Foursquare’s Founder Launches A New App That Talks To You About Your Neighborhood

The BeeBot app is only disposable for iOS users successful nan US.

After teasing its improvement last year, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley has now launched BeeBot: an AI-powered societal app for iPhones that talks to you astir what’s happening nearby. In his blog announcement, Crowley says BeeBot behaves for illustration a “personalized power DJ” that provides location-based audio updates done your headphones, telling you astir what friends are up to, section news, and events occurring successful nan vicinity arsenic you locomotion around. 

“Audio updates are meant to beryllium short and saccharine (a fewer sentences present and there), tailored to your interests and your societal graph, and designed to some animate and pass you,” Crowley says successful nan announcement. “The vibe we’re going for is much ‘Waze meets Gossip Girl,’ and little ‘Wikipedia successful your ears.’”

While nan app is called “BeeBot for AirPods,” Crowley says it supports immoderate wired aliases wireless headphones aliases Bluetooth-based audio devices, including speakers, car stereos, and wearables for illustration Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. It’s ever on, activates automatically erstwhile you put your headphones in, and turns disconnected erstwhile you return them out. BeeBot will little nan measurement and speak complete immoderate euphony you’re listening to and automatically region and unpause podcasts erstwhile it wants to speak, but it won’t interrupt you during telephone calls aliases video chats.

This won’t beryllium a predominant occurrence, however. Crowley says users whitethorn get updates from BeeBot a fewer times each day, “but not 10x/day” to forestall it from being excessively disruptive. Updates are pulled from various sources, including unrecorded locations and position updates from different BeeBot users, and uses “keywords” you springiness it astir your interests to propose section places and events for you to cheque out.

The app is “still very overmuch successful beta,” according to Crowley, and nan news it provides is intended to beryllium “more gossip’y than news’y.” In its existent state, BeeBot provides nan champion acquisition successful walkable US cities, arsenic opposed to erstwhile users are driving, cycling, aliases utilizing nan subway. It’s only disposable for iOS users successful nan US for now, and Crowley says that a CarPlay type is successful development.