Apr
8th

Oneupweb Reviews: Foursquare’s Cheater Code

Posted by Adam D on April 8, 2010 at 1:54 pm

If Your Check-Ins Are Fake, Foursquare’s Gonna Catch You!

Foursquare has had a problem for a while. Although it’s a location based service, users have been able to check-in when they aren’t actually… on location.

foursquare logo

Foursquare has tried to downplay the problem, as I mentioned in Oneupweb Reviews: Gowalla. Foursquare’s founder Dennis Crowley defended the user-driven check-ins:

“what spamming problem? there’s a few fake checkins here and there but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s constantly 5-6 venues with 100+ checkins. people down here [SXSW] chosing where to go not based on party schedule but venues are trending on 4sq….we ll always let people checkin wherever they want… people are often more accurate than gps”

According to Gowalla investor Chris Sacca:

“Foursquare has a spam problem. Which leads people to believe that Foursquare is more popular than Gowalla. He argues that it’s not that more people are using Foursquare, but that people are able to take advantage of the loophole.”

The Solution:

To fix this problem, Foursquare has announced its “cheater code” – which is basically an attempt to catch some of the folks that are checking-in from their couches to steal mayorships. Users can no longer check-in to a location, and earn points or badges, without actually being there.

Foursquare has stayed true to its promise that users will always be able to check in, and tell their friends where they are, even without GPS enabled. But now, unless the GPS feature is enabled, users will no longer be able to earn points or badges.

What are my thoughts?:

It’s about time. I couldn’t believe that Dennis Crowley had such an indifferent view on this problem. For me as a user it took the wind out of Foursquare’s sails. But I can only imagine the problems this caused businesses. If a business is offering people rewards for visiting their location, those people better actually be there.

The negative side to the “Cheater Code” is GPS isn’t always reliable. For example, if you are in a building sometimes GPS doesn’t work (not to mention GPS isn’t always accurate). Obviously this could be frustrating for the more honest foursquare users out there, who are on location, but receive no credit for it.

In the long run this is a healthy compromise for Foursquare, and it will help businesses adopt the service and offer rewards for users. And in turn more and more users will adopt the service because of the rewards. For cracking down on Foursquare abusers, we give Foursquare an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

If you experience GPS problems, Foursquare has created a place for you to report any issues: http://4sq.com/4sqGeoWoes

Below I’ve added a link to Foursquare’s response to user concerns about the cheaters code:
The follow-up to our “mayorships from your couch” post

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Apr
6th

Oneupweb Reviews: The Orno

Posted by Adam D on April 6, 2010 at 10:57 am

It’s difficult for marketers to spend massive amounts of money on marketing campaigns without knowing what the outcome will be. Will the campaign succeed or will it fail? Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what was going to happen with your campaign before you spent time and money creating it?

Sounds like I’m talking about going to the future doesn’t it? The good people at Orno have created the next best thing to time travel: The Orno.

This simple, easy to use application claims it will determine the success of your marketing campaign before you launch it. We contacted Orno and of course they wouldn’t reveal exactly how the Orno predicts the success of your campaign. But they did send us this video below that talks about what the Orno does.

On the Orno website it states:

The break-through technology that powers Orno will help you predict the success or belly-smacking failure of your next marketing campaign by drawing on a database powered by more than thirteen years of collective campaign creative, results metrics, neuro-marketing analysis and more. The technology is astounding. And so is the potential for your business. Predict the success of your next campaign with Orno. It’s a no brainer.

We gave the Orno a try, and to tell you the truth the results were pretty surprising. All we had to do was type in a 141 character description of our campaign idea and the Orno did the rest.

After getting our response we clicked “What the Heck?” and all was explained. We figured what did we have to lose? In fact we were entered into a drawing to win an Apple iPad! Can’t beat that.

Check out the Orno for yourself and let us know how well it can predict the success of your next campaign.

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up!

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Apr
1st

Oneupweb Reviews: 2010’s Top Ten Best April Fools’ Jokes

Posted by Adam D on April 1, 2010 at 3:24 pm

Here’s our list of the 2010’s Top Ten Best April Fools’ Jokes, enjoy!

10. Kodak Releases Aromatized Images

Kodak has cleverly introduced a new line of products called AROMATIZED images. AROMATOGRAPHY is the process of embedding smells into your photography. Thanks to breakthrough in Neuro-Optic-Nasal-Sense Imaging (deep breath), you now can experience your photos in a whole new way. Move over 3D you’ve got nothing on AROMATOGRAPHY!

Learn more in this interview with Dr. Harold Museau, PhD, inventor of Aromatography.

9. Google Renames Itself in Honor of Topeka

Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. Google has been wondering ever since how best to honor that gesture. Today Google announced that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed its name to Topeka.

