Today we launched our new iPad app with Fluid Labels. Watch the video above to see how the new label system works.

You can see the label system is now optimized for the iPad size. When you perform a search, multiple results populate the screen. As you move around the map, the results, smartly, refresh to give you more venues.

Try out a category search or try using the Foursquare Friends Checkins to really see the labels in action.

There are a couple more changes in this version. The Venue Info window has been enlarged and reformatted. Editorial and user reviews are now spread out and presented in an elegant layout. Play around and try out the app for yourself.

“We’ve scoured the virtual aisles of the Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, and Windows stores for our favorite travel apps.”

UpNext was selected as the Best App to Explore a U.S. City.

Thanks T&L for introducing UpNext to your readers!

UNTETHER.tv: Behind the business of mobile

We had an opportunity to chat with Rob Woodbridge of Untether.tv a couple weeks back. he interview is now live and embedded above.

If you are interested in mobile and startups, definitely check out Rob’s interviews. His previous interviews are great and he has a lot more coming up.

Definitely some cool app are being built on their platform. And with their continued wildfire growth (600,000 checkins per day!!!), the apps being built will just become richer and richer.

Just to point out some of the cool things we are doing with their API.
- See all the places you checked in on our map (a visual history)
- See where your friends have checked in (friend finder)
- See what venues are trending (easy way to see what’s hot in your city)

We are working on some more cool stuff so stay tuned.

Note: Update the newest version of UpNext (1.6) to get San Francisco. We added elevation and other features, so make sure to get the latest and greatest.

More cities on the way! Stay tuned…

Last weekend, President Obama gave a speech at Hampton University stating,

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,”

Above is a recent review we received.  It looks like President Obama is learning pretty quickly how to use those devices.

OAF NYC was hosted by Charlie O’Donnell and Brian Alvey, organized by Tyler Crowley and held at Dogpatch Labs. (So already you know that this is gonna be a great event.) There were about 20 angels/VC’s at the event along with 6 presenting startups. The startups selected to present were picked from 100’s of applicants.

The six startups (HD Cloud, MyNines, Aristotle Circle, Kodingen, Food52 and UpNext) represented a diverse cross section of ideas and founders. Half the founders were women. Verticals ranged from food to fashion to mapping to cloud computing. Stages varied from “just launched” to “profitable and growing”. This diversity is why the NYC startup scene is so exciting. It was not six Groupon clones or another checkin service but six unique startups building great companies.

Each company presented for 5 mins (demo only) and had 5-10 mins of Q&A. This format worked great because it gave just enough time to show the product and the small size of the group made Q&A effective for everyone. Unlike previous OAFs, we were able to watch the other startups present (mostly due to the layout of the room). We were very impressed with the other 5 companies and have already started using some of their products.

Overall this was a fantastic event. The quality of the investors in attendance was extremely high quality. Each of the angels as part of their intro had to name their last 3 angel investments. The resulting list was a who’s who of startups. Very impressive. The networking that followed the event was great and we left that evening with lots of new contacts and a list of follow ups.

If you are a startup looking for angel funding, we highly recommend the Open Angel Forum. This was the first event in NYC, but there definitely will be more to come. You would be hard pressed to find a higher quality event specifically tailored for fundraising. Shooting fish is a lot easier when they are in a barrel and OAF is the barrel.

Thanks again to Jason, Charlie, Brian, Tyler, Dogpatch and all the angels for making this event possible. The dedication of those associated with this event in helping startups succeed is what makes it worthwhile.

If you want to ask us anything else about the event, application process or startups, shoot me an email at dmoon [at] upnext [dot] com

UpNext is featured in USA Today as an App that makes the most out of the iPad.

Can Apple’s iPad really take you new places?

Did you get your iPad this weekend? We got ours and happy to report that UpNext looks great on it. Actually, better than great, UpNext looks awesome. The App literally jumps out of the screen.

_

Also, Apple featured us under the Travel spotlight. If you have not downloaded it yet, make sure you do. Afterall, it is FREE.

If you love UpNext on your iPhone, you will be blown away by UpNext on the iPad.

More to come soon…