If you’re one of the active 6 million users of popular location-based social networking website/software Foursquare and happen to run a self-hosted WordPress blog/website or maybe have a lot of readers who are Foursquare users, then you might want to check out this plugin called Foursquare Integration.

What does this plugin do? As the name implies, it integrates Foursquare into any WordPress powered blog or website. Foursquare Integration allows the user to display recent check-ins on WordPress blog posts, pages or sidebar as a list or on Google Maps.

Features:

• Easy way to share/show your FourSquare’s last check-ins
• Intuitive interface for editing options, with plenty more power under the hood
• Show check-ins on BLOG’s post and page
• Show your social checkins and get more friends
• Java Script enabled Google Map (It will load on iPhone too :))
• NEW: Widget Option Added. (List view and Map view in Widget Area).
• Option to specify Height, Widget, Title, Number of checkins in Admin Panel. Settings -> 4sq Integration.
• Option to disable Map View

Screenshots:
Sidebar Widget

List and Map

Options Page

The Foursquare Integration WordPress plugin is easy to use and highly customizable. It is a good way to share your recent check-ins with your friends and blog readers/visitors and connect with those who are active Foursquare users.

Installation:
1. Download the Foursquare Integration plugin.
2. Unzip and upload the entire plugin folder to your wp-content/plugins/ folder.
3. Activate the plugin on your WordPress Dashboard.
4. Configure the Foursquare Integration plugin via the Options page – Settings -> 4sq Integration.

*To add the Foursquare Integration plugin on a blog post or page copy and paste this code on any post/page under the HTML section.

*To add the Foursquare Integration widget, just go to Appearance -> Widgets -> 4sq Integration and drag it to the sidebar.

This plugin can also be a cool and useful tool if you have a travel or food blog (any blog that involves locations and places) and use the Foursquare Integration plugin to show the location of the place or establishment that you recently checked in to and probably blogged about.

Download the Foursquare Integration plugin from the official WordPress Plugin Repository.

Anyone else tried or use the Foursquare Integration WordPress plugin?

Although I’m on Gowalla and Foursquare, I haven’t enabled and I don’t use the geolocation feature on Twitter. For those of you who have, I’m positive that you’ll be interested with this web-based Twitter client that I’m featuring today. Its called Streamd.in, a simple web-based Twitter client that’s paired with Google Maps that lets you see what’s happening around you, let others know what you’re doing or broadcast your thoughts and location via live video.

Streamd.in is a project headed by Derek Punsalan working together with Raul Raja, Justin Elsberry, Nick Elsberry and Edward Suh. The original plan for Streamd.in was to display Twitter updates from around the world on a Google Map but it eventually became a web-based Twitter client paired with Google Maps.

Screenshots:

Streamd.in Features:

• View status updates from people they follow
• View updates originating from a specific location in the world
• Create, reply, retweet, view user profiles or follow / unfollow users
• Manually set a specific location with each message or remain hidden

Although Streamd.in presently only focuses on Twitter content, developers say that future plans include adding updates from Foursquare, Brightkite and Flickr.

Being a Twitter client, you can do almost everything – post updates, view the timeline, mentions, direct messages, favorites and retweets on Streamd.in. Only thing you can’t do right now is access your lists. The live streaming video feature on Streamd.in is made possible by TokBox.

If you want to know more about it or want to try it out yourself, check out Streamd.in or you can also follow @streamdin on Twitter.

What’s your opinion on geolocation or location-based services? Do you openly share your location and use location-based services or are you worried about the privacy issues? What do you think of Streamd.in? What other features or options would like to see added to it in the future? Please share your thoughts.

Embedding Google Maps on your blog can be quite cumbersome. With the help of this cool WordPress plugin, you can now easily embed Google Maps on your WordPress-powered blog. You can use it for your travel blog or any blog that reviews or deals with establishments & locations or if you simply want to insert a working map on a post or page. I’m talking about the WP Geo plugin – a WordPress plugin that lets you attach geographic coordinate information to posts. It also lets you specify a default geographic location to your WordPress blog. WP Geo is the brain child of British web designer and developer – Ben Huson.

Here’s a short introduction of the WP Geo plugin:

WP Geo is a Google Maps for WordPress plugin which enables you to easily attribute a location and map to a post or page.

