check in

More

Chkin.at – Check Into Sites Instead Of Places

March 23, 2012

By now, we’re all used to the concept of checking into Foursquare whenever we are at any kind of venue. It takes only a second, and it lets all the people in our lives know where to find us if they need us. Which is just great. But there’s more to the concept of using check-ins, as this new startup proves.

Chkin.at lets you check into sites instead of places. When using Chkin.at, you can tell everybody that you’re currently on Facebook, going through the latest stories that your friends have posted. Or that you’re reading the latest posts to have been published on your favorite technology blogs.

Just like Foursquare, Chkin.at lets you earn points and prizes for all your activity. The more active you are, then the most respected you’ll be by other users of the site.

Unlike Foursquare, though, Chkin.at is not a mobile app. No, it’s an extension that you install on your browser, and that lets you check into sites right as you’re visiting them.

All in all, a very novel and intelligent service. Check it out – both Firefox and Chrome are already fully supported.

Reviews

More

TripBirds.com – Social Trip Planner

March 22, 2012

The social web and the travel industry are like a match that was made in heaven. I always think about it when I come across a site like this one. TripBirds is a service that lets you see the places all your Facebook friends have been to, so that you can base your own travel decisions on something you can really relate to. And the service also works the other way around, of course. Your friends will get to see these places that you have visited yourself, and decide on where to go based on that.

Of course, in addition to seeing which places your friends are visiting you can quickly connect with them. So, it’s very easy to ask your best friend just why he has checked in to a venue that you’ve never heard of in your life. You can ask him were did he learn about it, and what it was like being there. All vital information when planning a trip.

TripBirds is a free service, and you can use it just by signing in with your Facebook account. And as it is only suitable, integration both with Foursquare and Instagram is provided. So, that’s the three main geo-location services of the day successfully taken care of.

Reviews

More

Playd.it – Foursquare For Gamers

December 16, 2011

Available for iPhone and Android, Playd can be defined as the equivalent of Foursquare for people who love playing games. If that’s your true passion, then you could never go wrong with a service such as this one. Playd will let you connect with other gamers who’re keen on the same titles you can’t stop playing, and exchange strategies and tips with them. And (just like Foursquare), the more involved you become then the higher your reputation will go, and the more others will look up to you.

It’s all done by creating an account, selecting your platform and checking-in to these games that you play, just as you would check-in to a venue when using Foursquare. And you’ll be rewarded in a comparable way, too, with points being received for all your activity while you are logged in to Playd.com.

And something that I find interesting (not to mention well-thought-of) is that Playd actually checks that you’re playing these games that you check-in to, so that’s impossible to claim you’re playing the latest title in the “Call Of Duty” series when you are actually watching an episode of “Breaking Bad” on TV.

Reviews

More

WanderMapper.com – Create A Better Foursquare Map

November 26, 2011

Wander Mapper is a new service that lets you take your Foursquare neighborhood and create an illustrated version of it. This service is available for free. All you have to do is to give Wander Mapper your Foursquare ID for a map where everything’s clearer (and also where everything looks much better) to be generated at once. And in addition to illustrating your neighborhood for you, Wander Mapper will also given you a rating based on how active you really are on Foursquare.

You can be rated in any of four different levels. Level 0 is for those who haven’t really used Foursquare that much ever since they’ve created their accounts. Level 1 is for people who are using the service, but in a moderate way. Level 2 is for those who keep checking in and out of places. And Level 3 is for those who know where they live so well that they could work as guides, and show their neighborhoods around to others.

So, what will it be for you? Level 1? Level 2? Level 3, maybe? Find it out now by connecting your Fousquare account to Wander Mapper, and get to know how do you rank in your city, in a way that’s more visual than any other you might have ever known before.

Reviews

More

GetArrived.com – Notify People When You Arrive

November 15, 2011

Telling your friends that you’ve arrived somewhere is dead-easy nowadays. You simply have to check into FourSquare. Or you can post an update to Twitter or Facebook, telling everybody where you are. And that’s not counting sending out a good old SMS, and telling your friends where to look out for you. In all cases, we’re talking about something that takes just one or two minutes. It’s never something that could get in the way of the fun you plan to have. Yet, if you’re too lazy to even take out your mobile and update your status, then I’ve got the perfect application for you. It’s named Arrived, and it can take care of notifying your friends once you get to a certain place.

