I've been using Plazes for a while now, but it hasn't been much fun. It's a system that figures out where you are ((Technically speaking, "based on IP address, network IDs from routers and other information", says TechCrunch.)), that you use to say "I'm here" and "I've been there". You send this info to sites by using badges (like I do on the right-hand side of this blog) and your profile page to let people know where you've been and where you are. In all respect, this has been a fairly useless system unless you've been able to install the application on all your computers.

Today, Plazes launched its new version of the software, also bringing stuff to the table that makes it really usable and web 2.0-y. You no longer need to install the app to use the system and can now let people know where you are going to be at a certain date ((Not within a certain time-frame, though, which I feel is bad.)). 1984 in a nutshell? Bring it to me.

TechCrunch has already written a good synopsis of what the new Plazes means, but I'll expand on that.

Even though installing the software (known as Plazer, available both for Windows and OS X, although the OS X-version hangs every time I update where I'm at) is no longer necessary, it's nice to have installed just to see your friends switch places; when they do, a box pops up above your system tray (Windows) and gives you the news. Nice! Now, if only my enemies would do the same.

Warning! Nerdy stuff ahead: I'm still wondering how come the box pops up three times as I update. Once to notify my new place (fair enough), once to say what I'm doing there (just irritating) and a third time...to please the tech gods? I hope it's merely a sign that The Demon of Newly Upgraded Systems is cursing Plazes, and not that the system isn't properly tested before launch. ((The fact that my flash-badge still says I was somewhere "and hour ago" is probably just a little misspelling. As well as the link to the Mayor of Berlin's supposed Plazes-page leading to a 404 error-page, which I mentioned in a comment in this post quite some time ago and isn't corrected. Their web-page says the Plazer still isn't available for installation, but it is - it automatically updates the old client. Call me whiny, but these scattered bugs and errors tell me the system may hold other little surprises in store.)) The developers have probably been under a lot of stress since launching the new version.

I like it, especially now that it's no-app-required, letting people know where I've been in the past and where I'll be. You'll see this on my Plazes profile page. I like the idea of groups, but for this to be successful, I think a lot of users are needed. You can add a place to a group and then see them all together, e.g. this group I created for bunching music shops in Stockholm.

The real let-down with this is that I'd love to integrate Plazes with Upcoming, last.fm and Facebook events, but then again, they're all pretty uptight about sharing their respective info. Say what? They want to prosper? Mash them up, please.