foursquare

We humans are creatures of habit, which is why we won't ever tire of that burrito place around the corner, that coffee shop that serves perfect foam to espresso ratio, and that bar with the best buffalo wings in town. We're proud of our stomping grounds, so what better way to rep our most frequented haunts than with real life and virtual visualizations à la Foursquare?

Two personalized maps based on Foursquare data, one created by data visualization enthusiasts Etch and the other via a collaboration between Foursquare and Samsung, reveal just how much of your city's hottest spots you've conquered.

Etch, "makers of fine data products," makes printed maps of info from Foursquare accounts detailing where you've been and how often. The custom, archival heavyweight posters ($48, plus shipping) are printed with digital presses, and they're even fingerprint and smudge resistant.

Triangle-shaped markers represent where you've checked in on the geolocation app, and the triangle's height denotes how often. Etch offers custom visualizations of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Portland, with plans to expand to more cities, both domestic and international, in the future.

Foursquare, in collaboration with Samsung, launched its own version of personalized maps in the virtual realm. Time Machine creates a fun animation of your Foursquare history, and suggests what places you should visit next.

Time Machine also compiles your history, revealing which type of place you check into most, total number of check-ins, favorite weekend spots, coffee-to-beer ratio, distance covered, and other interesting stats. Share the infographic of your geolocation history via Facebook or Twitter, and show the world where exactly your stomping grounds are.

The check-in app Foursquare released an update for iOS and Android (free) today that puts four years worth of data to work on behalf of its burrito-craving, brunch-hunting users.

Since 2009, the location-based social network has encouraged people to broadcast where they are in real time. Three billion check-ins later, Foursquare has revamped its search and exploration functions to better recommend where you should go next.

So what's new in version 6.0? The app is smarter about the places you're familiar with — and the ones you're just visiting. After touching down in a new city, Foursquare summarizes the most popular sights and attractions as soon as you open the app. If it sees that you're in a neighborhood you frequent, the app shows you recently opened spots or nearby places on your to-do list.

Foursquare's core features are now more prominent than ever, too: the check-in button is fixed to the bottom of the app's landing screen and the search bar has been moved to the top.

Friends who aren't on the Foursquare train often ask: is it Yelp, Facebook, or Twitter? The check-in app is a hard one to peg down, and the best answer is that it's a little bit of everything. It has a rating and recommendation system like Yelp (although it's not as overwhelming), a social component like Facebook, and the real-time, instantaneous feel of Twitter. But the new personalized location-based features of Foursquare 6.0 might put the app in a league of its own.

It's hard to remember a day not spent scrolling through little filtered photos or when "tweet" was just a sound birds made. Although millions now share their every thought online and add that ever-flattering hipster look to every photo, you just know you were one of the first to discover social networks like Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, and Github. We believe you, but do your friends? Prove you were an early adopter with our website of the day, Idego.

Step one is to authorize Idego to access your Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, and Github accounts. Then it will start calculating how "ahead of the game" you were based on your actual user ID number. On our trial, it seemed fairly accurate. Due to Idego's growing popularity, it can be slow to authorize and sync with certain networks. Although being one of the first to "check in" or tweet won't win you a real-world prize, you can rest easy with the Idego-appointed cool-kid status of being one of the first in the social media know.

Source: Flickr user atomic playboy

Valentine's Day is a day away and amore is in the air. If you've set up a geek-filled date for your one and only, congrats on planning ahead. If not, well, you could always wander the streets of these US cities that were found to be the most romantic in the country. Foursquare studied 1.5 billion check-ins and determined which cities were the most romantic, based on check-ins to places deemed "romantic" for couples, like French restaurants, wine bars, flower shops, and lingerie boutiques. Ooh la la. Check out the list and get to road-tripping tomorrow!

1. Lake Buena Vista, FL.
2. Napa, CA.
3. Venice, CA.
4. Saint Louis, MO.
5. New York, NY.
6. San Francisco, CA.
7. Reston, VA.
8. Beverly Hills, CA.
9. Myrtle Beach, SC.
10. Key West, FL.

Want to see the locations you should stay away from this Valentine's Day? Then just read more.

If you thought Foursquare was just a vehicle to rack up Mayorship points, think again. The company announced that it is adding menus and food prices to its growing list of features.

In partnership with a start-up called SinglePlatform, Foursquare can now provide good, need-to-know information from nearly 250,000 restaurants across the US — which is somewhere in the ballpark of 13,000,000 menu items — with lots more on the way. What does this mean for you? Well, if you need a new favorite food joint, you'll soon be able to discover new places in your hood with the "Explore" tab, find out what they're serving, get tips on what you should order from folks who know, score any check-in deals, and become Mayor, all in one app. I say soon because for the time being, you can only access restaurant and menu details on the Foursquare website and mobile portal (m.foursquare.com). But stay tuned — the feature is coming to the Foursquare app in the near future.

Checking in on Foursquare or other geo-location apps can get you more than mayorship — it can get you some pretty sweet deals if you know where to look. More and more businesses are offering up discounts for their mayors, frequent customers, and even passers-by, kicking back a little coin just for visiting. Find out how you can save money, get a great deal, and even make a little cash, just by using Foursquare, Loopt, or these other location-based apps.

• Foursquare — The current king of geo-location apps, participating Foursquare businesses can offer deals and discounts for mayors and frequent visitors, ranging from free frapps at Starbucks to 25 percent off at stores like Sports Authority.
• Loopt — Loopt has been known to offer an automatic 25 percent off purchases at Gap and deep discounts on Virgin America flights, and even show you available rewards near your current location. Now it's even integrating Groupon's Groupon Now deals into the app, so you can find great deals on the go.

See the rest of the list (there's quite a few) after the break.

I'm already a fan of GetGlue, the social app that lets you check in to your entertainment, and now that the company has integrated Foursquare into its check-in process, I'm a believer.

Previously, you could check in when watching your favorite shows, playing games, or reading a book, but now GetGlue goes even further by allowing you to connect your Foursquare account so you can broadcast what you're watching and where — Rango at your local cineplex, for example — so you only need to check in once.

Additionally, sports fans will be excited to know that GetGlue has incorporated sports into the app, so you can check in to sporting events or your favorite teams. Touchdown!

Your iPhone is loaded with geo-location apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, and you even use Facebook Places. All that is fine and dandy, but wouldn't it be nice if you found an app that compiles all of your (and your friends') social check-ins on one singular map? Enter MeMap (free), which does just that.

Using your shared check-ins, MeMap shows you which of your friends are around you now. One of the benefits? You know that you and your friend Sara are in the same neighborhood, but with MeMap, you can see that she's actually just a block away so you can pop in and say hello. Best part, you can customize privacy to show or not show your check-ins, so you always have control over who sees your location and when. MeMap works with Facebook Connect, so any location check-in used on Facebook Places or third-party apps linked to Facebook can be recorded.

What do you think — would you use MeMap?