Podcast: Changing computer interfaces
Social networking is the refrain of almost any online article or news story these days. Most stories concentrate on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for business, but there is another class of products that are equally important in this area of technology: the location-based services such as Foursquare.
Foursquare is a popular application for the Apple iPhone that basically makes a game of social networking. An article on mashable.com recently outlined several ways in which Foursquare is changing the tech world. This service is turning our interest in social networking into a type of virtual currency. Businesses are rewarding users by giving them products and services as a result of the customers "checking in" at the store or shop.
This process is taking social networking and brand loyalty to new places, as you might imagine. By making showing up an activity in a social game, Foursquare is breaking new ground in what was thought to be an old-hat type of business.
Twitter and Facebook also are interested in developing location-based services, and Twitter in particular has moved in that direction lately. Finally it's no surprise that Google also is making its presence known here by some recent purchases and acquisitions. It's going to get interesting, and quickly.
I've mentioned the Internet Of Things, RFID and sensor technology and augmented reality here several times also. As location becomes more important in online activity, so will each of these.
The Internet Of Things refers to the connection of physical objects to the Internet or Web. Usually this works by attaching an RFID chip or some sort of sensor to a physical object, then scanning the object with an Apple iPhone or other scanning device. There are several applications now for the iPhone that can scan a bar code on an object, connect to the Web and display prices, specifications and so on. As location-based services become common, so will the Internet Of Things model become more valuable in the connection process.
Augmented Reality refers to overlaying information of some kind over a picture or digital rendering of the physical world. This technology already is advanced and is being used for virtual shopping, education and so on. As location technology becomes sharper and more common, you can look for some sort of marriage between location and augmented reality, as they seem destined for each other.
Finally, we now have a legitimate application for the Apple iPhone that costs $1,000. No, it's not another "I Am Rich" toy but a program for aspiring attorneys to study for the bar exam. BarMax holds the record for most expensive app for the Apple iPhone to date, and reviewers generally think it's well worth the price. This is significant as it shows that cell phones can become platforms for serious high-dollar software even as computers have done. As cell phones become more powerful and tablet PCs come into their own, we'll see more of these.