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Foursquare travels to iPad for the first time
It's been an interesting year for Foursquare. First, the company that popularized mobile check-ins broke off its popular location sharing feature into a separate app, leaving more than a few miffed users to wonder what the point of it all was, and now the main Foursquare experience is headed to iPad for the first time. In a blog post today, Foursquare notes that it has received feedback from users who wanted to be able to do their Foursquare browsing while on their iPad, so they decided to make it happen. The iPad version, like its smaller brother, is all about travel and discovering new places wherever you happen to be. Along with its move to iPad a new feature has been added which shows you the most popular places in your area. The new list will crunch all of Foursquare's reviews and impressions and suggest places that it thinks you'll like. Personally, I'll be using it to find the closest bar while at all of my exceedingly long holiday visits.
Perch simplifies social media for business owners
Perch is a free, universal social media management app designed to save business owners time every day. Perch offers social network and review activity for your company in a simple, unified feed. It's also possible to watch other businesses and track their activity. Keep track of your competition or see what similar businesses in other cities do with their online identities. Opening the app for the first time allows you to sign in via Facebook or with an email address by creating a Perch account. Then you start searching for businesses. You can claim your business or add your competition to the watch list. Then you sit back and monitor your feeds. Eventually, Perch will add helpful tips and insights to the app so you can optimize your online presence. They're also working with strategic partners to recommend applicable services to your business in-app. Unfortunately, I initially had a hard time finding my business on Perch. I found a couple of my local competitors and added them to my watch list. Unlike the 1-star iTunes reviews, I actually loved the concept, so I sat down to figure out what wasn't working with my business. I generally consider myself active on social networks and maintain my Yelp/Google records, but Perch still couldn't find my business. After reading their FAQ, I realized why: Perch uses Foursquare for their business records, and I hadn't updated my Foursquare record in more than a year. After spending a few minutes on the Foursquare website, I was able to see my business properly in Perch. To the naysaying business owners in iTunes: it was an easy fix. We really shouldn't be ignoring Foursquare, should we? At this point, I asked myself, "Why is Perch using Foursquare?" Everyone has a different opinion on the Swarm rollout, but it was a negative change for me; I stopped using Foursquare completely. Maintaining my Foursquare record didn't seem like a priority (I realize that was a mistake on my part). Since it's the only way to work with Perch, I decided to ask the developers a few questions. Thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter, I reached out and asked about their decision to integrate with Foursquare. They set up a phone call with the VP of Customer Operations and Marketing, Anke Heckhoff. She answered all of my questions and helped me understand the nature of their Foursquare relationship. It turns out that Foursquare provides the richest pool of location-based data. No other service offers links to various social media accounts specific to a business address. Yelp records only link to the business website, same with Google... so using Foursquare's data makes the most sense for Perch. Alternatively, Perch would need to build and maintain its own editable directory of businesses and social media accounts; that's a lot of overhead for a simple app. The main problem this presents is monitoring competitors. If a competitor's Foursquare account isn't accurate (or in the worst case, completely missing), monitoring their social media activity is impossible with Perch. Anyone can create/add the necessary competitor data by suggesting edits on Foursquare, but that would get time consuming. While aggregating data from Twitter, Facebook, Google and Yelp is very helpful, it doesn't show the complete identity of a business. Maybe Perch will convince Foursquare to link more social networks like Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Vine, etc. to the business records. That would bridge the gaps in their feeds but only if the business or a Foursquare user updates the record. Perch is also largely dependent on what data the major social networks allow them to access and if that data matches a specific location. For example, I cannot see a competitor's complete Instagram feed in Perch because Instagram doesn't link accounts to a specific address. However, I can see individual pictures taken at a business if an Instagram user adds the location data. Pinterest doesn't allow any third-party access to their content, so Perch can't share any information from that network. Neither of these issues are deal-breakers. Businesses utilize both networks heavily, but missing activity from these networks wouldn't be detrimental to most social media strategies. Ultimately, Perch is a unique utility that provides a simple location-based feed for business owners. If you're looking to monitor and stay ahead of your competition, it's a must-have app. I did ask about iPhone 6 and 6+ compatibility; they said it would be available in a December update (along with some new features). Perch requires iOS 6.0 or later and works with all iOS devices. At the wonderful price of free, I highly suggest spending some time with this app so you get the most from it.
