Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools
Meetro released for OS X
Location based social-networking is a concept that has been bouncing around the net for a while now. The idea is to make getting together and interacting with people easier by sorting users by--or simply displaying--their geographic proximity to you. Services such as dodgeball have become hugely successful in mobile markets, and Meetro is attempting to do the same thing for desktops and laptops. With Meetro, you create a buddy list, and are alerted whenever someone on that list comes within a user specified distance of your current location. I'd get into the magic internet voodoo that Meetro uses to figure out where you are, but their FAQ page is currently down. Although Meetro is the first location-aware instant messaging service that I know of, I can't see it taking off. My issues with it are two fold; I have to create a whole new identity to use the service, and if I want to know where my friends are, I have to get them to do the same. Although the interface of the program has come a long way from when I first saw it in its early beta stages, its still not nearly as user friendly or intuitive as I would like. Ideally, I'd like to see a plug-in for iChat or Adium which allows me to see the location of my regular AIM/MSNIM/YIM buddies when I mouse over them.
In any case, Meetro is certainly an interesting concept, and worth checking out, even if only to get a taste of what surely will be many similar services to come.
Via MacNN
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kevin said 11:10AM on 6-15-2006
your reservations about this service are valid but miss the point of meetro and why it exists. it's for people to meet other people. people they don't know, not people they already know. a plugin for ichat or adium would tell you where your existing buddies/friends are, not other strangers signed on to the same chat service.
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Shane said 11:40AM on 6-15-2006
I agree. A nice concept, however 2 problems.
1. Most of my buddies are local. How much more specific can they get then City without having to manually update your address?
2. The majority of my buddies out of area that are on my buddy list don't travel with a laptop. So if they do happen to be in the same town, chances are they won't be signing on or showing up as close.
shane
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dombi said 11:53AM on 6-15-2006
It does not work on the MacBook Pro. The application starts up, but I cannot log into my account. It looks like this is a PPC only version.
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Dan said 12:29PM on 6-15-2006
Server Error 500 on setup of a new account. Not so impressive.
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russ d said 12:43PM on 6-15-2006
Once again, a great and unique concept; at least for about two seconds before it is viciously abused by pedophiles and child molesters. Can you imagine some pervert creepin around with a laptop tryin to get a hit on the closest 13 year old?
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Dom said 12:57PM on 6-15-2006
I like the idea, but can't get it to work on my Powerbook (so it's not PPC only). I did once manage to log in, to see a grand total of 11 users apparently online... but can't log in again. Something's seriously wrong if their login servers are falling over with 11 people logged in...
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pete said 1:32PM on 6-15-2006
Check out Jambo (http://www.jambo.net). I used it at Macworld this year, it works really well and is pretty mature at this point.
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Dom said 4:49PM on 6-15-2006
Ok, it's working now. It's rather fun actually...
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John Muir said 8:32PM on 6-15-2006
Anyone frustrated by the weird look and feel?
Check out these thoughts on Meetro:
http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/145/another-ui-bites-the-dust
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Austin said 9:05PM on 6-15-2006
This is a pretty neat idea; but if you live in a small town like I do its pretty useless as nobody is online within a hundred miles or more.
Its also pretty dissapointing to see new apps being released with only a PPC binary. Come on, its been half a year, where is the Universal Binary?
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newwavedave said 9:34AM on 6-16-2006
Yeah, this isn't a new concept. You beat me to the punch Pete, but everyone should go try out Jambo instead.
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