Well, finally the long wait is over. Facebook has taken the plunge into the world of geo-location with their long awaited Facebook Places. Not good news for Foursquare as highlighted in Nick O’Neill’s AllFacebook piece “Facebook Punks Foursquare, Gets Them To Announce Nothing”. Foursquare will have to pull something pretty special out of the bag to counteract this maneuver from Facebook. As for the new offering, well essentially according to the Facebook’s Graph API documentation, developers will be able to access the read and search APIs as of today. However the write APIs are to remain in “private beta” with a limited set of partners.

Over the last few weeks Facebook has been tweaking Notes and changing ‘Like’ buttons but this really could be the coup de grace for other LBS services. This announcement now enables a new class of location-powered applications to reach the mass market for the first time and drive significant value to businesses and developers. So what is possible?

Well there are three key components: share where you are, find where your friends are, and discover new places around you. It will be available on mobile devices (web) and on the company’s new iPhone app as of tonight.

Check-ins are part of the platform and so is adding places. It has photo tagging functionality so you can “tag” friends that are with you at a specific location so everybody doesn’t have to check-in on their own. What does this mean from a privacy perspective? Well you can remove any check-in and settings are defaulted to friends only. “Here Now” is on after you check-in and tagging only lets you tag your friends while notifying you whenever you’re tagged. In addition you can remove any tag and turn off being tagged in Facebook Places. On the iPhone app, you can report a place if it’s inaccurate or don’t want it on the system.

And from a developer’s point of view? Well according to Justin Smith from InsideFacebook, Facebook has created new extended permissions for Places. To be able to get a user’s check-ins, developers will need to request the “user_checkins” extended permission. To be able to get a user’s friends’ check-ins as well, developers will request the “friends_checkins” extended permission.

Once that is done, Facebook says developers can do three things starting tomorrow:

1. You can get details on individual check-ins
GET https://graph.facebook.com/[checkin_id]

2. You can get a list of check-in information about specific places, pages, or users
GET https://graph.facebook.com/[place/Page/user_id]/checkins

3. You can search for recent check-ins for an authorized user and his or her friends

Let the games begin!

• Google Wave – officially a failure, but lessons learnt along the way.
• Of the 95pc of the Irish population who access the internet from their home, 96pc of those do so through a broadband connection, which includes mobile broadband, according thto the latest ComReg survey, carried out by Milward Brown.
• Android OS device sales to surpass iPhones iOS by 2012. Tech industry analyst iSuppli predicts that Android will be used by 75 million smartphones by 2012, up from 5 million in 2009. Meanwhile, iOS usage will amount to 62 million in 2012, up from 25 million in 2009.
• Apple’s iPod has been singled out as the reason for more than 17 accidents per day in the UK. The situation has been dubbed “iPod Oblivion”.
• Paypal’s mobile application for Android was updated this week with support for a new feature: bump technology. Users can bump their phones to send money. “Bumping money” is also possible through the Paypal iPhone app.
• Have two gmail accounts? Want to access them in the same browser? Now you can – read more on the official Gmail blog.
• Active Twitter users are the most influential online, being three times more likely to impact on a brand’s reputation through syndicated Tweets, blog posts, articles and product reviews than the average consumer according to a report by ExactTarget.

• Exemption will allow iPhone JailBreaks – the Library of Congress ruled this week that it was legal to bypass a phone’s controls on what software it will run to get “lawfully obtained” programs to work. iPhone owners who like to tinker with their phones and move outside of the Applesphere now have the ability to legally do that.  Read more on The New York Times.
• Android Market eatcher AndroLib says 100,000 apps been submitted to Android Market since its public debut, up from approximately 5,000 in June 2009. Techcrunch reports.
• Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, confirms Microsoft is working on ipad competitor.
• Google Rolls Location-Based Mobile Display Ads that show users nearby services. Check out Adweek’s article.
• Irish online display ads are performing 7pc more strongly than the equivalent medium in the UK, according to online publishers. But, at just 10pc of the ads market, Ireland is behind the UK where online is now 30pc of the ads market. Intrigued – read more on Silicon Republic.
• SKY 3D – Europe’s first 3D channel – will launch in Ireland on Friday, 1 October, and will be available to Sky+HD subscribers with 3D-ready TVs.

