Via Engadget.

In anticipation of SXSW Interactive, which kicks off March 11, Yobongo has pushed its app live in the iTunes Store. Yobongo uses geolocation functionality to identify and connect you with people based on your location. I'm predicting yobongo will be one of this year's hot apps at SXSW, which last year helped jump-start Gowalla.

Yobongo lets you chat with whoever is nearby. The service is invite-only for now, but I expect we'll see (and hear) more of the service closer toward SXSW.

A much needed update has been posted to Foursquare's business page, which now provides step-by-step instructions on how small businesses and venue owners can integrate Foursquare into their outreach plans.

The resource guides users on how to attract followers, create a page, and how to promote specials. The page is a terrific, intuitive resource for any business owners and marketing strategists looking for an easy, concise guide to get a solid, basic start in geolocation marketing:

Foursquare Specials

We designed the foursquare Merchant Platform to fit your business needs. We offer a range of different types of Specials, some designed to get new customers in the door, some designed for specific promotions, and others to reward your most loyal customers"

Here are the different types of Specials you can offer:

Type of Special	How it Works	Your Goal	A Successful Example
Mayor Special	The foursquare Mayor is the most frequent visitor to your venue over the past 60 days. This is a way to reward your best customer, while stoking competition for the prize.	Helps encourage repeat visitors, and creates a fun game around frequenting your venue.	The Mayor gets one free drink, every day of his/her reign. Plus, your favorite burger will be named for you on our menu if your reign lasts at least a week!
Frequency Special	Like a loyalty card or punch card, this is a Special that customers can redeem every X times they visit (you get to set how many visits).	Any customer can earn this reward, like a free coffee every five visits. It encourages people to stay loyal to your business and keep coming back.	Free side dish every 2nd check-in, with purchase of a dinner entree!
Count Special	This is a one-time frequency Special. Use it to reward people on their first visit, or give them a special treat after their fifth one.	This is great for attracting new customers, with a reward for a first visit or a Special one-time offer for coming back.	On your fifth time dining with us, meet the chef for the option of a custom meal not on the menu (at regular price)!
Custom Special	These Specials are available to customers on every check-in, but based on whatever conditions you choose.	This is great for promoting deals specific to your venue, like a discount on a specific item.	If 10 or more people are checked in to the bar, a round of bartender's choice shots on the house!
Venue Regulars Special	This Special encourages users to come back in short time spans, for instance, it could be three visits in a week.	This is good for increasing short-term repeat customers, like trying to get people to come three times a week.	Enjoy March Madness at J. Fury's and unlock free buffalo wings!! Check in 3 times during the NCAA Tournament's first two weeks and get a free double order of wings!

Foursquare is celebrating (?) the second season of Jersey Shore, which starts tonight, incidentally, with the Jersey Shore badge. Users who check-in at one each of a gym, tanning salon, and laundromat will earn the GTL Badge. 

There's some geolocation news coming out of CES 2011. For starters, Sony has announced a new consumer-level camera that offers geolocation features via built-in compass and GPS. While your Android or iPhone already has these features built-in, not to mention a slew of apps to utilize them, the Sony DSC-HX7V goes a step further and offers 3-D capabilities. 

SCVNGR, the location app that combines gaming and geosocial elements, has locked in $15 million in funding from Balderton Capital to further develop its mobile app, according to media reports. 

The capital will support the 51-employee company’s growth, and will also be spent on exploring international opportunities and the development of further game mechanics that can make the apps more fun, rewarding and entertaining. The app will also soon come to the BlackBerry platform.

McAfee, the group that develops software that is impossibly difficult to remove from a PC but claims to protect you against threats, says geolocation tools will be increasingly susceptible to malware in 2011:

Internet users are also adding geo-location information to their social media profiles to publicize where they are. Locative services such as foursquare, Gowalla, and Facebook Places, or just turning on location info on Twitter gives cyber-criminals even more information about their potential victims. It is "child’s play" to craft a targeted attack, predicted McAfee Labs.

"Personalized attacks are about to get a whole lot more personal," the researchers wrote.

McAfee has long leveraged its annual list of threats into its outreach and marketing campaigns.

As predicted last week, Foursquare has just released details of its latest features rollout, due in the iOS App Store any minute:

You’ve been requesting these features for months, and there are some cool aspects that you’ll notice right away:

• Comments make meeting up and exploring so much easier. Improve your day by telling a friend that you’re around the corner and they should swing by. And getting a last-minute comment reminding you to order the best dish saves your meal. (You can even comment on the website and from check-in links posted to Facebook and Twitter!)

• Tips with photos changes everything. See dishes before ordering them, figure out if a venue looks fun, or easily identify a hard-to-find spot. More info = better exploration.

• The past comes to life. You can visit your history page on foursquare.com to see all the places you’ve been, with photos and comments preserved. Remembering is more fun than ever.

Foursquare today tweeted that a new version of its iPhone app was just approved and will be available in the App Store "early next week".

Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai recently told Mashable that Foursquare will soon provide better value to users in the form of recommendations:

... he hinted that the next version of Foursquare would begin offering personalized recommendations to users based on where they and their friends had previously checked in — not just for places, but also what they should do at those places.

“When [Foursquare] knows you, it should ping you about some amazing store nearby. The goal is to create something that teaches you something about you[rself] and gets you out to discover new places… [When you arrive at a restaurant, for instance, Foursquare] should recommend that your mom order this and that you should get the salad. It should remember that you were there.”