A short while ago my roommate Andy turned me on to a service called Dodgeball. It’s basically a social networking app that sends you SMS’s from your peeps when they’re bored looking to hang out and in your general vicinity. Or as Corante says, it helps “coordinate social interactions”. Like ad hoc blind dating, but with people you know.
So it turns out that they’re being aquired by Google. Wait what?
Oh that’s right… when you hook up Google Maps, Google Reviews and a mobile-social component like Dodgeball, you basically own my life. Toss in a ridefinder, another SMS answer service and cell-phone accessible price lookups and geez, why would I ever go home again?
From now on, I can putt along knowing exactly where I am, how much things cost, what the best movies and restaurants are, have transportation and be able to ping my friends with where and when I’ll be someplace.
All on Google’s …free… services.
Ah huh.
Ok, so just get me a new Apple iPhone and my life is yours, baby!
Factory Joe 
This doesn’t really relate to this topic, but since it was tagged under “Life online,” I figured I’d write a comment relating to .. “life offline….” (and this is the only way I can think of to contact you :))
If I’m right, it’s a really small world! I randomly found your blog from a link on del.icio.us, and I was browsing through your Flickr profile, and saw a photo of you, and I instantly remembered riding a Grayhound bus down to Harrisburg from Pittsburgh (or maybe I was coming back to Pittsburgh, I can’t remember….) But anyway, my point about the bus is that, if I’m not mistaken, you were sitting right next to me with an Apple Powerbook (complete with a screen cover…) I was going to comment to you about it, but I just kept quiet …
By the way, this was around the end of January of 05 or the beginning of February. Tell me this isn’t insane 🙂 I’m pretty sure I’m right, but let me know if I’m wrong 🙂
Ok that’s insane!! Just to make any of your readers aware (and more so to prevent me giving off the image that I’m going insane :-)), Chris did indeed confirm that this happened via email. I just knew it had to be him as soon as I saw the picture, he has a very unique and sophisticated look that I haven’t really seen before in anybody else .. anyway I just wish I would have struck up a conversation for the duration of the 4 hour ride 🙂