If you read the same old tech blogs you’ll think it was a light week in the location space. It was light compared to the last two weeks as everyone catches their breath and move forward from the Facebook Places announcement but the location industry was very much active this week as ever. Over the last seven days two of the very first location-based services announced check-in rewards/specials. Brightkite teamed with McDonald’s and Visa and Loopt announced a deal with Virgin wich equaled their fifth largest day ever. Also this week the creators of MyTown, Booyah’s new InCrowd iPhone app was released. InCrowd was first announced during the Facebook Places announcement. My thoughts so far on InCrowd? It’s not for hardcore check-in users. It’s more like an avatar game made for kids who want to check-in, IMHO. Perhaps the biggest news last week was a report saying Location-Based Marketing To Reach $1.8B In 2015 and you wonder why we started TriOut? Speaking of TriOut founder @LawPower posted this week about the future plans for the service along with more version two features. So was it a slow week? No, to catch up here are 41 location-based articles from last week that you may have missed.

Video: Shopkick CEO: Here’s What Sets Us Apart From Foursquare

1. ABI: Location-Based Marketing To Reach $1.8B In 2015
2. Seven upcoming location-based events you should follow… I mean attend
3. GEO M. Future of Location Half-Day Conference
4. Huge Facebook Places Backlash Spreads Through Status Updates
5. do you want to triout foursquare for real estate?
6. Scobleizer on Google, Facebook, Location, iPad, and Android
7. Shopkick CEO: Here’s What Sets Us Apart From Foursquare
8. TriOut v2 Dev Journal: Right Now Screen
9. Foursquare offers reward for checking in after STD checkups
10. Technology Aside, Most People Still Decline to Be Located
11. Foursquare: Shiny Object or Mainstream?
12. How SCVNGR is turning the world into a game, one location at a time – with Seth Priebatsch, Chief Ninja
13. Check (In) Yo’ Self Before You Wreck Yo’ Self: Why Foursquare Users Check In “Off The Grid”
14. Foursquare Now 3 Million Strong
15. How to Hack Nike+ for Automatic Foursquare Check-ins
16. Nearby Friends: New Cyber-Stalking App for Tracking Facebook Places Check-Ins
17. iTunes Features Location Apps with New “On the Grid” Section
18. Facebook Places, Revisited
19. How Amazon gave Whrrl’s founder his startup inspiration
20. Two Types of Consumers Are Using Check-in Apps: Hyperactive and Hyperpassive
21. Location-based services not connecting with consumers
22. Virgin America Checks In to Fifth Largest Revenue Day Ever with Loopt
23. Booyah releases InCrowd for iPhone and iPod touch
24. Mobile marketing has a new friend in WeReward
25. Brightkite Teams With McDonalds & Visa For Unique LBS Rewards Campaign
26. Start Saving Today: SCVNGR Announces Rewards Programs for 50+ Local Businesses in Boston
27. Gowalla adds new Highlights feature
28. Will Americans Be More Likely to Share Location With Facebook Places?
29. Which Geolocation Platform Is Best For Sports Marketers?
30. Facebook Places is Terrible
31. 5 New Ways Small Business Can Offer Location-Based Deals
32. The History of the Cell Phone Infographic
33. Check-in, Chicken
34. Sharing Locations with Google Maps
35. Booyah’s InCrowd Helps Find Mr. and Mrs. Popular with New App on the App Store
36. Payless Shoe Source offers a nationwide foursquare special for first-timers
37. Why Foursquare is the (almost) perfect travelling companion
38. Gowalla rolls out Gowalla 1.0 for BlackBerry
39. AOL Acquires Mobile Development Firm “Rally Up” To Bolster New “Mobile-First” Initiative
40. Shakey’s Pizza Adds 16K Opt-Ins And Sees 10% Conversion Using Mobile Coupons & SMS
41. PlacePop Facebook App Brings Places Check-Ins Feed To The Web Interface

It’s Friday and that means it’s Follow Friday on Twitter but like last week I’m going to do a blog post instead a follow Friday tweet but with a little twist. This week I’m listing events and not just any kind of events but location-based conferences/meetups events. Here are seven upcoming location-based conferences/meetups/events/summits you should follow… I mean attend.

