Each day, geolocation has a unique impact on my life as I watch the way it influences my city, myself, and increasingly, my world. A few months after joining foursquare in 2010, I decided to keep a journal of my new life with geolocation.
You have now entered Part VI this ongoing tale – tracking the personal, sociological and historic milestones associated with the rapidly growing service/game/application. Click on the Geolocation tab for the full story or check my archives for Parts I, II, III, IV and V.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Eureka! I’ve rediscovered specials and – in a way – trending on FourSquare. And, in the process, I happened upon a tie in with Groupon. It’s all so incestuous, these frenemies. In the images below, please note: (a) “Special” next to my local designer pizza joint Freddie and Pepper’s – tied in with Groupon (b) little person image next to the Beacon that shows that 12 people have checked in (c) This is new to me – “Show” icon next to the Beacon. I’ll have to investigate that further. Something GetGlue-ish???
Just arrived home from a phenomenal meal at a restaurant in Chelsea called Westville – an amazing meal thanks to all the people who left me tips on foursquare, from the scores of them who recommended the four market sides for $14 to a non anonymous stranger named Frank, who recommended the chocolate pecan pie. My friend Nancy and I thank you all.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
It seems that my taste in primetime television is on par with other GetGlue users – and that the app (which is not actually geolocation but was initially positioned as the foursquare for people who stay home..) is gaining serious traction. I checked into “New Girl” along with 7,173 other viewers and joined 14,682 other Glee fans when I checked into that show. I watched both via DVR. Keep you eye on this one.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Have you checked out Square’s Card Case app. You should. If only to experience the art of what’s possible. You can pay for things by simply giving your name to the retailer.
Ok, so I’m working my way through Mary Meeker’s 2011 Internet trends and discovering all kinds of treats and terms along the way. Many of which are mobile, and many of which are location based. (I’ve even adopted a new phrase: “Geosocial networking.” Nice.) Here’s one I find intriguing: Shopkick. And here’s what they have to say about themselves:
“shopkick gives you awesome deals and rewards simply for walking into your favorite stores. You can collect your kicks™ rewards at millions of stores in America, and great deals at many of the top national retailers.
Collect walk-in rewards: Have you ever gotten rewarded simply for walking into stores – yes, just for visiting? Now you can collect boatloads of kicks™ in the kicks Reward Program and unlock awesome exclusive deals at your favorite stores. Just walk into 1,300 Best Buy stores in all 50 states, and hundreds of Target stores, Macy’s, American Eagle, Sports Authority, Crate&Barrel, West Elm, Wet Seal and the largest Simon malls! Open the shopkick app on your iPhone or Android phone in the entrance area, and wait for a few seconds. Your shopkick app will reward you instantly. shopkick is adding more stores in more cities every month.
Get exclusive deals: Discover and unlock awesome deals in the shopkick app at dozens of national stores, many of them are exclusively offered to shopkick users only.
Collect scan rewards: Collect additional kicks rewards by scanning barcodes of featured products with your phone at 250,000 stores across the United States.
Redeem your kicks™ for rewards! Get rewards like iTunes gift cards, restaurant vouchers, Best Buy/Target/Macy’s/American Eagle/Sports Authority instant gift cards, Facebook Credits, movie tickets, or if you go all out, a 3D 55″ Sony Bravia HDTV or a cruise around the world! And if you want to change the world, donate your kicks to 30 different causes!”
Friday, November 18, 2011
The next (current) phase in location based services is Near Field Communication (NFC). (I call it a LBS because the two devices need to be near each other.) Here’s how wikipedia defines NFC:
NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the United States. [Gosh, it seems like decades ago that I read about Japan doing this. Oh right, it was. It was commonplace as long ago as early 2006 when I did my first mobile study for BusinessWeek.] Many smartphones currently on the market already contain embedded NFC chips that can send encrypted data a short distance (“near field”) to a reader located, for instance, next to a retail cash register. Shoppers who have their credit card information stored in their NFC smartphones can pay for purchases by waving their smartphones near or tapping them on the reader, rather than using the actual credit card. Co-invented by NXP Semiconductors and Sony in 2002, NFC technology is being added to a growing number of mobile handsets to enable mobile payments, as well as many other applications.
And, here are some of the applications (by applications, I mean uses) – again, from wikipedia:
(1) Social Networking
NFC simplifies and expands social networking options:
- File Sharing: Tap one NFC device to another to instantly share a contact, photo, song, application, video, or website link.
- Electronic business card: Tap one NFC device to another to instantly share electronic business cards or resumes.
- Electronic money: To pay a friend, you could tap the devices and enter the amount of the payment.
- Mobile gaming: Tap one NFC device to another to enter a multiplayer game.
- Friend-to-friend: You could touch NFC devices together to Facebook friend each other or share a resume or to “check-in” at a location.
(2) Bluetooth and WiFi Connections
NFC can be used to initiate higher speed wireless connections for expanded content sharing.
- Bluetooth: Instant Bluetooth Pairing can save searching, waiting, and entering codes. Touch the NFC devices together for instant pairing.
- WiFi: Instant WiFi Configuration can configure a device to a WiFi network automatically. Tap an NFC device to an NFC enabled router.
(3) eCommerce
NFC expands eCommerce opportunities, increases transaction speed and accuracy, while reducing staffing requirements. A Personal identification number (PIN) is usually only required for payments over $100 (in Australia) and £15 (in UK).
- Mobile payment: An NFC device may make a payment like a credit card by touching a payment terminal at checkout or a vending machine when a PIN is entered.
- PayPal: PayPal may start a commercial NFC service in the second half of 2011.[15][16]
- Google Wallet is an Android app that stores virtual versions of your credit cards for use at checkout when a PIN is used.
- Ticketing: Tap an NFC device to purchase rail, metro, airline, movie, concert, or event tickets. A PIN is required.
- Boarding pass: A NFC device may act as a boarding pass, reducing check-in delays and staffing requirementsFr.
- Point of Sale: Tap an SmartPoster tag to see information, listen to an audio clip, watch a video, or see a movie trailer.
- Coupons: Tapping an NFC tag on a retail display or SmartPoster may give the user a coupon for the product.
- Tour guide: Tap a passive NFC tag for information or an audio or video presentation at a museum, monument, or retail display (much like a QR Code).
(4) Identity documents
NFC’s short range helps keep encrypted identity documents private.
- ID card: An NFC enabled device can also act as an encrypted student, employee, or personal ID card or medical ID card.
- Keycard: An NFC enabled device may serve as car, house, and office keys.
- Rental Car and hotel keys: NFC rental car or hotel room keys may allow fast VIP check-in and reduce staffing requirements.
The future (or past…) is here.
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
I’ve checked into the Central Park Tennis Center 88 times and into my apartment building 726 times.
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
On Monday of this week, Gowalla was acquired by Facebook. That’s huge. What impact will this have on foursquare?
Friday, January 13, 2012
The American Express tie-in with Foursquare has been simplified and is quite nice. When you check into a participating location, you are notified of an AMEX special. If you use your AMEX card there, you get a $10 credit on your statement. Nice. I’ve used it at a restaurant and a nail salon. It’s a good promotion because it encourages you to use your AMEX card to pay – at the time and point of purchase. Moreover, it gives you an incentive to spend at least $10, a requirement I met easily with my yummy chicken parmesan and lovely pedicure. What will be especially valuable is to use it for an $11 manicure…
If you’d like to read more of my thoughts on geolocation, click on the Geolocation tab or check out Part V of this series.
Always On! 
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