UPDATE: Watch video of the panel below.

For both businesses and consumers, geolocation apps and services are a dime a dozen these days. But many of these apps and tools serve to benefit both when used consistently and correctly. Much like social media itself, geolocation is a two-way entity.

“Geolocation makes it easier for consumers to get the services they want nearby and for local businesses to reach the consumers in their area,” Eli Portnoy, CEO of Culver City-based mobile marketing startup Thinknear told me matter-of-factly.

As consumers become increasingly engaged with smartphones and other mobile devices, geolocation will have a growing influence on commerce. For most businesses and services, location — and circumstance — means everything. More than one-third of U.S. adults (35 percent) are smartphone users according to a July 2011 Pew Internet report. Consumers are always on the hunt for quality goods and services at reasonable prices. As consumers grow accustomed to the “smart” aspect of always-connected, GPS-enabled mobile devices, the bargains appear at their fingertips and it only becomes a matter of convenience. As consumers discover the power of smartphones beyond texts, emails and phone calls, shopping habits change.

In the same Pew survey, 25 percent of smartphone owners indicated a preference for using the internet on their phone rather than their computer. This is likely not just a matter of convenience, it’s based on better circumstantial results. The top search results for “yogurt” on a home or office computer likely yield the Wikipedia entry, and links to the Dannon and Yoplait websites. But the same search from a smartphone directs the user to the nearest fro-yo shop. Geolocation is a win-win: consumers can find what they want and need at their fingertips while businesses can acquire new regulars by dangling their goods and services right in front of the smartphone user around the corner.

Geoloco & Business:

Do you see a map and a location listing for your business when you search Google? If not, you can list all physical locations on Google for free: www.google.com/placesforbusiness.

Gowalla, Foursquare, YP, Yelp…. Help!?! Forget about your business for a minute and try out each of these services via their mobile apps as a consumer. There are many tools, including these, which make it easier for consumers to get what they want. Search for your business on these applications? Is it there? Is the listing accurate? Not everything in the world is automated (yet) and so it’s never a surprise when new stores replace old ones but the old listing remains.

Your business (if it relies on a physical location) may only have one physical location but by making sure it’s populated and using any and all geolocation services at its disposal, you are doing the best you can to bring your offering to potential consumers on their terms. Foursquare may have more users than Gowalla but your next customer might discover you through Gowalla. Either way, these serendipitous, location-based discoveries often lead users to return and more importantly to share their experience with others via social media and word of mouth.

I was honored to be a panelist at this month’s Social Media Club Los Angeles event on geolocation, a topic I’ve been obsessed with for quite some time (it’s the subject of my Master’s Thesis). I wrote this post in advance of the July 26 SMCLA event.

Here’s the story and video from ABC7. WSJ, NYT, Reuters, and Fast Company are already on it. Video and press assets can be found here. Some other goodies:
* Carmageddon promo
* Carmageddon Resistance

Let me know if you have any questions or if you’d like to get in touch with anyone at Waze!

Waze’s Citizen Traffic Connects Broadcast Media with Drivers on the Road

KABC-TV begins using real-time crowdsourced traffic data as content direct from its audience on the road 

(LOS ANGELES & PALO ALTO, Calif.) July 5, 2011 — Waze, the mobile social traffic and navigation app, is announcing today a partnership with KABC-TV in Los Angeles, Southern California’s most watched-television station. Waze is empowering the station to connect with its community of local drivers on the road for instant access to real-time traffic information and breaking news where it otherwise may not have reporters on the scene. Using Waze’s live map of users on the road, the station will be able to provide Los Angeles citizens up-to-the-minute road reports during the July 15^th weekend closure of the 405 freeway based on live feedback, incidents, and updates from Waze’s community of Los Angeles drivers. The closing 10 mile stretch is used by roughly 500,000 Los Angeles drivers on any given weekend. The “carmageddon”, as locals have dubbed it, is part of a $1bn highway improvement campaign that isn’t expected to be finished until 2013.

“There’s no question the upcoming closure of the 405 Freeway is going to seriously impact drivers in Southern California,” said Cheryl Fair, vice president and news director for KABC-TV.  “We have a responsibility to our viewers to provide real-time information, and Waze plays a big part in helping us do that. Not only can the Waze app help drivers find alternate routes, but what’s really exciting to us is how it enables our viewers to play an active part in easing the traffic congestion. While viewers use the app to get where they need to go, they’re simultaneously providing information to help their fellow drivers.”