Turn the real world into a profitable empire with Cashsquare
Cashsquare is a free app requiring iOS 7.0 or later that turns the world around you into a game for starting your very own real estate empire. The game uses Facebook and Foursquare to retrieve locations around you to compete with other players to "buy," then build upon and earn income on when others check in. Think the Monopoly board game with tie-ins to the real world and social media. Start Cashsquare by logging in with your Facebook or Foursquare account, then your handy tour guide of sorts will lead you through the first few steps of the game. Choose a nearby location to set as your headquarters which the game calls the "heart of your empire." You start off with $150,000. You use this to "purchase" properties around you like residences, banks, businesses as well as empty land. The other form of in-game currency is gold nuggets, and the game grants you with 250 of these to boot as well. My first purchase was an apartment complex down the road from me. I got a bit too excited because this property alone cost me about $220,000, which was more than the $150,000 I had. Luckily, if you don't have enough money, Cashsquare lets you put some of your gold nuggets toward the purchase. It's worth noting that this was on the high end of the pricing scale - most of the properties nearby cost anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 so you don't blow all of your money on the first purchase. After buying the property, the guide instructs you to hire an employee that will work and earn you income. Each property has its own card for monitoring income and expenses. When you put your employee to work, you earn income at the end of the shift. You also earn income when real people use Foursquare to check in to your owned property. However, every 24 hours you have to pay some expenses too, which take a bite out of your profits. All of this, by the way, happens in real time. It's generally difficult to earn money quickly. The employee has working hours that translate into real minutes. For instance, at my apartment complex the shift is about 8 minutes and 30 seconds. You have to wait that amount of time to earn any income. Oh, but there's always a costly catch with these types of games, isn't there? Yes, in Cashsquare you most certainly can earn money quickly! You just have to be willing to spend some. At the bottom left, tapping "Advertise" speeds up the work process, but it costs gold nuggets. If you run out of gold nuggets, you have to either tediously wait to earn more in very incremental amounts or buy more via in-app purchases. The game is certainly interesting and unique enough in that it basically turns your actual surroundings into a game of Monopoly, but it suffers from a fatal flaw that most of the games within this genre also suffer from: if you want to get anywhere at a decent pace, you have to spend real money. To hire more employees, you need to have income, if you want income quickly, you need gold nuggets, if you want gold nuggets, you need to open your wallet and spend up to $100. Seriously. The same applies elsewhere in the game, even for purchasing more properties because when you run out of land, you have to acquire more using gold nuggets. If you don't mind the type of game that either requires you to spend money or check every few hours or days to see any progress, Cashsquare might be for you. The design is decent and gameplay is generally easy. Unfortunately, it seems people often lose their interest after a few weeks with these types of games because it becomes too difficult to move forward for free. Perhaps you're better off spending your time and money on something of greater value.
Feedback Loop: UI annoyances, remotes and speed-reading apps!
Happy Saturday! Welcome to another edition of Feedback Loop! This week we're talking about those minor user interface quirks that just really grind our gears. Once you're done letting the hate flow, find out whether or not speed-reading apps are worth your time and let people know if you actually use your smartphone as a remote. So get comfy and grab some coffee. Then tell us what works for you and get some advice from fellow readers.
Foursquare 8.0: All things reconsidered
Who was not a happy camper when Foursquare suddenly decided to take their self-named app, rip the fun part -- check-ins -- out of the app, and put it into a new app named Swarm? Me, that's who. It really torqued me off that an app that I had enjoyed for years was suddenly breaking into two apps. Hell, that's almost as bad as what Facebook did, forcing users to load another app (Facebook Messenger) to do something they'd always been able to do from within the iOS Facebook app. Well, the new Foursquare app, AKA version 8.0, arrived today, so I decided to take a hit for the team and install it. The first thing you notice is the new Foursquare logo, kind of a pink (er, magenta) stylized "F" -- apparently meant to represent a pin on a map -- on a background of expanding grey circles. That takes a bit of getting used to, since the original Foursquare branding was seared into my brain. But I can adjust... What Foursquare has done by splitting into two apps is kept the fun of checkins and social with Swarm, and then vastly improved discovery of restaurants, stores, and other locations with the Foursquare app. When you fire up Foursquare for the first time, the app tells you that with the first splash screen. Swarm is meant, according to that splash screen, to "teach" Foursquare about the places you like the most. A Twitter conversation revealed that some users think the onboarding process for Foursquare was too long and detailed. I'm assuming that these people were logging into Foursquare for the first time and not previous users, since all I got was a few helpful screens explaining new features before being asked to do some simple configuration. To begin with, you are asked to "tap a few things you like". If you've been a Foursquare user for years like I have, the company has a lot of ideas about what kind of things you like. For me, I started by tapping on pulled pork sandwiches, steak, IPAs, bistro, bison burgers, fireplaces, burritos, fajitas, and more. You can add more "likes" later on, so