UpNext Map Permalink: Email, Blogs, Twitter, Tumblr

At UpNext, we try to make it easy for you to explore and discover this great city of New York. Users love how they can intuitively find places to eat, drink, shop, sleep, and more. We recently added a feature so you can share your finds with others.

You can now create a map permalink and share it with your friends. Here is an easy step by step tutorial.

1) Find the Place you want to share
Navigate the map and use the search bar, category medallions or activity buttons to find the business, landmark, intersection, or address you want to share.

2) Map Permalink

Click on "Map Permalink" button on the top right corner of the map

or

the "Send it to" button on the right side bar.





3) Customize the snapshot
- Select the size of your desired snapshot. A red box will appear which are the borders for the image size.
- Move the map to center your selection and to include any landmarks or streets you think are appropriate.
- Click "Create Snapshot" to capture.


(The example above shows the new Shake Shack on the Upper West Side. We have included the street names as well as the Natural History Museum on the right for context.)


4) Share the map permalink

- Copy the URL and send it in an email

- Copy the embed URL and post it to your blog

- Send the image along with a message directly to your Tumblr

- Post a Twitter message with the map url included





These permalinks are great for adding visual locations to messages. Here are some example of the permalinks in use. Twitter Example, Tumblr Example

If you come up with or see any other creative uses for UpNext permalinks, please let us know in the comments.

Share This Post

Pitching VC's: The Big Three Auto Way

By now you have read about the CEO's of the Big 3 automakers flying to Washington in private jets to request taxpayer bailout money. Here's the link in case you missed it.

If Congress does indeed bailout the automakers, then perhaps we should all consider pitching investors the Big 3 Way rather than cutting costs and being lean.

Here is how I would do it.

- Show up to the meeting in an Audi R8 and park it next to the VC's BMW. Make sure he notices it from his office window by honking loudly when you pull up. (Even better, if you get there before him, make sure to park in his space if he has one.)

- Bring at least 6 people to the meeting. Make sure they all have VP or Director titles. That way the VC's knows that they get paid a lot of money, but there are still people above them getting paid even more.

- Bring along the consulting firm you hired to put your pitch deck together. McKinsey or the B's (Bain, BCG, Booz) would be best.

- During the getting to know you part of the discussion, make sure to invite the VC to the company holiday party at Per Se (or French Laundry) so that he can meet the rest of the team.

- When talking about the issues with your product, make the analogy that a product has to be tailored to each user like the custom suit you are wearing.

- When asked about possible exits, get your bankers and lawyers on the phone (both on retainer) and have them talk about the IPO window opening in 2009.

- When the receptionist/assistant/intern brings in some bottled water, make sure to tip him a benjamin.

- If he ever dares to question your spending, imply that he does not care about employee safety. If he looks confused, start rambling about standard procedures.

Let me know if you have other suggestions in the comments.

Share This Post

NYC Hyperlocal Community

Last night a group of hyperlocal/LBS web companies got together for food and drinks at Pop Burger Midtown. It was a great evening and I hope that there are more events to come.

Here are some of the companies represented:

• 8coupons.com
• upnext.com
• unype.com
• outalot.com
• www.mobiledreamsfactory.com
• socialight.com
• truping.com
• pinchmedia.com
• cupidslab.com
• ibegin.com
• yipit.com
• gomobo.com
• outside.in
  
• 4square (or is it foursquare)

There are probably some that I missed (apologies in advance) but it was a great turnout. Special thanks to Landy and Murat for organizing.

This was probably one of the best meetup/networking events I have attended. It is great to be in a room with fellow entrepreneurs who are trying to solve similar issues. At one point there was a group discussion about a very niche local related topic which probably would have bored most people at regular tech events. But last night it led to a deep discussion that included everyone. It was nice to be able to take a deep dive into issues without having to explain the greater details.

There are some very smart and motivated people working great local solutions in New York City and beyond. If you are involved in the hyperlocal, location based services domain definitely join us so that the community can continue to grow.

Share This Post

Medallions and Community Buttons

Medallions (or category) search has now been moved into the map area. This makes it easier to search and navigate by keeping everything in the map.


