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In the midst of the SXSW festival last month, we reviewed a mobile social network called LoKast . Our one lingering question about the app’s utility, at the time, was were we really going to run around town staring at our phone to see if someone else nearby was running the same app? The answer was “no” then and is “no” now, but the difference now is that the iPhone OS 4.0 that was announced yesterday allows for background location multitasking . This opens up a whole new realm of experiences for the iPhone. Sponsor First, LoKast. LoKast is a self-described “disposable” social network. That is, as you move about and come near other people running LoKast, you can quickly interact with them. Then, when you move ot of range, you may never see them again. It is social networking based on location, without a persistent friends listing. So now, with background location monitoring, an app like LoKast is actually feasible. I can turn it on, leave it running and wander around town and perhaps have it notify me when I’m within range of someone. As Kim-Mai Cutler notes, background location also brings up some “slightly creepy” privacy concerns relating not only to applications running in the background, but also location based advertising. But what if you think about location based advertising like you think of iTunes’ “Genius” function or all the other recommendation engine software you use? It may be tough to realize that you are not quite the unique snowflake you thought you were and that, indeed, everyday around three you end up at the same coffeeshop, but wouldn’t it be nice for your iPhone to realize this and get you 20% off? Without you even having to lift a finger? Well, fine, maybe you have to lift an iPhone. The list of ideas for background location are endless. Of course, we’ll have to see how quickly a battery gets drained with persistent GPS monitoring. Having the ability to let our phones deliver us information, as we move about the world, based on our location has some amazing potential. Think of EveryBlock , the hyperlocal news aggregator that Marshall Kirkpatrick went ga-ga over when it arrived in Portland. The block-level delivery of news wouldn’t even need to wait for you to check it any more – it could simply deliver relevant information as you move about your day. Real-time rideshare services like Avego and Flinc suddenly become that much more feasible, in fast-paced, real-life situations. We could go on, but we have another couple of months before the next version of the iPhone OS comes out and we’re already too excited as it is. What crazy, creepy or otherwise cool potential do you see with the new background location capabilities? Discuss
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What Background Location Brings to the iPhone
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In a memo to its advertisers, Facebook quietly announced that it would change the phrase “Become A Fan” to “Like” in what, at times, seems like an ongoing effort to confuse and enrage its users. “Like” has had a very specific, while malleable, usage for Facebook users and changing it to gear towards advertisers and Fan Page subscriptions is deceptive. Not only does the move seem like a confusing one for users, but it opens up their actions to the public, as becoming a fan of something is completely public to all who view your profile. Sponsor While the memo says that “users will understand the distinction through explicit social context, messaging and aesthetic differences”, we expect that the majority of users will only find out the difference between liking now and liking then when they “Like” something that suddenly bombards their feed with stories and advertisements. The memo offers an example of how an ad for a page will look with the “language change”. According to an article in Clikz on the change , the memo also points out that “Facebook users have been clicking the current ‘Like’ feature nearly twice as often as the ‘Become A Fan’ button”. The reason, it seems to us, is apparent – clicking “Like” was a quick and easy way to convey approval, support or other simple sentiment, not a way to commit to being a fan and subscribing to news updates in their News Feed for perpetuity. “Like” offers a light-weight, consistent way for users to connect with the things they are passionate about. This lighter-weight action for connection to a Page on Facebook means that users will be making more connections across the site, including your Facebook Page. Changing what Facebook has identified as a “lighter-weight action” into an action that deeper implications is at the core of what we find deceptive here. Was there anything wrong with the language of “Become A Fan”? With that language, it was clear that there was a separation from any time I might “Like” something. I would be connected to that Page and would receive updates in my News Feed. It would show up, publicly, to anyone and everyone that viewed my page on the Internet, as a result of the privacy changes to the site last December. Were users clicking on “Become A Fan” less for a reason? Likely so – they didn’t want to subscribe to that particular content in their news feed and, if they understood the privacy implications, because they didn’t want to broadcast to the world what they saw as private thoughts and opinions. Discuss
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Do You Like Us Or Like Like Us? "Become A Fan" Changing To "Like" On Facebook