Broadcast Media Warpath

Waze’s citizen traffic is being adopted by broadcast media around the globe, most notably in use by Channel 2, Israel’s largest news network where drivers volunteer to be called in by the station to report on live-traffic information from the ground. Stateside, Waze has also working with WBHH-TV in Southwest Florida, which has supplemented its traditional traffic feed with Waze’s citizen traffic from commuters on the road. However, this most recent partnership with KABC-TV marks the company’s first large scale media distribution in the U.S.

Milestones

The partnership coincides with Waze’s recent milestone of 4.5 million drivers in its community. The company’s growth rate is accelerating rapidly, more than doubling its active user base since its last announcement of 2 million drivers and $25MM in B-round funding last December. Waze also officially launched its service in Spain and the U.K last month, increasing its global reach and support to drivers in Western Europe.

“The use of crowdsourced traffic by major media is a huge validation of our community-based infrastructure,” said Noam Bardin, CEO of Waze. “Consumers embrace sharing information where it’s relevant and where they see real value in return. We’re happy to see that real-time traffic information is an offer they can’t refuse.”

Founded in 2009, Waze has since grown to become the world’s largest and fastest-growing community of connected drivers, reaching more than 4.5 million users in over 45 countries, worldwide. Waze is available on the Apple AppStore, the Android Market Place, the Nokia Ovi Store, RIM’s App World and Windows Market or download from m.Waze.com. To learn more about Waze online, visit www.Waze.com or follow us on Twitter at @Waze.

About Waze

Waze is a free community-based traffic and navigation app that uses real-time road reports from drivers nearby to save commuting time and improve everyday driving. Way more than just another free navigation app, Waze’s social layer is what sets it apart – giving drivers the power to work together to report and receive the most relevant traffic information available at any given moment. Plus, it actually makes commuting a whole lotta fun!

About KABC-TV

KABC-TV is the #1 rated television station in the Los Angeles area and the home of ABC7 Eyewitness News, the most watched local news coverage in LA with over 45 hours of live local news each week.  KABC-TV is also the west coast flagship of the ABC television network.

Life in Southern California comes with various aspects you can depend on for better and worse: Abundant sunshine, salacious celeb gossip, consistent traffic and government over-legislation.

While we can leave the future of foreskin up to city government (thanks San Francisco and Santa Monica), it appears that what our children can and cannot do with their mobile devices while in class will be determined not on a case-by-case basis or by school principals but in Sacramento — by the California State Legislature.

Senators unanimously passed a bill that would make sexting an infraction for which school officials could expel students.

Senator Ted Lieu, the Torrance Democrat who introduced the bill, says that sexting is a growing problem in California schools, according to the AP. He cited a study saying that 20 percent of teens reported sending or posting nude or semi-nude pictures and videos of themselves.

Lieu’s bill – SB 919 – defines sexting as “the sending or receiving of sexually explicit pictures or video images by means of an electronic act.” If passed it would become an amendment to the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985.

But there’s another problem in California schools, Senator Lieu. They’re broke and getting broker.

We elect state legislators to do things like balance the state budget, improve education and keep the governor in check. But as Governor Brown is set to cut billions of dollars from the state’s education budget and tens of thousands of teachers have already been laid off this year, our state senators are apparently reducing their priorities to babysitting duties.

Besides, the only way to find out what exactly a student is doing with their cellphone or mobile device is to confiscate it and go all Patriot Act on the contents within.

Undoubtedly coming soon: a proposition that would ban sexting while acting as a California State lawmaker.

Originally posted June 1, 2011 as “CA Senate Votes to Make Sexting Grounds for School Expulsion” at LAist.com

Last Friday Spotify rolled out an ambitious software upgrade, making its biggest charge yet in both monetizing its platform and putting the heat on Apple’s iTunes.

Spotify announced the software update on its blog, Twitter, and elsewhere.

The big news: Sweden-based streaming music application Spotify is now selling downloads: $1.29 for one; or purchase 15 downloads for $0.87 each, 40 at $0.63 per, or 100 downloads at $0.50/track. The mp3s are delivered via a partnership with UK-based 7digital.

(Interestingly, it appears that the European and UK pricing for is identical in number — for both premium subscription and downloads — but not in value. In today’s market, $50 dollars has less value than €50 which is worth less than £50. )

Additionally, Spotify’s update enables better syncing across mobile platforms, including the ability to sync with local folders and the iTunes library.

