Tag Archives: foursquare

Foursquare Check-in Places Default Sort

Foursquare is a great service to keep track of places I’ve been.

In the screenshot below, the closest location (521 ft) should be the first result. As I scroll down, I’d expect to find places further away.

Check-in Places Search Results

The concept of the service is to check-in to the place you are currently at. The search results should default to show closest locations at the top.

In the above screenshot, this isn’t an issue with only four Whole Foods to choose from. Imagine trying to find the right Chipotle location among dozens when the list is not sorted by closest geographical match.

Foursquare Hackathon

Badge Stickers

Just got back from a very fun Foursquare Hackathon. Contrary to some opinion, there was a lot of hacking done. 40 projects are on the wiki at the time of writing. Hail to the Mayor is particularly intriguing one since the idea is that when the mayor (or other specified person) checks in to a venue, their theme song would play.

2 Bros Pizza

Note: the piping hot 2 Bros Pizza was delicious (as is all free pizza). After 10 minutes, the pizza cooled down and was pretty stale/terrible.

This sign means good things are inside

There was nonstop networking/socializing, but this is a good, healthy thing for the NYC startup scene.

General Assembly hallway

One thing that I noticed was how most teams focused on the tech hacking (as they should at a hackathon). This typically resulted in awkward or less polished demos. The demos were limited to 60 seconds of presentation with immediate judge feedback afterwards. To me, this looked like teams were rewarded for slick UI while the backend (no matter how good or bad) didn’t count for as much.

Naveen speaking during the demo session

For those who couldn’t make it tonight, good news: Naveen mentioned he wants to expand 4sq hackathons internationally.

An Exercise in Sharing

This post is more thinking out loud (what I like to do on this blog). Free association with services and sharing.

Snoop Dogg on Instagram

Many sites serve to provide information (such as Wikipedia). Other sites share info (such as Fmylife). What I want to focus on are services that share info in a defined social group. Meaning that you can cultivate lists of friends and share with them. These social sites may enable you to share publicly. In fact, they may be incentivized to make everything public (à la Facebook).

Here are some services I came up with in no particular order:

Service Sharing
Instagram Photos
Twitter Text/Links
Ping (from Apple) Music
Foursquare Location
Group Me Txt
Buzz (from Google) RSS, etc.
Yelp Reviews
Foodspotting Food Photos
Facebook User Updates
Blippy Purchases
Scribd Documents

Clearly there are services I’ve missed.

For any unfilled areas, there exists a startup opportunity. Instagram is a newcomer that has gained significant traction, so anything can be done given proper execution.

Is there a search engine that shares all your searches on purpose? What about an Instagram for short video?

RTR

Restaurant week is a great chance to go to places that you wouldn’t go to normally. Case in point: The Russian Tea Room. This is a famous NY destination known for their decor.

The Russian Tea Room

I’m not quite sure what the name of this guy riding a rooster (?) is called. I do find it very amusing though.

The check-in

Sure in 2010 we may have to manually check-in to locations. Just wait until 2050 where every second of your life is livestreamed and you get points for walking down the street and other inane things.

Ground floor seating

There are 4 dining floors in this restaurant. On this day, only the 1st and 2nd floors were open for seating. The bathroom was located downstairs past the coat check and gift shop. (Yes, RTR has a gift shop, for all your gift shopping needs.)

Braised beef pirozhki

The pirozhki was good, but I had no idea what to expect to be honest. Pirozhki + sour cream was a good combo. Imagine a Chinese dumpling with sour cream, no wait, don’t..

Red short ribs broth with pickled red beets

This broth tasted very light, so I have to assume that it is healthy and good for you. Especially with all the beets and veggies.

Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad

A healthy salad, I don’t think it was a lot, but hey, it’s NYC. That is a $18 salad in front of you.

The ceiling lighting fixtures

These red ornaments reminded me of Christmas

Filet of Beef

The filet was good. Even though the cut didn’t come out Medium Rare as requested, I still enjoyed the tenderness and flavor of it. Not as filling as the RTR Cobb though.

RTR Cobb Salad

The grilled chicken cobb salad. This didn’t feel like a traditional cobb salad, but it had a lot of chicken and salad portions. I would just call it a chicken salad.

Traditional cheesecake

This cheesecake was nice and rich. Just like the starters (appetizers), there is no way that it is worth $18 by itself.

Giant Fabergé egg tree

This is the 2nd floor of the RTR. Pretty baller decor. In the background you’ll see a glass bear, which contains..

Glass bear fish tank

Inside it’s belly, you will see fish swimming around. This is an incredible sight, the whole 2nd floor is overdone in an eye-widening manner

Bear fish tank belly

The Russian Tea Room is an amazingly decorated place, but the food (and accordingly priced said food) is not it’s strongest point