Foursquare vs Gowalla -the battle of the check-in at SXSW ( a video comparison)

AUSTIN- SXSW has come and gone, but it has left an important mark on the social networking scene by making location-aware apps core to the participants' experience of the event.

It also raised the profile of the location 'check-in' feature, as popular Location Based Social Networks like Gowalla and Foursquare competed for the hearts and minds of those present at SXSW.Google's VP of Geo Products, John Hanke, said:

"the check-in had energized the conference."

Who was the winner of the ' mobile check-in' at SXSW, then? Apparently, there wasn't one, though this video produced by SimpleGeo gives you a good feel of how the different services were used (thanks to Troy for bringing this to my attention).

SXSW Interactive Checkin Visualization from SimpleGeo Inc. on Vimeo.

HTML5 on iPhone and Offline Web Apps

Making iPhone Web Apps continue to run after they went offline used to be an uphill struggle. However, with the specification of up-and-coming HTML5, you can now load a web app just once and then let it run offline. All this, without a need for a continuous internet connection, giving it the feel of a locally installed native iPhone app.

In his recent post on Mobiforge, Wei-Meng Lee explains how to use Dashcode to write offline iPhone web apps. His article gives you a great step-by-step explanation, from the Configuration of Apache for Web Publishing to Session- and Client-side Storage.

If you are about to develop an app with offline mode, I recommend you read through Wei-Meng's article for further insights. You can find it by clicking here.

Apple to launch iCar Prototype with total customisation through App Store

It was only a question of time till Apple decided to venture into new segments by extending its powerful branding franchise. Swiss-watch maker Swatch was the first to foray into the car sector with its successful Smart car model joint venture with Mercedes. Now Apple is looking to replicate this success with its own vision of an 'iCar', combining the latest clean fuel technology with its famous App Store concept.

Full details haven't been revealed, but official sources close to the company state that the iCar will 'integrate Apple's leading iTunes app download technology to provide customisation capabilities never seen before in a car model'.

What this means is that buyers of the iCar will be able to download the entire car specification options one-by-one from a special iCar App Store -from the accelerator display app, to the colour scheme app, rearview camera app etc, effectively 'building' their own electronic display features from scratch. Needless to say, the iCar will come with a WiFi booster, 6-speaker stereo and 9-inch screen and iPad/iPhone dock to also benefit from all the communication and multimedia features loved by Apple fans worldwide.