This software update was the culmination of a series of announcements — a mid-April update to the Android app, an update to the Apple iPhone Spotify app and the introduction of iPod syncing capabilities. All of these improvements allowed any of the above devices to sync a user’s chosen playlists (or entire Spotify library) over the internet. Streaming via Spotify mobile is only available to premium subscribers who pay $9.99/month or between £5 and £9.99 in the UK (as it always has been). Spotify also introduced a limit of 10 listening hours of music monthly for its free users last month, in addition to allowing five listens per track.

Over the weekend the response was mixed, however, at some point on Sunday, Spotify’s servers apparently went on the fritz. And the varied tone of user comments on Spotify’s Friday Facebook post shifted to concern. Music could be streamed, but nothing could be downloaded — and syncing was working intermittently.

This screenshot was taken before offline syncing with mobile devices stopped functioning, apparently due to issues with the aforementioned “license server.”

UPDATE: As of Monday 5/9, syncing is now working and the error message above is on longer appearing. However, the desktop interface is not recognizing the device as it did on Saturday (see image below).

The latest Spotify software update introduced this handy syncing interface (PC36100 is the codename for my HTC EVO Android smartphone).

Spotify has yet to comment on any issues in spite of the appearance of disconcerting server warnings including the ominous “We are having problems with the license server. Please try again later. (Error 21)” message that occurred repeatedly on Android devices.*

It does appear that something remains on the fritz as I was unable to download any tracks earlier, instead receiving the message Having purchased 15 downloads for $12.99 (which breaks down to $10.82 plus 20% tax [VAT]) I was anxious to download at least one track. After unsuccessfully clicking the download icon next to several tracks in the Spotify interface only to receive the message “The track you were trying to get is unavailable,” I finally succeeded with “Little Pink Plastic Bags” from Gorillaz 2011 “The Fall” album. As promised, I received a 320 kbps mp3 file in my local directory.

As Monday breaks across the pond I hope to hear something from Spotify. We’re coming to expect only bad news when Internet-based applications and services suffer server setbacks and outages and users are left hanging out to dry (see Sony Playstation).

*UPDATE: I’ve been notified via Twitter that it’s “looking into it right now and will update once we have some more info. Thanks for the notification.”

Assuming everything is resolved there may no longer be any need whatsoever for a Spotify user to open iTunes. Ever. Again.

With over 10 million users in seven countries — Finland, France, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom (1 million paying subscribers) Spotify is still not available in the U.S.in spite of its arrival seeming imminent since soon after its launch two years ago.

[display_podcast]

Originally posted at LAist.com

Certainly Verizon would have service in my area, everybody raves about VZW and after all it’s been 5 years since I last did my trials and found that I live in a cell service black hole, in spite of living roughly 3 miles from downtown LA and just over the hill from Dodger Stadium. This was not the case. Verizon service was equally as non-existent for voice calls as was AT&T. The difference being that AT&T offered me a femtocell signal booster (the 3G Microcell) for free whereas Verizon wanted me to pay $250 for their extender. In fact, when I talked to their technical department, I learned that my area is a known trouble zone and that NO TOWER upgrades were scheduled — it would be at least two years before there was any [better] service.

So why didn’t I stick with AT&T? I waited for the release of the Samsung Captivate, the AT&T version of the popular Samsung Galaxy S Android phone, but wasn’t satisfied with it. I am a user and abuser of mobile devices (as far as apps and internet are concerned) and my experience with the Captivate was a bit too laggy and buggy. I felt that perhaps the stock AT&T “bloatware” may have been bogging it down.

But EVO is not the best phone out there? I felt the Motorola Droid X, available on Verizon, edged it out for one reason: the major difference between the two phones is that DroidX boasts a 16GB internal memory while the EVO has a mere 512MB onboard storage. This shouldn’t make a difference to the average user and ostensibly more and more apps will be built to migrate to the external micro SD card (expandable to 32GB). But as a heavy user with 100 or so apps downloaded to my phone, I often get low storage warnings.

Battery life? The EVO will run all day if it’s used gently — primarily for voice or text. But for users like me — and I use it like it’s a second computer — a full charge can be depleted within 4 hours. My workaround was to purchase a backup battery, available for under $10 on Amazon.

I’m happy with the EVO. I’m in love with Android. I highly recommend that you get your hands on a device and check it out — at least for a 30-day risk free trial.

