Loopt, Inc.

Posted 12/30/2011 at 9:35am | by J.R. Bookwalter Christmas 2011 is now but a memory and New Year’s Eve is imminent -- but are you ready to share the joy with friends, thanks to your Mac or iOS device? Or maybe you’ve cut the cord on your cable or satellite and aren’t sure of where you can watch the ball drop at midnight? Fear not, we’ve got some ideas for making the most of your New Year’s Eve with your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and/or iPad. With each passing year, many of us cut the cord on expensive cable and satellite bills and catch up with our favorite TV shows using Hulu, Netflix or other methods. That generally works great until live events such as the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year’s Eve -- but fear not, even this event can be found online if you know where to look. LiveStream.com just so happens to hold an annual New Year’s Eve worldwide webcast, with its 2012 live event kicking off on Saturday, December 31 at 6pm EST. You can tune in right now from your Mac to catch a recap of this year’s festivities, but mobile devices users can only access the live stream so you’ll have to tune in after the appointed time on Saturday. The only downside is that you won’t get Dick Clark, but here’s hoping one day soon ABC will choose to livestream the iconic host and his show via their iPad app. We can’t always be next to loved ones when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we can at least see and hear each other when the magic hour arrives. One of the most popular -- and cross-platform -- ways to do this is with Skype, which now extends to Facebook users in a web browser, should you so desire, as well as Mac, iOS, Android and Windows users. For example, maybe your friend or family member is lucky enough to be among the millions swarming into Times Square this weekend but you’re stuck back at home. Have them fire up their Skype app on any 3G-equipped iPhone and they can make their own broadcast as midnight approaches and share it with you or even a small group of others via Skype Premium, completely live. If your New Year’s Eve plans are more Read More

Social questions mobile apps are usually advertised as a way to find out, in real time, the status of a location. Normal application tends to be situations like wanting to know “Is that bar crowded?” But users are starting to find even more practical uses for these kinds of apps, with questions along the lines of “Is it safe to go surfing right now?” or “Which stores are open?” as during Hurricane Irene and  the London riots. There are several iPhone apps that allow users to ask questions of random people checked in to various locations. That includes location-based question apps like Locqly, Crowdbeacon and Social Questions (mobile app for Quora), but those aren’t focused on real-time answers. Loopt, a location-based check-in app like Foursquare and Gowalla, now has a questions feature for several cities, but those questions (at least initially) were posed by the company’s own community managers. Localmind is an iPhone app that launched at SXSW Interactive this year and has about 30,000 users right now. (There is also an Android version that launched earlier this month.) I talked with Localmind Co-Founder and CEO Lenny Rachitsky recently about how those users have recently begun using his app during major recent disasters. It was almost like “a reverse Twitter,” as Rachitsky put it. Through Localmind, you’d basically be prompting people for their status updates, instead of the other way around. It started during the London riots, when he noticed questions coming through their system asking about the status of a few locations during the week of mayhem that engulfed the city. But questions about the relative safety or status of locations popped up again during last week’s quake that rattled the East Coast, and even more so over the weekend as Hurricane Irene barreled up the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Over the weekend, the questions asked of people checked into locations from North Carolina up to New York City about Irene ranged from the firmly tongue-in-cheek (To a user in Richmond, Va.: “Is it wet at Hurricane Irene?”) to the practical (“What’s the closest public transportation in your area?” to someone in Manhattan) to the merely curious (User from Ohio to someone in Virginia Beach, Va.: “What’s it like in the shadow of Irene?”). The respective answers, if you’re curious, were “Wet, yes, but not as flooded as Gaston!,” “Nothing is operating public transportation-wise because of Hurricane Irene” and “The Read More

Social questions mobile apps are usually advertised as a way to find out, in real time, the status of a location. Normal application tends to be situations like wanting to know “Is that bar crowded?” But users are starting to find even more practical uses for these kinds of apps, with questions along the lines of “Is it safe to go surfing right now?” or “Which stores are open?” as during Hurricane Irene and  the London riots. There are several iPhone apps that allow users to ask questions of random people checked in to various locations. That includes location-based question apps like Locqly, Crowdbeacon and Social Questions (mobile app for Quora), but those aren’t focused on real-time answers. Loopt, a location-based check-in app like Foursquare and Gowalla, now has a questions feature for several cities, but those questions (at least initially) were posed by the company’s own community managers. Localmind is an iPhone app that launched at SXSW Interactive this year and has about 30,000 users right now. (There is also an Android version that launched earlier this month.) I talked with Localmind Co-Founder and CEO Lenny Rachitsky recently about how those users have recently begun using his app during major recent disasters. It was almost like “a reverse Twitter,” as Rachitsky put it. Through Localmind, you’d basically be prompting people for their status updates, instead of the other way around. It started during the London riots, when he noticed questions coming through their system asking about the status of a few locations during the week of mayhem that engulfed the city. But questions about the relative safety or status of locations popped up again during last week’s quake that rattled the East Coast, and even more so over the weekend as Hurricane Irene barreled up the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Over the weekend, the questions asked of people checked into locations from North Carolina up to New York City about Irene ranged from the firmly tongue-in-cheek (To a user in Richmond, Va.: “Is it wet at Hurricane Irene?”) to the practical (“What’s the closest public transportation in your area?” to someone in Manhattan) to the merely curious (User from Ohio to someone in Virginia Beach, Va.: “What’s it like in the shadow of Irene?”). The respective answers, if you’re curious, were “Wet, yes, but not as flooded as Gaston!,” “Nothing is operating public transportation-wise because of Hurricane Irene” and “The Read More