This is done by creating geo-fences. When you move into any of these, a message will be sent to the people you want to know about your location. You’re the one setting down who’s going to be notified of where you are, in no case will a notification be shot out to all of your contacts. You handpick the people to be messaged, for each and every place that

This is the download link for Arrived. The app is available at zero cost. And the company will take the wraps off a web version of the service soon, too.

Reviews

More

Auto4Sq.com – Automatic Foursquare Check Ins

October 28, 2011

Suppose you always check-in with Foursquare at the very same places day after day. Wouldn’t it make sense being able to automate such a process, and be checked-in there without having to do anything? It’s not that you would save a lot of time or effort, but having these small things out of your mind in the end can let you focus on what really matters better. So, an application like the one I’m going to review now can turn to be more useful than what you might think at first.

Using Auto4Sq, you’ll be able to schedule automatic check-ins for any place that you find yourself visiting day after day. You simply authenticate who you are using your Foursquare account, pick the place you want to be automatically checked-in to every day, and that’ll be the end of it. You’re going to be checked-in to that place until you instruct the service to stop doing that.

Of course, if you are up for a bit of mischief you can always use this service to check at places you’ve never been to (and never will) in your whole life. You can effectively clone yourself, and be in several places at the same time. I don’t know if that’s what the creators of Auto4Sq had in mind when they came up with this site, but, hey it lends itself to this kind of use too.

Web App-Tools

More

Cardsized.com – Create Memory Cards With Social Data

September 7, 2011

Cardsized enables people who are really active on social services such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare to keep a detailed track of all their activity by creating cards where everything can be clearly set down, making it very easy to review all these things they’ve done on any day of the week. And a service like Cardsized is also useful for showing others what one’s been up to recently, as merely sharing the relevant card will give other people a perfect understanding of what he has done on the dates that apply.

Status updates, tweets, check-ins… it can all be included on any of these cards, along with images from sites such as Flickr. Everything can be ordered by priority, in a drag and drop fashion. And the content of any card can actually be tagged as the user sees fit, effectively letting him present its content in a way that’s instantly relatable to others.

Cardsized has been created by a two-man team from Japan, composed by Shinsuke Terada and Makoto Hirose.

Web App-Tools

More

EmptyNe.st – Learn When Your Children Check In

August 1, 2011

Parents are naturally wary of their children using social networks, but the way things are they often end up relenting. And when that has happened, the last thing they want is to come across as nosy. They don’t want to give their sons the impression they don’t trust them. But they badly want to have some kind of understanding of what their kids do when they are online. And that is exactly what this service provides: a sort of insight on what children and teenagers do when they are connected to sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Empty Ne.st enables parents to see when their kids check in on Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter. They get to know nothing more. They don’t know where they are, or what they are doing there. All they know is that they have connected to any of these three services.

This means that parents who use Empty Ne.st can get to realize their children are safe while respecting their privacy. And as far as offspring are concerned, a service like Empty Ne.st effectively puts an end to the uneasiness that goes with having to befriend parents on Facebook, or having to explaining to them how Foursquare works, and what all these dots are supposed to mean.

All in all, a service that is certainly less invasive than others like GoGoStat. That doesn’t make it any better or worse, it just makes it a little bit different. Parents who trust their children and who just want to have some kind of understanding of what they are doing when they are out and about will love it.

Reviews

More

VenueWize.com – Intelligent Guest List Management

July 13, 2011

Creating a guest list for any event of yours could hardly be any easier now that an application like VenueWize has become readily available. This new tool can let you assemble one such list in what is unarguably the easiest way of all: collaboratively. VenueWize enables any organizer to collaborate with the members of his team both in the creation and edition of guest lists, even when an event is running.

By using the provided VenueWize widget, guests can request to be placed on a guest list. Once their request is accepted by the event creator, the door managers will get the updated guest information right on their mobile phones. They will be able to search names and grant/refuse admission to the event in an unequivocal way. And the event organizer himself can see how everything is going by seeing which guests have already checked in, and which are still to make it to the event.

The VenueWize application is already available at the App Store. Only iPhones are supported so far, but an iPad-friendly version of the service is going to be released in due time.

