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Based on a patent filing that was published by the USPTO today and first discovered by Patently Apple, Apple could soon enter the location-based social networking market. The patent , which was filed in September 2008, describes a scenario where a group of users with mobile devices like the iPhone come together at an event like a concert, wedding, political rally or trade show. Normally, you would have to collect personal information from all the attendees you meet and then transfer this data manually into your existing social network if you want to stay in touch with them. Apple's patent, however, describes a system where all of the devices in a specific location can automatically become part of a new social network based on their location. The patent filing refers to this service as iGroups. Sponsor This could, for example, allow event organizers to provide attendees with additional content and services during the event and after it is over. The exchange of this information would be brokered by trusted devices at the event and information about the social network can be stored in the cloud and exchanged with other services. Turning Ad Hoc Networks into Permanent Social Networks As Apple notes in the patent ("Group Formation Using Anonymous Broadcast Information "), technologies like Bluetooth personal area networks allow modern cell phones to easily create ad hoc networks, but it is virtually impossible to recreate this network at a later time for users to continue their discussions or exchange additional content. In a very detailed example, Apple's patent describes how iGroups could automatically detect that a group of users is in or around a specific location (in the example, this event is Apple WWDC 2008). The iGroups service could then invite all the attendees to join this group and create a permanent social network for everybody who was in attendance and opts in to the group. Will Apple Actually Do Anything With This Patent? This, of course, isn't Apple's first patent for a location-based service. As with all of Apple's patents, it remains to be seen if the company will actually release any product based on this filing. Given Apple's position in the mobile market, however, it wouldn't come as a surprise if the company decided to turn some of these patents into actual product. Discuss
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iGroups: Apple Files Patent for Location-Based Social Networking App
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The fact of the matter is, we're relatively far and few between, according to a study by Barracuda Networks. One day, we're told Twitter is growing exponentially, the next, it's a dying service that's stalled out like your grandpa's Studebaker. But does growth, or the lack thereof, actually translate into use? Sponsor According to Barracuda Networks , the Internet security research company, Twitter looks to be an insider app, one that many people sign up for and never really use. Or perhaps it's like the sixth grade dance, with a few doing the waltz and the rest lurking on the edges of the room, afraid to ask the girl from math class for a dance. The company analyzed more than 19 million Twitter users and found that a surprisingly small number were actually brave enough to ask the girl to dance, so to say. Out of the more than 19 million users analyzed, only 21 percent, or just under 4 million, are considered to be "True Twitter Users", a term applied using some extremely lenient criteria. To be considered a "True" Twitter user, a user needs to have 10 followers, follow 10 others and have tweeted 10 times. For the most part, Twitter's explosive growth really seems to be a party that millions of people came, saw, and quickly decided to leave. But despite the sticker shock of these initial numbers, the report shows that those who decided to stay are becoming increasingly active. Last June, 30 percent of users had no followers, whereas only 17 percent are follower-less now. The same goes for people following other users - the number following zero, less than five and less than 10 have all decreased since last June. So, maybe Twitter isn't quite exploding and it isn't quite stalling out. Instead, it's still indeed growing at a very regular, unimpressive rate and most people decide they don't want to use it after all. Quick, somebody do another study, before we think Twitter is just doing something average for too long. Discuss
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Will the Real Twitterati Please Stand Up?