1. NYC Geo/Mobile Hack Day
Friday, September 10, 2010 at 9:00 AM – Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 7:00 PM (ET)
RSVP

2. Location Business Summit USA
September 14-15 2010, Crowne Plaza, San Jose,)
RSVP

3. Social Media Week LA: Location-Based Marketing: To Check-in or Not to Check-in?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (PT)
RSVP

4. Location Based Marketing Summit
New Yorker Hotel, New York · September 29 – September 30, 2010
RSVP

5. Geo M – The Future of Geo Marketing and Technology
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center · Monday, October 4, 2010
RSVP

6. BlogWorld LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! Panel
October 14-16, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
RSVP

7. Internet Summit, Location Panel
November 17-18, 2010, Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, NC
RSVP

I’ll be attending a few of the conferences above, please check-in and say hello if you’re planning to attend. Enjoy your Friday and have a safe weekend.

From iTunes what’s new in Twitter 3.1

Twitter for iPad launches in this version:
Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world with the official Twitter for iPhone app.
Realtime search, Top Tweets, trending topics and maps show whats happening now everywhere and nearby.

What is Twitter for iPad? And how is it different from our iPhone app?
Twitter for iPad brings your Tweets together with web pages, photos, videos and more. Tap on any tweet, and a related content pane will open, displaying any linked content from the tweet, including web pages, profile information, hashtag searches and similar users. Slide panels from side to side and quickly navigate through related content.

There’s also easy ways to quickly peek into a tweet
- Pinch on a tweet to quickly unfold related information and actions
- Use two fingers to drag on tweet and reveal replies

Here are a few screenshots of Twitter for the iPad.

Here are a few notes on the official announcement from Twitter’s blog about new features for  Twitter for the iPad:

Panes: Tapping on a Tweet opens a pane to the right. Depending on the content in that Tweet, you’ll see a video or photo, or maybe a news story, or perhaps another Tweet. You can continue tapping on Tweets, opening new panes, and getting new content as long as you’d like to. And, it’s really easy to move between panes by swiping to the right or left.

Media: When you tap a video link or open a web page with an embedded video, you can play that video inline. And, let’s be honest, video is great but sometimes it can take some time to load. The panes in Twitter for iPad let you look through your timeline while a video is loading, and then you can just swipe back to the video when it’s ready to play. You can also pinch on a video to watch it fullscreen.

Gestures: You can pinch on a Tweet to quickly view details about the author and to take actions on a Tweet, such as reply or retweet. Put two fingers together and pull down on a Tweet to peek at the replies, showing the entire conversation leading to that Tweet.

No need to login: You don’t even need to sign up to get started with Twitter for iPad. We’ve selected great Twitter accounts that you can see in various categories, such as Art & Design, Sports, and News. You can also search, view trends, and find breaking news. Sign up at any time to create your own timeline and start tweeting

Read what others are saying about Twitter for the iPad via Techmeme
Bits, Macworld, Mashable!, GigaOM, Gizmodo, The Next Web, SlashGear,  Redmond Pie, Gadgetell,, Lifehacker

If you have downloaded Twitter for iPad and other Twitter iPad apps, do you think the official Twitter app is the best Twitter iPad application?

Via: Social Media Graphics

The infographic was created by Gerardo Obieta, G_Obieta

Why do you follow companies on Twitter? Let me know in the comments

Photo by Warren Parsons

Repost:
Content Strategy FTW video & presentation from Kristina Halvorson halvorson presenation at SXSW 2009

During her session I sat on the front row with my Macbook Pro and a usb webcam to live stream her talk. It’s a little shaky but I think well worth a listen if you’re in the content strategy/blogging/writing for the web business. Below is the video and her slides from Content Strategy FTW session at SXSW.

The SXSW Video. FYI it’s via the lap cam.

Also check out Kristian’s book called Content Strategy http://www.contentstrategy.com

Even though Facebook has 500 million users, Twitter over 11 million and Linkedin over 70 million users that doesn’t mean there’s not a place for a new social networking site to launch and be successful. Especially if it has a niche audience with a great brand. In the past year to six months there has been a recent wave of new niche social networks launched. A few based off of the question and answer format and others are new micro-blogging communities. If you’re an agency or brand I think you should at least create company profiles or have those managing your brand to preform search queries across these new sites for see if they are discussing your products/services or your competitors. Here are eight new social networking sites your brand should monitoring.

UPDATE: I forgot Cliqset!

Are you aware of or using any of the seven social networks above? If so how?

As I stated in the iPad Eye of the Tiger video post, how amazing it would be if artist could use the iPad to preform shows instead if traditional music equipment. Well, it seems like that time has come and we’re only seeing the beginning of the iPad + live performances. Actually before the iPad Eye of the Tiger there was the iPad DJ.

If you missed the ipad + “Eye of the Tiger” music video check it out below.

Thanks to Mike who sent me the iPad Orchestra video.

Would you rather see a live show with traditional music equipment or with the iPad or it doesn’t matter just as long as they sound awesome?