• Highly influential US magazine, Consumer Watch, posted a scathing consumer review on the iPhone 4 this week, where it highlighted a loss of reception when the mobile was held in a certain way, resulting in their decision to not recommend the phone to consumers. The result? A massive $10 billion wiped off Apple’s share value overnight. There is now mounting speculation that Apple might issue a recall as they have called a press coference for this Friday. Read more here.

• As part of its social media strategy, the government unveiled a new social-friendly site, MerrionStreet.ie. Run off wordpress, it promises to deliver a dynamic web presence that will include Flickr photography, videos, Facbook status updates and Twitter feeds. More on The Irish Independent.

• Wieden & Kennedy”s Old Spice campaign just gets better and better….this week, our “manly man” hunk, Isiah Mustafa,  is actually delivering personalised messages to some of the world’s most influential bloggers. Get the lowdown on WeAreSocial’s blog.

• The high-speed Exemplar network developed by our friends at InTune, is being unveiled to the Irish public today as the “Smart Network”. Read more here.

• Starbucks have become the first brand on Facebook to collect 10 million fans, (Lady Gaga being the first person). Key to success is their ongoing conversation and promotions that see lots of fans enjoying free coffee. See what Inside Facebook has to say on the subject.

• And finally ….Chatrolette rolled out local and custom channels this week. no prize for guessing the most popular channel….yes, you were right.

It seems that the news of Domino’s Pizza ‘takeaway’ success is the hot topping of the week! With online sales reaching £56.9m in the first half of 2010, Chris Moore, chief executive of Domino’s attributed the increase to innovative marketing and a foray into location based servive Foursquare.

Woddy Allen once said that relationships are like sharks, they have to constantly move forward or they die. The same could be said for hestitant businesses and executives who are fearful about engaing in the social media space. But with ROI’s like this they would be wise to take a leaf from Domino’s book.

Domino’s engagement is impressive, their Facebook page has in excess of 36,000 fans and there are numerous fans of individual store sites too. In addition, they have led the way with social media initiatives such as affiliate marketing, and the development of a link up with Foursquare, offering users free pizzas and discounts when they check into Domino stores.

Fortune favors the brave and those willing to experiment are paving the way and reaping the rewards. In a recent Mashable article Brian Solis identified that the CFO, CEO, and CMO of any organization would be remiss if they did not account for spending and resource allocation for social media. Yet MarketProfs recent study indicates that they still want measurable results from social media.

The study also found that social media still evades CMOs with:

– 53% are unsure about their return on Twitter (Twitter)

– 50% are unable to assess the value of LinkedIn (LinkedIn) or industry blogs

Most importantly, about 15% believe there is no ROI associated with Twitter, and just over 10% cannot glean ROI from LinkedIn or Facebook (Facebook).

More often this resistance to engaging in the social media space is an indication of the pace of change and the lack of ability to quickly adapt. Confusion abounds and businesses cannot see the wood for the trees as the rules of engagement constantly shift. The first step is to know what success looks like then it’s a matter of planning and strategy. The terrain is new and more than often it takes individuals and organisations who are familiar with the topograpgy to help you along the way.

The trueism “fail to plan, plan to fail” is particurally true in social media, it’s no longer just about having a Facebook page or a Twitter Page, it’s about knowing where you want to get to and using the best tools for the job.

Domino’s and other pioneering brands know what the three simple ingredients of success are, listening, engaing and measuring. Time to get cookin’.

The gloves are gradually being shaken loose in the jostle between the giants of online technology. Apple has been proactive to the point of bald aggression in their attempt to fully capitalise on having the dominant smart mobile platform. Google’s earnest efforts to gain ground on Apple have, nevertheless, left them looking like underdogs with Apple remaining to set the pace. The Federal Government in the US is paying attention and investigations have been launched by the FTC on the conduct of Apple and to a lesser extent Google (CNET article).

The two are being careful to avoid any direct hostility but an argument over mobile web technology is causing friction. HTML 5 is the next open standard for websites development (see wiki). Critically it adds support for some interactive elements that were previously only possible using the Adobe Flash Player plug-in… video in particular. Apple sparked a cat-fight with Adobe by announcing that Flash was redundant and refused to allow the plug-in on the iPhone/iPad. While Google has tried to appear neutral, it is clear that Google and Adobe are getting jointly dug-in adjacent to Apples entrenched position.