8. First Prescription Windshield Launches

Constantly having to swap your glasses or remember to bring along a pair for driving? Do away with the hassle, as Auto Windscreens, innovators in automotive glazing, has successfully launched its first prescription windshield.

7. Wikipedia Features Article on Wife Selling

Here’s today’s featured article on Wikipedia: Wife Selling.

6. Google Docs Now Allows Upload of Physical Objects

Google docs have always been a great way to store your digital information. But as of today not only can you store your digital documents, but your physical property as well. That’s right, you can upload your cat, keys, lava lamp, or exercise ball for only $0.10 per kg. Just read the testimonies of satisfied customers below.

5. Thinkgeek Now Selling Unicorn Meat, With Extra Sparkles

Just read the description of ThinkGeek’s Canned Unicorn Meat. I couldn’t describe this product any better than this.

Unicorns, as we all know, frolic all over the world, pooping rainbows and marshmallows wherever they go. What you don’t know is that when unicorns reach the end of their lifespan, they are drawn to County Meath, Ireland. The Sisters at Radiant Farms have dedicated their lives to nursing these elegant creatures through their final days. Taking a cue from the Kobe beef industry, they massage each unicorn’s coat with Guinness daily and fatten them on a diet comprised entirely of candy corn.

As the unicorn ages, its meat becomes fatty and marbled and the living bone in the horn loses density in a process much like osteoporosis. The horn’s outer layer of keratin begins to develop a flavor very similar to candied almonds. Blending the crushed unicorn horn into the meat adds delightful, crispy flavor notes in each bite. We are confident you will find a world of bewilderment in every mouthful of scrumptious unicorn meat.

4. YouTube Offers Text Videos to Promote Literacy

This exert from YouTube’s blog explains the idea behind text videos.

TEXTp is the result of months of intense transcoding efforts by our engineers, who toiled for weeks to ensure that a large chunk of videos on the platform could be reduced to their most basic elements. By replacing the images in the video with a series of letters and numbers, the videos are far less taxing on our system — and have the added benefit of promoting literacy!

For every person who selects TEXTp and keeps it on while you watch a video, you save YouTube $1 a second, resulting in potentially billions of dollars of savings for us. So if you care about YouTube, you’ll use TEXTp today.

3. Hulu Leaks Plan to Take Over the World

Hulu has a leaked a confidential page revealing their plan for world domination. Talk about a PR mess. Watch the video to find out in the end there is nothing that you can do, so enjoy the free TV while aliens turn your brains to mush.

2. CollegeHumor.com Under Investigation By United States Department Of Information

College Humor’s homepage displays the page below.

1. FunnyOrDie.com Gets Taken Over By the Beib

The site FunnyOrDie.com, a site dedicated to all things funny, has been taken over by the teenage heart throb Justin Beiber.

BeiberOrDie as it is now called, features Justin Bieber videos forced upon viewers like his music has been forced upon the nation. I have to give Justin some credit though. He’s willing to laugh at himself, as is evident in the intro video.

Bonus: Oneupweb’s Revolutionary Decision Making Product – The Orno

I also want to point out Oneupweb’s April fools’ prank called the Orno. The idea was to convince marketers that a tool was created that could tell whether or not their campaign would be successful. Check it out for free here: TheOrno.com.

Watch Introducing the Orno below, and let us know what you think.

Official Oneupweb Review: (We love them all) Thumbs Up!

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Mar
31st

Oneupweb Reviews: The New YouTube Video Page

Posted by Adam D on March 31, 2010 at 3:40 pm

YouTube is offering users who opt-in here the ability to test drive the new video page redesign.

The redesign includes revamped comments section, relocation of the embed and URL links, and some added play list features.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the page has been simplified. At the top you have the YouTube logo, search bar, and a drop down box where your user name is.

Here you will find links to your Channel, subscriptions, inbox, videos, account, and favorites.

Another drop down has been added to view all the current users’ videos.

You can scroll right or left and see all the videos that the user you’re currently viewing has uploaded.

Directly under your video you will notice two more drop downs. One to expand the information of the video,

and the other to view the insights of the video.

YouTube’s plans are to eventually roll out the new design to everyone, but they are taking user input as they release features. I like the simpler user interface. It seems there was a short period of time where YouTube began feeling bloated and unattractive. The designers must have agreed, and the new look is an improvement in that aspect.

Advertisements have gone missing from the new design, but it would be nice to see where these will end up. You may have also notice that the 5 star rating has been done away with. To replace it YouTube has added the familiar Facebook Like or Dislike thumbs. The nice thing about this is all your liked videos will be compartmentalized, so that you can watch them later in playlist form.