Reviews

More

TripsQ.com – Measure The Miles You Have Traveled

July 4, 2011

This is a service not everybody will find handy. The only people who will derive some real uses from it are those who are always traveling, and who spend a reasonable part of their time at airports at that. Basically, what TripsQ can do is to keep count of the times one checks in at such locations, and then track the miles he has traveled like that. Using that information, the service can produce a list of all his trips (complete with itineraries), and highlight how many miles/km the person has traveled in any given month. And TripsQ can even measure the climate impact of the traveler by letting him figure out how much CO2 he has produced during his trips

That is the service as it stands right now. Some features which are meant to be implemented soon will include being able to learn what people who have previously checked at the same airport that you have done in order to maximize their stays at these cities, and also to track some lifestyle variables such as how many miles you have walked, and how much weight you have put on/lost. When these are rolled in, then the service will invariable enlarge its appeal to people who are not frequent travelers.

Web App-Tools

More

Quipster.co – Share What You Are Doing

June 6, 2011

Quipster presents itself as a new way of checking in to venues. In general, users of this application are enabled to provide their own appreciations on these places they are at, or these activities that they are undertaking. For example, people who have gone to watch a movie can comment on its actual quality, and those who have ordered an elaborate dinner can share their thoughts with all their friends. And the true charm of the site is how these insights and opinions can be kept as personal as the user wants – it is possible to edit everything in full, and employ the language that one sees as fit.

So, this new mobile app lets you not only tell others where you are but actually inform them of how much you are enjoying your stay at that very same spot, and whether or not you would advise others to head down there. And the app is excellently wrapped up by the ability to send photos, and by providing users with full Facebook integration already. You will be able to tell all your social network friends what you are up to in the blink of an eye.

Reviews

More

Nock-Nock.com – Find The Best Bars In Town

May 13, 2011

Chances are that when going out many of you decide which venues you are going to hit based on who is going to be there. Which makes just too much sense, really. And which can be done easier than ever thanks to this new application.

Nock Nock will let you figure out two things that are vital, and that go hand in glove. The first is letting you realize where the busiest spots in town are. The second is letting you know who is exactly where.

That information is accessed just by selecting the neighborhood that you want to have analyzed after having logged in with your Foursquare account. The data will be retrieved instantly, and placed on an easy-to-understand map. Not that such data could actually be presented in a complicated setting, but the way everything is handled here is certainly user-friendly.

Right now, this service works only in San Francisco and New York, but support for other cities (and countries) is underway.

Web App-Tools

More

SuperMeeple.com – Foursquare For Board Games

May 6, 2011

As the title of the review puts it, SuperMeeple is the equivalent of Foursquare for board games. The idea is that through this site those who enjoy playing such games can check in to them, and let everybody else know what they are playing (and with whom).

SuperMeeple works with Facebook. That is, you are not needed to create an account to check in to any game. All you have to do is to head to the site, sign in using your Facebook credentials, and then search for the game that you are about to play. If that game is indeed featured on the database (quite likely – tons of games are featured) then you will be able to check in to the game, and add both the scores and players that apply.

And mobile apps are meant to be released soon, letting you check in to these games that you enjoy playing from wherever you are. An app for Android phones is the first in line, with more coming later on.

Reviews

More

KidCheck.com – Information For Childcare Professionals

April 27, 2011

Whenever a child is left in a temporary care facility, the parent has to fill in a form in which his contact information is set down. In case there is an emergency, the childcare professional will look there in order to realize how to reach out to the parent. And up until today, such a process used to involve pen and paper. And it suffered from all the lack of dynamicity that any process which is tied to paper forms is always subjected to. But that is set to change if this new service catches on.

Basically, KidCheck lets parents create an account where they can set down all their contact information, and keep it online (IE, somewhere the childcare provider can easily access it). Obviously, the parent is also enabled to include all the medical information that any such professional should know (such as allergies).

The basic version of KidCheck is free, and then there are four paid plans. Starting at $ 19.99/month, they are Essentials, Standard, Premium and Campus. You can tell one from the other based on the number of check-in stations that are supported.

Web App-Tools

More

GoScoville.com – Cool Places To Visit Where You Are

April 13, 2011

Discovering the best places to visit is the objective of this new location service. The idea is to let you know about the happening spots in the city that you are in. Naturally, this will be very appealing to people who are just passing through, and who want to take a good memory of the place with them when they go. Well, using Scoville they will get to learn what the trendiest places are, and head straight there.

