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Recently, Robert Scoble – well known technology blogger, evangelist and author- visited Seattle. His goal was to visit up and coming start-ups in the area to learn more about their technologies. We were thrilled to have the opportunity for him to visit Pelago and have our CEO, Jeff Holden, provide an overview of Whrrl.

As always, Scoble had some great questions which helped reveal not just information about Whrrl, but what the future holds for the product and our company.

You can check out the interview here:

Don’t have a fancy phone? Did you know you can use Whrrl with text messages to share your location, post notes, search for places, invite friends, and discover things to do while you’re on the go? In this post I’ve included a list of the 5 most used commands, but first for those of you like me (read: with a short attention span), David and his brother Jason will show how Whrrl SMS helps to connect you with your friends in the real world, in real time.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/1749663[/vimeo]

Getting Started

To create a Whrrl account send a text (it can say anything) to 94775. This five digit number is called a shortcode, and ours spells WHRRL.  If you want to stop receiving messages from Whrrl just send STOP (to 94775).

Top 5 SMS Commands

Instead of explaining all 24 commands, I’m going to quickly describe the 5 most useful and crucial things you can do with Whrrl SMS on your phone.  Whrrl SMS is conversational, so each message you receive will include some suggested responses at the bottom.  You can send MENU to get a list of commands at any time.

Share Your Location

Send a message like @ purple cafe in Seattle or AT purple cafe in Seattle.

If there is more than one possible match, you’ll get a list of search results.  Respond with the number of the result that is correct (a message like 2).  People you have whitelisted as being able to see your location will be notified of where you are, based on their notification settings.

Search For Places

Send a command like SEARCH open now near 1st ave and pine st or SEARCH thai in Seattle to get a list of places that match your criteria.  I’ve also had a lot of success with SEARCH free wifi in San Francisco (I gave it a more specific location in Nob Hill).

The more specific the location you give, the more relevant (and walkable) the results will be.

Shout (send a message to all your friends)

Send a message like SHOUT hey who’s up for going out tonight? or SHOUT is anyone in the office who can let me in? (I do the second one often) and your message will be broadcast to all your friends on Whrrl.

Invite a Friend

Send a message like INVITE 4256987497 (that’s my real phone number – friend me!) to invite someone to become friends with you on Whrrl.  If they are not already a Whrrl user they will be invited to join.

Read Your Feed

Send FEED to see all the most recent activity in your feed.

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So that’s really it, there are more commands and some shortcuts but I’ll save those for another post. There’s also info in our FAQ, if you just can’t wait for that post.  If you’ve got questions, we’re always ready to answer them at feedback@whrrl.com or on Get Satisfaction.

Whrrl users on the iPhone, you’ve got an update waiting. Thanks to @chartier for being first to break the news on Twitter. The newest version of the Whrrl iPhone app has many improvements that are sure to make you say wow!

Maps Zoom

Pinch and double-tap to zoom in and out, and pan across the map with slide. Different zoom levels will surface different points of interest. Icons with stars in the middle are places that are recommended for you based on where people in your network have been, as well as what they thought of the places they visited.

Whrrl Radar

Shows you the locations of your friends on the map, even if they’re outside the window you’re currently viewing. Tap the person icon on the edge of the map, and you’ll see the name(s) of the people it represents. Tap a person’s name, and your map will move to their location.

Jump to a Location

Move the map to a specific location that you input in the text box. Use an address, city, or zip code to quickly center the map anywhere in the United States.

Move the map back to your current location by tapping the compass icon in the upper left corner. There is also be a compass in your Whrrl Radar (it’s in the first screenshot) that you can tap to jump back to your physical location on the map.

Talking About New Features with Justin from TalkingHeadTV.com

Thanks for all the feedback via Twitter as well as in various reviews, we’re listening to everything you have to say and can’t wait to bring you even more Whrrl goodness in future releases. If you want to reach us directly, you can email feedback@whrrl.com or send a message @Whrrl on Twitter.

Whrrl contains more than 6.5 million points of interest in the US, but how many of these businesses are going to close in the next year? In addition to being able to drag-and-drop places on the map, now Whrrl users can mark places as having closed permanently without having to contact us through our feedback box.

I captured Frank (the software engineer who brought this feature to life) in his natural habitat, and put together a quick demo of how marking places closed in Whrrl works. Enjoy!

Video: Meet Frank & Mark Places Closed in Whrrl

Check out the Whrrl YouTube Channel for more videos!

How to Mark Places Closed

On the detail page for a place, there is a button at the bottom of the left hand column. When you mark a place closed the button will change to orange, and the business name will display [Closed] next to it. If you made a mistake, you can click the orange button and mark the place open again:

Today Nokia recognized Pelago as a 2008 Forum Nokia Innovation Series Developer, for our Whrrl application. We’re proud to have been selected along with these other innovative applications from around the world: Plusmo, Qik, WebMessenger Mobile, Backup-Pal, Hava Mobile Player, JoikuSpot, and UbiSafe.

Nokia is also featuring a video demo of how to use Whrrl on the 6085 Nokia handset. Go Darren!

Check out Forum Nokia. Click here.

Sharing your opinon with the people you know, about the places you go, has just gotten even easier!

I know some of you have already discovered this, what with last week’s press release and all, but we’re excited to tell you that we’ve launched a new Facebook application that’s powered by Whrrl, called Been Here? Like it or not? This application is a game that makes it fun and easy to share where you’ve been, who you were with, and what you thought of the places you visited. Have fun, and let us know what you think!

I’ve made a video showing how it works. Thanks again to my little sister, Meg, for the original music.

Did you know Whrrl now has an official YouTube channel? If you enjoyed this video, and would like to see more like it, check out our channel and subscribe to get updates whenever a new video is released. Thanks for watching!

We received some very helpful feedback earlier this week letting us know that people were having trouble searching for places in the Whrrl iPhone app. Sometimes places were missing from the map on the iPhone, even though they could be found using the Whrrl website. I promised I’d blog about it once it was fixed, so here it is!

Last night, we pushed out a server-side change that will improve search relevance. For this kind of change you won’t need to download any updates from the App Store, the change will just work, and has already taken effect.

A Little Whrrl Home Video

I’ve made a really quick video with my 10.1 mega pixel Casio camera (so please excuse the blurry start) to show you how this works. Thanks to Meg (my little sis) for the original music track.

So What Exactly Changed?

The search radius from where your map is centered has been extended, and is now two miles.

When searching for places that you think might be further than two miles from where your map is currently centered (across town, or maybe in another city), you’ll get the best results by using the Move Map To text box that drops down when you tap the compass icon in the upper left. From here, you can type in an intersection, city name, or zip code that is closer to the place you’re searching for. This is also useful for those times when your phone doesn’t find your location.

I’ll be at iPhoneDevCamp tomorrow and probably will be demoing Whrrl, if my phone battery doesn’t die in 3 hours as John Cook mentioned. If you’re going to be there too be sure to say hi!