Outrank.com

Quite a while back, we described Google Latitude and discussed the changes made to the application since it launched in 2009. We also talked about how it was competing with check-in services like Gowalla and Foursquare. Back then, check-ins were just starting to grow in popularity. Now, according to a survey conducted by the Pew [...]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think this seems to be the pattern for Google as far as making changes to their products:
Debut epic product
Make continual changes to said epic product
Make new product to make other product work better, then incorporate it into said epic product like they should have done in the first [...]

How often do you rate and review places you’ve been? When you do review places do you prefer to do it while you’re there or after you’ve had the full-on experience? The Google Places Blog posted a little how-to video that serves as a quick demo for those who use the iPhone app for Google [...]

A recent post by TechCrunch shows how Google Places is incorporating Yelp reviews into their iPhone app.
Rather than rehashing the post or getting into rules, what is considered public domain, copyright laws and all that fun stuff — I want to know what you think about it. Is Google Places violating their own rules [...]

Guess who else is entering into the world of daily deals where local businesses offer significant discounts on products and services? Here are some hints: they followed the iPad with Honeycomb, followed Foursquare with Latitude/Hotpot and provided a solution to Apple’s subscription service debacle with One Pass.
Who is it? Google! It seems like a [...]

Last week was National Small Business Week.
Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has proclaimed National Small Business Week to recognize the contributions of small businesses to the economic well-being of America. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes this special impact made by outstanding entrepreneurs [...]

I’ve been keeping up with Foursquare because I think it’s pretty awesome and I like their vision and attitude. It’s also entertaining to watch how competition urges technology onward. I talked about software apps and hardware manufacturers in a past blog post covering Foursquare and Latitude.
Guess what? Foursquare is experimenting with NFC check-ins for [...]

Outrank recently received a small catalog in the mail from Google Places. The small booklet shows all the Google Places-branded items you can request from Google for FREE!  The offer is only available in Austin, Portland, Madison, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Charlotte at the moment, but they may expand it depending on the word-of-mouth [...]

Maybe it’s because my city, Austin, was one of the lucky cities chosen to be part of the Google places campaign to get local business attractions noticed on a larger scale … but I have to say: I love what is happening with Google places.
If you don’t know already, you should know that the [...]

Google introduced Hotpot last November as a separate product from Places, which didn’t make sense to me. It seemed to go hand-in-hand with Places (or like it should go hand-in-hand with Places), but like many of Google’s offerings – it was segmented. Maybe, if their products were better integrated with one another, they wouldn’t have [...]