Location-based apps such as Foursquare and Gowalla are great, but do you really want to know where your friends are—all of the time? Probably not. Banjo provides a useful solution: The app lets you specify a radius for the notifications you receive and alerts you when your friends are within that radius. READ MORE
According to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 55 percent of smartphone owners use their devices for some sort of location services. But before you rush to proclaim this the Era of Foursquare, keep this in mind: the study’s definition of “location services” is pretty loose, says ReadWriteWeb’s John Paul Titlow. READ MORE
Location-based services, which allow users to see each other’s nearby presence, help small businesses attract new customers and forge deeper connections with existing ones. Most services are free to sign up and use, but most small businesses haven’t fully realized the advantage of these services. READ MORE
Monday through Wednesday in New York City TechCrunch is holding its Disrupt Battlefield competition in which hopeful founders and entrepreneurs submit their young, unseen start-up companies for the opportunity to try winning the $50,000 prize while launching in front of an all-star panel made up of innovators, angel investors, venture capitalists and tech influencers. Monday featured three Battlefields: Disrupting Commerce, Disrupting Location and Disrupting Search and Discovery. These start-ups made presentations in the Disrupting Location category: 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