Features:

• Custom marker title setting per post.
• Custom zoom and map type per post.
• Widget zoom option.
• Default Map Location setting.
• Load maps from GeoRSS or KML data.
• Geo Meta Tags
• Markers links to posts
• Settings for default controls
• Custom Markers
• Sidebar Widget
• GeoRSS points in feeds.
• Set default map zoom level.
• Show post maps on category and archive pages.
• Set default width and height for maps
• Shortcode [wp_geo_map] to insert map within your post
• Select your preferred map type
• Select wether to show your map at the top or bottom of posts (or not at all)
• Set a location by clicking on a map or
• Set a location by searching for a location, town, city or address or
• Set a location by entering the latitude and longitude

Screenshot:

Installation:
1. Download the archive file and uncompress it.
2. Put the “wp_geo” folder in “wp-content/plugins”
3. Enable in WordPress by visiting the “Plugins” menu and activating it.
4. Go to the Settings page in the admin and enter your Google API Key and customize the settings.

(you can sign up for a Google API Key at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html)

You can use the WP Geo plugin on your blog in several ways – widget, template tag and shortcode.

My Take:
Providing a working map (Google Maps) on your travel blog can be very useful and helpful for your readers and visitors. With a working map, your readers can check out the exact location of the place you’re blogging about or any place you mention on your post. Aside from that, having a working map on your blog would keep your visitors on your blog (less bounce rate), because they don’t have to go to an external website to open/use a map.

I also see this plugin working for Food blogs who feature different restaurants and culinary establishments. With the WP Geo plugin, you can provide a map with the location of the restaurant/establishment you’re blogging about so your readers would have a better idea on where it is located.

The WP Geo plugin can also be useful for any type of blog when you need to provide your readers directions or want them to have a better knowledge of a place your blogging about and its location. I haven’t tried the WP Geo plugin, but I’m keeping it on my stash of plugins just in case I might need to use it one of these days.

To learn more about the WP Geo plugin or learn how to install and use it, go and visit the official WP Geo website.

Download the WP Geo plugin from the WordPress Plugin Repository.

Do you use Google Maps on your blog? Do you embed it manually or do you use a script of plugin like WP Geo? Anyone using the WP Geo plugin on their blog? Please share your thoughts.

One of my favorite board games when I was a kid was Monopoly. I’m sure you guys have played it too when you were a kid. I still have the Monopoly board game I bought back in 1986 back at home in the Philippines. If you love the game of Monopoly, then you’d definitely love this.

Tech giant Google, in collaboration with toymaker Hasbro have launched a Google Maps version of the popular board game Monopoly. This new web version called Monopoly City Streets brings the popular board game online, making it available to players all over the world and allowing players to compete in a worldwide, real-time version of the game. Players are awarded $3 million at the start of the game to purchase, build or trade in any neighborhood, any county in any part of the world.

Monopoly City Streets will only be available online for 4 months. This massively multiplayer online game was created to promote the release of Hasbro’s newest 3-D Monopoly game called Monopoly City which will be available in stores this coming fall.

Screenshots:

Monopoly City Streets Welcome Page

Monopoly City Streets – Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California

Monopoly City Streets – Paris, France

Monopoly City Streets – Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Philippines

Key elements of the game are not the same for this online version of Monopoly. Players can now build before owning all properties of a color group and having the option of sabotaging their opponents by building hazards like prisons and sewage plants around their opponent’s properties. Aside from houses and hotels, players can also build skyscrapers, castles and even football stadiums and aside from the rent collected from properties owned, players get paid an additional $1 million each day they log-in.

I’ve logged in to the game already but I haven’t purchased any properties yet. Based on what I’ve seen, most of the popular spots/places are already occupied so if you want to try it out, its better if you purchase property from a less popular place like your own neighborhood or any small neighborhood around the world. From the looks of it, Monopoly City Streets can be very addicting.

Anyone else playing or tried Monopoly City Streets? What do you think about the game?

Blogging

• Using Basic Journalism Structure to Write Great Articles
• Generic Blogging Could be the Right Choice for Newbies
• Why It’s Wrong to Pay for Blog Coverage
• How to Grow Your Google Authority

Technology

• Four Convicted in Sweden in Internet Piracy Case
• First Mac botnet detected by Symantec
• U.S. military enlists iPod Touch for battlefield
• Hulu rumored to have iPhone app in development

Gadgets

• Velocity Micro’s NoteMagix M10 netbook on sale for $379
• Viliv S5 preorder and price for U.S.
  
• T-Mobile Sidekick LX announced, hitting shelves May 13th
• JAKKS Pacific brings the arcade home… for under $50

Pinoy Blogs

• The Philippines’ Top Blogs of 2008
• Google Map View now available for Manila, Cebu, and Davao Maps
  
• Find a Way to Rig the Automated Elections, and You Win P100M!
• Symbian OS runs on Intel Atom platform

JaypeeOnline Weekly Recap

• WP Theme Review: Bloggingstream
• Howto: Move from Blogger to WordPress Part II
• Nikon D5000

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or want your article or find an interesting story that you want to be featured in the next Weekend Roundup, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the contact page.

Thank you for your time and hope you guys have a great week!