It seems that major brands are jumping on the QR Code bandwagon. Earlier this year it was Calvin Klein, now FOX Network has announced that viewers can gain instant access to content for FOX shows via FOX CODES (custom QR codes for Fox). Just last week I saw Gap use QR code in stores for user generated apparel recommendations. Both Best Buy and AT&T have released mobile apps with QR code readers too. Soon you’ll see QR Codes at Best Buy locations like the one above as well.  The question I have about the FOX Network QR code/ Fox Code what if you don’t have a DVR then you’re going to have to be quick with your favorite QR reader or just keep watching FOX for the next QR code to flash on screen if you want to scan it. That’s probably what FOX is going for but note, QR codes stand for Quick Response not quick rush to show a code. For example look for the QR code at the end of the video below. It shows for 1 second.

Video via @gavins

Regardless here are 10 iPhone QR Code Reader Applications to get you ready for the QR marketing madness

1. NeoReader [ itunes link]
2. Optiscan [ itunes link]
3. StickyBits [ itunes link]
4. Barcode [ itunes link]
5. QuickMark [ itunes link]
6. TagReader [ itunes link]
7. Redlaser [ itunes link]
8. ScanLife [ itunes link]
9. Mirascape [ itunes link]
10. Best Buy [ itunes link]

Also note that we’re building in a QR Code reader with the next version of TriOut iPhone app to enable quick check-ins. We believe QR Codes and location-based services are a perfect tech mashup.

What QR Code reader do you use?

They say confession is good for the soul and it is Sunday so here we go. Starting tomorrow I’m venturing into another new project with high expectations for success but it also includes a lot of work. Along with having a new baby on the way due in January, to say I’m nervous, stressed and excited at the same time is an understatement. Plus with working with a bootstrapped startup, TriOut that’s has huge potential. Now I’m about to help launch an incubator/coworking office downtown Raleigh. I love what I’m doing, the community in NC and I believe both will work over time. This year at SXSW when Leo Laporte was live video streaming from the Mashable party, Robert Scoble stopped and asked me on camera when I was moving to Silicon Valley to become a millionaire. I told him never, I love NC and I believe we have the people, companies, etc for entrepreneurs like myself to become successful and on the East Costs in general… or something like that. But money does talk…. #justsayin

Regardless, I just finished listening to Tony Hsieh of Zappos audio book “Delivering Happiness” and it has positively inspired me to become not just motivated about upcoming projects but making me want to be a better person in life and “deliver happiness” with everything that I’m involved in. The book did make my have a few flashbacks on past mistakes, missed opportunities and failures of past ideas. But taking a note from Tony, don’t look at failures as just being a …”fail” but look at failures as one step closer to success. So here are a few “failures”, I mean steps to success I’ve made over the years that I hope you can learn from.

1. SXSW 2009: Telling Dave Morin and Gary Vaynerchuk no thank you.
It was my first SXSW and I was with a group of friends, Kipp Bodnar, Jason Keath (I think), Jason Flint, and George G. Smith Jr. and we were walking to some party when Dave Morin and Gary Vaynerchuk passed by. Dave said hello and asked if I wanted to join him and Gary for dinner. I looked at my friends and said no thanks to Dave but I would catch up with them later. My friends looked at me like I was crazy and we kept walking. At that point Dave was still working at Facebook and Gary was still crushing it as usual. Note, I haven’t seen Dave any more since then and we didn’t catch up later during SXSW. Dave has left Facebook to launch his own company and as for Gary… you can now listen to him on XM radio.

Lesson: If you have an opportunity to network with individuals who you may never see again or are in a good position to further develop your career or relationships… Do it! Besides Dave and Gary are two of the smartest guys in the startup social web space. #WayneFail

2. ForDaGame.com – 2001-2002
I’ve been a web/tech/geek/entrepreneur for years. Back around 2001 two business partners and I launched ForDaGame.com. It was an online sports marking company. We were planing sporting events for charities, highlighting local athletes online via videos and blog articles. This was before ESPN and blogging was huge but right around the first dot-com bust. My partners freaked out and we shut the site down. Think about it, if we would have continued with the site we could have been millionaires by now… maybe.

Lesson: If you’re passionate about your startup or idea. Don’t stop, never give up… Jimmy V!

