The AroundMe application is available for iPhone, iPad and Android smart phones. It uses the smart phone's locating technology to detect your location, and allows users to quickly search for nearby businesses.

The businesses which can be searched are limited to types of services that one might need at a last minute's notice, such as a bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theatre, restaurant, super market, theatre and taxi. When you choose a business, you can easily share the location with friends via email, Facebook and/or Twitter. The app is currently available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese languages (more languages may be added soon).

The Pocket Directory

The AroundMe app serves as a virtual directory, which can be used to locate businesses in your area, no matter how familiar or foreign the region. The application makes it easy to quickly search for restaurants, banks, bars, hotels, gas stations, movie theaters, hospitals, super markets and taxi services near your current location. The program uses satellite technology to get the exact location of the phone, almost instantly, and then searches for the type of business selected. The search results are then displayed on a map with details about each business to help users decide where to go.

Emergency situations, by definition, are very stressful and it's hard to try to figure out directions while in a state of high-stress. This application is great for helping people be prepared for emergencies, when they'll need to find a gas station or hotel quickly. It can be a bit scary driving around an unfamiliar state, realizing you're about to run out of gas, or maybe you're more tired than you expected to be and driving has become unsafe. WIth the AroundMe app, locating the nearest gas station or hotel is as easy as a quick search.

Share Your Locations

There is a sort of strange relationship, and a fine line drawn between status updates and privacy, that has been introduced to people by social networking and the internet in general. When the internet first became widely accessible to the public, precaution was highly advised when it came to sharing personal information on the internet. People, particularly young people, were discouraged from even giving out their ages, cities and real names. This was back when social networking was largely limited to chat rooms.

Social networking has come a long way in the last ten years or so. With websites like Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, people often share their real names, birthdays, cities, employers and much more. Caution is still advised, and no one should put themselves at risk of being stalked or worse, but there is a generally more trusting atmosphere on social networking sites.

AroundMe was designed with the primary purpose of helping people find businesses near them, no matter where they are, but it also allows users to easily share their locations. Once you've found that nearby restaurant or theatre, you can "check-in" and share your adventure with Twitter followers and Facebook friends.