Google & Adobe getting closer:

• You Tube announced they will be sticking with Flash over HTML5 in a blog post last Tuesday.
• The next version of Google Chrome will come bundled with Flash Player. (TechCrunch)
• Google Android 2.2 will fully support Flash with special browser integration.(Mashable)
• Flash can be used to develop apps for Android phones (unlike iPhone/iPad).

Some headlines that caught our attention this week:

• Apple launches its iAds mobile advertising platform in the US today (1 July) to attract advertisers to its range of products including the iPhone and iPad. The company will sell, produce and host the advertisements, but will let developers keep 60% of the revenue generated by the ads, while Apple will keep 40%. iAds will launch in the UK in September.More on Brand Republic.

• Amazon buys Woot.com, a popular online store that anticipated profitability by 2043, for an undisclosed sum. More on chrisbrogan.com.

• Eircom has won the lucrative contract to install the communications facilities at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin 4. The infrastructure inclues the latest fibre internet and voice services. Read more on Silicon Republic.

• As of today, every Finnish citizen now has a gauranteed legal right to at least a 1Mbps broadband connection, putting it on the same footing as other legal rights in the country such as healthcare and education. Will Ireland follow suit? More at TheNextWeb.

• Online personal finance management service, Wesabe, is closing its doors, claiming it can’t take care of its obligations to assistance and security. Read more on ReadWriteWeb.

• And should you be traveling to America or Canada soon, remember to avail of free wifi in Starbucks as of today! More on TheNextWeb.

Google is currently in talks with music labels about rolling out a song download store that will rival Apple’s iTunes and take a share of the US$4.3 billion digital music market. The service will be available for a growing number of devices that run on its Android mobile operating system.

Led by Andy Rubin, a former Apple engineer who is now the chief architect of Android, the scheme is expected to start off as part of a web store which uses Google’s search engine before it becomes its own subscription service in 2011. This is in addition to a music streaming desktop app that will allow Android users to stream music direct from their home computers to their phones through a dedicated internet service.

Apple’s iOS 4 (fourth version of its operating system) was released today ahead of the launch of the iPhone 4, which becomes available June 24 Stateside and will come to Irish shores in July. iPhone users can update to the latest OS via iTunes, but some features will not be available for the iPhone 3G and the update is not available at all for the original iPhone. iOS 4 will not be available on the iPad until this autumn.

The biggest new feature is multitasking, which Apple says is going to be the “best” implementation in the smartphone space, though it’s obviously not the first. App switching is activated by double tapping the home button, which pulls up a “dock” of currently running apps, and Apple claims it can do this without hurting battery life or performance for the front app. Unfortunately, multitasking won’t be available for devices older than the 3GS and new iPod Touch (sign, yes, you might need to upgrade). 

Key Features include:

1. Multi-tasking.
2. Spell check (like on the iPad).
3. Bluetooth keyboard support (again, on the iPad).
4. User-defined wallpaper (a jailbreak favorite).
5. Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos, and a 5x digital zoom for the camera.
6. Playlist creation and nested playlists.
7. App folders for sorting apps! You can even put an app folder in the dock.
8. Enhanced mail: You can have a merged inbox view, switch between inboxes quickly, and sync to more than one Exchange account. There’s also threaded messaging  and in-app attachment viewing
9. iBooks:  just like on iPad, only smaller. You can wirelessly sync books between platforms, a la Kindle
10. Enterprise  features, including remote device management and wireless app distribution.
11. Game Center:  It’s like Xbox Live, but for iPhone games. Includes achievements, leaderboards, and match making.

But beware….take your time in accessing their fourth version. As with the launch of any new software, there are glitches in the system, resulting in the wiping clean of individual’s music and/or contacts off their iphone!

http://www.kreiselberg.com/
Kreiselberg is a creative agency from Toronto whose digital paintings are truly awesome, check them out!

http://follownoone.com.au/
Are you a dedicated follower of no one? The New VW Polo website uses a really cool and imaginative interactive navigation that has a great focus on detail.

http://www.onitsukatiger.com/en-uk#/home/
Great interactive website to showcase the new campaign for Onitsuka Tiger, lots of unusual things to discover within a wooden shoe…

http://sosapplesos.com/
By public suggestion this ‘experiment’ by Mat Bisher made it to this week’s Best of the Web. There are good arguments put forward as to why Apple won’t support Flash, but this is still funny!