it's not really important to spend a lot of time on this starting out. Next, Foursquare comes up with nearby recommendations. Not surprisingly, two places that I enjoy for a really good pizza (one traditional NY style, the other just plain amazing), were near the top of the list. Foursquare also displays a list of places recommended by people who I follow. Along the bottom of the new app are buttons for finding a place, "Here" for getting information about the place you're at and also shunting you to Swarm to check in, "Tips" from people you either follow or who have similar tastes, and a profile button. By the way, when you're moved over to Swarm for the check-in, the top of the screen turns blue and displays a notification to tap it to return to Foursquare. The two apps are nicely integrated in that manner, switching seamlessly with a tap. The Tips button provides a way to save tips so that you're reminded when you're near or at a place. For example, if I choose to save a tip about some good fish tacos at a smoothie place nearby, whenever I'm near there I'll be reminded. The Profile button shows how many tips you've left, how many followers you have and how many people you follow, as well as telling you how much of an expert you are in terms of various tastes by how many tips you've left. No matter what screen you're looking at, there will always be a small blue "leave a tip" button in the upper right hand part of the screen that looks disturbingly like the icon for Microsoft Word for iPad. Tapping the Foursquare button in the upper left corner of the screen lets you add tastes, follow people, and otherwise personalize your Foursquare settings. Foursquare now provides a list of people you may wish to follow based on your contacts, Facebook friends, Twitter pals, and Instagram buddies. It recommended that I follow Apple "lost co-founder" Ron Wayne on Foursquare... So yeah, I'm still a bit peeved that Foursquare decided to split into two apps. But after seeing just how much more functionality is in Foursquare 8.0 and Swarm, and how well the two apps work together, it's time for me to eat a bit of crow (hence the image at the top of the page). I think they really did know what they were doing. Forgive me, Foursquare, for ever doubting you! But Facebook and Facebook Messenger? I'll never forgive Mark Zuckerberg's minions for splitting a perfectly fine instant messaging feature out of Facebook ... at least this week.
Engadget Daily: Uber's legal battle, Foursquare's new identity and more!
Today, we take a few selfies, investigate Uber's legal struggles, learn about home automation with the Ninja Sphere, go hands-on with Foursquare's new app and more. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Foursquare wants to be the mayor of personalized local search
About three months ago, Foursquare announced that it would be splitting its app in two. It launched Swarm for check-ins and everything social, while the main titular offering would focus on being a customized discovery and recommendation engine -- which is what CEO and co-founder Dennis Crowley wanted Foursquare to be all along. Today, the company finally unveiled the brand-new, reimagined Foursquare it teased last week, sporting a new, visually enticing design replete with superhero-inspired logo. And though I've only had a brief amount of time with the app so far, I'm convinced that Foursquare's bet to go all-in on personalized local search might actually pay off.
Cortana now taps into Foursquare to give you recommendations for lunch
It turns out that Microsoft had bigger plans for Foursquare than just search and maps for Bing. The check-in service is now accessible by Redmond's digital assistant, Cortana, as spotted on Reddit by Neowin. The addition apparently makes for customizable, local recommendations based on your whereabouts, and presumably, your account history too. As Winbeta notes, because the Cortana updates take place on Microsoft's servers, you won't need to download a software patch to take advantage of them either. Whether the blue helper will get to love bees, though, is up to her creators. Update: Microsoft's Bing Blog has confirmed the change and revealed how to turn it on: "pull up Cortana's notebook go to Interests, look for "best nearby" and then toggle to ON."
Say goodbye to Foursquare check-ins tomorrow
OK, I'm depressed. For years, I've enjoyed using Foursquare to check in at restaurants, airport gates, hotels, and even my own home. During that time, I became "mayor" at a number of different locations and loved getting the occasional badge for doing something awesome like checking at 30 different BBQ restaurants or 50 different microbreweries. Well, that all changes tomorrow when Foursquare will become more of a discovery app, forcing those of us who have loved using the app for check-ins to move to the company's Swarm app instead. If you've used Foursquare regularly over the past few months, you've seen the not-so-subtle changes. First, it seemed almost impossible to get a mayorship, mainly because they had dropped the feature. Next came the almost daily suggestion to download and install Swarm. And now, check-ins will be moving to Swarm tomorrow, meaning that you really do need to download the free app. Foursquare obviously didn't consult with users before making the move to two apps, one for discovery and one for check-ins. Swarm currently has about a one-and-a-half star rating out of five stars on the App Store, and Foursquare -- which used to be one of the more popular location-oriented social networking apps -- is now down to about two-and-a-half stars, primarily because users are upset with what the company decided to do. Take a look at some of the comments in the App Store reviews: I'm not sure the Foursquare Labs folks thought this one out very well. For those who want a single app to perform check-ins, see what your friends are up to, and even get ratings and tips for places you're thinking about trying, you might need to consider just using Yelp or -- God forbid -- even Facebook. For myself, I'll give Swarm a try, but I have a bad feeling that one of my favorite apps -- Foursquare, which took top billing in my social networking iPhone folder -- is going to get deleted soon along with it.
