by Michelle Lentz on October 15, 2009
I love UrbanSpoon. It was one of the first iPhone apps I ever installed and I often submit restaurant reviews from my wine blog. There’s even a rivalry between two food-related bloggers in my city to see who can be ranked #1 on UrbanSpoon for Cincinnati. So it’s a popular app, both on the iPhone and online.
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that UrbanSpoon is adding augmented reality to the iPhone app. According to the New York Times, augmented reality is “a feature that superimposes data or information over the live feed from the phone’s camera.” Think about that for a minute. Your phone interprets the data taken from the camera and uses that, with the GPS, to determine where you are located at any given point in time. It’s either fascinating or frightening, depending on your worldview.
UrbanSpoon’s implementation, called Scope, allows you to aim your camera in any given direction. The app then displays a map with nearby restaurants, including their distance and UrbanSpoon rating. You can drill down to more details by selecting any one restaurant. If the technology is slightly off, then you can adjust your position on the map.
There is a catch, of course. Scope (and other apps with augmented reality) only work with the latest and greatest iPhone – the 3GS. Scope was released to the world on Wednesday morning. If you’ve got a 3GS, it might be time to update your apps.
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Cheers!
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by Michelle Lentz on April 29, 2009
by Michelle Lentz
I first discovered UrbanSpoon when the Apple App store launched. It was the first app I downloaded for my phone and continues to be one of my most used. It uses the GPS but also lets you shake the iPhone to get sort of a slot machine effect and figure out “Where are we eating tonight?” As a wine blogger, I often review restaurants and have used UrbanSpoon to my advantage, making sure my reviews are accessible from their web site. From a blogger’s perspective, I’ve always received prompt customer service/tech support from the UrbanSpoon team.
IAC announced today that they have acquired UrbanSpoon. This does have some natural tie-ins, as UrbanSpoon is already integrating CitySearch content. CitySearch is part of IAC. IAC is also an investor in OpenTable, which is something I’d love to see integrated with UrbanSpoon. According to the press release,
For IAC, Urbanspoon rounds out a portfolio of premium local brands which include Citysearch, ServiceMagic, InsiderPages, and strategic investments in OpenTable and MerchantCircle. With a wealth of trusted restaurant content, an avid user community, and a leading iPhone application, the acquisition of Urbanspoon will further solidify IAC’s leadership role in the local space. Integrating Urbanspoon’s content across IAC’s local sites, including Citysearch and InsiderPages, further reiterates IAC’s commitment to building a robust infrastructure of local content for consumers all across the web.
UrbanSpoon is to remain an independent company, still based in Seattle, that reports to Jay Herratti who oversees Citysearch, InsiderPages and Evite. According to MobileCrunch, the deal is most likely in the millions of dollars range, although terms have not been disclosed. The original team is staying on and still has a lot of new improvements up their sleeve. I’m crossing my fingers that this influx of cash and support will only make UrbanSpoon even better.
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