yelp

The latest release of Yelp (2.0) landed in the Android Market late last week and it's a fantastic update. For those few of you who are unfamiliar with the title, Yelp lets users search for places to eat, shop, hang out, work out, and more based on location and reviews from the community. Expecting a simple enhancement to the user interface, I was pleased to see the addition of some great features, including check-ins and augmented reality.

Hitching their cart to the check-in craze, Yelp 2.0 allows user to share their location across Facebook whenever they stop … Read more

Aggregators are good not just for things like news, movie, and game ratings, but also for local knowledge. Yelp, Gowalla, and Foursquare have all made a business out of this, but up until now you've had to spend time bipping back and forth among them to glean knowledge from each service's members.

That's changed now with Fourwhere, a service that launched during South By Southwest, which now combines reviews and check-ins from all three services in one place. The end result is a single page you can visit to see the most recent local user activity at … Read more

You're going to have to listen to the show to understand the evolution of our favorite new phrase, "mucho bogo." Speaking of evolution, the HTC EVO 4G is officially available, just in time to be stomped into dust by the forthcoming iPhone. Maybe. Also, Google's going to hand over its intercepted WiFi data, to make a bad problem worse, and we're giving a big (BIG) no to the Kno.

Hate trolling through property listings? You can now whip out your smartphone and use an augmented-reality app to see what's on the market.

Junaio is a free AR app for iPhone 3GS and Android devices that overlays real-estate information on camera views. Users point their phones at a building, street, or neighborhood and relevant data such as monthly rent, photos, and contact details pop up.

Junaio can highlight properties within a radius of several miles. Map views and list views are also available.

Junaio is linked to real-estate search engines HotPads, which lists housing for sale and for rent, … Read more

We hear some pretty bad scare stories about Facebook in this episode. Yes, we know, how could they top the ones you've already heard? trust us they do. or maybe one of our emailers was drunk. You decide. We also finally have a decision (maybe) on the great Natali Project Natal bet. You can't miss this episode!

Sprint Won’t Sell the Nexus One http://gizmodo.com/5535436 http://www.pcworld.com/article/196022/why_sprint_and_verizon_nixed_the_nexus_one.html

Confirmed: Apple and AT&… Read more

Yelp's stated goal is to connect people with local businesses, but persistent concerns over the reliability of its user reviews have prompted the company to take steps to make them more transparent.

Yelp announced two major changes to its reviews in its official blog on Monday. First, the company will now let anyone see reviews that were previously hidden by its automated filter. Second, Yelp is getting rid of the "Favorite Review" option that it sold to advertisers. Both features have been the object of criticism in regards to the legitimacy of its user reviews.

The company … Read more

We're big fans of most Android apps that can help us get the skinny on nearby restaurants and bars, Yelp included. We weren't overly impressed with Yelp's initial attempt for Android, however, but the last two updates have brought it closer in line with Yelp's other mobile apps.

A small but significant update on Wednesday fills in two missing holes in Yelp's features roundup. First, you can now bookmark a business from the phone to view later. Thankfully, you can remove bookmarks as well. Second, opinionated Yelpers can draft a review of a business from … Read more

When you're on the lookout for businesses while you're also on the go, Yelp's version for Android phone comes in handy. It contains the usual GPS search for restaurants and businesses that you either search for or can filter based on your location. Results records include ratings, reviews, and photos you can view from the phone. You can click or press a button to call the business. There's another button to map the location to a movable Google map, and this version thankfully includes our favorite new feature: a link to pop open directions in a … Read more

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman posted an entry to the company blog on Friday afternoon, coming out forcefully against a recent class action lawsuit that says the business reviews site runs its advertising sales operation like an "extortion scheme."

"There has been a long history of people accusing Yelp of monkeying around with reviews in exchange for money," Stoppelman wrote in the post. "The allegations are disappointing, not only because they are false, but because they ignore empirical evidence in favor of conspiracy theories."

Yelp has consistently fought allegations from media outlets and businesses who … Read more