On Scoville, the popularity of places is determined using all the obvious indicators – the amount of people who check-in, the messages and images that are swapped among users… in short: all that goes into actually setting a place abuzz.

For the time being, Scoville is available only to those who have a FourSquare account. That might change soon, though, and even those who are new to the world of location-based networking might be able to get into the swing of it. But keeping things focused on users of FourSquare first is entirely understandable.

Reviews

More

Ditto.me – Future Check Ins

March 5, 2011

Foursquare is one of the most original social services available, but it is obvious that the concept can be expanded even more. The ones who have designed Ditto certainly knew as much, and have taken it unto themselves to begin carving the path ahead.

In general, we can say that Ditto is a social service for future check-ins. Users of Ditto can tell others what they mean to do at a later date. This is conveyed using a series of icons that announce your intent, such as seeing a movie, eating out or staying at home.

And the way this service works, you are enabled to tell others about what you want to do and receive recommendations and suggestions. For example, you can make it clear that next Thursday you intend to go out and have dinner, and by leaving the location box empty you will be effectively enabling others to advice you on cool places you could try out.

Reviews

More

Localley.com – Future Check Ins

February 25, 2011

Will Facebook Places become the de facto ruler of location-based networking? Ask the ones who have come up with this service, and the will certainly begin nodding their heads empathically. Otherwise, why would they have created a service whose usefulness is directly tied to the eventual mass adoption that Facebook Places might have?

Because Localley will be as successful as Facebook Places turns out to be. By using it, you will be able to perform tasks like checking in to places in advance, and subscribe to the check-ins of your friends. In this way, you will be able to know where they will be at any moment in time, without having to ask them directly. There is no need for me to tell you how much this can simplify making plans together – you just tell others where you are going to be by setting down a future check-in, and those who want to catch up with you will have their work cut for them.

Localley is entirely free to use. By signing in with your Facebook account, you will be enabled to do all that has been described above and more.

Reviews

More

4SquareAnd7YearsAgo.com – Remember Your Check Ins

February 23, 2011

Leaving aside its nefarious URL, 2SquareAnd7YearsAgo is quite a useful application for all those who have become active users of Foursquare. Essentially, this new service can take care of reminding them exactly what they were doing a year ago. Any person who authenticates who he is via Foursquare will begin receiving a daily email detailing where it was that he had checked in one year back to the current date.

The person will get to know his total numbers of check-ins for that day, and the time that each took place at.

What good is this for? Well, 2SquareAnd7YearsAgo obviously has no practical applications at all. Rather, it is a service for those who take their nostalgia seriously. And once new features begin rolling in (such as reminding users not only of where it was they checked in, but also of what was happening in the world around them at that time) it can but become even more meaningful to all those who try it now, and like what it can do.

Web App-Tools

More

WhereDoYouGo.net – Map Your Foursquare Activity

January 20, 2011

People are often unaware of how much time they spend of social services. Most would feel either embarrassed or a little uneasy if they were provided with a report showcasing their weekly Facebook usage. Not because using Facebook is something wrong or bad, but simply because they will realize they prioritized it over other personal activities that might as well have been more enriching.

And what about Foursquare, the new darling of the social scene? Will people feel like they have wasted their time if they could have a clear way to visualize their check-ins? Well, it looks like we are about to find that out. The service being reviewed right now can let users generate heatmaps showcasing their activity. All their check-ins will be laid on top of a map, and the person will be able to figure out to which extent he has really spent his time purposefully.

Where Do You Go is a free service. You simply authenticate who you are using your Google credentials, and then you will be able to have your every check-in measured and plotted for you.

Web App-Tools

More

Foursquarefox.com – Check In To Foursquare With Firefox

January 19, 2011

How keen are you on Foursquare? Because if you are really, really enthusiastic about the location-based service par excellence then giving this new solution a look is in your best interests.

Foursquarefox is a browser add-on for Firefox. And yes, it does exactly what its name suggests – it lets you experience Foursquare to the full in your browser. You will be able to see who is into which place, how many points they are earning and how close they are to taking that mayorship away from you. And all that will be done straight from your browser. Not having your mobile close at hand will no longer be a problem for being active on Foursquare. Your exact position will be determined via wifi.

Foursquarefox can be downloaded at just no cost. As long as you are running version 3.5 of Mozilla Firefox (or a newer one) you will be able to get it to work, without any kind of hitch or glitch.

Web App-Tools

All Topics