Plazes Profile
Michael Arrington
19 comments »
Company: Plazes
What is it?
Plazes made an announcement at Reboot 7.0 in Copenhagen on June 10, 2005, although the service has been around since at least January.
In their own words, “Plazes is the first global location-aware interaction and geo-information system, connecting you with the people and Plazes in your area and all over the world. It is the navigation system for your social life and it’s absolutely free.”
To gain full functionality, you must install a 1.11 mb file on your computer. I did this, and it had trouble syncing with my router. I’m not surprised, since my internet connection is down and I am currently “borrowing” wifi from one of my neighbors. Anyway, I was able to logon and create my very own plaze in Manhattan Beach, California (see the third screen shot below).
This is a very useful application, and I can see using it to find friends and meet new people. The design is well thought out and the social networking tools are as good as we’ve seen.
As their blog indicates, the product is still in beta mode and functionality is being added continuously.
Service Features:
- Discover Plazes anywhere in the world - like hotspots, restaurants, offices, based on search or your current location.
- Hook up with people nearby - see people (and their “metadata”) who are online and near a “plaze”. Message with them.
- Stay in touch with your friends - Plazes has social networking tools like invite, messaging, status, karma etc. Friends can see your currentl location (or keep yourself invisible)
Screen Shots:
People Involved:
Relevant Links:
What’s Plazes?
Plazes FAQs
Plazes Blog
Felix Petersen Blog
Plazes Merchandise 
Robert Scoble on Plazes
Christian Heindel on Plazes
You said you had trouble syncing with your router.
If you use Windows, you may want to try the 633 KB user contributed .NET based launcher application.
It’s a bit smoother than the original one, it even works with VPN and stuff…
thats good, if u plan to travel to nother state u can check before the hotspot locations, if u have a notebook
As far as features and capabilities this site bits just about any other relevant site I’ve seen. With that said I would take a huge issue with the characterization of the interface. It lives the impression that the super duper coder who programmed the features also felt empowered to put that minute detail over - the interface. Everything is so even and boxy that I thought for a moment that I’m looking at Lexus Nexus or similar info site. Furthermore, the availability of slew of socializing features does not necessarily guarantee a great social experience. It looks like showcase of software development rather than social practice enhancer.