Five Foursquare hacks you need to use
Foursquare recently held its first global hackathon weekend, producing a lot of great hacks and apps. Here are five hacks that stand out above the rest.
Foursquare held its first-ever global hackathon a few weeks back, with developers and hackers gathering in cities all over the world, including Paris, London, Ottawa, San Francisco, and New York. All of the hackers had one goal in common: create some out-of-the-box idea on top of the Foursquare API. Not only did they accomplish their goal, but some of them even won prizes for doing so.
Hopscotch
You like Foursquare a lot, so much so, in fact, that you signed up to be a superuser, allowing you to edit and correct venues across the globe. Until now, the pleasure of editing venues was best done sitting at your computer. Hopscotch has changed that. While it wasn't an official hackathon app, it deserves to be mentioned along with the rest.
Superuser can now edit venues on the go from their iOS device. This comes in handy for when you go to check in to a venue, only to see three of the same venues and only one of them having the right address. Now, you can finish your check in and instead of trying to remember to correct the issue when you get home, you only need to switch apps and make the appropriate edit. Version 1.2 of the app is in the works; it's said to include native address, category, and even location editing for venues.
Download Hopscotch from iTunes.
Your Next Trip
Your Next Trip is a Web app that implements Foursquare's Explore feature. If you aren't familiar with Explore, you can read an in-depth explanation about it here. To summarize the feature in a few words: personalized venue suggestions based on your and your friends' check-in history.
Your Next Trip will give you a suggested itinerary, almost hour-by-hour over a 48-hour period of time for any city, by using Foursquare Explore suggestions. The best part of the service is that it doesn't require a Foursquare account to provide results. Of course, the results will be a bit more personalized if you allow the site to take your Foursquare history into account.
This site was so popular that it won the grand prize, awarded by Foursquare, for the best hack. If you are traveling soon, check out some of the suggestions given; you will be surprised by how good they are.
Intersquares
Have you ever wondered if you and another person, perhaps a celebrity, have ever been at the same place, at the same time, but just not realized it? Well, if that person uses Foursquare, now you can find out. Intersquares allows you to create a unique URL that you can share with your Twitter followers or Facebook friends, which in turn checks both users' Foursquare history. If there happens to be a check-in at the same venue, at the same time, you are presented with a list of time and date of each one.
It's a modern-day crystal ball that can potentially reveal any serendipitous encounters. (If you are curious if you and I have ever been in the same place, at the same time, click here to check).
Each time someone checks to see if you have crossed paths, you will receive an e-mail providing you with a link to view any results.
One More Check-in
Badges. Lots and lots of badges. That's the only reason some Foursquare users need to use Foursquare, the hunt for the next elusive badge. One More Check-in is designed to do one thing, and one thing only: help you earn badges. Once you authorize the site to access your Foursquare account, it crunches the numbers and returns a list of badges with the required number of check-ins you need to earn that badge.
4SQ Sign
If you are into including an interactive e-mail signature, then 4SQSign was made for you. Using 4SQSign, you can create an infographic e-mail signature that displays your Foursquare stats for any recipients to see.
Keep in mind, though, that you will be broadcasting your last known location with each e-mail you send out. This may be something best reserved for your private e-mail, and not your work e-mail account.