Yelp, watch out! My new favorite app to find things to do/places to go nearby.

• Posted by gravesy July 28, 2010
• Recommended for Road Warriors, Foodies, Workout Junkies, Parents, Students, Outdoors Enthusiasts, Music Fans, Shopaholics, Social Butterflies, Budget Hawks, Sports Fans, Film/TV Fans or Tech/Social Networking Junkies

This interactive "carousel" interface is simple and fun to use. Instead of scrolling through a list (although you can switch to that layout, too), you swing through a list of what's around you.

Really simple icons [coffee, restaurants, parks/rec, etc] at the top, super easy and intuitive to navigate. Gives you the snapshot Yelp/Citysearch reviews and can click to get more details. Only thing that would make it a five star for me is Foursquare/social integration.

I anticipate using this app a lot as I explore my new city of Seattle.

I've Seen You Before...

• Posted by jessicadally July 28, 2010

When I first opened this app I thought to myself, "wait, I already have this on my phone" and then was terribly confused about how I'd managed to download it twice. Well of course I hadn't downloaded it twice, it just turns out that this company has made two very similar apps. The other is called Greenopia and the interface looks exactly the same.

Unlike Greenopia this app doesn't focus on "green" businesses specifically but offers up all businesses and some that aren't. What do I mean by that? Well, it offers up what looks to be a union office (Hotel Employees and Restaurant... something, it cuts out) as a place to eat. Something tells me this isn't an actual restaurant and if it is, well, that's a horrible name.

On the flip side there's also quite a bit that's left out and how they decide what to put in fast food and what to put in restaurants is confusing at best. Not all pizza is fast food.

The best thing ever in my neighborhood is that it lists "Boradcast House Helistop Heliport" under transportation. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be broadcast (I'm by several TV stations here) and I'm pretty sure that no normal person would see this as a transportation option. If you could break into the roof at a TV station it's still pretty unlikely they'll give you a helicopter ride to your dentist appointment.

The app is visually stunning but it's just not accurate and being pretty only gets you just so far in life. Even app life.