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Our top story this week was location - location-based networks, services, advertising and even "feelings". Read on for our coverage and analysis. We also continued our exploration of the significant Internet trends of 2010, including Real-Time Web, Mobile Web and Internet of Things. Note: We've refreshed the format for our longest running feature, the Weekly Wrapup. It now focuses more explicitly on the key trends that ReadWriteWeb is tracking in 2010, as well as giving you the highlights from the leading story of the week. Let us know your thoughts on the new format. Sponsor Story of the Week: Location Can Brightkite Beat Foursquare & Gowalla With a Universal Check-in? Google Patents Location-Based Advertising 2 Services for DIY Mobile Social Networks Google Chrome Becomes Location Aware Can Geosense for Windows Help Kickstart the Development of Location-Aware Apps for Windows 7? Glow: Location-Based "Feelings" for iPhone More coverage and analysis of location-based technology Announcing the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit Join us for the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7 in Mountain View, California as we explore the latest mobile development trends, both the technology and the emerging business applications. Be a part of the discussion on geo-location services , augmented reality , native app vs. browser-based , commerce and marketing , mobile social networking and the Internet of Things. Sponsorship enquiries: sales@readwriteweb.com , Register now for the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit and get early bird rates - only $295. Mobile Web Watch Out, iPhone Devs: One-Man Android App Nets $13K Monthly Netflix on the iPhone? Yes, Please! Can We Kick Our Keyboard Addiction by 2013? More Mobile Web coverage Historic Conversation in NYC: Ai Weiwei, Jack Dorsey & Richard MacManus On March 15, at the prestigious Paley Center in New York City, a conversation will take place between Chinese digital activist and artist Ai Weiwei , Twitter co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey , and yours truly, Richard MacManus , ReadWriteWeb founder and editor in chief. The moderator will be Orville Schell , the director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York. The topic of the event is the emergence of digital activism for fostering positive social change. The onsite event is invitation only, but it will be live streamed exclusively on ReadWriteWeb on Monday, March 15, at 6:30 PM EST (-5 GMT), from the Paley Center for Media, New York City. Internet of Things McKinsey: Get Ready For Sensor-Driven Business Models Ads with Eyes: Keeping Digital Signage in Check Google Wants Your Lamp to Tell You How Much Power It's Using More Internet of Things coverage Real-Time Web Google Index to Go Real Time 10.5 Million WordPress Blogs Get PubSubHubbub Beyond Twitter Search: Semantic Analysis of the Real-Time Web More Real-Time Web coverage . Don't miss the next wave of opportunity on the Web supported by real-time technology! Get ReadWriteWeb's report, The Real-Time Web and its Future . Check Out The ReadWriteWeb iPhone App We recently launched the official ReadWriteWeb iPhone app . As well as enabling you to read ReadWriteWeb while on the go or lying on the couch, we've made it easy to share ReadWriteWeb posts directly from your iPhone, on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow the RWW team on Twitter, directly from the app. We invite you to download it now from iTunes . ReadWriteStart Our channel ReadWriteStart , sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark , is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs. The Startup Bus: Is This How Outsiders See Startup Culture? Picnik CEO to Startups: The M&As Are Out There Are Crowdsourcing and Outsourcing No-Nos For Startups? ReadWriteEnterprise Our channel ReadWriteEnterprise is devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' and using social software inside organizations. Will StatusNet Be Another Open-Source Star in the Enterprise? Drupal Founder Critical of SaaS and its Proprietary Nature ReadWriteCloud Our channel ReadWriteCloud , sponsored by VMware and Intel, is dedicated to Virtualization and Cloud Computing. Steve Ballmer: Microsoft's Future Is in the Cloud Weekly Poll: What is the Top Threat to Cloud Computing? How Many Enterprise Workers Will Work in the Mobile Cloud? Try 130 Million That's a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone. Discuss
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Weekly Wrap-up: Location, Location, Location, and More...
