Getting what you want and getting what you need are two very different things. Time and time again Apple has shown that rather than providing faster horses they'd rather create cars. Instead of opening up multitasking in iOS, they'd rather provide APIs so people can listen to Pandora, use TomTom, and make Skype calls. Apple isn't always right, but for anyone whose ever had to problem-solve user-facing issues knows, Apple typically takes the right approach.

That's why I don't think we'll see App Store developers gain the ability to respond to App Store reviews.

Google Play (the artist formerly known as Android Market) recently gave "top developers" just exactly that ability. Here are the highlights, courtesy of Phil Nickinson of Android Central:

This has been a long-requested feature, for the obvious reason. App reviews and star ratings mean life and death for an app. And while many customer reviews are helpful, you'll also see a number of reviews that don't make sense, or ding an app for something the developer has no control over.

Now, the developer can respond.

OK, so flamers and trolls are the negative side of this. On a more positive note, developers will be able to actively address issues and answer questions. (Until now, that's been next to impossible.)

One catch: Google's initially rolling out the feature to developers who have a "Top Developer Badge," but that should cover a good many of the most popular apps out there.

All in all, it's an excellent addition to the selection and purchasing experience on Google Play.

Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web talked to Apple developers and, not surprisingly, the ability to respond to reviews is their most-wanted feature for the App Store as well.

Google has cut the path here and Apple needs to follow. It would go a long way towards making the App Store a place for discussion about apps. Starting out with a subset of developers is an interesting way to ease into it, and allowing those replies to be sent directly to the commenters by Google email creates a conversation chain that didn't exist before.

All of the above it true. Allowing developers to respond to reviews is certainly a solution. But I'm not sure it addresses the core problems.

Not reviews

I'm not going to opine again about the need for trials on the App Store. I've done that ad nauseum infinitum. Many developers would likely prefer to refund an unsatisfied customer after 15 min. than endure a terrible review in the App Store for months or years.

So, if we constrain the discussion to the App Store reviews, the biggest problem right now is that many of the "reviews" are anything but. That's because, as long as someone has bought an app, they can pretty much fill in the App Store the "review" field with anything they want. And anyone can up or down-vote those reviews. And the calculation (or weighting) of those reviews and votes many times serve no useful customer purpose.

This results in an app's review section that's a quagmire of bug reports, price complaints, competitive astroturfing, feature requests, rants, seemingly random strings of text, and all sorts of other things that are decidedly not reviews.

If developers were allowed to respond, they could assuage complaints, assure users that fixes are on their way, explain pricing, point out astroturfing, address feature requests, counter rants, and otherwise mitigate negative perception.

Or they could fan flames and create even more chaos.

Apple is not Google. Apple is not Twitter, Facebook, a blog, or a forum. Open, unfettered communication isn't something Apple for which has historically shown any interest. It's certainly not something they've historically put in front of tens of millions of customers.

Given the hundreds of thousands of developers on the App Store, any risk analysis on Apple's part would no doubt include what would happen if a developer responded in an inappropriate way. In bold. In neon.

Even with seasoned developers providing excellent customer service, it would only fill what should be "reviews" with even more content that's not reviews.

As much as Henry Ford's customers ultimately preferred cars to faster horses, and iOS users learned to live with Pandora, TomTom, and Skype rather than real multitasking, everyone might just be better served not by making "not reviews" more answerable, but by making the review system itself better.

Ubreaking App Store reviews

Giving developers the ability to respond back to App Store reviews, under the current system, is like giving a group of "not-going-to-take-it-anymore" citizens neighborhood watch shirts, whistles, and baseball bats.

Why not actually clean up the streets first?

Apple hasn't only intermediated the customer relationship for developers, they've actively obscured it. Because of that, whenever a customer has a problem, is feeling frustrated, or simply intends to be a jerk, the path of least resistance is to unload on the App Store.

Yes, Apple does provide support links to developer web sites but -- sorry developers -- many of those go to absolute junk pages that are anything but customer friendly, and often send users right back to the App Store.

Costumer relationship management is incredibly important in any business. It's simple (if not easy) to get right, but getting it wrong can be disastrous. Reputations have been built and lost, and fortunes made and ruined, off the quality of a company's customer relationship management.

Given that reality, Apple, developers, and users would all be better served by Apple taking that path of least resistance, splitting it up, and providing some direction.

