location based

Summer may seem like the biggest travel season of the year, if you're headed abroad, cross country, or to far-off locales, travel time is ripe 365 days a year. Unfortunately, traveling can also have you racking up the charges on your credit card, but with these handy tech tips, you can save money while on the road now, or any time!

• Track down free WiFi — There's a number of US airports that offer free WiFi in the terminals (and more being added all the time), which can save you big money if you need to stay connected. Also, there's plenty of WiFi options getting to and from the terminal. Just don't use that mysterious "Free Public WiFi" signal — it could spell trouble.
• Get a Google Voice number — Getting a Google Voice number can help you save big bucks on international and domestic calls wherever you are — rates start at just two cents a minute, and calls to US and Canadian landlines are free! Plus, you can use your laptop to make calls, no cell phone required.

Check out the rest of the tips when you read more.

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.

Google just recently added check-ins and Google Maps integration to Latitude, and in an effort to compete against popular apps like Foursquare and SCVNGR, the company is now incorporating deals to its geo-location app.

Google's list of deals partners is extensive (launching with Macy's, RadioShack, American Eagle Outfitters, and many more), but rather than allowing anyone to take advantage of the significant deals up for grabs, Google is adding another layer on to its process: status.

Find out more about it after the break.

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?

Topguest, a membership rewards program that pays its users for checking into locations using services like Foursquare and Loopt, has a new partner: photo-sharing service Instagram. Yesterday, Topguest began rewarding users posting photos of certain locations on Instagram. To take advantage of this new functionality, just link your Topguest and Instagram accounts.

In celebration, Topguest-friendly airline Virgin America is sponsoring a competition: the users posting the most-liked Instagram photos taken at Virgin America-related locations (like airports and airplanes) will win 1,000 Elevate points — Virgin America's loyalty program.

The partnership allows Instagram users to connect the world around them (beyond just taking photos) and gives Topguest users an opportunity to earn more points just by taking photos of things they would naturally take photographs of anyway.

There's a whole new crop of location apps appearing on the mobile scene that allow users to preemptively check in to a venue they'd like to visit in the near future — a restaurant, for example — inviting a friend who may want to do something similar to join. Instead of telling friends and contacts what you're doing, it broadcasts what you plan or want to do.

One such app, called Ditto, combines a user's wants (ex: "I want to eat oysters.") with recommendations from friends (ex: "Go to Hog Island Oyster Company in the Ferry Building in San Francisco."). Users can also elect to accept recommendations from other people who may not be a part of your friend circle.

It's a natural extension of apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, in that it allows you to join forces with friends if you don't feel like visiting a certain place on your own. But to me, this just seems like one more app to check if you're looking for something to do. Not to mention I usually have reasonable success recruiting friends to join me via Twitter postings.

Would you use an app like this?

2010 was a huge year for Foursquare, and 2011 appears to be looking up, too. As location-based services surge in popularity, the original check-in service has evolved from a simple way to share your location with friends to a full social media experience. Here, five cool uses for Foursquare — if you're not on the service yet, perhaps one of these fun facts will convince you!

1. Discovering city trends and attitudes Foursquare engineers recently determined the rudest cities based on the amount of profanity used as people checked into certain locations.
2. Discovering new food Foursquare recently announced a special Mario Batali badge that users receive after checking into one of his restaurants. But besides the badge, you'll also get special food recommendations from the chef himself. I always check Foursquare tips from friends if I'm eating at a new place; chances are someone will have left a note detailing a favorite dish.
3. Creating a personal history log The site Foursquare&7Years will email you with a daily reminder of what you were up to a year ago. You can also access your own history through the site and app, which is fun to do if you're feeling nostalgic.
4. Upping your credibility Whether it's geek cred you're after or something else, Foursquare does indulge a little bit of nepotism, especially when you're checking into somewhere especially awesome, like a hot restaurant or concert.
5. Having a laugh While I wouldn't necessarily encourage checking into one of these places — strip clubs and bathrooms make funny check-ins when you're just playing around with friends.