Speaking of playlists, now users are able to turn on an Autoplay feature, and as soon as one video is done in your playlist, the next one will begin automatically.

Change is usually difficult no matter how well designed something is. I hope that YouTube continues to keep users updated on the new features being released, as this will help users to accept the changes.

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

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Mar
30th

Oneupweb Reviews: PLANCAST

Posted by Adam D on March 30, 2010 at 2:57 pm

PLANCAST is a service for sharing your upcoming plans with friends, and has been referred to as a social calendar.

Once you login, your Twitter or Facebook account info is imported to your PLANCAST profile. And because of this, setup time is quite short.

If you want to discover friends who may be using PLANCAST, click Discover Friends. Based on your Twitter following, friends from Facebook, or email contacts PLANCAST will show you who is using the service. From there you can subscribe to feeds, and next time plans are submitted to those feeds, you will be notified.

Above is an example of what your own PLANCAST home page could look like. And of course once you create your plan, you can choose to share it across other social networks.

I think PLANCAST can be utilized in many ways for personal or businesses use. For personal use users could let their friends know what they’re up to, find out what their friends are doing, or plan a big event or party. Businesses could promote their own events through the user base already on PLANCAST. Or they could even track popular trends in local areas or abroad.

PLANCAST is a great way to keep track of your plans and share them with friends. For that we give it an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

But the future of PLANCAST is unsure. With juggernauts like Facebook and Twitter casting a shadow on the social landscape, the question is, will people use PLANCAST? Especially when most of their friends are using other, more well known, social networks. What do you think? Does PLANCAST have a place in the social landscape?

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Mar
29th

Oneupweb Reviews: Tweetshare

Posted by Adam D on March 29, 2010 at 4:03 pm

Twitter has filled the gap between blogs like this one and static web pages; giving consumers and brands the ability to update the world about all the details of their lives.

And while Twitter serves its purpose well, there have been times when I’ve found Twitter lacking certain features. Today, let’s take a look at a service that attempts to remedy some of Twitters shortcomings – Tweetshare.

Tweetshare, created by Fuzebox, is a third party app that takes some of the best features of Twitter, such as, real-time updates, and allows you to create your own custom microsite. There you can showcase presentations, videos, product shots, whitepapers, and webinars. These microsites are referred to as Fan Pages.

Similar to Facebook Fan Pages, Tweetshare’s Fan Pages give users options for customizing their profile. Below you can see some of the options given during setup.

Take note of step #4 Contributors. This is an interesting feature where multiple users can manage and contribute to a single account. This could be a nice feature if a team of people are looking to contribute to a single Twitter account.

Tweetshare includes analytics and measurement tools as well, a feature that has been missing from Twitter’s arsenal since its inception.

If you like Twitter but find yourself wanting more customization abilities, Tweetshare might be just the app you’ve been looking for. Of course there are other services similar to Tweetshare like TweetMixx and Tweetmeme that you might also want to investigate.

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

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Mar
23rd

Oneupweb Reviews: Themeleon, Twitter’s New Design App

Posted by Adam D on March 23, 2010 at 10:44 am

Today is a big day in the history of our nation. What, haven’t you heard? It’s free cone day at Ben & Jerry’s! I found this out because it was a trending topic on Twitter today. But Twitter wasn’t completely trending with ice cream cone discounts. I also noticed a #hcr (Health Care Reform) hash tag, but I couldn’t decide which one I was more excited about.

While I was on Twitter checking out the trends, I thought I would make some design changes to my profile. Then Twitter suggested I Check out Themeleon, and check it out I did.

Themeleon gives users the ability to customize the way their profile looks. You can use any of the 700,000 background patterns or color palettes. You can even design your own backgrounds or patterns. On colourlovers.com (the website for the Themeleon), they say you can create a beautiful Twitter profile using these three simple steps.

Themeleon makes profile design for Twitter much more intuitive than before. Much like MySpace’s customization feature, this app brings Twitter design to the masses.

My question is not about the app itself—the app is fun and easy to use, allowing even the most inexperienced designer the ability to create a colorful Twitter profile—but rather about the idea behind the app. Is Twitter profile design necessary anymore?

From my experience, most people access Twitter from an app on their mobile phone or computer. Even when they are on a computer, they’re using third party applications like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. I don’t know how many people use Twitter profiles to interact anymore.

But perhaps that’s the idea here. With Twitter rumored to be releasing their advertising platform soon, maybe they are trying to direct people back to the site itself (rather than using third party apps).

But for now, and those rare times that we do check out a profile, this app will help you create a profile that you can be proud of.