Instead of a user getting a blank text field to fill in willy-nilly, Apple could stage the review process. They could query the user up front to see if it's actually a review they want to leave, or if there's some other reason they're there. A few pertinent questions and flow options, and Apple could remove a huge amount of "not review" content from the App Store.

Report a bug. Request a feature. Get help. Get a refund. Post review.

Based on the response, users could get properly routed to better tools for handling their specific needs, including actually posting a review.

"Not review" content could ultimately be packaged and sent to developers directly for follow up, or Apple could provide a ticketing system within iTunes or iTunes connect for handling what should be direct customer interactions outside the App Store spotlight.

Conclusion

Right now App Store reviews are horrible for developers, for users, and for Apple. While giving developers the ability to respond to reviews would ease developer frustrations, allowing them to go from ball-gag to bullhorn, it wouldn't fix the core problem.

Letting reviews be reviews and filtering out anything that's not reviews is a better solution. It makes the content more relevant for other users, fairer for developers, and more valuable for Apple.

Then, even if developers are given the ability to respond, what they'll be responding to is more likely to be relevant, reducing the chance for potentially calamitous exchange, and creating better content for everyone.

Win. Win. Win.

Flow is a puzzle game for the iPhone and iPad where you have to connect matching colors with a pipe to create a flow. The catch is that these pipes will break if they cross or overlap, so you must find the perfect paths that allow all pipes to be created even though some of them will not be taking the shortest route.

So that's the objective of Flow: connect all the dots to create matching pairs and fill up the entire board. For most levels, filling up the board isn't an issue, but every once in awhile you'll encounter a level where it's possible to create all the pipes without using the entire board.

There are two different game modes: free play and time trial. In free play, you have as much time as you want for each level, but the goal is to complete each level in as few moves as possible. In time trial, your goal is to pass as many level as possible in 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, or 4 minutes.

Flow comes with 5 different board sizes for iPhone: 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, and 9x9. It also comes with 5 board sizes for the iPad: 10x10, 11x11, 12x12, 13x13, and 14x14. All off these board sizes include 30 levels, which means that Flow comes with a total of 300 levels for free.

The free version is ad supported, but if you purchase any level packs, each of which contain an addition 150 levels for $0.99, the ads will be removed. There is a total of three level packs available. Unfortunately, there isn't a discounted "all levels" pack available.

The good

• Bright colors (others may view this as a con?)
• Fun
• Challenging
• Addicting
• Includes a lot of levels for free
• Universal for iPhone and iPad

The bad

• I've been told that the navigation icons are stolen from Windows Phone?
• No in-app purchase that includes all purchases at a discount rate

The conclusion

Flow for iPhone and iPad is a really fun puzzle game for the iPhone and iPad. The goal is extremely easy to understand and the beginning levels do a great job of not being too difficult, but as you progress through the game, the levels become quite challenging, especially on the huge iPad levels.

Free - Download Now

Google has updated its Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to include integration with iOS 5's Notification Center; this allows Gmail notifications to show up as banners, alerts and lock screen options. Google claims that notifications show up five times faster than previous versions of the app.

iOS 5 went into beta in June of 2011 and was released to the public in October of 2011. Many independent developers had full notification support at launch. Yet it took the biggest internet company in the world a year to bake this in?

Our team has been working hard to bring your most-requested features to the Gmail app for iOS.  Today, we're excited to add three new improvements to that list of updates: full notification center support, the ability to send messages from your alternate email addresses and an improved login experience.

The other improvements are quite small, although if you like to send email from alternate sender addresses on the desktop version of Gmail, you can now do that from the app too. Gmail for iOS also supports persistent logins which means you can stay logged into your Gmail account as long as you like.

Google claims to be working on more updates for the app with more features to be added in future updates like support for multiple Gmail accounts.

Once again, however, we're left to ask -- how can tiny independent developer teams continue to code circles around the biggest, brightest, best funded corporations in history?

Free - Download now

Source: Official Gmail Blog

Apple has just released iOS 6 beta 2 to developers and it's now available as both a download from Apple's developer portal, and an over-the-air (OTA) update directly on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices.

If you're new to iOS development and this is your first beta update, it may not be immediately apparent how to initiate the OTA download.