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A ReadWriteWeb Guide As a tech conference strongly linked to an epic music festival, SXSW Interactive is the perfect place for music and tech geeks to converge. Musicians, get ready to nerd out and learn how to sell your wares and increase your fanbase online. And geeks, get ready to let your love for music show. Perhaps with a little cooperation and cross-discipline interaction, this whole "music on the Internet" thing will work out, after all. Check out these ten parties, panels and events sure to delight the most musical of geeks - and the most geeky of musicians. Sponsor This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn't your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon! Online Tastemakers: Death or Rebirth of Music Curation? "Free infinite music has fragmented across every digital nook and cranny, making it hard for consumers to keep up with new quality artists online. A new breed of tastemakers are cropping up with innovative twists. Are they helping or hurting? Is online music curation dying or evolving?" With Anya Grundmann of NPR Music, Chris MacDonald of IndieFeed Networks/LibsynPRO, John Hammond of The MuseBox and Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone. TechKaraoke If music is your bag, head to this second-generation event at Six Lounge for more than five hours of punk, rock and metal karaoke with a live band. There will also be dancing with DJ Johnny Bravvo in the Tap Room next door and the mellow tunes of The James Moran Band on the upstairs patio. Music 2010: Playlists, Networks, Radio & Numbers You Need "Technology has opened floodgates to a sea of music marketing resources and overabundance of data generated by behaviors and transactions. What are the most important numbers & what do they mean? What numbers are missing? Examine complex human interactions with music online: learn to define & synthesize data generated by music consumption." With publicist Ariel Hyatt and Corey Denis of Not Shocking. Emo's This legendary rock club in Austin is home to many a SXSW event - not least of which is the Pastries & Pasties burlesque/cupcake extravaganza on Friday night of SXSWi. But this venue will also be hosting dozens of bands and DJs in its dual-stage, open air-cum-indoor setup throughout the rest of the conference. In a town known for its music clubs, it says a lot that locals consider Emo's one of the best. Artists, Labels Embrace Virtual Worlds "Music labels (Atlantic Records, EMI, Sony BMG) and musicians (Rob Thomas, Ice-T, New Found Glory) are embracing virtual worlds by creating branded stores and virtual merchandise that engage their fans and promote and sell music and memorabilia. Learn how virtual worlds are changing the music industry and creating new revenue streams and promotion opportunities." With Lee Clancy of Imvu. Music Licensing for Emerging Media: Apps, Widgets, Viral Videos "In the era of apps, widgets, streaming sites, viral videos and mashups, developers are constantly pushing the boundaries of music licensing. This panel opens a lively debate between the major labels and publishers who control the songs, the music supervisors who negotiate the rights and fees, and the music and media startups that are navigating uncharted territory." With Adam Blumenthal of Curious Sense, Joel Johnson of Gizmodo, Randy Shefer of Sony, Robin Raj of Citizen Group and Annie Lin of The Rights Workshop. Xephyra: An alternative world music and video mythos Strap on your Suspension of Criticism helmets; it's alternative performance art time! "Award-winning artists Chad Salvata and Jo Beth Henderson have created the newest ethos adventure, Xephyra, an alternative world music and video mythos. This non-traditional performance is presented with video images and live music. The extraordinary vocals are performed in an imaginary language of a mythic tribal island world. Xephyra, a warrior of the Blue Orchid tribe, journeys on her quest to find her husband, Warrior, who has not returned from the Island Wars. Along the way, she is joined by Terra, a sea siren. They are hunted by monster birds, battle shark mermaids, and slay the kaleidoscope octopus. Will they find Warrior and return safely home?" Hoek's Pizza If you're a metalhead in search of a snack and a beer or a music fan in search of some once-in-a-lifetime novelty... and a beer, be sure to hit up Hoek's Heavy Metal Pizza. The music - generally, death/black/very heavy metal of a Gojira/Arch Enemy caliber - is loud, but this joint is the kind of place that definitely keeps Austin weird. We also hear there's a stage on the back patio, and good movies are generally playing inside, as well. As one reviewer said, "I get scared sometimes when I walk into this place, but I like that." Video Games, the New, New Media For Music "Video Games have become the New, New Media. Music, and products are featured as prominently in the virtual world of games as they are in films and commercials. Artists are seizing this opportunity to expose their music to an attentive new audience through means that were unthinkable only a few years ago. The user experience creates a unique bond between gamer and artist which is changing the way fans