Two weeks ago Loopt launched its Qs service in the Bay Area and today they told us that 14,000 questions (Qs) have been answered. You may remember from our previous writing on the Loopt Qs that it’s made to engage users offering them an easy way to add their two cents on what to do, what to order in a restaurant and so on. Likewise, it’s also super-easy to get answers about some place you’re currently in or where you plan to go. Loopt Qs works like mini-poll making sure everyone can drop his or her comment in just a few seconds, answering key questions about a certain place. So what are you waiting for? If you live in or visiting the Bay Area, fire up the Loopt app and get some quick and useful advice. Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis. Read More

Loopt Qs, the new service launched by Loopt we talked about few weeks ago, is now live in the SF Bay Area and will be gradually expanded to other parts of the country. To get your city to the list, simply demand it from this page on Loopt’s website. What’s Qs again? It’s a new way to get and share bite-sized tidbits of information about the place you’re at or where you’ve been, want to go and so on. It offers real-time answers to common questions like: Is there a long line? What’s the best happy hour special? Is this place WiFi-friendly? In other words, you’ll get simple and straight to the point answers. Likewise, contributing content is super easy and Loopt hopes to have more people participating and sharing the information. Still don’t get it? Check out a video below briefly demoing the service. Like it? Hit the link below to download Loopt to your iPhone and get going. Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis. Read More

Apple has compiled a list called their 2010 Rewind. In it, they have named the top Apps of the year, and gathered them all up into one page so that they can easily be found. Let’s take a look at their top Apps in each category. On this list, you will find Apple’s best apps of 2010. Everything from best iPhone games of 2010 to best educational apps of 2010. Note that these are not our picks (though many of our favorites did make the list) but it’s a compilation of Apple’s favorite Apps of the 2010. Let’s take a look at Apple’s iTunes 2010 rewind: Shoot, Edit, Share – Best of iPhone Camera Utility Apps of 2010 1) Hipstamatic – 99 cents      2) Path – Free 3) Instagram – Free 4) Pocketbooth – 99 cents 5) iMovie – $4.99      6) Splice – Video Editor – 99 cents 7) ReelDirector – $3.99 Infinicam – $1.99 9) MobileMonet – 99 cents 10) ToonCamera – $1.99 11) lo-mob – $1.99 12) iMut8r – 99 cents 13) ZombieBooth – 99 cents 14) SwankoLab – $1.99 15) StopMotion Recorder – 99 cents Augmented Reality – Best Augmented Reality Apps of 2010 1) Peak.ar – Free 2) Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner – $4.99 3) ARDefender – 99 cents 4) Golfscape GPS Rangefinder – $19.99 5) Nearest Wiki – $1.99 6) Spyglass – $3.99   7) AR Soccer – $1.99      Hidden Sky – $4.99      9) Theodolite Basic – $1.99      10) Yelp – Free      11) Style.com – Free      12) Explore 9/11 – Free      13) San Francisco Guide – $5.99 Fun for Foodies 1) Foodspotting – Free      2) Jamie’s Recipes – Free 3) Mario Batali Cooks! – $4.99 4) How to Cook Everything – $4.99      5) MasterChef Academy US – $4.99      6) Omaha Steaks – Free 7) Levi Roots – $6.99 Cook’s Illustrated – Free      9) Teach Me Sushi – $4.99 10) Good Food Quick Recipes – $2.99      11) Weber’s On the Grill – $4.99      12) Campbell’s Kitchen – Free      13) Gordon Ramsay Cook With Me – $4.99      14) Chow Thanksgiving Dinner Coach- Free      New News – Best News Apps of 2010 1) Pulse News Mini – Free 2) Reeder – $2.99      3) Blancspot: The Art of News – Free 4) NBC Nightly News – Free      5) PBS NEWSHOUR – Read More

I remember Loopt being one of the first apps out on the App Store, back when the iPhone's platform was first released. A couple of years ago, location-based social networking was still pretty new (most cell phones didn't yet know exactly where they were, after all), and Loopt was one of the most advanced ways to do it at the time. Now, while services like Twitter and Facebook work on their own location sharing features, Loopt is updating to version 4.0 and aiming to, once again, try and take the vanguard. The app has been redesigned, and it seems to be set up around persistent social location sharing -- you can not only share your location constantly, but you can also instantly see where friends and family are. You can also use the "Ping" feature (unrelated, of course) to send texts, and you'll get a message back from your friend about where they are when those are opened. And Loopt continues to offer local "rewards," which are free offers and deals based on where you happen to be. It's all very interesting -- while, of course, there are the usual privacy concerns as with any location-based app (one of the reasons I don't really use any services like this regularly), the new Loopt seems to really take advantage of mobile platforms like iOS to keep an almost constant connection with your social circle. The app's been around and updated since the App Store first opened, so we'll have to see how this new direction works out. Look for version 4.0 sometime later on today. Read More

