Google+ Local Unlocks the Power of Zagat

Google+ rolled out on Wednesday a new ‘Local’ tool that allows users to share and find information about nearby places — from museums and spas to restaurants and hotels. In addition to tapping a user’s network or “Circles,” the new service also incorporates information from Zagat, which Google bought last year.
The new “Local” tab, located on the right-hand side of Google+, encourages users to learn more about the places around them. For example, by searching for a restaurant or store through the tab, a Google+ page will appear with photos, as well as Zagat scores and summaries, reviews from people you know and other information such as addresses and hours of business.

Google is leveraging its acquisition of Zagat in September 2011 to bring more than 35,000 reviews and scores across 100 countries to the Google+ community. The latest “Local” effort is a year in the making, according to Google.
“This takes any place that your friends have touched and provides you with interesting and relevant search results,” Avni Shah, director of product management at Google, told Mashable. “You can also filter based on aspects that might be important, such as ‘People Like You’ and really give you the information you need from the people you trust.”


When logged in to Google+, this information will appear in Google searches and via Google Maps and mobile. The capability is only available for Android phones now, but Google said it will roll out to iOS devices soon.
Those not signed in to Google+ will still see Zagat reviews and recommendations pop up while doing a search, but only users who are signed in will gain a deeper look at where their friends like to dine or restaurants that might be a best match for your taste.
“Since your friends haven’t always been to the places you want to go, if you are going to London or Bangkok, Google+ Local will look at places you have rated highly before and make similar recommendations,” Shah said.
Want to make a reservation after oogling your friends’ favorite spots? You can do that too, thanks to Google+ Local’s integration with Open Table.
“We want to build a community based on a sense of trust, and we will continue to roll out new features and tools that reinforce that that concept,” Shan said.

10:33 by Robert dawne · 1

20 Mouthwatering Instagram Pics [FOOD PORN]

The Best of Instagram Series is presented by T-Mobile. Its 4G Tweet Race, a week-long campaign launching May 3, pits Twitter users against one another in a daily, frantic race for retweets. There are 7 races, and the winners of each heat win a new HTC One™ S phone with a year of T-Mobile’s Unlimited Value service, and the final winner takes home $4,000.
Instagram users often get a bit of flack for oversharing their food photos. Now that the photo-sharing app is available for iOS, Android and possibly soon Facebook, we expect the user base and the photo uploads to surge.
But that’s not to say all photos aren’t worth sharing. Sure, maybe there are a swarm of users who like to share photos of their Subway sandwich, but there are also tons of gorgeous pictures of food and beverages that will make your mouth water.
We’ve collected photos from Instagram users, professional photographers and even chefs to present you with 20 of the tastiest photos. (Note: You can’t actually eat them.)
Do you think your food photos have what it takes? Let us know in the comments.

11:27 by Robert dawne · 0

iOS 5.0.1 Bug Allows Very Persistent Villain To Access Contacts

An iOS 5 bug allowed pictures to be displayed on a password-protected iPhone if the time on the device was set to an earlier time and date than the real timestamp of the pictures. A new security flaw has been discovered, this time on iOS 5.0.1, but it takes a very persistent villain several tries to get passed the lock screen.




In theory, the password protected iPhone must have a missed call. Swiping the missed call notification in an area without network coverage, or by removing the SIM card from the phone, could expose, after several attempts, the entire Contact list together with Favorites on the device. Luckily this is highly unlikely to happen because you have to leave the hacker alone with your phone and a SIM card eject tool for quite a long time. Check out the video below and see how many attempts it takes to replicate the bug.

08:41 by Robert dawne · 0

As OS X Mountain Lion Proves, Twitter Is Apple’s Social Network

At Apple’s WWDC event last June, Twitter made a new best friend: Apple. The tech giant announced that it would bake the social network into every single iOS device by way of the new iOS 5 software. This left many stunned for two reasons. 1) Apple rarely does such deep partnerships with third-parties. 2) It wasn’t Facebook.
It was all-around a huge win for Twitter. And a win for Apple as well, as it has been proven throughout the years that they don’t get social — a subject which was a topic of debate again yesterday coincidentally. Apple needs to build it’s own social network, Dan Frommer argued! No, they need to get their social platform right, argued TechCrunch editor Eric Eldon. Well, today they’re taking a big step: by doubling down on Twitter.
Apple has just revealed that Twitter is also going to be baked into the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion. This means that every single new Mac sold beginning this summer will have Twitter functionality built in. And all of the older ones that upgrade will have it too. There are now just over 60 million Macs out there. Again, a huge win for Twitter.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said in December that following the iOS 5 integration, Twitter monthly sign-ups jumped 25 percent. iOS already has a much larger user base than the Mac does, but still, Twitter could see another double digit jump from this integration as well.
More importantly, Twitter has now firmly established itself as not just the iOS go-to social service, but Apple’s go-to social service. Sure, Apple could always rip Twitter out of iOS and OS X at any point in the future, but doing so would now piss off users who are being trained to expect it as an Apple core OS feature. For a service still not making a ton of money and as such, has its future questioned constantly, this is important. It’s a huge endorsement.
It’s also big news for Twitter because it opens up a whole new world for the service as a method of authentication. With iOS, apps can choose to use Twitter to ease new sign-ups — allowing people to get going with one or two clicks. Now Mac apps will be able to do the same thing. I don’t think there’s any question that Facebook still dominates this authentication space, but Twitter’s Apple alliance is making them much more compelling for this purpose — for developers, at the very least.
Just last week, some were criticizing Twitter for seemingly wayward focus. Today, they just scored a second massive partnership with the most valuable company on the planet. That sure seems like a sign of good focus to me.

15:15 by Robert dawne · 0

ISA 2012: Facebook, Apple, Google – Which Platforms Hold the Most Opportunity in 2012?

Today at the Inside Social Apps Conference 2012 in San Francisco, game developers discussed which platforms hold the most promise in 2012.
Kevin Chou, CEO and co-founder of Kabam felt that the popular Facebook platform has become more challenging because ad prices have gone up 18 percent and because Facebook’s payments platform, Facebook Credits, charges a 30 percent revenue share. “We thought that conversions would go up and be around 15 or 20 percent, but it turned out to be around 5 to 10 percent, meaning that we’re taking a 20 percent net tax,” he said.
Jens Begemann, founder and CEO of Wooga has seen his user base grow to 40 million monthly average users, which is three times as many as the company had a year ago. The European game developer recently launched “Diamond Dash” and “Magic Land” on Facebook, and has been very happy with overall growth on the platform.
Bengemann also noted that the performance-based model is better than having to pay development costs upfront. Besides, no one seems to complain about Apple’s iOS taking 30 percent of the proceeds. ”It’s really Apples to Apples,” he quipped.
Added Anil Dharni, co-founder of Funzio, ”We have seen amazing uptake on the iPad.” Apple has an advantage over Android because of the user experience on the iPad tablet. “We are hoping Google figures out the tablet soon,” he said.
But John Spinale, the senior vice president of social games at Disney, has seen “incredible revenue growth on Android,” he said. Although the current focus is on Facebook and Apple’s iOS platform, the company is placing strategic bets on Android and Google+. ”Android is a little bit unwieldy and has more overhead,” he said, “but the revenue is meaningful enough that it’s worth the pain of doing.”

14:41 by Robert dawne · 0