Well rest easy, it's simple, fast, and efficient, and only takes a few minutes.

How to manually update to iOS 6 beta 2

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap General
3. Tap Software Update
4. If there's nothing new, you'll be told just so. Otherwise, you'll be presented with all the details about the update.
5. Tap Download and Install
6. Agree to the Terms and Conditions
7. Watch the progress bar (This part depends on the speed and quality of connection. Don't be alarmed if it takes a long time, speeds up or slows down, or appears to jump around -- be patient.)
8. Once it's finished downloading, you'll be prompted to instal (and restart) your device. If you don't explicitly hit Later or Install within a few seconds, it will install on your behalf.
9. Apple will verify the install.
10. And you're done!

For more on setting up a device PC-free and with iCloud, see our complete how to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud guide for more, and if you need any extra help, or need to trouble shoot, jump into our iOS 6 Forum.

Two weeks after making iOS 6 beta 1 available to developers, Apple has released iOS 6 beta 2 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The two week pattern is nothing new for Apple, with previous iOS x.0 releases sticking fairly close to it for the most part.

iOS 6 beta 2 is available as an over-the-air (OTA) update for those running iOS 6 beta 1, or as a download and iTunes/Xcode install from Apple's developer site for those who require or simply prefer a hardline.

No word yet on what, if anything, has changed between iOS 6 beta 1 and iOS 6 beta 2, and since pre-prelase Apple software is subject to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) we won't be hearing anything official from Apple.

If you're a registered iOS developer, hit up Settings, General, Software update, or log in to the developer portal, and get your update on.

And for more on iOS 6, check out our iOS 6 roundup page, and our iOS 6 forum.

Some digging around the hardware code dump of iPhone 5 prototypes has revealed that there's an NFC antenna somewhere inside. The near field communications controllers are directly connected to the power management unit according to the code, but as always, there's no saying if the feature will make it to a final release this fall. It's also worth noting that we've heard about an NFC-enabled iPhone since before the 4S, and we can all see how those rumors panned out.

Apple has certainly set the stage for NFC in iOS 6 with Passbook, which in its current state will enable unified mobile ticketing with barcodes. With the addition of NFC, tickets and transactions could be done just by tapping your iPhone 5 on a sensor, as opposed to having the cashier scan your phone. It would be hard to imagine Apple launching a smartphone in the fall without NFC included; even if the standard is far from commonplace for transactions, Apple's support may push retailers and financial institutions to make the leap. Currently retailers are lot more interested in investing in mobile swipe readers like Square and PayPal Here rather than NFC terminals, likely because it enables them to take their business to new areas and compatibility with customers is way less of an issue. Like many of the iOS 6 features at WWDC, NFC is another point where Android has managed to outpace the iPhone, but it's still early enough in the mobile transactions game that Apple hasn't really missed out on any of the action.

Speaking of which, Apple would be in a fine position to take a cut of every NFC payment, especially if they force app developers to plug into the Passbook app in order to access the antenna. Have you guys ever found yourself itching for NFC in your iPhone? Has Android really had much of a leg-up by having the function this long? What are the odds that Apple will include NFC in the iPhone 5?

Source: 9to5Mac

Yelp was featured prominently in iOS 6 by way of the new Siri features announced at WWDC, but rumor has it that the review network's integration won't end there.  Documents recently issued to developers show that there will be a Yelp check-in option through Apple's new iOS 6 Maps app.

TomTom is providing the lion's share of mapping data in iOS 6, and though they have their own points of interest database, Yelp seems to have taken the reins for ratings, reviews, and photos of businesses. While Yelp is a great pick for those things, checking-in and social sharing isn't really what Yelp is best known for. If Apple had extended their newfangled Facebook partnership to have some kind of check-in through maps, it might be a bigger deal. Likewise if they integrated Foursquare or even rolled their own check-in solution for hundreds of millions of iOS users.

Of course, iOS 6 is still in beta, so we may see something like that before the iPhone 5 launch in the fall.

Neither Apple nor Yelp have otherwise confirmed the functionality.

How many of you use Yelp? Would a check-in option be remotely useful to you as part of the local business review functionality, or would your rather a more general, more popular location-based social network have their hooks in maps, like Facebook or Foursquare?

Source: Bloomberg

For today only, the iMore Store has the OtterBox Reflex Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 on sale for only $21.95! That's a big 37% off! Get yours before they're gone!

