Go2’s “What to do” – Local Search and Events

Go2.com is one of the mobile web’s oldest destinations. The URL has hosted a mobile site since 1999.  The original Go2 was a WML based  local search site that was remarkably powerful for its time. Go2 pioneered features like mobile driving directions and the “what’s nearby” search.  In 2002, Go2 and AT&T collaborated to launch one of the world’s first location based mobile web services.  It used cell tower triangulation to find a user’s location and show nearby restaurants and stores. … Continue reading

Urbanspoon – Mobile Webapp Version Of An iPhone App Hit

Urbanspoon is one of the success stories of the iPhone appstore phenomenon. The self-funded three man start-up began as a web based, crowd sourced guide to dinning out in  major metropolitan areas in the US and Canada.  Urbanspoon  launched a location aware iPhone app shortly after Apple opened the platform to third party developers in 2008. The app quickly became one of the 10 most downloaded apps on iTunes. Then Urbanspoon really hit it big after Apple featured it in … Continue reading

Google Local Gets Categories and “Starred Places”

Google updated their mobile web based local search yesterday. There are a number of enhancements that combined could potentially make it my new favorite local mobile search engine. Here’s what’s new: Location enabled – Google local on Android and the iPhone have been location aware for a while, now location support has been sort of extended to all platforms. How is that possible given that only Android, the iPhone, BlackBerries and Windows Mobile devices with Gears installed  support sharing your … Continue reading

Globrix – U.K. Mobile Property Search With Lots of Listings

Globrix is a mobile Web service that claims “…to allow users to search nearly every property for sale or to rent in the UK.” I don’t know about that but it does have a lot of listings, 20,000 in London alone. The site’s advanced search lets you filter by minimum and maximum price, number of bedrooms, “freshness” of the listing, type of unit (house, flat or apartment) and radius from a town or neighborhood center. Listings include the price, general … Continue reading

Mobile Site Offers California Education News and School Search

I just found a link to the California Department of Education’s mobile side over at the Oh! Mobile Directory. I had no idea the CDE had a mobile site, most state agencies barely have a Web site let alone a mobile one. The Education Dept site offers a searchable directory of public and private schools, school district and CDE offices. Directory listings include address, phone numbers (not click to call, unfortunately) and a link to a mobile Google Map. I … Continue reading

Electricity Out? Get Status Updates On Your Mobile Phone

I think this is a mobile first. Ameren, an electric power utility serving 1.9 million customers in Illinois and Missouri has launched a mobile website that lets customers check the status of service outages. You can search for affected areas by zip code or county. You can also report if your power is out and get real time updates on the progress of restoring power to your specific home or business. The site also has customer service phone numbers (unfortunately … Continue reading

Ubi – Michelin Guides for Mobile

Ubi is a mobile front end to the prestigious, especially in Europe, Michelin Guides.  The mobile site  at ubiubi.mobi covers most  U.S. metropolitan areas and lets you search for restaurants by keyword and location. Results, which seem to be limited to places listed in the Michelin guidebooks, include address, click to call phone numbers and maps.  There are links to the Michelin reviews but registration is required to view them.  Basic registration is free but limits you to viewing just … Continue reading

Superpages Mobile – Cool Features, Quirky UI

Superpages.com, which was primarily an U.S.only online phone directory has expanded their mobile offering into a full blown local search engine.  The site, which is owned by Verizon spinoff Idearc Media now provides business search by name or category, maps, driving directions, WiFi hotspot search, weather forecasts, movie reviews and show times in addition to phone number look up by name and location and a reverse phone number directory. It’s still U.S. only, however. The site gets the job done … Continue reading