m not talking about online retailers who don’t want customers showing up … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, local search, maps
Comments Off on How to get traffic to your front door
Advertisers disintermediating newspapers, too
I wrote yesterday about content providers disintermediating newspapers. Advertisers are doing the same. We’ve all heard about the effects that craigslist has had on the three pillars of the classified business: real estate, automotive and recruitment. Direct-to-consumer email poses a … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, local search, media, newspapers, publishing
3 Comments