Simply slide on the Reflex Series for iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 and enjoy the sleek, highly-protective qualities of this innovative case.

Easy to install and uninstall, you can dock in an instant and slip the case back on for portability and protection on-the-go. This iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 case protects all the ways you like to use your device.

• Reflex zones in corner
• Slick exterior
• Easy snap-off access for docking
• Self-adhering clear screen protector
• Single layer dual density material
• Polycarbonate molded with TPE rubber

Get the OtterBox Reflex Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 now!

The Hone us keychain accessory for iPhone and iPad, now on Kickstarter, that aims to eliminate the problem of losing car, house or any other type of keys. Everyone has experienced the panic -- you're running late, searching for your keys, can't find them anywhere, time is ticking away... Well, instead of checking and re-checking the same places, over and over again, desperately hoping you somehow missed your keys the first ten times around, the Hone offers a better, more technological solution.

A small Bluetooth device for your keychain, the Hone connects to your iPhone 4S or new iPad via the latest Bluetooth 4.0 low energy protocols. When you lose your keys you just simply fire up the companion app and it will trigger an audible alarm and flashing lights. Even better, it has a built in proximity sensor so if you can't see you keys, walking around and getting nearer to them will change the way the Hone alerts you too.

The Hone runs for up to six months on one replaceable battery and has a range of up to 150 feet. The makers of Hone will also make the device hackable in the future by releasing the devices UDID and Bluetooth profile. This means that you could hack it and use it for a different solution if you wanted a low energy Bluetooth device for something else.

If you want to get on board with this project, you can be an early adopter with a pledge of $40. The Hone still has 22 days left to run but has already reached its fundng target of $46,000.

Source: Kickstarter

New York Times subscribers will soon be able to access the newspaper's complete content through the Flipboard app. The information comes hot on the heels of last week's news that Google+ content would also start to appear through the hugely popular social reader app for iOS.

The news is important for Flipboard, because it marks the first time the startup has convinced a big publisher to give it full access to its "premium" content. Previously it has let users sample bits of stuff from magazines, newspapers, and the like. And it's important for the Times, because it's the first time it's given anyone else full access to its stuff.

Currently the only way to consume the newspaper's digital content is through its own website, dedicated iOS and Android apps or digital versions available on devices like the Amazon Kindle. Making it available through Flipboard could open up a new stream of revenue for the Times and for Flipboard. Flipboard will share advertising revenue with the Times for any ads that appear in the Flipboard version of the newspaper. Flipboard doesn't release monthly user subscriber figures but does claim that its app has been downloaded over 8 million times. It will be interesting to see if the New York Times reader figures increase after this deal.

Content from the New York Times should start to appear this Thursday.

Source: All Things D

It's a public holiday in Montreal and the rest of Quebec -- St. John the Baptiste day or National Day, which is basically a provincial version of Canada Day or Independence Day. As with any summer holiday, I care only so much as it means barbecue and beverages, and I have an excuse to keep tonight's column brief. Ish.

First a quick congratulations to my friend Anthony who got his black belt in Jiu-Jitsu yesterday. It took him 11 years, during which time he got married, had a couple kids, won numerous medals, overcame numerous injuries, and transformed himself from student to competitor to teacher to so much more. Renzo Gracie once said, "a black belt is just a white belt who never quit". The truth of that statement applies to everything. To be great all you have to do is persist until you're great. The only secret is hard work.

WWDC videos

Speaking of hard work, we started posting the developer interviews Leanna, Seth, and I shot at WWDC 2012. Fantastic apps don't just make themselves, and the minds and eyes behind them are as fascinating to us as any director commentary or DVD extra, so we tracked them down and got them on video.

We have a few more to get up this week, but make sure you check these out if you haven't already:

• Tapbots' Paul Haddad talks WWDC and Tweetbot
• Ken Yarmosh of savvy apps talks Agenda ninja tips at WWDC 2012
• David Barnard of App Cubby talks Retina Macs, iOS 6, and more at WWDC 2012 and Launch Center Pro as well.

Windows Phone 8 and updategate

Microsoft had an interesting week. The beginning saw the brief introduction of the all new Surface -- laplet? tabtop? -- and the end saw the unveiling of Windows Phone 8.