Oneupweb Official Review: Thumbs Up

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Mar
16th

Oneupweb Reviews: Blippy

Posted by Adam D on March 16, 2010 at 3:52 pm

Twitter CEO Evan Williams recently tweeted that, “Many of the great businesses of the next decade will be about making information about our behaviors more visible.” That being said, there has been an increase in sites recently that allow you to share and review your purchases. Recently Oneupweb reviewed Hollrr, a popular site that allows you to do just that. Blippy is a site that is trying to do the same.

Let’s take a look at Blippy and see if it earns our thumbs up.

Although Blippy seems to have the right idea, I’m not quite sure if they are implementing it. The reason being, I have no idea how to use the service. Call me old fashioned, but I just expect there to be a help section on a professional website. Maybe even a step by step guide or tutorial that leads interested users through the getting started process.

Sure I could spend the time researching and digging, to try and find out just how it works, but I have grown accustom to watching video tutorials on most websites. It’s not that I’m slow. It’s just that I (like most users) have a very short attention span. I don’t want to think when I go to a website like Blippy. So Blippy that’s strike one for you.

Next I’m taken to a page that wants me to add friends… I’m just gonna stop there.

I have to admit at this point I wasn’t willing to go any further with Blippy. I was already too flustered by the lack of direction/help. Blippy claims to be fun and easy, but my experience with the service was neither.

Maybe I was just spoiled by Hollrr’s interface, which allowed me to view the most popular products and services (without friending someone). Maybe the thought of sharing all my purchases with people makes a private person like me a little unnerved. I can’t say for sure. But one thing I do know is that if Blippy wants to reach people who are new to the site, they need to have a little more clear direction.

Oneupweb Official Review: Thumbs Down

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Mar
12th

Oneupweb Reviews: Funny Chatroulette Videos

Posted by Adam D on March 12, 2010 at 1:31 pm

Is there any other place where you can jump into people’s lives with no greeting, no process of getting to know that person, or no time to decide if that person is a weirdy or not? Not in real life there isn’t (perhaps for the best). But in Chatroulette land, that’s exactly what happens. And as you can imagine, the results can be very funny.

Earlier this week we reviewed Chatroulette, which has received a lot of attention from the media. Although Chatroulette has yet to find a way to monetize its service, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot of fun. So today, in Oneupweb Fun Friday tradition, let’s take a different spin on the review blog and watch some of our favorite Chatroulette videos.

If You Turn Your Head I Win

Man, I have to admit this video got to me. If you turned your head you lose, and whoever is behind the paper wins. A simple concept, but you gotta love how it makes almost everyone smile.

Don’t Think, Just Dance

Sometimes we over analyze life, and in the process forget to take time to enjoy the simple things. Sometimes you need to just smile, laugh a little, and as the video suggests – dance. I find it wonderful that the people in this video, once they figure out it’s not a setup, let their hair down and have a little fun.

One Day On Chatroulette – And Then There Was Weird

Don’t let the Halloween masks scare you. This video is not scary at all, at least not in the normal sense of the word. It’s just so weird it makes you laugh. My favorite parts are just seeing how people react to what they are watching.

A Word of Caution

There are many other Chatroulette videos uploaded on YouTube that I couldn’t post here. After all, this is a family blog – we try to keep it PG. But if you think you can stomach some of the stranger videos, check them out yourself.

But as for the clean, funny, creative Chatroulette videos, we give them an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs up

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Mar
11th

Oneupweb Reviews: The New MSN Homepage

Posted by Adam D on March 11, 2010 at 12:54 pm

A few days ago MSN’s new homepage design was announced. This design will include some of the biggest changes ever made to MSN.com. The new design won’t be available to everyone immediately, but rather, it will roll out to everyone over the next few weeks. On MSN’s blog it states:

” The new MSN homepage cuts through the clutter with a clean, new design and offers search, news, local and social networking – all in one place.”

The main module on the new homepage includes popular news items, and the familiar rotating image carousel. Below that, there are Must-See, News, Money & Quotes, and Life/Style tabs.

Wouldn’t it be nice to a have all of your social networks in one place? MSN thought so too, so they’ve included them right on the homepage. You can use Facebook Connect and MSN’s Twitter app to sync your accounts to the site. And, you can post to your social channels directly from the homepage.

We like that MSN gathered over 70,000 pieces of customer feedback and then introduced over 30 updates to the new homepage design. They are also rolling out the homepage gradually, testing the waters, as opposed to Facebook releasing their homepage design immediately, which has earned Facebook some criticism.

The new sites design is visually appealing, clean, and functional. Of course, we’ll see over the next few weeks how users embrace the new design, but for me – so far so good. That’s why I give the new MSN Homepage Design an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Thumbs Up

Learn more about the new MSN Homepage Design’s Features.

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