I still have two devices (a Blackberry and a Sierra Wireless Laptop Connect 3G USB card) on AT&T that I would add up to about $200 in ETFs so it’s just not practical to switch. Not for the Evo. The Evo is less than perfect.

1) It is too big to function as a phone. I feel like I’m walking around with a mini-iPad and STILL

2) I can’t type as effectively with a virtual keyboard as I can with the Blackberry Bold’s physical QWERTY.

3) The battery life is unconscionable. Completely unacceptable and unheard of. This is simply not a portable device — it must always be plugged in or on its way to being plugged in. A two battery approach MIGHT get you through the entire day with minimal internet and app use. NOTE: The software update pushed out this week has improved battery life quite a bit (relatively speaking). I was lucky to download it OTA before it was halted.

4) 4G. I knew this was somewhat of a gimmick to begin with. Sprint’s data network is shifting over to WiMax — more powerful towers that blanked larger areas with higher data speeds. Sprint purchased the existing towers and networks built by Clearwire and others to get going on this. The 4G system is very limited in LA. I’ve experienced it in and near downtown as well as in parts of West Hollywood. It is nice to get download speeds of 4MB down (and up to 1MB up) from a cellular connection (in reality, this is a wireless connection transmitted to a WiMax receptor in the phone). But truth be told, I regularly get 2-3 Mbps down in the same areas with AT&T 3G (note: not tested with iPhone).

But… ANDROID FTW! I am in love with the Android platform and the variety of applications made available on it — mostly for FREE. Similar to the iPhone platform, it is very easy to download and upgrade (as well as uninstall) third-party applications. This is not the case on Blackberry.

Do I feel like I’m stuck on AT&T? Yes and no. I don’t want to blow $500 bucks to switch (and buy the new phone). I’d rather wait for AT&T to get a top notch Android phone (hopefully by the end of the year). The service isn’t THAT bad and truth be told… I make very few calls.

On the other hand, I have already used over 3.2Gb of data on the Evo over the course of this 3 week trial. While it is likely easier and cheaper to use tons of bandwidth on an Android phone than an iPhone, it’s still likely that I’d go over the 2Gb limit that AT&T is apparently enforcing (although I’m not certain if that is just for iPhone owners or for all data plans). I’m going to miss Android but it doesn’t pay for me to switch off of AT&T right now – perhaps I’ll pick up the Samsung “Captivate” Galaxy S when it is released (supposedly in July) – assuming it isn’t too overloaded with AT&T bloatware and allows third-party apps including Swype.

I’ve posted an update to this post, My Life with the HTC EVO.

That said, stay tuned for my review of the many Android apps I’ve tried (ALL FREE!) on the HTC Evo 4G

For a list of the final 101 apps that I ended up keeping on the phone (before wiping and returning it) for a grand total of FREE, see below:

netzoo’s Apps on the PC36100 (Sprint HTC Evo)

Phone: PC36100
101 total, 101 free (100%), 0 paid (0%), 98MB total size, $0 total price

• Waze: Community GPS navigation
• AndroZip File Manager
• TWiT.tv by Mediafly
• Spare Parts
• Kindle for Android
• GTasks
• Hollywood Bowl
• Chompin
• Camera 360
• FxCamera
• SwiFTP FTP Server
• HuffingtonPost.com
• Movies
• Bump
• Advanced Task Killer
• AppAware Market and Twitter
• NPR News
• TripIt – Travel Organizer
• Facebook for Android
• ESPN ScoreCenter
• RemoteDroid
• Google Maps
• PhoneFlicks-Netflix Android
• Scanner Radio
• AT&T Mark the Spot
• Robotic Guitarist Free
• Google Sky Map
• Aldiko Book Reader
• Listen
• Android Beer Guide
• Urbanspoon
• Google Translate
• Places Directory
• Live Scores
• Text-To-Speech Extended
• Seesmic for Twitter
• Finance
• Foursquare
• NewsRob (Google Reader / RSS)
• Vuvuzela
• HomePipe Free
• Congress
• fring – free video calls, IM
• 1CAST Video News
• AP Mobile
• BBC News
• AppBrain App Market
• Dropbox
• AndFTP
• DroidiIn Lite
• cab4me
• Brightkite
• Pandora Radio
• BeyondPod Podcast Manager
• Billboard100
• Layar Reality Browser
• Chicago’s WGN Radio 720
• Opera Mini 5 browser
• TechCrunch
• Audiobooks
• FCC Mobile Broadband Test
• TED Mobile
• Adobe® Reader®
• Thomson Reuters News Pro
• doubleTwist Player
• Site Shot
• Quake Alert!
• ASTRO File Manager
• Android Central Widget
• Live Earth
• Mobile GA for Android
• Analytics Widget
• EarthAlbum Photo Travel
• PicSay – Photo Editor
• Photoshop.com Mobile
• Barcode Scanner
• Kayak Flight and Hotel Search
• Ustream Viewer
• Ustream Broadcaster
• New Scientist (beta)
• NYTimes
• WeatherBug
• XkcdViewer
• Evernote
• Google Buzz widget
• ABC7 – Los Angeles News & More
• Google Goggles
• Amazon.com
• Discovery Channel
• TV.com
• MySpace Mobile
• Shazam
• ttTumblr
• WordPress
• Yelp
• Meebo IM
• Last.fm – Personal Radio
• Google Earth
• Mint.com Personal Finance
• Speedtest.net Speed Test
• Google Voice