Also the medallions are now clearly labeled below and the on/off functionality is easily recognizable. Try them out yourself. We have...

• Hotspots (What's new in the city - restaurants, bars, shops)
• Nightlife (bars, clubs, lounges)
• Restaurants (search by cuisine and then filter by attributes)
• Shopping (lots and lots of shopping in NYC)
• Hotels (search by star rating)
• Recreation (salons, spas, theaters, gyms, etc)

Also, on the right side of the map, you will see community buttons as shown below.

Use these 3 buttons to discover places through your friends and the UpNext community.

- Friends: Shows reviews, favorites and places marked by your friends

- Community: Shows the latest reviews, top favorites and popular places from the UpNext community based on the area of the map.

- My Profile: Shows all the places you have marked. Your own personally annotated guide to the city.


Vik was the lead on getting these medallions done while Robin was the creative force on the sleek look and design. Gotta give credit where credit is due. Hope you enjoy and find them useful.

Share This Post

Yelp Reviews

There is nothing better than having a passionate user base. We love our UpNext community members and all the feedback they give us.

So when given the opportunity to leverage another great group of users, we jumped at the chance.

The Yelp API allows us to bring more content into UpNext, helping you better understand and evaluate businesses in NYC.

Once a venue is selected. Click on "More Info" in the venue window to open the expanded sidebar. Here you will see up to 3 reviews from Yelp related to that business.


The screenshot above is a great example of how UpNext combined with Yelp content can be a very useful tool. Mr. Jones is a Japanese restaurant that opened this month. You can tell it is a new restaurant by the glowing red dot hovering over the location (UpNext Hotspots). When you click on "More Info", 2 Yelp reviews appear.

For a place that has been open less than a month, these Yelp reviews provide you with some immediate feedback on the location. Pretty impressive stuff from the Yelp community.

So take a look around when exploring New York City. Let us know how you like the Yelp integration and any feedback you might have.

Share This Post

UpNext 2.0 or as we call it UpNext (the way better version)

So the team has been working overtime on this new version of UpNext. Honestly, I am blown away by the improvements and want to share them with everyone.

Even before you read this post, go to the new site (www.upnext.com) and check it out.

Here is a list of the new stuff we want to point out. (We will be writing expanded follow up posts on some of these features.)

1) Usability

Load time - UpNext now loads as fast as any other webpage. This required quite of feat of engineering by Raj, so please direct all your praise to him.
(Note: The first load will take slightly longer as we do need to build the base of the city initially. But subsequent visits will be fast.)

Speed and Stability - The overall UpNext experience is now faster and more stable. Try it out, you will notice the difference immediately. Exploring the city is now, an even better experience.


2) Features

Yelp Reviews - We are now utilizing the Yelp API to bring in more content for our users. When you click on the "More Info" button, you will see 3 Yelp reviews in addition to any editorial and user reviews that were there previously.

Permalinks - In the top right corner of the map, there is a icon labeled "Map Permalink". This feature allows you to take a snapshot of any part of the map and share it in an email, blog, Facebook, where ever you want.

Medallion - We have taken the category community medallions and brought them into the maps. (See the glowing buttons on the top and right of the map area?)
This allows to you to focus your interaction within the map and to easily find anything (from restaurants and nightlife to recommendations from other users and friends.)


3) Overall Look and Feel

We have improved the look and feel of the city. Fly around midtown and you will see a noticeable difference in how the city looks. There are more landmarks and better textures for all buildings.

Also, zoom down to the street level. Play around down there and run around the city. (More is coming for this feature so keep an eye out.)


There is a lot more in this new version than we listed above but those are just the highlights. Go check out the new site. Tell your friends about it. And tell us what you think, we would love to hear from you.

Share This Post

UpNext featured in Forbes.com

The last couple weeks have been pretty good for us in terms of press. We did an interview with Maureen Farrell at Forbes.com. Check out it out to see some new stuff that we are working on.

UpNext on Forbes

(Sorry, no embed option again)

Share This Post