I've already written about the Surface, and how it needs to beat the iPad for Microsoft to remain relevant in the tech world, so let's turn our attention to Windows Phone 8 for a moment.

The software itself looks good. It's still extremely constrained by the tile and panorama metaphor, and that still makes it more app than OS, but a lot of the technology they showed off was well thought out and highly polished.

Not that existing Windows Phone users will get to use it.

That's right. In case anyone missed it -- current Windows Phones won't be getting Windows Phone 8.

What the hell is Microsoft thinking? They've been in the platform game for decades -- for longer than anyone with the exception of Apple. They know how to manage platforms, and they're the best company in the world when it comes to moving install bases from version to version. Or they were.

If you go out today and by a brand new, flagship, 2012 Nokia Lumia 900 or HTC Titan 2, you won't be able to upgrade it to Windows Phone 8 this fall. It's not that it won't get all the features of next generation Windows Phone 8 phones -- it won't get the new OS at all (it'll get a Windows Phone 7.8 update instead.)

Original iPad and iPod touch 3 owners are pissed enough that iOS 6 won't run on their 2010 devices. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if Apple announced that the 2011 iPhone 4S or 2012 iPad 3 wouldn't be getting iOS 6? There'd be shortages of torches and pitchforks the world over.

Yet because Windows Phone 7 has a small install base, it's suddenly okay for Microsoft to screw over those users passionate and loyal enough to form that install base? And yes, "screw over" is exactly the right way to put it.

Like it or not, OS updates are table stakes in a post iPhone world. API compatibility is necessary for any and all devices to enjoy next generation apps. And as I've said numerous times before, user confidence is a currency easy to spend but incredibly hard to earn back. Once it's gone, it's gone, and likely your business is gone with it.

There's absolutely no excuse for this, not from a company as big and smart as Microsoft. It's one thing to break compatibility going from one OS to another -- from Windows Mobile 6.x to Windows Phone 7, or from BlackBerry 7 to BlackBerry 10. But to do it again just one year into the new OS?

Given their relative position in the market, it's something Microsoft should have planned and prepared for and taken even greater pains to handle properly for Windows Phone users.

And a stink needs to be made about it so that, in a year or two from now, Lumia 1200 and Titan 4 owners aren't being told they can't update to Windows Phone 9.

Micro dock

iMore back on February 23:

• Apple getting ready to ditch the traditional iPhone, iPad, and iPod dock connector

TechCrunch on June 20:

• The New iPhone Will Have A 19-Pin "Mini" Connector

Looks like Apple's going for it.

Google IO and Android 4.1 Jellybean

This fall is set to be a mobile blockbuster, what with iOS 6 and iPhone 5, Windows Phone 8, BlackBerry 10, and Android 4.1 Jellybean all competing for our gadget affection. Two weeks ago we saw iOS 6. Last week we saw Windows Phone 8. Next week at Google IO, it's Jellybean's turn. And maybe the fabled Nexus Tablet.

Our Mobile Nations sibling site, Android Central will be there, and Phil, Jerry, and Alex, along with party-crasher Kevin Michaluk will be there bringing us back all the action.

Podcasts

This week we started answering your questions on iOS 6, talked to former Apple iTunes designer Louie Mantia, and discussed the differences between Apple and Microsoft keynotes. Check them out.

• iPhone & iPad Live 299: iOS 6 Q&A part 1
• Iterate 24: Mantia
• ZEN and TECH 42: Keynotes

This Wednesday is iPhone & iPad Live #300. How should we celebrate?

Features

And here's what the week that was brought us in written form:

• How to set reminders and update task and to-do lists using Siri. Ally Kazmucha continues our ultimate guide to Siri, focusing on getting stuff done.
• Best ways to follow Euro 2012 on iPhone and iPad. It's down to Spain vs Portugal and Italy vs Germany in the semis, and if you want to follow the action on your iPhone or iPad, Simon Sage has you covered.
• CamCard vs. WorldCard vs. Business Card Reader: card scanner for iPhone app shootout!. Ally discovered there aren't any great options here, but if you're desperate to get your cards onto you iPhone, she tells you which is the best of the so-sos.
• LynkTec TruGlide Stylus for iPad review. Georgia continues her look at stylus pens for the iPad, this time with a new contender that's both cheap and good.
• iOS 6 and the curious choice of the colorful new status bar. Your's truly kicks off our iOS 6 preview series with one of the most minor, yet system-wide changes in Apple's next generation mobile operating system.
• iOS 6 and why we got Passbook instead of Files.app. And if that isn't enough to wet your whistle, here are some thoughts as to why Apple is happy to provide a coupon archive but not a document repository.

