Socialight / blog+news

If you’re in NYC this weekend - do yourself a favour and check out some of the speakers / panels at the annual Conflux psychogeography/art festival, organized by Christina Ray and her Glowlab crew. If you have no idea what we’re talking about - here’s what they say:

CONFLUX: the annual NYC festival for contemporary psychogeography where international artists, technologists, urban adventurers and the public put investigations of everyday city life into practice on the streets.

Socialight was unavailable for a little while we switched over to our new datacenter. We apologise for any slowness you may have experienced. We are back and better than ever! We’re also hard at work on a brand new version of Socialight with some delectable new features that you’re going to love. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I will say that the new Socialight will work on many more phones and will allow you to communicate in some very new ways with people near and far away.

Of course as a loyal early member of the service (and reader of this blog), you’ll be getting a heads-up from us about the new site before anybody else.

If you live in NYC or are looking for an excuse to take a trip, late September / early October is the perfect time to be here. This fall, along with the wonderful weather, New Yorkers can look forward to checking out some of the awesome exhibits at the WIRED NextFest. Check out the story in the magazine here.

Socialight will be featured in the Communications Pavilion, where you’ll be able to meet us and take things for a spin. If you can’t be here, you can still watch the festivities on The Discovery Channel’s NextFest special (29 September @ 9pm).
SPOILER WARNING: Contains scenes from Socialight HQ.

Backstage images from the Socialight shoot.

NewMediaAge magazine in the UK wrote about us in a piece called “Mobile Networking”.

Dan Melinger, co-founder of Socialight, agrees that content for content’s sake isn’t going to form mobile social communities unless that content is specifically relevant to people. Hence Socialight allows people to tag places, such as a good restaurant, with a comment and a picture taken on their mobile. These can then be shared with friends on the service, as well as those who have opted to receive content from beyond their buddy list.

“We’re going to get people talking on their mobiles about places they’ve enjoyed or hated,” says Melinger. “By the end of next year, 70% of new phones should have GPS, which will make the system work at its best - although we can get some form of accuracy without it and people can later move their notes onto an online map. Then, when someone passes a spot with a note assigned to it, they’re alerted and can comment on it.”

There was a blurb on Socialight in the Septeber 2006 issue of WIRED Magazine.

Tell the world about that fabulous martini bar you’ve discovered. With StickyShadows, owners of location-aware cell phones can leave virtual sticky notes for the next guy. While sipping a gin, thumb a text message. The next traveler to step into your StickyShadow will get an instant heads-up on his handset. Psst! Order the Boodles.