“Dance 10, Looks 3″ might be the best way to sum up Google’s idea for Foursquare implementation with Google Places. It’s a great idea, but when paired with RSS, it’s a dud, says MG Siegler at TechCrunch. And that might be the reason neither company is singing this feature’s praises to the rafters. READ MORE
Tired of Groupon-ing for discounts? How does free strike you? That’s the premise behind FreeMonee, which is hoping to do location-based discount services like Foursquare one better. Launched by veterans of eBay, Oracle, and Visa, FreeMonee gives credit and debit cardholders cash gifts at various stores and restaurants that are part of a “cash-gift network.” READ MORE
Have a business trip coming up? If you’re a Foursquare fan, or interested in trying to win a free getaway, you might reconsider your hotel arrangements. Mashable‘s Jennifer Van Grove reports that Foursquare, with its self-proclaimed mission to reinvent loyalty programs, has partnered with Starwood Hotels and Resorts. That means by checking-in with Foursquare at participating Starwood hotels you can get additional Starwood Preferred Guest (SGP) points, Foursquare badges and rewards. READ MORE
Last week’s blackout of Amazon’s Web Services caused expensive and exasperating traffic halts to many prominent sites such as Reddit, Foursquare, and Hootsuite. However, according to Mashable, Amazon has finally issued a formal apology and lengthy explanation of how the outage occurred, why the system failed, and what Amazon plans to do to prevent similar issues in the future. READ MORE
