Localization

Though plasma is still a firm favorite with reviewers and videophiles, it's overwhelmingly LCD televisions that most people actually buy. And if you want to know what the best LCD TV released in 2012 will be, then we may already have an answer for you: the Sony HX850.

Until the arrival of the excellent HX850, Sony looked to be in dire straits with a massive debt and an anemic TV lineup compared to companies like Samsung and LG. Sony's second-best new-for 2012 TV, the HX750, did nothing to quell our concerns, with picture quality far below what we … Read more

Roamz is an "intelligent" local discovery app that pulls real-time data from Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Instagram in order to show you what's going on in your area. It can even "learn" what you're into and calibrate its recommendations accordingly.

Roamz opens up to a Hot Now screen, which shows public photos, check-ins, and other status updates originating in your immediate vicinity. So, right off the bat, you can swipe through all of the updates and see if anything looks interesting. For instance, in my trials, I saw that several people checked in to … Read more

Centzy, an online search tool, hopes to get consumers the biggest bang for their buck at local businesses.

The tool, launched at today's TechCrunch Disrupt in New York, gives users a comparison of businesses based on prices, reviews, store hours, and proximity to a user's work or home.

"Ever have the nagging feeling that you're getting ripped-off on your dry-cleaning or oil change?," the company's press release says. "Know instantly with Centzy, the only one-click tool for comparing prices of local businesses you already use."

According to the release, fewer than 10 … Read more

Roamz, the "intelligent" local discovery app for iOS, has just made its way to Android, bringing its social-powered local content to a swath of new users. The Android app has the capabilities of Roamz 2.0 for iOS (released in March 2012), but of course, it's wrapped in the stylings of an Android app, with its main navigation up top.

If you're not familiar with Roamz, it pulls data from Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Instagram in order to show you what's happening in your area. This means you get to see pictures of events, check-ins … Read more

You've probably seen people take videos of street performers or their dog doing funny tricks at the park, but how can you find videos like these later? Aside from hoping that the person who took the video added all the appropriate tags and other information to make finding it easy, why not use a tool that does the work for you? A developer at labnol.org has created a simple and useful Web site that will allow you to view videos based on a two-mile radius of a chosen geographical location. Here's how to find the videos:

Step … Read more

Amazon sold 1 million gift cards in just over 17 hours yesterday in a bid to bolster its AmazonLocal daily deals service.

The deal -- a $10 gift card selling for $5 to U.S. shoppers -- was the second fastest daily deal the industry has seen, according to Savvr, which tracks daily deals.

"The popularity of this AmazonLocal deal shows that customers want unique and relevant deals that provide them with an excellent buying experience," Amazon said in a statement.

LivingSocial holds the record for the fastest daily-deal promotion, selling 1 million Whole Foods vouchers in 14 … Read more

Yelp is the premier online city guide that helps you find restaurants and other businesses in your area. It not only provides vital information like hours, addresses, and phone numbers, it also offers a treasure trove of user-submitted reviews, ratings, and photos.

Since Yelp taps into your mobile device's GPS powers, it can easily help you find businesses nearby. Alternatively, you can indicate a city of your choice to search elsewhere. You can conduct your search based on keyword, or browse through listings by category. And the Yelp app offers a few filters to further narrow your search, including … Read more

Yelp is the premier online city guide that helps you find restaurants and other businesses in your area. It not only provides vital information like hours, addresses, and phone numbers, it also offers a treasure trove of user-submitted reviews, ratings, and photos.

Since Yelp taps into your mobile device's GPS powers, it can easily help you find businesses nearby. Alternatively, you can indicate a city of your choice to search elsewhere. You can conduct your search based on keyword, or browse through listings by category. And the Yelp app offers a few filters to further narrow your search, including … Read more

Poynt rolls all of the local discovery tools you need into one application. You can use it to search for restaurants, events, deals, people, businesses, movie tickets, even gas prices.

With all that functionality, fortunately Poynt's interface is simple and straightforward. Just open up the app and tap any of the icons on the home page to begin your search. All of the search tools take your GPS location into account, which means in most cases you'll get the most-relevant results. Also, many of the tools have additional options to help you further refine your search, if necessary.… Read more