Shopkick Invades Foursquare Territory
Shopkick is like a more focused version of Foursquare. While Foursquare lets you check-in to places and share your location, Shopkick is all about going shopping. The iPhone application detects that you’ve entered a supported shop. As you browse through the store, you get alerts for potential rewards or Kickbucks. Scanning items in the store helps you find more special offers. Shopkick has some major partners, including: Best Buy, American Eagle Outfitters, Macy’s, and the Sports Authority. They also have the Simon Property Group, which runs just about every major mall in my metro area (Atlanta). via Business Insider
Apple’s iAds Not Working Out So Well
Only a handful of the original 17 iAd partners have actually launched ad campaigns via iAds. Many sight the primary problem as Apple’s tight control over the creative process. It’s simply not something many advertisers are used to. Some executives say this has made the creation of the ads laborious and the process is taking 8 to 10 weeks from brainstorm to completion, two weeks longer than usual in some cases. With packages starting at $1 million and competition heating up in the mobile advertising space, Apple is going to need to streamline this process. via WSJ
Xbox Live Launches for Windows 7
Microsoft is set to launch over 60 game titles for Windows 7 devices, with new offerings appearing every week in the Xbox Live Marketplace. These include classics like Castlevania, Halo: Waypoint, Star Wars, Crackdown, and Guitar Hero. Every game works on a try before you buy basis, so you can evaluate them before you make a commitment. Live on WP7 offers full avatar integration with customizations. Overall, the prospects for gaming on Windows 7 devices look promising. via Engadget
Google’s Chrome Web Store Launches Dev Preview
In preparation for their official launch some time in October, Google has opened up the Chrome Web Store to developers. The goal is to make sure that the store is filled with useful applications by the time the launch date rolls around. If you’re a developer, you can access the preview here and start creating and uploading apps. The Chrome Web Store will be similar to others, except that Google only charges a 5% processing fee and allows developers to keep the lion’s share of the sales. via Mashable
Amplify Cranks it Up To 11
Amplify let’s you share things you find on the web and discuss them. It’s not a new concept, but Amplify remixes it just enough to make things interesting. They are also the only service I’m aware of with a Javascript bookmarklet that actually works on Android. Yesterday, they released a bunch of features that take the site to the next level:
- Live Feeds – the Amplify site now updates in real-time. No more refreshing, but it’s also not the hectic fire hose of FriendFeed.
- Mentions – now, you can direct your comments to a specific user and receive alerts when people talk about/to you. They work just like Twitter @mentions or Facebook tagging.
- Conversations Feed – simple way to keep track of comments relevant to you.
- Eavesdropping – easily add Amps to your Conversations Feed so that you can follow what people are saying.
- Action Feed – quickly see the latest actions on the stuff you’ve posted.
- Email Management – Amplify wants to get out of your email inbox, but you still might want alerts for certain items. Now, you can toggle email alerts on a post-by-post basis.
- Permalink Alerts – direct links to specific items will now alert you when they have new comments.
- Microblogging and Direct Messaging – limits on these are now doubled, from 500 to 1000 characters.