relate to music. The games themselves are being marketed in new and exciting ways too, utilizing, creatively, every possible new media resource." With Mark Roemer of The Ant Farm, Doug McCracken of Activision Blizzard and Matt Drenik of Lions. Ukulele for Geeks: Secrets of the Pentatonic Scales "At first glance the fretboard of a ukulele (or guitar) looks incomprehensible, but with the magic of pentatonic scales - ancient, nearly universal 5-note patterns, you can "crack the code" and hack the fretboard and start jamming along with your favorite tunes or musician friends in no time. You don't need to know the names of the notes or what key a song is. Just find the little dippers and start messing around with patterns. I'll explain the concepts and demonstrate the techniques, which are completely self taught." With Christian Crumlish of Yahoo. Bonus Round! SXSW Music Yes, you read that right: We're calling the Music portion of SXSW a must-do for any music-loving attendee of SXSW Interactive. Here's why. Each year, a few Music folks come to Austin early, and a few Interactive folks stay late - but those folks are few, indeed. There's a wonderful opportunity here for our very different crowds to mingle, to make the Web better for musicians and make the experience of music better for online and mobile platforms, and it all begins with conversations. Also, even two days of SXSW Music will provide you with enough shows, parties and coincidental meetups to leave you seeing the world through rose-colored glasses for months afterward. So book another day at your hotel and scalp a wristband - you'll never regret it. Those are our SXSW Interaction recommendations for music fans and musicians of all stripes. If you've got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin, folks! Discuss
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SXSW Interactive 2010 for Musicians & Music Fans
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Location based social network Brightkite plans to launch a universal check-in API that will let users update their information on competing services like Gowalla, Foursquare and others later this month at South by Southwest, we believe. In a poll we ran last night about competing location networks, Mark Krynsky, founder of Lifestreamblog and CheckInBlog , left the following comment: "I'd like to see a a multi-checkin service make its appearance at SXSW that would allow me to check into all 3 mentioned in the poll (more if possible) at once. Think Ping.fm for checkin services." Brightkite co-founder Martin May replied : "working on exactly that." Sponsor Brightkite executives declined to share any further details before they unveil whatever it is that they are working on, but there are additional reasons to believe that we'll see a cross-system check-in tool from the company later this month. Brightkite API email list members were warned last month that major changes to the company's development platform were coming at a time that roughly corresponds with SXSW. TechCrunch coverage of the company's surprisingly high user numbers and local advertising deals from a week ago also includes brief mention of something coming around SXSW time. A universal check-in system is the next logical step for location based social networks. It's just no fun to use one service but give up the ability to see where your friends on other networks are. Siloed social networks end up competing not on the quality of their services, but on the number of your friends they have locked-in to their network in particular. Setting users free through a universal, interoperable check-in would be a bold move. It will be interesting to see how Brightkite tries to do it and how its competitors respond. (We've got inquiries in asking a few of them.) Hopefully a universal check-in system will be good for all players in the field. That was the vision of Yahoo's FireEagle , which you don't hear a lot about these days. Brightkite says it has 2 million active monthly users and it was the clear winner in last night's ReadWriteWeb poll asking which location service people would use at SXSW. But it gets far less media hype these days than Foursquare and Gowalla and admittedly approximate web traffic services don't show Brightkite in the lead at all. Either way, offering up a way to read from and write across multiple location based social networks would be absolutely fabulous. Our fingers are crossed that this is what we'll see from Brightkite in a few weeks and that it will be good. Update: Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley says this is news to him and a reader in comments points out that Gowalla's API is read-only , making a universal check-in impossible. Gowalla has said it is working on a write capable version of its API, though. Time will tell what's going on! If not Brightkite, then somebody needs to build a universal check-in system ASAP. Google Buzz may be a good place to look for this as well, see How Google Buzz is Disruptive: Open Data Standards . Our fingers remain crossed. Discuss
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Can Brightkite Beat Foursquare & Gowalla With a Universal Check-in?
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