Idea Markets

Interesting software / concept that couples an online suggestion box for ideas, with a virtual stock market. Users can buy ‘shares’ in an idea, driving up its value…nice for encouraging a bit of competition into the mix I reckon. And for companies that are interested in embedding innovation at the heart of their business, this could provide a catalyst towards a more creative culture…

Some updates to the Multimap web site

The team here at LBi have been working with Multimap to make improvements to the site, and start the job of integrating with Microsoft’s Live Search product. It went live yesterday, and among the improvements are:

 

• 45-degree angle high resolution photography – aka ‘Bird’s Eye’
• we’ve tweaked the route planner so that it displays within the main panel of the interface rather than being cramped into a ‘palette’ on the left-hand side of the screen; additionally we’ve introduced more realistic signage to help users scan long lists of instructions
• you can now find a business through Multimap – putting them in the local search market; 

 

What is local?

“Different things to different people at different times.”

Robert Hardie, Content Strategy Director for  Northcliffe Media, talking about his definition of the variables one has to play with when considering developing local services. I attended Mashup’s local event last night, and broadly speaking founded it entertaining but not hugely useful in terms of real insight.

Flickr + Picnik = editing photos online!

Flickr have integrated Picnik’s photo editing functionality so that you can now tweak your pictures inline within the Flickr experience…ok, so if you’re used to using one of the pro tools for doing this kind of work, I’m sure you’ll have your reservations, but for those that want fast and dirty tweaks to their imagery, it’s perfekt!

Buying and selling on Facebook

Mark Cuban’s idea for classified advertising sales is to create an app for Facebook that allows sellers to earn dollar by helping you sell your stuff – kind of like affiliate advertising works. So – I can put your chintz on my profile, and get a cut if I help you sell it.

Photosynth

This is something REALLY special – software that maps images from existing sources (Flickr et al) to geospatial coordinates, and allows you to navigate through real world environments. Check this TED presentation for more.

Via theOtherBlog.

Multimap twitterbot

Multimap have been integrated their service with Twitter to produce….their Twitterbot.

What is it you ask? Well, to be honest, it is a little arcane, and quite a long way from being natural language. It’s definitely cool, because Colm says so –  but guys, surely you could a better job of explaining what you might actually do with it ;) ?

Where I think this could get very powerful is if someone  builds a mobile app that fires off SMS to Twitter with GPS data – and allows the user to build up a library of regularly used commands. Or would that cannibalise the current Multimap mobile offering?