Recommended reading

• Hands-Off: Microsoft Surface Tablet Review. Danny Sullivan calls shenanigans on tech sites claiming hands on time with a Surface Microsoft clearly intended people to keep their hands off of.
• Back to the Mac. Marco Arment discusses why he left the Mac Pro for the MacBook Pro last year, and why he's returning this year.
• The Frame Game. Guy English on why, not what, Microsoft announced last week.
• It's time for Apple to allow developers to respond to App Store reviews. Matthew Panzarino on Google Play's precedent, and Apple developers' desires to go from ball-gag to bullhorn.
• Is RIM really going to sell its hardware business? Chris Umiastowski is once again forced to put right what mainstream media gets wrong. (Or at least confused.)

Now back to that barbecue...

Georgia and Rene discuss Apple's WWDC keynote, Microsoft's Surface presentation, and go over the skills used by good public speakers, and give tips on how to improve communication skills and de-stress public speaking. This is ZEN and TECH!

• Our podcast feed: Audio | Video
• Download Directly: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video

Hosts

• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

Guests

• David Caolo (@davidcaolo)

Contact

You can reach all of us @ZENandTECH, via email at podcast@zenandtech.tv, or leave a comment below!

Thanks everyone, you're the best community on the web and we love having you with us!

Disclaimer

While Georgia is a therapist, she's not YOUR therapist. Everything said or implied on this show is for informational and entertainment purposes only. And shouldn't be taken in any way as a replacement for proper, professional care.

Credits

Music is Peace on Earth by wellman.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Not content to merely put BlackBerry App World in the black by buying $500 clock apps, CrackBerry.com found and Mobile Nations chief-of-chiefs Kevin Michaluk has now turned his attention to Google Play... and bought a $200 vuvuzela app.

Yeah.

What makes it worth $200 more than all the free vuvuzela apps littering the former Android Market?

Surprisingly enough, the answer to that question is that the app features a picture of an iPhone holding a Vuvuzela! Hilarious. The developers really should be ashamed of themselves for this one. I also found the app crashed a lot, and though it looked like there was a menu for more options, it never opened.

Charming.

Lucky for Kevin, Google Play currently caps apps at $200, or he could have been out the downpayment for a Winnipeg house.

Can't wait to see what Kevin buys when his Mobile Nations World Tour hits iOS and iMore.

Source: Android Central

For those for whom Facebook pretty much is the internet, and sharing location with friends is more positive than negative, the social network's new Find Friends Nearby feature is sure to be an impromptu party hit.

TechCrunch got the early word on it, and Facebook engineer Ryan Patterson gave them the background.

I built Find Friends Nearby with another engineer for a hackathon project. While it was originally called 'Friendshake', we settled on 'Find Friends Nearby' for launch (the URL was a little bit of a homage to the previous iteration).

For me, the ideal use case for this product is the one where when you're out with a group of people whom you've recently met and want to stay in contact with. Facebook search might be effective, or sharing your vanity addresses or business cards, but this tool provides a really easy way to exchange contact information with multiple people with minimal friction.

Find Friends Nearby has already propagated, and should be available on your iPhone, in Facebook, under Apps, Find Friends, Other Tools, Find Friends Nearby.

It's interesting to see Facebook rolling out new, quasi-experimental features like this as part of their web-based app platform. In other words, without requiring an iOS App Store app update. Given the latency in doing location-based friend detection anyway, it probably doesn't matter that it's really an embedded web app and lacks native performance -- you'll be waiting for data longer than you'll be waiting for the interface anyway.

How far Facebook can push their "app store" within an app remains to be seen, but so far it makes an already powerful app much more powerful and flexible. (Or an already intrusive and creepy app even more so, if that's how you view Facebook.)

If you're meeting up with a group of like-minded Facebookers sometime soon, and give Find Friends Nearby a try, let me know how it works for you (either in the comments, or via facebook.com/reneritchie).

Free - Download now

Source: TechCrunch