Mapping

Metagator Popurls has a fun new feature this morning called Popurls.TV that shows you a real-time traffic map of links people are clicking on, and also where they're clicking from. Clicking any single link will take you right to the original story. It's across between Digg Spy and Twittervision, and like the former, it's a fun way to see what's popular on the site. For a more exact account of what's doing well, there are also three sets of links above the map to show you the most trafficked stories within the last hour, … Read more

This post has been updated to include the Facebook app creator's statement on the issue.

Ouch, here's a zinger: contrary to reports, travel site TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I've Been for $3 million. The news was originally reported on Inside Facebook on Thursday night.

A statement from a TripAdvisor representative read, "This is untrue. Beyond that, we do not have any comment."

The company isn't saying any more, obviously. You could really dig into the nuances of the statement, implying it to mean that either the entire rumor … Read more

Update 9:37 a.m. PDT: It turns out TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I've Been for $3 million. Here's our follow-up story.

Who knew that Facebook Platform applications might one day be million-dollar acquisition targets?

Inside Facebook is reporting that Where I've Been, a third-party application developed with the Facebook Platform APIs, has been acquired by online travel company TripAdvisor for somewhere in the ballpark of $3 million. Inside Facebook blogger Justin Smith did not cite any sources; we have sent requests to both Smith and TripAdvisor for comment.

Where I'… Read more

Yahoo is making its biggest update in the last two years to its local search site, allowing customer reviews and proximity to influence results.

To start with, the Yahoo Local site gets a whole new look. It's better organized and more visually appealing than before. The home page shows a customized skyline for 20 cities (in San Francisco it's the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid Building), along with local weather.

The top center portion of the site features rotating links to the most popular reviews, events, maps and buzz, or the most popular search … Read more

Google will be releasing a new feature next week that will enable people to easily embed a Google Map into their Web site or blog, just like you can do with a YouTube video. No coding or programming required; just copying and pasting a snippet of HTML, a Google spokeswoman says.

"To embed a Google Map, users will simply pull up the map they want to embed--it can be a location, a business, series of driving directions, or a My Map they have created--and then click 'Link to this page' and copy and paste the HTML into their Web … Read more

We all know that online maps have their faults. One of them is that they tend to be optimistic.

Google and Yahoo maps offer real-time traffic data with color coding on the map of the congested areas. But we all knew that the driving time given on the map was not reliable because it wasn't factoring in the actual traffic conditions.

Well, Google has fixed that. Now, Google Maps offers a time estimate if driving in heavy traffic, such as rush hour.

For instance, if I plan to drive from the CNET offices in downtown San Francisco to Google'… Read more

This application for iPhone was designed to help you find the best bars in New York City while on the go. Even as a tourist, you'll always know where the nearest bar is with this application. Search for bars by name, cross-street, or even by what's close to the bar you're at currently. When your night is over, New York On Tap will also help you find the nearest subway to get home.

iPhone link: http://newyorkontap.com/mobile.aspx

Web site link: http://newyorkontap.com/

I eatd mini cheezburger at the TechCrunch party at August Capital on Friday, as LOLCats would say. There were other morsels there too, some tastier than others.

Remember before the Internet came along, when you could call a 900 telephone number to talk to "Santa Claus?" Dial Directions feels nostalgic like that. Being directionally challenged, I consider it a gift. You literally dial "DIRECTIONS" on your cell phone and get a turn-by-turn text message. The service is available in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles during beta testing. It did a pretty good job … Read more

In the old days, to figure out if your house, apartment, or place of work was good for walking, you'd have to go scout it out, or ask someone who knew the area. These days we have services such as Walk Score, a mashup that helps calculate how "walkable" an address is based on the services that surround it. It works by tallying up the distances to the surrounding attractions, and pulls them together in an average, which it gives you in a handy scale of 1 to 100. The higher the score, the more walk-friendly the … Read more