Go as in AWAY from Gowalla

For those of you that don’t know I have been an avid user of Gowalla (and Foursquare) for well over a year. I first started with checkin apps when I discovered Foursquare, I loved the concept of being able to track where I had gone for my personal benefit but also I enjoyed sharing cool places I went to with others that I socialized with. When I discovered Gowalla I was impressed and felt they took the Foursquare concept to the next level with the addition of pins and really nice looking stamps and badges that you could collect for your Gowalla page. Sure these weren’t real tangible but I still thought it was neat. For a months I would check in on both Gowalla and Foursquare. Then Gowalla came out with what I thought was the killer app they incorporated a way to checkin to both them and other sites at the same time, I no longer had to spend time checking into two applications. Since then I’ve been almost exclusively a Gowalla user (except when I checked on Foursquare to make sure I got checked in).

Unfortunately today my use of Gowalla ends. It appears with the next version of Gowalla 4.0 they have transitioned their business away from the checkin application and decided to become a travel guide. Now when I log into Gowalla and attempt to checkin to where I am the first list of 20 or so places I see are “Recommended places”. Which is Gowalla speak for places that have paid us money to make sure you see them instead of where you actually are. That’s great Gowalla, good for you! You have discovered a business model that has completely alienated they majority of your userbase, the locals. If I wanted to use Gowalla as a travel guide I shouldn’t be forced to use it that way because although I love Disneyland I don’t need to see every Disneyland location near me instead of the places I am actually next to.

Why did you fuck up so bad? Because you didn’t actually try it out with your CORE users before you screwed it all up. Changes like this are something you test out with users that are willing to try out new things, you don’t just change it and tell your users to deal with it. Wait that isn’t exactly what you said. You told the users reading your blog that there has been a “Fabulous response”, I don’t think you are reading the same response I’m reading, because the majority of the responses on your blog have been negative. You have completely alienated the userbase that created the database you now use as your travelguide. More power to you for taking advantage to our two years of patronage to create yourself a business model that will be the end of you.

Bye Gowalla.

Related articles

• Gowalla Updated To Version 4.0 – Removes Features, Adds Force Closes (androidpolice.com)
• Gowalla 4.0, Their Bold Revamp Towards Travel And Stories Goes Live (techcrunch.com)
• Gowalla flips its check-in service to be a social atlas for the world (thenextweb.com)
• Gowalla removes its defining features: Items and Notes (thenextweb.com)

So my friend Ned over at A Futile Mistake challenged those that read his blog to come up with their top 25 albums of all time list.  I made a couple rules for my list so I didn’t pull out too much hair.

Dollhouse: The second (and final) season was rushed, but even with that, Joss Whedon and company was able to put together a better season than the first. I’m happy to have watched such a good show, although I was still a bit confused with the end. Here is my list in order of favorite Joss Whedon shows; #1 Buffy The Vampire Slayer #2 Angel #3  Firefly #4  Dollhouse.

Who doesn't want a Colonial Viper?

Battlestar Gallactica: Although I hadn’t mentioned it on here (did mention it on Facebook) I finally got into watch the new creation of Battlestar while on vacation last year.  Season 1 was awesome and some of the best Sci-Fi TV I’ve ever watched.  Season 2 was good, 3 sort was just ok and dragged on.  The final season (4) was good, but the finale was a bit of a let down.  I tried to watch the new show Caprica which was set 50 years before BSG, but the first episode was too slow to get me interested in it.

Other shows that have basically ended or been canceled that I enjoyed watching were Better Off Ted, which was the smartest comedy to be on TV for years, and Scrubs, which was a lot different this year, but really had started to come into its own with the new cast of characters.

Out of the comedies we’ve been watching lately, Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother remain my favorites.  Big Bag Theory produces laugh after laugh, and I highly entertained by the character Sheldon Cooper.  How I Met Your Mother hasn’t been as good as BBT, but remains a show that I look forward to, let’s just hope that we can actually see some stories of Ted with the mother.  ABC’s new shows, The Middle and Modern Family have also been highlights of the week.  But in my mind the best new comedy of the season is Community.  Sure Joel McHale is the “star” of the cast, but this is a show that goes nowhere without the rest of the cast members, the guys that play Troy and Abed are comedy gold, and their little end of show after credit bits are some of the funniest things.  Lastly I can’t forget the Office, which has lost some of its luster in my opinion due to Michael Scott, but is still a show that we are drawn to watch.

I’m not even sure where to begin with the dramas we watch, even though I consider them more niche than just dramas.  There are Action Comedies, Action Dramas, and Science Fiction.

Action Comedy

Chuck: I’m so happy to hear that the numbers for Chuck this season appear to be good enough to keep it off the cutting room floor.  Chuck has been really good for this season, except for the most recent episode that was shown before the Winter Olympics started.  Having Sarah fall for the new guy, is just stupid, especially when everyone knows that she loves Chuck and he loves her.  Not to mention I’m not really at all happy that they have Lana Lang guest starring.  But other than those two stupid subplots, the main plots have been great.

Action Dramas

24: TELL ME WHERE THE BOMB IS!  I guarantee you that we will be hearing this line within the next 5 episodes, especially since there is actually going to be a bomb.  Pure action, pure Jack Bauer, what more do you expect after this many seasons?

Burn Notice: The secondary plot for Michael Westen hasn’t been one of my favorites, but it’s still one of my favorite action shows.  Highlight from this season, Bruce Campbell’s CSI: Miami impression…

Human Target:  I wasn’t really sure what to make of this when I saw the previews, then last minute I set it to record and I’ve been hooked on it ever since.  Christopher Chance is an interesting character, and I’m happy they leaving a lot of his past a mystery.  It’s just pure action, but just enough character development to get you to really enjoy the characters.  This is the best new Drama of the season.

Science Fiction

Eureka: Has been picked up for 22 episodes in mid 2010.  Other than that, the woman who was playing Sheriff Carter’s love interest got a new show but then it was canceled, so hopefully that means they will lend up bringing her back.  This is really an entertaining show.  I still miss the guy that played Stark though.

Lost: It’s the final season, and things are sort of being explained, such as the numbers…  Well they weren’t really explained more so just brought up again in another context.  The most confusion this season is why do we keep seeing clips of them back in the US, while the show is still on the island.  I think the clips are what ends up happening once everything is set back at the end.

Erica Durance the Amazon Princess...

Smallville: On its 9th season, you wouldn’t expect this show to improve and actually change.  One of the biggest issues with Smallville has always been that it had too much high school teen angst.  Much of the angst has been dropped, which has led to this season of Smallville being what I consider the best season ever of the show.  With episodes like Absolute Justice.  It also doesn’t hurt when they have Erica Durance dressed in a Wonder Woman like costume…

So what have you been watching?  What have you enjoyed?  What has disappointed you?

Fantastic movie. I absolutely loved the music and thought it added so much to the story. it really brought out the feelings of the characters. I could relate with the music because many a time I’ve relating my feeling to songs. This movie will end up winning some awards before it’s all said and done. I want to get to the soundtrack! Look at me talking up a MUSICAL!