Friday, November 26, 2010

Top 5 Apps for Raleigh

Last week I attended the 3rd annual Internet Summit, held here in our backyard at the Raleigh Convention Center. One of the key messages from the various speakers was that mobile is huge, and somewhat related to that, I noticed that Raleigh is a little sparse on the localized apps. Most attendees were from out of town and they were looking for places to go. Yelp, for most cities, is a critical tool for finding restaurants or other services close to where you are. Pulling up Yelp from the Convention Center produced a few options, but there were plenty of places missing (send a note to your favorite place now - tell them to get with it!).

So what is out there? Here are my top 5. This list is made up of apps that I use almost daily as a downtown resident. I welcome your thoughts.

R-Line - This free circulator bus will take you to all the hot spots downtown. The bus comes by every 15 minutes or so and the app lets you know when it's coming.


WRAL - Local news, but I confess that I use this app more for weather and traffic more than anything else.


See Click Fix - I just downloaded this a few days ago, but I look forward to pointing out all sorts of sidewalk or other issues around the city that need attention.

Triangle Business Journal - Latest news.



Yelp - Yelp could be great as long as it gets populated with reviews. So make sure to review your favorite places. Even if you're familiar with all the restaurants, it's still nice to have something to refresh your memory.

A few restaurants have apps that let you know their latest specials, but I didn't want to single out one over the other. If you're not a WRAL fan, ABC 11, News 14 Carolina and a few radio stations also have apps.

What are your favorite apps for Raleigh?