If you’re one of the people who like to make sure you’re friends know where you are and what you’re doing as much as possible, you’re probably already using Foursquare. If you’re also n iOS user, then today is your lucky day. Well, actually yesterday. Why?

Foursquare released a new version of its iOS client on Tuesday with a number of changes and enhancements. Among the changes are a new Check In button that will allow users to check into locations faster, a new Explore tab that will help users find local specials easier, and a faster check-in process.

Of course, being the early adopters we are around here, we installed the new app immediately. It definitely seemed improved and only took a few minutes to get used to the new layout and features. The user interface also feels noticeably quicker.

Also, in related news, Foursquare announced it has surpassed 10,000,000 users. That’s “M” as in Million. Nice work Foursquare team.

To get Foursquare 3.2, hit up the iTunes App Store.

The competition between location-based social networking applications just heated up even more with the announcement by Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley, via his blog, that an updated version of his company’s software is now available to iOS and Android users. As frequent users of this application, we couldn’t be happier here at The Flickcast offices.

Focusing on discovery, encouragement, and loyalty, Foursquare 3.0 rolls out several new features. For example, through the new “Explore” tab, users can input what it is they are looking for, getting recommendations from the app based on what’s around and where friends have visited.

In addition, the app features a revamped leader board which the company hopes will further encourage users to explore their world. According to Crowley: “You’ll see that we’ve replaced our old leader board (and its simple points system and Sunday night reset) with a sliding 7-day barometer of you and your friends.” “Check-ins now trigger points for dozens of different types of actions.”

Loyalty comes in the form of merchants additional ways to reward “swarms, groups of friends, regulars, newbies, or everyone.” Merchants will get their hands on these features later this week.

Continue Reading →

SVGNGR is a new mobile application that allows you to complete challenges at different places you check into. Think of it as FourSquare, with a kick. From an official press release:

Playing SCVNGR is simple. It’s a game all about going places, doing challenges and earning points. Challenges are quick, casual, fun things to do at places. Building on SCVNGR is just as simple. Everyone who plays SCVNGR can also build SCVNGR by adding challenges to their favorite locations.

Eat, Pray, Love follows the journeys of Liz Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts), who travels to Italy, India and Bali on a journey of self discovery. Columbia Pictures has announced that they are teaming up with SVGNGR to bring you the feel of these exotic locales right from your phone.

Twenty six cities across the US have been selected and identified with Eat, Pray, Love locations. Players can compete in movie based challenges and earn badges.  To learn more, visit  the official website for this Eat, Pray, Love partnership, letyourselfgo.com/svgngr

SCVNGR is available for the iPhone and for the Android.  Eat, Pray, Love will be released in theaters on August 13.

Before we get started, congratulations are in order for QuakeHOLD I of Escondido California who is officially the one millionth user to sign up for a Foursquare account. It’s always a momentous occasion when an app or web service surpasses the one-million user threshold and I’m guessing that there will be some celebrating in Foursquare’s HQ this Friday as they savor this achievement. In fact, a tweet from the popular location-aware service implied exactly those sort of festivities are on tap:

“We’re closing in on 1 million users! Current count is 969,775. Looks like that’s we may have something to toast during Friday Happy Hour ”

Exciting stuff indeed, but what I’m really enthused about is a novel way for brands and organizations to leverage Foursquare to help users unlock their immediate surroundings. With Foursquare, one of the sticking points is that unless your friends live in your immediate area, Foursquare doesn’t really offer a lot of regional intelligence.

Sure, you could check-in at nearby locations, maybe even become the mayor, but after a while, the allure of such things wore off and the general sentiment seemed to be, “So what?”

Continue Reading →

Facebook's "Open Graph" Concept

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of updates integral to their next-gen Facebook Platform today at their third annual f8 conference held in San Francisco. At the heart of these updates is the technology to allow Facebook data to flow more easily outside the carefully-controlled confines of Facebook itself.

Building on the success and widespread adoption of Facebook Connect, first announced at the inaugural f8 in 2008, a new concept dubbed “Open Graph” will expose your Facebook connections and public data to third-party web sites and mobile apps. In doing so, these outside services can better personalize your experience based on the data it finds. Expect the data to flow in two directions as services like Pandora, Yelp, Foursquare and other connected services feed even more behavioral data into your personal Open Graph.

You can easily imagine a scenario wherein after analyzing your Foursquare check-ins, Yelp decides that you really have a thing for Thai food and helpfully displays all of the Thai Restaurants in your immediate area upon start-up. Or perhaps you’ve favorited so many female singer-songwriter tracks at your favorite music-streaming service, that Yelp notifies you that Sara Barailles is playing at the Hotel Cafe nearby in Los Angeles this evening.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably marveling at the glorious levels of personalization you might experience while simultaneously cringing at the potential privacy issues that Open Graph may unleash on unsuspecting users. But wait, there’s more!

Continue Reading →

Who hasn’t walked down the street and seen people with their heads buried in their iPhones? And you know they aren’t all looking up stock quotes or making work calls. Most are playing Paper Toss or checking in with Foursquare. We even see those jealous Verizon customers with their Droids as they secretly wait for their carrier to pick up the iPhone.

Smart phones are the way technology is pointing with their layers of functionality and ever increasing capabilities. That’s why it wasn’t a surprise Thursday morning when the Wall Street Journal reported that Sony would be entering the smart phone arena. Of special interest to this particular item though is that it will be “capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games”, possibly referring to PlayStation One titles specifically.

Reported as a device that “blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable,” they are already expecting a 2010 launch. It is possible that Sony may make a big announcement regarding this phone next week during the Games Developers Conference.

With ever declining PSP sales and the lackluster response to the PSP Go, one would think the portable device market was in trouble. Nintendo has shown with the DS and the record breaking game sales of Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone have shown that this isn’t the case however and that Sony is just searching for its niche still.