Posts Tagged ‘app’

Posted on September 10, 2011 - by Wayne Sutton

Screenshots: Holler iPhone App launches to help you connect with people around you for in person activities

I first learned about Holler during SXSW 2011 when founder Nick O’Neill showed me a few screenshots and talked about his vision to help connect people offline with the app. At the time little was posted outside of the Holler landing page but I still wanted to blog about holler as from what I saw I got the feeling the app could be a winner.

As time passed I wondered what was the status of Holler then I ran into Nick at the Google Ventures BBQ in Mountain View, CA. Nick gave me a status update, told me how he started over, learned iPhone iOS development and would be launching soon. Well, that day has come as Holler is now available in the iTunes app store and will be officially launching at Techcrunch Disrupt next week. Here are a few screenshots of Holler.

So… what does Holler do? Here’s the description from iTunes app store:

Holler is the easiest way to connect with the people around you for in person activities. While you can instantly connect with your existing friends, you can also meet new ones with shared interests.

Holler is totally free and works on the iPhone and the web.

Holler is perfect for:
- Connecting with other students on college campuses
- Meeting up with friends after work or school
- Discovering nearby activities with people who have shared interests
- Organize a volunteer activity
- A great excuse to say “HOLLER!”

Whether it’s meeting up for a pick up game of soccer, football, basketball (anything …), or finding someone to share a ride to work with, Holler makes it insanely easy to connect with others in the community, no matter where you are.

Yesterday, AllThinksD covered Holler in a post called: AllFacebook Founder Launches Holler to Help People Connect Offline

If you have downloaded Holler, let me know what you think about the app and concept in the commnets.

Posted on March 3, 2011 - by Wayne Sutton

yobongo! Out of private beta, ready for you to chat with people nearby but in selected cities

That’s right, those of you who have been dying to test Yobongo and/or attending SXSW the wait is over. Yobongo is finally out of private beta and ready for you to chat with people nearby on your iPhone. Today Caleb and David the cofounders of Yobongo announced first in the Yobongo private beta room that you can now download yobongo from Apple iTunes App store. But there’s a catch, Yobongo is launching in selected cities starting with Austin, New York and San Francisco, Yobongo’s HQ. More from Louis Gray about the Yobongo launch.

The service is following Foursquare’s roots in starting slow geographically, which will no doubt draw some irritation from expectant users outside the covered geographies, but there’s a method to the madness. San Francisco and New York are well-known social media hubs, central to the success of Twitter and Foursquare, and Austin is home to the SXSW event starting next week, which could be a high-profile beginning for Yobongo.

The launch also comes only days after the announcement of Facebook’s acquisition of Beluga, a well-received group chat application also expected to make waves at the show. Caleb Elston, cofounder and CEO of Yobongo, says, “If we are not in your city, don’t fret! You can vote to bring it to your city next ”

As a yobongo beta tester I’m excited to see yobongo launch and use it at SXSW next week. As a NC resident I’m crushed, but it’s a smart move by yobongo to launch in selected cites. You can download Yobongo iphone app at here [iTunes link]

Update:

You can vote to have yobongo launch in your city at http://yobongo.com/cities. Raleigh, NC is on the list and can be requested here: http://yobongo.com/cities/North-Carolina/Raleigh You can expect to see more we want yobongo tweets and facebook status updates for users still wanting in. Other cities on the list are Los Angeles, CAm Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, San Diego, CA, Salt Lake City, UT, New Haven, CT, Seattle, WA Dallas, TX, , Miami, FL. Kansas City, KS and Atlanta, GA.

If you live in Austin, New York or San Francisco let me know about your yobongo experience in the comments

Posted on December 15, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Is Google Latitude the most stalker friendly location-based service?

The long awaited Google Latitude iPhone application was released this week with much fan fair but little talk about privacy and what Google Latitude is good for. Google promotes Latitude as a service that allows you to “See where your friends are right now” and no matter if you’re using the new Google Latitude iPhone app or Android version or updating your location from the browser Latitude can let your friends know where you are in real-time.

If you still need help understanding Google Latitude watch the Latitude video below.

While Google Latitude iPhone app may be new, Latitude is one year old and is reportedly to have over 9 million users. I would say most of those numbers are being counted because every Android powered phone comes with Google Latitude installed. I would also note that Google is saying that Latitude has 9 million users but we are not aware of how many of those 9 million users are active or use Latitude at least once a week.