3. Not writing for Mashable.com – 2008
Before the “social media” bubble really started to bust and Mashable was a growing tech blog. One of their writers asked me if I was interested in writing for the site. At that time I was working for a local TV station, was getting SocialWayne.com off the ground and my primarily responsibilities was blogging, video and email. I asked my boss if he was ok with the station and said sure go for it. I wrote one article, it was called “Is Plurk the MySpace of Microblogging?”. I had too much going on, started to focus on SocialWayne.com more and the guest blogging opportunity slipped through my hands. I saw Pete Cashmore at SXSW 2009 and he told me to continue to submit post but by then everybody wanted to write for Mashable. Since then I’ve submitted maybe two post but they didn’t make the cut and I’ve kept what could have made it for SocialWayne.com. Even though I think it was smart of me to post more content on my blog, writing for Mashable would have paid huge benefits and possible other opportunities in my career.

Lesson: Write your behind off! Especially if someone asked if you’re interested in guest writing for their site.

4. Not blogging for Vincent Nguyen – 2007
When the iPhone first launched every smart blogger was buying iPhone domain names, Vincent purchased a few and I purchased iPhonesinRTP.com and the both of us were blogging about … you guest it, the iPhone. After seeing my blog he contacted me about writing for his site for a small fee. I was interested especially since his site was generating more income and had a lot more visitors than my site was receiving. I can’t remember how many post I wrote if any, but I do remember sending him an email saying due to time constraints I can’t continue. I think I was switching jobs or something. Regardless Vincent Nguyen has continue to be a successful blogger and entrepreneur.

Lesson: Balance your projects and life. Make time for projects. Especially ones and that can generate some extra income.

5. SXSW 2010 – What was her name again?
This situation hurts me every time I think about it. It was one morning during SXSW and I was headed to the bloggers lounge. I was with Kipp Bodnar and was very tired from everything. The LA trip right before SXSW, the road trip to SXSW, the sessions, the people, I was just tired. No, I don’t drink or smoke so that had nothing to do with it. But right before going to the bloggers lounge a rep from, I think Sony walked up and introduce herself to me. I said hello, shook hands and said nice to meet you. I then said I’m going to the bloggers lounge and take care. Kipp was like dude! Do you know who that is? I said no, he said her name and the company she works for and was like dang! I believe she and I had been sending tweets back and forth about meeting at SXSW to discuss some projects. Ouch!

Lesson: Make a note of people you plan to meet at conferences. Write down their names and look at the list through-out the day. Also take the time to ask how may I help you or just stop everything and have a real conversation with individuals who you meet at events. They will value the time and you can build a strong a relationships that may lead to future opportunities for the both of you.

6. My Gadget blog /Blog Network joins the dead pool
I launched a blog and blog network called the “W4Network” It stood for the “wayne on the world-wide web”. I had a gadget blog that was started around 2004 the same time as Gizmodo, Engadget and others. It received a decent amount of traffic and making some money via online ads. Because of the blog it help the local TV station hire me for their community content creator position. Due to all of the blogging responsibilities for the TV station I let it go. I started spending more time on Twitter and other social networks and soon after realising that was a mistake I launched SocialWayne.com in 2007 and have been blogging constantly ever since. You can also add a few video blog shows and podcast to dead pool the list too (talksocialnews.com).

Lesson: If you have something working, stick with it. Maybe ask for guest bloggers to keep the site going but don’t let your blog die.

7. Not having the Social Media Business Forum Conference in 2010.
In 2009 OurHashtag held a very successful social media conference in Durham, NC. It was the first real social media conference in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area. We had sponsors, guest speakers, great wi-fi and more. We planned it in three months. For 2010 we had big dreams/goals for the conference. We wanted to bring in speakers such as Evan Williams, Dennis Crowley, Pete Cashmore, Matt Cutts to put together with the awesome local talent we have here in NC for another Social Media Business Forum. Well, what happen was… I gave the agency world a try, Kipp moved to Boston, Jeff took Kipp’s old Job, Ryan continued to code, and it seems as if there was a social media event every other week in the beginning of 2010. I was about “social media” tired out and once we started planning the conference we looked at two different venues. One took a while to say no and by that time it was too late. Take all that in consideration with me focusing on TriOut and traveling, the conference will not take place this year but we are planning one for 2011.

Lesson: Plan ahead as much as you can, prioritize and work with people who can get things done around you. Also learn to delegate, something I’m bad at doing.

Whew, it’s posted, said and done. Now I can move on. Someone once told me in life there are “opportunities and situations, the outcome of both is up to you”. I may not have made the best decision with each opportunity or situation I’ve had over the years but I’ve learned from each one of them. Tomorrow starts another journey in my life and I’m as motivated as ever to be successful and provide good customer service to partners, clients and friends. Emails will get answered faster, phone calls will take place and events/meetups in NC will continue. TriOut will become success and the new incubator/coworking space will open doors soon.

In closing from Tony Hsieh, via Delivering Happiness “No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future!, author unknown.

Flickr photo by: Search Engine People Blog