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If the future is all about touchscreen interfaces, then performance of the screen in registering where it’s been touched is pretty important. International design firm Moto ran a robotic finger test on 6 leading touchscreen smart phones to see how well they registered a robot’s loving touch. Some of the phones did remarkably poorly, like the BlackBerry Storm and the Motorola Droid. The iPhone, Google Nexus One and HTC Droid Eris all did quite well. Check out the video below to see the tests and marvel at the apparent differences between touchscreens and their performances. Sponsor Robot Touchscreen Analysis from MOTO Development Group on Vimeo . As Sadat Karim writes on Neowin , “Hope is not lost though, as Moto Labs concludes that they do expect these problems to be remedied in the future as touchscreens mature and gain further traction in the industry. Commitment and competition will ultimately deliver seamless touch experiences for all consumers over time, since phone makers are continuously perfecting their products.” To see touchscreen hardware nerds duke it out over the test, check out the Moto Labs blog . How about you, readers? Have you felt the difference in performance across some of these handsets? See also: User Interfaces Rapidly Adjusting to Information Overload Discuss
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Test Shows: iPhone Touchscreen Still the Best
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As much as startups want to launch their applications across all mobile platforms, it’s often more realistic to focus on just one. But which one? The iPhone has the biggest numbers in terms of both apps and app buyers, whereas Android usage stats are rocketing. Earlier today we wrote about a new mobile analytics report that showed that Google is no Apple . We explained the difference between these two as relates to phone sales and usage. Now we’d like to highlight the difference for startups that are deciding which one to do business with. It’s tempting to go with Apple because of their current sales figures, but in the long run Google is going to be a far less limiting business partner. Sponsor What’s the Best Reason to Go With Apple? In early March at the Mobilex Conference in Chicago, Charles Yim, of Ad Mob explained his company’s mobile metrics report : “Android and iPhone users download a similar number of apps every month and spend a similar amount of time using the apps. However, iPhone users continue to download more paid applications, with 50% of users purchasing at least one paid application a month compared to 21% of Android users and 24% of webOS users.” This, as well as the iPad’s pre-order numbers, is one of the strongest arguments for why the iPhone is the best way to go. So yes, the money is in Apple apps, but consider that app developers are starting to make equivalent money with Android. Difference between Apple and Google as a Business Partner Recently ReadWriteWeb guest writer Daniel Cawrey pointed out that Google makes most of their ad revenue by driving traffic to Google-owned websites. So the greater the number of apps Google can get on their websites, the more page views and resultant ad revenue they generate. Yes, that’s good for Google. But since selling mobile apps increases the amount of page views Google can generate, the company is going to be far less concerned with charging or limiting app developers in the way that Apple does. Finally, mobile innovator forums are already being dominated by Android. Where do you think you’ll find more app makers to partner with? There are far fewer barriers to app developers collaborating on the Android platform compared to the walled-garden of Apple. Tech startups often have to plan for long-term economic growth in ways that the current market says is not yet possible and when it come to long-term growth, Google Android is going to limit those possibilities far less than Apple. UPDATE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the Android and Google marketplaces. We regret the error. Discuss
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Which Mobile App Platform Should a Startup Focus on?
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Buzz , Google’s controversial attempt to unseat Facebook as the most mainstream of social activity stream readers, just made some much-needed changes that Facebook could learn from as well. Buzz users now have more granular control over what social interactions with content trigger an email sent to their email inboxes and explicit explanations for why each piece of content was sent by email to them. These changes are a good start but ought to extended into the body of Buzz as well. Sponsor Just like most Facebook users can’t explain the difference between the new algorithmically filtered News Feed and the raw bulk flow of the Live Feed, Buzz too could benefit from explaining the mystery behind the magic. As social networking analyst danah boyd said at the opening talk of SXSW today, privacy online is grounded in user control . Buzz violated the basic understanding of email as private when it surprised users by layering the new social network on top of their private Gmail. By granting users more control over information, today’s changes are a small move in a better direction. Why Not Give Users The Tools to Drive Their Own Experience? Might social activity stream participation become more mainstream if users had clear and more complete control over what they see, what they expose and to whom? Many people believe that users are incapable of dealing with too many settings and need these decisions made for them. Perhaps it’s just a user experience challenge, though. Nobody said creating the ultimate interface for mainstream users to drive their online activity was going to be easy. Google’s move with Buzz today looks like a nice first start. Hopefully it will be extended beyond the Buzz and Gmail relationship. See also: How Google Buzz is Disruptive: Open Data Standards Discuss
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Google Takes Small Steps for Buzz, Points to Big Solutions for Social Networking
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