Toluu

Mark Evans

Insight and Analysis from North of the Border

Not a User But Fascinated by FoursquareYesterday

Like any good-standing member of the digit-rati, I’m bedazzled by new and shiny services. Blogs had their day in the spotlight, but now they’re un-sexy; Facebook was cool until everyone and their parents climbed on the bandwagon; and Twitter is suffering from being the most over-hyped Web 2.0 service ever.

This takes us to Foursquare. Unlike blogs, Facebook and Twitter, I’m not a Foursquare user and I don’t see that changing. Simply put, broadcasting my location has little appeal because the benefits aren’t compelling.

That said, I am fascinating with Foursquare. In particular, I’m intrigued by what is happening behind the scenes. Fueled by an army of users – 500,000 and counting – Foursquare is accumulating massive amounts of data about places, as well as comments from users about those places. At the same time, it is layering on value-added content from partners such as Zagat.

In the process, Foursquare is building a content-rich, location-driven application that could go in a number of different directions.

It could, for example, become a powerful local search engine. Foursquare could be the company to solve the location advertising “nut” that countless number of start-ups have been scrambling to tackle. It could become a lucrative data licensee, selling access to its API to companies looking to take advantage of its location-based data and content. Or it could become an e-commerce

A Commentary About Blog Comment SystemsMarch 11

A few of you might have noticed that I recently switched blog comment systems – moving to Echo from IntenseDebate. The switch was mostly prompted by my frustration with IntenseDebate’s administrative features, particularly the inability to deal with spam on a volume/bulk basis as opposed to individually or groups of 10 at a time.

Having used Disqus at Twitterrati, I went looking for another comment system to see if there was another good option. After a bit of research, I came across Echo, which appeared to have many of the necessary features. I particularly liked how Echo would display tweets as well as comments – thereby providing coverage of more conversations about my blog posts.

Installing Echo was pretty straightforward, and the comments already within the blog were imported easily and quickly.

After a week or so of it, I’m not completely convinced it’s a long-term solution. The look and feel isn’t as polished as I’d like it to be, and the administrative functions need to be improved in terms of usability and intuitiveness.

Given Disqus and IntenseDebate have free versions, I’m surprised Echo costs $12/year after a 30-day trial period. Not that $12 is a lot of money but the lack of a free version is a detraction.

To be honest, I’d probably have uninstalled Echo already but there doesn’t appear to be an easy to uninstall it, which is compl

Where Are Canada’s Tech Bloggers?March 10

Canada has a vibrant high-tech economy so it seems strange that there are so few Canadian bloggers actively writing what’s going on. By active, I mean people writing blog posts a couple to a several times a week about Canadian and non-Canadian tech news.

There’s StartupNorth, TechVibes, Telecom Trends, Steve Hodson and myself. But where’s everyone else?

I know they’re out there because once in awhile you run across a blog with great content. The problem is they’re difficult to find because Canada lacks a good blog directory. This makes it challenging to find any Canadian blogger, let alone high-tech bloggers.

My interest in putting the spotlight on Canadian high-tech bloggers is two-fold.

From a personal standpoint, I’m a high-tech enthusiast, and always looking for new places to read about Canadian companies and entrepreneurs. Professionally, I work with a lot of really interesting start-ups, and it’

The New Akoha is UnveiledMarch 9

One of the major challenges facing many start-ups is what to do when their initial idea doesn’t work as well as expected. It’s difficult to recalibrate strategically once you have headed far down a particular path. Many startups simply can’t recover after investing so much time and effort.

For Akoha (a client), this was a reality it had to tackle. Launched at TechCrunch50 in late-2008, Akoha was a social game that used “mission cards” to do good things for other people and your community. Akoha users completed thousands of missions in more than 65 countries but the company realized that to really execute on the opportunity, it needed a new strategic direction.

After months of development, the Montreal-based company is relaunching today with a refreshed Web site, an iPhone app and, as important, a brand new approach that makes the service more fun and interesting. The cards have disappeared so the missions are easier to play individually or with other people. For every mission completed, players get awards – much like they do with servic

Foursquare + Google Maps = FourWhereMarch 9

I’m not a Foursquare user (at least for now) but I do find the popular location-based service intriguing as it continues to evolve beyond simply being a tool to broadcast your location. In particular, Foursquare strikes me as becoming a lot more interesting as its users begin to add more comments and tips, while Foursquare partners with companies such as Zagat to offer value-added content.

One of the challenges facing Foursquare is making this information easily accessible to its users AND people who don’t use Foursquare. Stepping into the breach is a new service called FourWhere, which mashes together locations and content from Foursquare with the Google Maps API to create a user-friendly tool to help bring Foursquare’s content front and centre.

Created by Sysomos (a client), FourWhere is easy to use. You start by providing your location (city or address) and then right-click on the map to see the places where Foursquare users have b