Foursquare shows off its new look for local searches
The Foursquare faithful have had some time to get used social venue tracker's Swarm option for sorting check-ins, as the outfit jettisoned the activity to a second app. Folks who didn't want to give up the OG method were still able to tally stops, but now the redesigned search-focused software is imminent. As of tomorrow, you'll have to use Swarm for all check-ins, and Foursquare claims that about 75 percent of your fellow users have already made the leap. What's more, the company has a new logo to go along with the upcoming app that it's teasing as well. Once you pipe in info on your personal tastes, follow a few experts and make a few stops, the new Foursquare will learn about your delicate sensibilities and make recommendations based on the gathered info. However, you don't need to have Swarm installed to make use of the original app's new focus on "personalized local search." As you can see in the screenshots above, the directory will offer to hop over for a check-in -- if you've installed both applications, of course. Unfortunately, there's no date for the official arrival, but the announcement claims you'll be leveraging the tidied up ratings and tips "really soon."
From Dodgeball to Swarm, Foursquare seeks to move beyond the check-in
On May 1st, 2014, Foursquare announced that after nearly five years, it'd be splitting its app in two. The main Foursquare app still exists, but its focus is now on location discovery and local recommendations, thus positioning it as a competitor to Yelp and Google. If you want to check in to a place to let your friends know where you are -- you know, the idea that Foursquare was based on -- you'll now have to use a brand-new app called Swarm. Debuting today, Swarm is described as a sort of social heat map that tells you where your buddies are in relation to you. It inherits a lot of the more social aspects of Foursquare, like mayorships and insights into your whereabouts (like if you've gone to the pub five days in a row this week). In many ways, Swarm represents what Foursquare used to be -- a location-based social platform that encourages you to meet people in the real world. It's an app category that Foursquare practically invented. It's also one it can't rely on.
Swarm inherits Foursquare's social roots, tells you where your friends are
In an effort to focus more on local search and finding you the best restaurants in your area, Foursquare recently announced that it would splinter off the social aspect of its app -- the part where you check in and find out where your friends are partying -- to an entirely separate one called Swarm. Today, that app is officially live in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. I had a chance to try it out for a few days, and while it looks very different from its progenitor with its bee-inspired design and bright-orange hue, many of the social features remain the same. All your Foursquare contacts are ported over, and you can check in to a location just as you would before. Similarly, you can view a list of your friends' recent check-ins, and you're able to heart or leave a comment on them as per usual.
Google Glass tempts travelers with new apps from Foursquare, OpenTable and TripIt
Now available to one and all (but still in beta, only for US residents and priced at $1,500), Google Glass is adding another selling point: travel accessory. That's thanks to new Glassware from Foursquare (we hope a Swarm patch is included), OpenTable and TripIt, adding to other services that support the device like Google's own Maps and Field Trip. TechCrunch also points out that the augmented reality app Word Lens launched a Glass app last fall that lets it superimpose translations over whatever you're looking at -- handy if you don't know the language. The TripIt app keeps your flight info in view, the Foursquare app can do checkins by voice and OpenTable of course brings easily set up reservations. Will this push you into ordering a headset? Maybe not, but if you need one more way to look slightly out of place while on the road, we think we have an answer. [Image credit: Michel Porro/WireImage]
Foursquare goes Oprah: You're a mayor and you're a mayor
When Foursquare announced plans to split check-ins off into their own app last week, it didn't reveal too many details on how the finer points -- like Mayorships -- would factor in. Well, starting today, those virtual offices are safe until Swarm launches next week. Once the new arm of the location-based outfit rolls out, it will handle those accolades in addition to insights (five weeks in a row at breweries, for example) and allow you to afix stickers to notable check-ins. In what Foursquare is calling Mayorships 2.0, you compete only with your friends to hold office at your favorite coffee shop -- not the fella that sits in the corner all day, every day. Of course, this means that venues can have multiple Mayors, which means you're likely to see fewer faux political-based discounts. Bummer.
