Archive for August, 2008

Watch DNC Activity via Brightkite

Being a Denver based company we have noticed quite a jump in local Brightkite activity due to the Democratic National Convention. We’re having fun keeping tabs on DNC happenings taking place throughout the city. See for yourself whats going on right now by browsing to the Denver place page.

Some interesting posts from around town:
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We Now Support International Text Messaging (SMS)

Now you can interact with Brightkite via text message (SMS) from countries outside the US. Over the past few months we have received quite a few requests to support international SMS and we are now excited to offer it. It is still in somewhat of an experimental phase so if you encounter any problems please let us know.

To set up your phone outside the US:

  1. Go to Settings and click on the Mobile tab.
  2. Enter your your complete phone number, including “+” and the country code.
    For example: +441234567890 or +12123456789

    Find your country code

  3. Click continue and enter the confirmation code we sent to your phone.

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Help with adding a non-US number:
You must include the “+” sign that precedes your country code. If you don’t include both the ‘+’ and your country code with your complete number, Brightkite wont recognize it properly.
For example: +44 1234567890

You may need to drop the “0″ before adding the country code.

Correct:
+44 1234567890

Incorrect:
+44 01234567890

If you’ve added your number incorrectly, simply click “Delete and start over”.
If you never receive a confirmation code, click “Delete and start over”. Check and re-nter your number.

Remember to check your phone plan for international rates; be aware that standard messaging rates apply and vary by carrier.

Brightkite Shirts Now Available

Although there will be plenty of opportunities to get Brightkite shirts over the coming months, those who can’t wait can get them now. Zazzle lets you have them “your way” and customize your Brightkite shirts as you see fit. In an attempt to keep the cost down we set the price as low as Zazzle would let us.

Brightkite Shirts

Brightkite Map Visualization with SpatialKey

We are always looking for interesting and creative ways to visualize Brightkite content. When Universal Mind approached us with SpatialKey, we were excited about the possibilities. Indeed, we were not disappointed; take a look for yourself.

The example data set shows only the first check in for each Brightkite user between the dates of April 28 and May 19, 2008. These numbers do not represent total users for the given time frame, the data set is artificially constrained at 10,000. We encourage you to adjust the settings as they can yield some astonishing results.

Launch the Application >

Checkins Worldwide

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Checkins at City Level

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So…its the end of the month, where is the iPhone app?

The end of the month has come and gone and searching for Brightkite in the iPhone App Store yields no results. So…where is the Brightkite App you are asking? Well, it is delayed, but be assured that we are working day and night to release it to you.

We did say it would be ready at the end of the month, so for retribution while you wait, feel free to throw some tomatoes at us. Thank you for your patience.