When it comes to check-in services, Foursquare and Facebook Places generally get more attention than Loopt, which was pioneering location-based social networking before it was trendy. Well, Loopt has just released its 4.0 version of its app for Apple iPhone and Android and the LBS apps features a revamped user interface and some cool geo-related features. The first thing that jumps out at you is the refined user interface, which makes it easier to find your friends around you as well as simplifies checking in. We know the app can already check-in in the background and the UI makes that much spiffier. The new app also has deeper integration with Faceboo, as you can now send location-based messages, or Pings, to your Facebook friends’ walls. This lets the world’s largest social network do the heavy lifting on the friend side and lets Loopt focus on its expertise of LBS. Those Pings have also been improved (don’t confuse it with Apple’s Ping social network), as these messages now have geo-information to convey your location in a simpler way. The company is also pushing its Rewards network for checking in and that could lead to deals and coupons depending on where you’re sharing your location. “Loopt offers a location-first view of the world, shining a spotlight on friends and places around you, whether they’re on Loopt or Facebook,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO, in a prepared statement. “When our users open Loopt, they see the world in a more relevant way. We continue to work at surfacing interesting information that makes Loopt like x-ray vision, where you can see through city walls and find something compelling, whether it’s being alerted that an old friend is nearby, or that there’s a café around the corner frequented by friends.” You can download the Apple iPhone version directly from iTunes here and the Android version can be found in the Android Market. Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets. Read More

Much has already been written about how Loopt was perhaps a bit too early to the location game for their own good. But that doesn’t mean they’re not out there still trying new things to keep their over 4 million users and entice new ones to join. The latest such effort is Loopt 4.0, their latest mobile app. The first thing you’ll notice about Loopt 4.0 is that it has been entirely redesigned. More importantly, the app has been significantly simplified, to clean up the user experience. On the main screen you can now quickly jump to five areas: Me, Settings, Places, Friends, and Map. The last three are the most important because that’s where you will check-in and see where your friends are. Below the core buttons is an area to be able to quickly toggle auto location sharing on and off. This is a core feature that is unique to Loopt among the big location players (besides Latitude, which only has this feature). Here, you can easily turn background location updates on or off. And you can determine which of your friends you want to allow to see these updates. Essentially, this allows you to let others track you in realtime — no check-in needed. Loopt also has the nice feature of being able to automatically update when you a friend is nearby. If the design of the new Loopt looks familiar to you, it’s probably because you frequently use the Facebook iPhone app. Like version 3.0, Loopt 4.0 borrows some elements from that, including the new Notifications bottom bar. Speaking of Facebook, much more important is the way in which Loopt integrates with Facebook Connect. When you link your account, you’ll see all of your Facebook friends who are currently using Places. Their check-ins there will integrate seamlessly into your Loopt stream, and sit alongside your Loopt friends. And when you check-in on Loopt, it can easily be passed back to Places (as well as Twitter). You’ll recall that the latest version of Gowalla, also has this tight Facebook Places integration. They also have Foursquare integration, but Loopt hasn’t enabled that. Instead, they’re betting heavily that Facebook will be the location platform of the future, it seems. One other really interesting feature of the new Loopt is the new Ping/Pong feature. Previously, you could Ping a friend to ask them to update their location. But now you can send a message alongside that ping. Read More

by Social-media savvy airline Virgin America, which used Twitter to announce its expansion to Toronto, is making use of location-based rewards network Loopt Star to draw attention to its next international expansion: Mexico. Virgin America will be running non-stop flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Cabo (SJD) and from Los Angeles (LAX) to Cancun (CUN) beginning this winter. In addition to special three-day fare sale, Loopt Star members can check in at select locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles to get a free ticket for a friend when they purchase one ticket for themselves today. This is how it works: As competition in the geolocation marketing space heats up, companies are ramping up the value of rewards they offer to users of these location-based services. Loopt is really upping the ante with this Virgin America promotion; we expect this will drive a wave of new signups in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. As we said earlier this spring, we think that the ideas behind Loopt Star are solid. By acting as a digital loyalty card program and using Facebook as its social graph, the service was actually a bit ahead of the curve. However, now that Facebook Places makes it easier for other geolocation services to tap into Facebook, and as the rewards space gets hyper-competitive, Loopt and its sub-brands like Loopt Star need to continue to fight for distinction. A great way to do that is by partnering with socially savvy companies like Virgin America and to offer value-driven rewards. What do you think of this latest promotion? Where do you see geolocation and loyalty programs converging in the future? Read More