2011 has been a wonderful year for all of us, and what better way to celebrate the holidays but to throw a party? Loopt held its company holiday party at Yoshi’s in San Francisco on Thursday night. With a private area reserved, overlooking the restaurant and jazz stage, what more could we ask for? Apparently, so much more…

Check out some of the pictures from our holiday celebration!

Amongst all the fun, wine, sushi and hors d’oeuvres, this company party had our very first annual awards ceremony, The Loopties! Each member of the Loopt family received their very own certificate (featuring an Elf-Yourself portrait) in honor of their hard work and contribution to the company. Check out the elfed Loopters.

Happy Holidays, from the Loopt fam to your fam.

Like a scene straight out of a James Bond movie, ladies were looking glamorous and gents were looking dapper at our swanky Casino Royale event last Wednesday, November 30th in the fabulous 23rd floor penthouse at 360 Residences in Downtown San Jose! Floor-to-ceiling windows provided guests with an incredible view of the valley lights, and those who braved the wind enjoyed taking in the breathtaking sights out on the expansive deck.

Loopters enjoyed sampling delicious wines from Ridge Vineyards, Jazz Cellars, Nottingham Cellars and Poetic Cellars, and noshed on delectable Greek bites from Myth Taverna and mini cupcakes from Sugar Betty. DJ JoJo spun fun dance beats to get people party rockin’!

It was lights, camera, action inside the master suite, where guests had fun taking photos with Studio Booths. And of course, we brought the casino to the penthouse as Full House Casino Events provided guests with blackjack game play in two of the bedrooms.

To relive the swanky affair, peep the photoshoot by Studio Booths here (code: casinoroyale2011), and fun party shots in our Facebook album.

For the 411 on future Loopt events, be sure to follow me on Twitter!

Let’s get Loopt!

Connie

-SF Bay Area Community Manager

BizSparkSF will be holding an exciting and informative meetup, “Tools, Tools and more Tools” about tips and tools that developers, designers and tech wizards use to be successful at a startup. Heine Frifeldt – the lead of Loopt’s server team – will be representing Loopt and speaking at the meetup. Heine is the backbone behind Loopt’s maintenance and stability of our services, making sure the mobile app is smooth sailing for Loopt users. Come check out Heine at the meetup and learn about Automated Testing (Unit, Integration and Systems).

“OOH, WHEN?!” Monday, November 7, 2011 at 7:00 PM

“AWESOME! WHERE?”

Microsoft Northwest District: SF, CA

835 Market St.

STE 700

San Francisco, CA 94103

7^TH Floor

“NICE! WHAT’S IT ABOUT?”

The Meetup will focus on what tools, utitilities, tips and tricks you can use to save time, develop amazing software and, well… Change the world! Developers and tech experts will individually present 5-minute lightning talks on key technology topics that could help in the success of Startup business.

“PERFECT! WHO WILL BE THERE?”

“I CAN’T WAIT, SIGN ME UP!”

Join in on the fun! Sign up here:  Bizsparksf Startup Meetup

Bay Area Loopters had a frighteningly fun time celebrating Halloween at Mr. Smith’s in SF last Thursday night! Dressed in an array of amazing costumes, guests enjoyed specialty cocktails that paid homage to our co-founders – “Altman-hattan” and “Alok U Up” – and indulged on sinfully decadent chocolates and cookies in the dessert lounge provided by Pastry Smart. Loopters also had a blast taking silly photos with Studio Booths up in the loft. Check out the ghoulish gallery of flicks here (password: spooktacular2011)!

Downstairs, party goers bobbed to beats by DJ Jojo and created mesmerizing light shows with Loopt finger lights. Our fang-tastic photohgrapher, Alex Akamine, captured fun shots of it all.

