Friday, August 28. 2009

Apple Patent App: "location-area applications"

The idea: the GPS in your phone will detect your location and "update" your apps to that location. The patent is titled Transitional Data Sets, application 20090215497.

The application was filed in February 2008 but just recently made public.

- Jaunted
- Apple Insider

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Apple at 08:56 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Wednesday, August 26. 2009

iPhone May Support LBS But Apple Needs Some Geography Marketing Insight

I love my Mac and my two iPods. I'm even ok with the e-mails about new products - like the new OS coming out on Friday.

Today I also got an e-mail about a new Apple Store opening at Liberty Place. I figured it must be around Boston because Apple knows I live around Boston. But I'd not heard of Liberty Place. It sounds fancy - like Copley Place in Boston. Maybe there's a new "Place" in Boston and I'm just not paying attention? Or, maybe there's an error and it's not in Boston? The announcement includes no address (street, city, state) so I had to click through on either the "Apple Story, Liberty Place" link or the "Get Directions" link. I learned the store is in Dedham, MA about 20 miles south of Boston. Oh, ok.

It gets funnier. The "Get Directions" link uses Google Maps, but not so well!

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Apple at 06:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, August 25. 2009

Quote of the Week

"The GPS bases are loaded on the iPhone — it now remains to be seen if developers can knock it out of the park."

- But as Patrick Connolly, research director of IMS Research, in a TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics) article about GPS apps for the iPhone

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, Apple at 07:52 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, August 24. 2009

Yelp Mobile: Bing Maps on Blackberry, GMaps on iPhone

TechCrunch notes the launch of the Yelp Blackberry app (Yelp is a restaurant review service) and the difference in map platform. So, why go Bing when Google was used for the previous app on the other platform?

Per the article: "Yelp says that Bing was used because the search engine provided map tile access, which was essential for movable maps on the app."

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Microsoft, LBS, Apple at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, August 20. 2009

Mac-based Ortelius "Map Illustration" Software Launches

The MapDiva blog announces the official launch of Ortelius, "map illustration software for Mac OS X." A free trial is available and there's a special price until Sept. 30. MapDiva was founded in 2008 by Graham Cox and Jill Saligoe-Simmel. Jill Saligoe-Simmel was Executive Director of the Indiana Geographic Information Council, Inc., and on the NSGIC board, which is why the name may be familiar.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Apple at 07:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, August 17. 2009

Yelp + Digg + Foursquare = GraffitiGeo

That's the equation from ReadWriteWeb and it sounds like a great short hand for the new GraffitiGeo which the site says will suffer from all the regular social media apps' problem: reaching critical mass. Mashable does like the "digg-like" voting but is looking toward the "augemented reality" version of GraffitiGeo where the information (mostly focussed on restaurant reviews) will appear as you "look through" your iPhone.

Because the app is location-based, it knows what's nearby. In the demo, they aim the app down the street from where they're standing and GraffitiGeo displays the ratings for all the restaurants on that block. If you're ever just wandering around looking for a place to eat, this could be a real timesaver.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Social Networking, Apple at 08:23 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |