Square believes it can trump Foursquare in the local recommendations game

Square believes it can trump Foursquare in the local recommendations game

Square collects a lot of store info by virtue of its payment business, so you’d think it would be great at recommending where to shop. And you may soon be right, according to the company’s Ajit Varma. While he doesn’t have a schedule, he tells The Verge that Square will eventually customize its directory to suggest hot or newly opened stores based on our spending habits. Varma even believes that his company could beat Foursquare in the local recommendations field, and it’s easy to see why when Square knows that we’re willing to buy, not just that we’ve entered a given store. Of course, this is all contingent on both a ubiquitous Square presence and consumerist intentions. Foursquare is entirely willing to point us to both free landmarks as well as stores without Square readers, so it’s doubtful that the two services will ever completely overlap.

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Source: The Verge

Foursquare’s New Game: Predicting Your Future

Foursquare’s New Game: Predicting Your Future

Foursquare 6.0 is all about trying to tell you where to go, rather than listening to where you are.

Foursquare 6.0 for iOS shifts the focus to exploration with a new home screen

Foursquare 60 for iOS swings attention to searches and local highlights

Those who’ve had the redesigned Foursquare for Android are familiar with the app’s greater priority on exploring local haunts; it’s the iOS’ users’ turn now that Foursquare 6.0 is here. The update puts the Explore search box and map right on the main page, helping socialites quickly find out what’s going on nearby. The remake also splits up activity, emphasizing closer check-ins and what’s hot in one space while keeping recommendations and more distant goings-on in another section. Foursquare’s refresh isn’t a complete revolution, but it puts the app’s two main platforms on the same page — and shows how check-ins have become just one part of a larger whole.

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Via: Foursquare Blog

Source: App Store

BMW and Mini cars add iOS integration for Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn

Glympse to offer incar location sharing, fewer excuses for BMW and Mini drivers

BMW hasn’t been quite as aggressive in pushing smartphone app integration as American counterparts like Ford or GM, but it certainly knows how to make up for lost time: the Munich automaker just greenlit tie-ins with the iOS apps from Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn. Plug in a device and it will be possible to wield the apps’ respective audiobook, location sharing, subscription music and live streaming radio services from a BMW Apps-capable BMW or Mini, with an interface optimized for the center stack. Each of the developers will need to update their app to make everything click, which we’re told may take weeks. There still shouldn’t be much wait before fans of Teutonic (and British) rides can get lost while streaming favorite songs — and tell everyone just how far they went off-course.

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Source: BMW

Google+ update for Android and iOS adds Snapseed editing, always-on location option

Google update for Android and iOS adds Snapseed editing, alwayson location option

Snapseed quickly took on Google+ integration after it was acquired by Google. It’s now Snapseed’s time to return the favor. An update to the Google+ apps is introducing basic image editing (currently for iOS only) and, yes, those seemingly inescapable retro filters to get just the right effect before an image goes into a post. The pseudo-Instagram layer is far from the only addition, however. Android and desktop users can optionally tell Google+ to always share their closest available location in their profile; posts in the stream now include more text and make it easier to see photos and videos; Community participants can also invite people, share posts and manage activity away from their computers. If you’ve ever wanted to fix a Google+ photo — or break it, some would argue — the Android and iOS updates are rolling out today.

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Via: Google+

Source: App Store, Google Play

Watch an Entire Year of Foursquare Check-Ins Light Up NYC and Tokyo

We all see the occasional check-in on our social networks of choice, but Foursquare took a whole year of them, and crammed them into one glorious minute of glowing information. The whole mess of data is condensed down into a color-coded 24-hour span so you can see how people—Foursquarers at least—dart around their home cities almost ceaselessly, only stopping to rest in the most wee hours of the morning. More »

Foursquare’s BlackBerry 10 app updated to add features that iOS users already enjoy

Foursquare's BlackBerry 10 app updated to add features that iOS users already enjoy

Heads-up, BB10 users — checking in just got a little less second-class. Foursquare has today issued an update to its BlackBerry 10 app that effectively brings it closer in line with the version already available for iOS users. For starters, there’s a more compact Explore screen, and your friends can now be tagged in check-ins and comments. For big spenders (or frugal ones, we guess), Visa and MasterCard specials can now be taken advantage of by Z10 users. Per usual, it also ironed out a few miscellaneous bugs along the way, and you can get your update in the source link below.

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Via: About Foursquare

Source: BlackBerry World

Foursquare for Android now greets newcomers, says what’s fresh for locals

Foursquare for Android now says which places are new or hot where you are

Foursquare gave more adventurous iOS users an updated Explore section at the start of the month that, among many other things, better highlighted either just-opened locations or the hottest places to be. It’s the Android crowd’s turn to check out new scenes: their updated Foursquare app will tell a traveler what sights and sounds are worth catching when visiting a new location, and better emphasizes what’s new for anyone on familiar turf. If you’re a tourist worried about fitting in like a local, or just want to check out a fresh location before it’s ruined by popularity, hit the Google Play link at the source.

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Via: Foursquare Blog

Source: Google Play

iHeartRadio slips local news into streams, hopefully without the used car ads

iHeartRadio slips local news into your stream for that personal touch

The advent of internet radio let many of us tune into music we never would have heard without packing our bags for a trip. However, it often keeps us isolated from events just outside our door — a disconnect that Clear Channel wants to end through its newly launched Add-Ins for iHeartRadio streams. Check the right boxes and hourly local news, traffic and weather will appear between tracks, whether for the nearest city or a manually chosen favorite. Add-Ins don’t have much mystery involved as a result, but they could keep us grounded in the real world… minus some of the all-too-real commercials.

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Source: iHeartRadio

Lockheed Martin powers up its first GPS III satellite, stays on track for 2014

Lockheed Martin powers up its first GPS III satellite, brings accurate positioning that much closer

It’s been awhile since we heard much about Lockheed Martin’s GPS III satellite family beyond mention of an early prototype. The next-gen positioning system just took a big step forward with word that the company has successfully powered up the first production craft of the bunch, Space Vehicle One. Flicking the switch clears it for testing and keeps the GPS III program’s 2014 launch window within view. More importantly, the activation takes us one step closer to improved GPS accuracy for civilians and soldiers alike.

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Via: Phys.org

Source: Lockheed Martin