nearby

Break off a piece of that BlackBerry and friend some strangers on Facebook:

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has long been struggling to turn the company around. With thousands of layoffs ongoing, it could be time for the company to try something drastic. One report says RIM is considering spliting itself into two companies by diving the messaging network from the hardware side, and possibly selling the hardware division. RIM didn't comment on specifics of this report by The Sunday Times. But RIM did say it is examining a wide-range of strategies. Perhaps new BlackBerry 10 devices can shake … Read more

-Facebook quietly adds creepy "Find Friends Nearby" feature.

-Apple no longer claims immunity from viruses on its Web store.

-New site "weknowhatyouredoing.com" tracks Twitter and posts incriminating patterns.

-Hot Toys' Joker action figure is serious...ly amazing.

-No one watches TV, Nielsen, and you know it.… Read more

Facebook has quietly launched a new mobile feature that allows people to locate other Facebook users who are geographically nearby.

Find Friends Nearby allows users to locate and add new friends at events or locations without having to search for them by name. However, it requires users to be logged into Facebook as well as the FFN platform.

First reported by TechCrunch, the new feature hasn't been officially announced but is currently operational on iOS and Android devices, as well as the general Web.

When contacted for comment about the new feature, Facebook was tight-lipped.

"We are constantly … 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

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

eBay launches Gifts Nearby to help you shop offline

Microsoft wants to enable the Kinect to recognize finger gestures

The new FourSquare iPhone app lets you comment on your friends' location choices

The state of Oregon will now allow spell check on state exams

And that's all folks! Loaded is on hiatus through the end of the year. We will see you at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for new tech galore! Have happy and healthy holidays!

Whether you're moving to a new place or you just want to be more familiar with your surroundings, there are a variety of sites on the Web that fill you in on everything from restaurants to businesses to apartments in your area.

BooRah If you're only looking for restaurants, BooRah is for you. The site features information on how to get to a restaurant, but really shines when you read through the informative reviews from users and consider the "similar restaurant" tab, which features a listing of local eateries that are similar to … Read more

Nearbie is a new social bookmarking service that lets users broadcast status updates, and keep tabs on friends. Nearbie goes one step further than some other sites that do this (see Dodgeball, Groovr and Jaiku) to show you how user-submitted material is connected to people or places in your geographical location. Users can submit all sorts of things such as event notices, local landmarks, personal stories, and pictures. It's a lot like a blog, but with far more structure. The hope is that when enough people begin to use the service, users will be able to discover more about … Read more

Boston--I just met with Andy Estes, the ambitious CEO of Nearby Networks, which runs FindNearby.net. This service is a mashup of Google Maps, Amazon, eBay, Craiglist, and WalMart.com. You tell it where you are and what you are looking to buy, and it will find the items available for sale near you. Items are color-coded on the map by type of sale (auction, private party sale, retail). Auctions about to expire are red.

It's a really cool way to find an item you're looking for if you're itching to hop in the car to go … Read more