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Filed under: Social Software, iPhone, Mobile

Yelp for iPhone shows off an augmented reality easter egg

Download Squad has covered augmented reality apps before, both on Android and on the iPhone, but we speculated that it would be a while before AR became commonplace in apps people actually use. We might have been wrong about that, thanks to a surprise in the latest version of Yelp for iPhone. Shaking your phone a few times unlocks a hidden augmented reality mode called Monocle, that shows reviews for anything you point your camera at.

There was some question as to whether Apple was going to be approving AR apps until an app called Metro Paris Subway was approved last week. Still, Yelp's hidden feature seems to be the first augmented reality software that works in the US. Overlaying a data layer on camera images could be the next big thing in restaurant reviews, in real estate, or in any number of other areas, and it's definitely something to keep an eye on, beyond just Yelp.

Our sister site, TUAW, has an excellent gallery of the Monocle feature.

Filed under: Web services, web 2.0

Telonu: Think "Yelp" for the workplace



Yesterday, Telonu launched the beta for its free, workplace focused community content website. In Telonu's words, you can "Rave, Rant, Rate™ your workplace, the people there and lots of other stuff – anonymously or not." Essentially this is Yelp, but for schools and companies -- and just as importantly, the people or management at those schools and companies.

When you register with Telonu, you are asked for your full name and to pick a separate username. When you post a "Tell" or add a comment, you can choose to either use your name, your username or to post anonymously. Your name and username are never linked, so if you want to respond to something, but don't want to reveal your identity, you're covered.

On a school or company or individual's main page, you can see "Tells" -- which are reviews or general information about the subject in question, access the subject's "Watercooler" and "Stock pages and "Ask" or submit answers to a question.

Tells are just reviews or comments, generally from current or former employees. These focus on the various aspects of the workplace itself, like pay and benefits, work/home life balance and career growth potential. Right now, the bleak economic climate is leading to lots of layoffs, and many laid off employees are giving their two cents. This is good information for potential future employees, because you can tell a lot about how a company operates based on how they handle layoffs.


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Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Yelp launches business accounts

Yelp for Business OwnersYelp lets customers write reviews of restaurants, shops, and all sorts of other businesses in communities throughout the country. And that's the sort of service that makes the site both incredibly useful and incredibly dangerous for business owners.

Now Yelp is giving business owners tools that let them keep a closer eye on the reviews their establishment is receiving. If you sign up for a Business Owner Account, you can track how many people view your business page, update your business profile, and send messages to people who have reviewed your business. In order to get a business owner account, you'll obviously need to verify that you actually run the business in question.

Of course, there's no guaranty that you'll be able to prevent people from writing that your food tastes stale or that your bathrooms are smelly unless you actual improve your food and clean your bathrooms. You know, unless those folks on the internet are lying. But that never happens.

[via TechCrunch]

Filed under: Web services

Yelp: Social networking meets restaurant reviews

YelpJohn C. Dvorak's latest column is about Yelp, a new site that combines social networking a la Friendster to restaurant and business reviews a la Epinions. If you're looking for a restaurant you can see what others have recommended and their ratings, plus other places they've rated, what their friends have rated, and so on. As Dvorak says, "If it turns out that a person likes Denny's and hates Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia, then that person is probably not someone who would be great at suggesting fabulous French restaurants, but he might be good at finding a coffee shop." Apart from restaurants, Yelp also includes categories for "Night Life," "Beauty and Spas,"  "Acitve Life," and more. Refreshingly, Yelp has some modern features like inline Google Maps and RSS feeds. Unfortunately there's not a single Yelp-reviewed restaurant within 100 miles of me, but maybe if Yelp is able to reach critical mass, that will change.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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