Category Archives: wireless

Facebook Places is at the beginning of a long road

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

Facebook’s much awaited Places product finally launched this week. It’s the first step toward bringing friend finding to the masses. People have been using Facebook to do this for years; posting their location in freeform status updates that their friends can … Continue reading →

Posted in facebook, foursquare, geotagging, lbs, maps, mobile, twitter, wireless | Tagged export | 6 Comments

United’s mobile check in not ready for takeoff

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

On my last trip, I had the opportunity to try United’s mobile check-in and mobile boarding passes. The promise is paper-free check in. It sounds really great, but it’s not quite there. Partly it’s due to United’s horrible user interface, … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, airlines, customer service, mobile, ui, wireless | Tagged export | 6 Comments

Announcing reDesign mobile

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been working in wireless application design for more than 10 years and it’s really exciting to see wireless data take off. Mobile applications and widespread connectivity are bringing oceans of information to our fingertips. In the last year I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in lbs, mobile, mobile search, wireless | Comments Off

iPhone design pet peeve #2: moving app icons

Posted on September 20, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

The App Store is one of the key strengths of the iPhone. You can easily find, purchase and install applications that increase the utility of the iPhone. Steve Jobs claims that more than 100 million downloads have occurred in the … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, iphone, rocky's iphone pet peeves, ui, usability, wireless, wireless data | Comments Off

iPhone design pet peeve #1: address book access

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve had the 3G iPhone for a couple of months now. During that time I’ve had the same complaints that most others have had: virtually nonexistent 3G coverage, anemic battery life and frequent crashes. But there are also details of … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, iphone, rocky's iphone pet peeves, ui, usability, wireless, wireless data | 2 Comments

Unlocking the creativity of the masses

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, apple tv, facebook, flickr, geotagging, gps, iphone, ipod, lbs, local search, mobile, mobile search, photography, social networking, twitter, where, wireless, wireless data, yelp | 3 Comments

From chits to bits

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

I was meeting some colleagues and partners last night for the Pistons playoff game. As we sat down for drinks, we realized that we’d left the tickets at our hotel – more than an hour away from the Palace. Six … Continue reading →

Posted in customer service, wireless | Comments Off

Microsoft yodels for Yahoo!

Posted on February 1, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

The announced Microsoft bid for Yahoo! means a lot of different things for lots of people. An emboldened competitor for Google. A stronger ad network for advertisers. Heightened acquisition hopes for AOL. Better benefits for Yahoo! employees. (Microsoft has the … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, iphone, microsoft, mobile, mobile search, social networking, wireless, wireless data, yahoo | Comments Off

Searching for a search engine that understands deep dish pizza

Posted on December 11, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Update: If you’re looking for deep dish pizza near O’Hare, see my step-by-step guide to Gino’s East on Higgins. Having gone to school in Chicago, I love deep dish pizza. Unfortunately, there’s no Carmen’s or Giordano’s in the D.C. area. … Continue reading →

Posted in local search, mobile, mobile search, search, wireless | 2 Comments

Google Chat and AIM, together at last + free SMS

Posted on December 5, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Google has integrated AIM into its chat in Gmail, delivering what Google and AOL announced nearly two years ago when they renewed their search deal and Google invested $1 billion in AOL. The integration is not true interoperability, like what … Continue reading →