David Russell

Gowalla is a new location-based game that was recently released for iPhone.

I’ve spent the weekend playing, and it’s quite fun! It tends toward geocaching at times, but is firmly planted in the virtual world with nothing physical involved except for you visiting and checking in at “Spots”. On the virtual side, once you reach a spot and check in, you are entitled to swap some Icons from your Pack with those that exist in the inventory of the Spot. If the icon is nifty (collectible), you can store it away in your Vault so it won’t be shared later on. All of this is managed in your Passport.

The game is finished enough to be very playable, but there is an active development team behind the game and app who are planning to continually improve things (including working out the few bugs that still exist.) The company crafting Gowalla, Alamofire, has a history of excellence, including the popular PackRat for Facebook. Their Washington Bureau Chief, Brian Bailey, is a particularly excellent Alamofirer.

Gowalla

If you can’t find the answer in its name, Google just released a new geo-centric social product called Latitude. The idea is to find the status of your friends along with their geographic location. Of course, the service is highly focused on delivering a solution for mobile phones and several handsets already work, most notably (and not surprisingly) the Android-enabled G1. (An iPhone solution is being developed.) But you can also use Latitude from any Web-enabled PC using your Google account and iGoogle.

One principle question that emerged today is whether or not Latitude will quickly overtake other geo-centric services like Brightkite (my favorite) and Loopt. An article on ReadWriteWeb generated this idea and some interesting discussion ensued. It is striking that Facebook and MySpace have done so little to enter the geo space. But I think it’s important to note the relatively short timeframe in which geo-aware applications have emerged. The two largest social networks are behemoths, unlike smaller, more nimble startups like Brightkite. And geo hardware is also relatively new in mobile phones and other devices (other than GPS receivers which pioneered the whole space.)

So I think we are at an interesting turning point. To be sure, location-aware applications have real momentum. The cover story and a few articles inside the recent issue of Wired covered the GPS “revolution”. The attention Google brings to the table will no doubt push other developers to join the fray and push the boundaries of what’s possible. And it will challenge startups like Brightkite to keep their edge on ingenuity.

Google Latitude
ReadWriteWeb: Did Google Just Kill All the Other Mobile Social Networks?

Tagged: Geography, GPS, location, application, development, Google, Latitude, Brightkite, Wired

If you are looking for an amazing Media Center for Mac, Apple TV or Linux, I highly recommend Boxee. Recently, Boxee entered public alpha. I was fortunate enough to be invited in the private alpha testing of Boxee and I have enjoyed this app immensely over the past couple of months. There is a Windows version of the app currently in private alpha, so the app will soon cover the three major OS platforms.

Boxee is built on the excellent Xbox Media Center and is very, very full-featured. You can view media from Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, YouTube flickr, and more. There is even BitTorrent and video podcast support built right in! This is the best media center application I’ve ever seen. Boxee rocks!

Boxee
Follow Me on Boxee

Today, ChurchMetrics left beta and is now open to the public. The application allows churches to record and track the metrics of the community in several areas: attendance, giving and occurrences of salvation and baptism.

ChurchMetrics is a free service from LifeChurch.tv, the creators of YouVersion and Open. We are measuring progress at NCC using ChurchMetrics. So far, so great!

Church Metrics | Features

Tomorrow, the team at NCC will depart for the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. Each year, we make the pilgrimage to connect, experience, learn and eat. Lots of eating, in fact.

The list of speakers this year is absolutely impressive. I am most excited to hear from Jim Collins, Dave Ramsey and, of course, Andy Stanley. Each year, one or two of the speakers absolutely surprise me. So I am looking forward to that as well.

If you are headed to Catalyst, hit me up. I know we won’t get a chance to connect with everyone, but hopefully we’ll see lots of friends and make some new ones along the way.

Catalyst Conference - Flash required, unfortunately.
Catalyst Backstage - Connect with conference-goers on the Web with special content hosted by Anne Jackson

Tagged: Catalyst, conference, Atlanta, church, business, leadership