Even though Google Latitude is a location-based service many would like to compare it to other popular location-based applications such as Foursquare, Gowlla, TriOut, Whrrl, Loopt and the list goes on. But as of right now there’s no official check-in action and business application use. I believe in the future Google Latitude could be used to see nearby businesses with deals or coupons from Google’s Places and data from Google HotPot. Regardless, if you’re looking for a location-based application to update your location in real time and run in the background Google Latitude does just that.

This brings me to the the stalker friendly part. Do not treat Google Latitude as just another location-based service or social network do to the fact that if you accept someone as a friend on Google Latitude they can see your location updates in real time. If you’re using the iPhone or Android app Google does make it easy for you to adjust your background tracking settings and the option to hide your location updates from others.

If you are a Google Latitude user, Google will send you email reminders to adjust your location sharing history and it is recommended to visit http://www.google.com/latitude to adjust/check your Latitude sharing options too.

Do you use Google Latitude or see value in using Latitude to update your location in real-time?

Posted on June 7, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

TriOut launches HTML5 location-based check-in web app for Android and iPhone users plus API

Since TriOut launched the iPhone app back in December one of the most asked questions was when will TriOut have a native app for Android and other mobile platforms. While we haven’t launched a native app yet, this past Thursday during the TriangleTweetup, TriOut founder Lawrence Ingraham @LawPower made two announcements bringing TriOut closer to having a native app for other platforms and helping TriOut Android users have a better experience.

The first announcement was the launch of the TriOut API. The API provides methods to interact with our system, pulling location information, providing check in for your users, pretty much anything you can find in the TriOut system will be available. With the launch of the API we’re excited about the possibility of other apps being by developed using the TriOut platform such as a new iPhone app and/or Android App. The TriOut API was also used for inclusion with Check.in and you can see full documenation at http://api.trioutnc.com/

The second announcement was the launch of the new mobile experience for Android and iPhone users at http://mobile.TriOutNC.com. The new mobile experince is an HTML5 web app built with the new API. With http://mobile.TriOutNC.com it brings an entirely different look and feel to TriOut and focuses on a faster check-in experience, a better way to see your friends activity, finding nearby places, and upcoming events. The new app also supports check-in awards/badges, access to your messages and soon you’ll be able to update your settings all from the web app.The mobile app works great for Android users and although it’s not a native app we think it’s pretty darn close. Here are a few screenshots of the app.

Here’s what one Android user tweeted about the new mobile app.

For Blackberry and Palm TriOut users, you can still check-in by using: http://m.TriOutNC.com

We’re very excited about the API and the new mobile web app as our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to “Explore the Triangle”, check-in, post reviews, and see what your friends are up to. Thanks for the support and let us know what you think in the comments.

What are your thoughts on native apps vs web HTML5 apps for checking in?

Posted on April 25, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Poll: ReTweet format battle: Via vs RT vs ReTweet . Which one do you prefer?

Over the past seven days I have beta tested two new desktop twitter applications, had two twitter web apps pitched for me to review and caught an exclusive look at an upcoming update to an existing twitter iPhone application. It has been one tweet of a week! As an active twitter user I don’t mind beta testing or receiving pitches from developers especially when they listen to my suggestions and that’s what happen yesterday while I was taking a look at a new twitter iPhone app update.

As I was looking at the iPhone app, I asked about the ReTweet format. One of the development team members said they used (Via @twittername) and I said the twitter community prefers RT or ReTweet over Via because RT or ReTweet gives more value to the original tweetier vs the Via format. I mention how some people don’t really pay attention to the Via at the end of the tweet after they read the first part of the 140 characters. I closed my point saying that RT or ReTweet was the standard and should be included in the initial launch of the app because it’s one of the first items people look for or notice when they want to use an app for a ReTweet.

I must have done a good job pitching the ReTweet suggestion because a few hours later I received an email saying that RT has now been added to the application settings. Yeah! Although Via will be used first, at least we’ll have the option to change it to RT.

Was I correct or it’s really not that big of a deal?  Let me know what you think by taking the ReTweet poll below.

[polldaddy poll="1567594"]

When using a twitter application for the iPhone or desktop is the ReTweet format important to you? What other twitter application features are important to you?