Foursquare unleashes Swarm: a separate app for check-ins
Foursquare is taking a page from Facebook and splitting its app in two. Soon the main app will be focused purely on search, reviews and finding places to get a decent meal. A second offering, Swarm, will focus more on the social aspects and give users an easy way to see where their friends are and quickly make plans with them, without having to send a separate text message. Basically the check-in, the heart and soul of Foursquare, is getting its own separate app. If you ask the company, it was a tough decision to split their efforts in two, but the truth is that it has failed to evolve as quickly as other sharing services. Simply checking-in to a location is no longer enough, especially when Facebook, Google+ and Yelp all have some form of the feature built in. Swarm narrows the focus to create a truly location-based social platform, not unlike Dodgeball -- the service created by Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley before it was snatched up by Google.
Instagram is testing Facebook Places integration for location tagging
It looks like Zuckerberg and Co. may be looking to make a big push for Facebook Places, and an on-going trial indicates that it could start with Instagram. The folks in Menlo Park are testing the social networks' own service for adding location info, but for now, Foursquare remains an option for sharing inside its popular filter-driven photo editor. In fact, some users have already encountered the tweak. Instagram has long used Foursquare's API and venue data for attaching snapshots to a particular place, and there's no guarantee that the trials will even make it to a new version of the app. Of course, in addition to Foursquare, users can beam photos to Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr in addition to the parent social network. We reached out for a comment on the matter and we recieved the following statement from an Instagram spokesperson: Foursquare is a great partner, and people will continue to be able to share their check-ins to Foursquare from Instagram. We are constantly testing experiences throughout the app to provide the best possible user experience as part of future planning.
HTC opens up BlinkFeed, allows apps like Foursquare and Fitbit to push data to your homescreen
Love it or hate it, Sense is growing up. BlinkFeed, the beating tiled heart of the HTC experience is now being opened up to developers through an SDK. That means that third parties will be able to push information to the stream of data that makes up your feed. For example, Fitbit will be able to keep you abreast of how many steps you've taken without you having to go into the app. Oh, and the Fitbit app does harvest movement data from the phone's internal sensors, just like it does on the iPhone 5S, so you don't really need that separate band. HTC announced one other launch partner for the BlinkFeed SDK -- Foursquare. The location-based social network will pop up suggestions for lunch spots while you're out and about. Of course, the company will have to convince other big names to hop on the bandwagon if BlinkFeed is going to really take off.
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New Cloak app helps you hide from 'that guy'
There are a plethora of geo-location-based apps that make it incredibly convenient to do friendly things, like chat with nearby peers about local hotspots or meet up with a coworker on the fly. A new iOS app called Cloak, however, utilizes services from Foursquare and Instagram for a more anti-social purpose. The brainchild of Brian Moore and former Buzzfeed creative director Chris Baker, Cloak identifies the location of friends (read: those you'd rather not bump into) based upon their latest check-in. While perusing the map, you can choose to "flag" certain undesirables, like exes or annoying third-wheels, to be notified when they wander within a preset distance of your personal bubble. Or you could, ya know, skip town altogether just to be safe.
Microsoft to use Foursquare data in Bing and Windows products
It may not be the biggest news to come out of Redmond in recent hours. Still, the Windows faithful will no doubt be interested to hear about a licensing agreement involving two pretty notable outfits. Today, Foursquare announced it has struck a deal with Microsoft to use its location data in Bing services and Windows-powered devices. This, naturally, includes search and maps for Bing; and, for Windows, phones, tablets, laptops and desktops -- and yes, convertibles too. In a statement, Foursquare notes that, "in the near future," Microsoft will be utilizing the newly acquired license to enhance its products with "contextually-aware experiences and the best recommendations of any service in the world." That's not it, however, as Foursquare also revealed Microsoft has invested ($15 million) into its socially-driven company, which it says will help the service continue to grow and be accessible by more people.
Forget check-ins: Foursquare now lets you order in from local restaurants
It's easy to think of Foursquare as an app you use on the go: it's what you use to check in places, get a mayor's crown, let your friends know you're about to eat a taco. That sort of thing. Now, though, Foursquare is teaming up with GrubHub Seamless, allowing you to order delivery from local restaurants -- without ever actually setting foot there or checking in. (Foursquare already lets you check into restaurants after you order on Delivery.com, but that's not quite the same thing.) All told, the screenshot above explains it all: if you're browsing Foursquare for local eateries and find one with either the GrubHub or Seamless icon, just hit "order delivery" and you'll be redirected to the GrubHub or Seamless website (depending on which of the two delivery services the restaurant uses). You can try it out today on iOS, Android or Foursquare's web app. As for all you Microsoft fans, it's unclear when or if the Windows 8 app will be updated to support this -- not that anything can stand between you and a good burrito.