View this app list on AppBrain

The Sprint Free Guarantee:

We love and believe in our products and services. We’re confident you will too. That’s why, as a new customer — or an existing customer adding a new line of service — we’ll give you 30 days to try us for free.

If for any reason you’re not happy and want to cancel service, just call us to deactivate your service, go to the original place of purchase to return your undamaged phone or mobile broadband card, and we’ll:

• Refund monthly charges incurred as part of your service plan*
• Refund the activation fee
• Refund the purchase price of your device
• Waive the Early Termination Fee
• Waive the restocking fee
• Refund taxes and Sprint surcharges associated with the above charges

*You’ll be responsible for extras like usage not included in your plan, premium content, 3rd-party billing, international charges, and any taxes and Sprint surcharges associated with such extras.

Just one more thing we give you that our competitors don’t. And one more reason why there’s never been a better time to give us a try.

Proclaiming the panel and 1,000 or so in the audience are not waking up, Arrington cues the YouTube video of Gundotra with Conan O’Brien when O’Brien visited the Googleplex earlier this month. Arrington then gets the crowd involved by declaring Facebook needs a better Android app and then prompting a Question Queue in which 3 HTC Sprint Evo phones are given away to the best questions. Only about 10 people line up to ask questions. Second question elicits some great under-breath commentary from the stage:

Q: “Is facebook evil?” Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley to Facebook VP Chris Cox: “this is where you shoot laser beams from your eyes.” Cox, after a long pause, answers “no.”

Later, Arrington interviews Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL. “I got a little down yesterday,” Arrington slips in. “Something happened on this stage.” “Oh really, what happened” counters Armstrong… “do you want a hug?”

Steve Case and Mike Arrington:

Click here for the Day One post. Follow the action live below:

By the end of 2009, there were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile cellular subscriptions, corresponding to 67 per 100 inhabitants globally (Chart 1). Last year, mobile cellular penetration in developing countries passed the 50 per cent mark reaching an estimated 57 per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2009. Even though this remains well below the average in developed countries, where penetration exceeds 100 per cent, the rate of progress remains remarkable. Indeed, mobile cellular penetration in developing countries has more than doubled since 2005, when it stood at only 23 per cent.
Internet use has also continued to expand, albeit at a slower pace. In 2009, an estimated 26 per cent of the world’s population (or 1.7 billion people) were using the Internet. In developed countries the percentage remains much higher than in the developing world where four out of five people are still excluded from the benefits of being online.

Can only hope that broadband internet penetration access is the next to take off — in the U.S. more than one-third are without it, largely due to cost, according to a Pew Study also released today. Hopefully the U.S. FCC’s National Broadband plan, due to be formally announced March 17, is aggressive enough to make a difference. It’s our future.

The executive summary of the UN report:

Measuring the Information Society 2010 – United Nations International Telecommunications Union –

Oh yeah, the data coverage is fine. I’ve been spoiled by AT&T’s 3g data coverage since 2006 and never turned back. Did it bother me to only have nine keys and #0* on my LG CU500 and a small screen? No. It was 3g. Did I at least use T9 predictive text or would I actually make 10 entries on the keypad just to spell “s-h-i-t?” Hell no, I became the fastest texter in town. Why? Because no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t hear more than scratchy sounds and broken words coming from the other end of the handset. Didn’t matter where or how I stood in the house or on the block. I was in a black hole. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile. You can’t NOT lose. It’s 2010, and I still find myself going to the mall just so I can have a coherent phone conversation with Mom.

Read the full article at LAist.