The night’s costume contest was presented by Giftly, where the first place winner won a $100 Giftly and the second place winner won champagne bottle service from Mr. Smith’s. It all came down to the crazy LMFAO duo, a bloody Dexter, a fabulous Lady Gaga, but it was Betty N’s Marie Antoinette and Cat O’s cute Big Bird costumes that got the most love from our voters.

Special thanks to the awesome staff at Mr. Smith’s for hosting our wickedly wild crew and to the cool peeps from Eventbrite for greeting our guests upon check-in!

To stay in the loopt for future events, follow me on Twitter!

Let’s get Loopt!
Connie

Check it out — these Loopters hit the Halloween Scene in New Orleans. Take your own pictures “Loopting it Up” across the world. Using your app? Putting some of your Loopt gear to work? We’d love to see it all! Send photos to blog[at]loopt.com, and you might find yourself featured on our blog.

Loopters in New Orleans, on the scene

Yes, SIRI-ously!

Loopt posed some questions (or “Qs,” as we call them) to early iPhone 4S buyers lined up at U.S. Apple stores this past Friday and Saturday. We learned a few interesting things from their answers. We found that in many cases, Apple’s new voice recognition feature, Siri, was the thing that lured most people in (45% put Siri on top). The second picture-perfect feature named was the new 8-megapixel camera (22%). This was followed by a close 3rd place choice, the iPhone 4S’s need for speed (22% named the dual-core A5 chip).

We found that stat to be quite interesting — the people lining up for the latest Apple device on the first two days of availability found Siri software to be cooler than the new, juiced up hardware. Now you might ask, who were these people lined up at 8am on Friday to get the very first iPhone 4Ses? Our findings show the majority of people were iPhone 4 users (72% — considering they were answering the questions on an Apple device) who were playing hooky from work (43%, top answer). Also, they’re people who are into the cool-factor of having the latest iPhone — when asked who they’d tell first (with options including their kids, parents, significant others), more than half (53%) said they would tell everyone!

What do you think of these results? Do you agree with the iPhone 4S crowd?

P.S. Survey results were collected via the Loopt mobile app between Friday, Oct 14 and Saturday, Oct 15 in the U.S.

Q: What’s better than a brand-spankin’-new iPhone 4S?

A: Getting it for FREE! No jokes, folks—we’re giving you a chance to win it!
Plus other prizes for runners up . . .

You heard right, dear Loopters. Welcome to 4Qs for a 4S. Whether you’re pining for the 4S, or already planning to upgrade on October 14th, we’d love to help you get your mitts on a FREE iPhone* or oodles of other awesome goodies:  iPhone & iPad keyboard cases from Solid Line, nifty Giftly credits to try gifting the new-fashioned way, or iTunes credits, oh my!). Just answer four Loopt Qs—short for “Questions”—at your nearest Apple Store, and we could hook ya up!

Solid Line Products makes one-of-a-kind cases for Apple iPads and iPhones.

Think of a Giftly as the cooler, more sophisticated, smarter cousin of the gift card. You personalize and customize it, choosing where it works and how it looks.

HOW TO PLAY

1. Download the free Loopt app to your iPhone…any old iPhone will do.  ;)
2. Swing by your nearest (U.S.) Apple Store, fire up Loopt, and click on “Places” to find the Apple Store.
3. There are four Qs to answer if you want to win. Once you’ve answer the Qs, you’re automatically entered to win one of the great prizes we’ve already told you about.

Loopt’s 4Qs for a 4S contest is only around from first thing Friday, October 14th (12:01am ET), until last thing Saturday, October 15th (11:59pm ET). So, get those answers in early!

Winners will be contacted by Tuesday, October 18th. GOOD LUCK!

P.S. Here’s that asterisk you were looking for:

* iPhone winners receive an Apple Store gift certificate good for the value of an iPhone 4S 16GB ($199). Service plans, data/messaging features, and subscriber agreements not included.

Ever wonder where Warren G likes to get his grub and drink on? Well, LA Community Manager Connie C sat down with the Godfather of G-Funk and found out where you might spot him around LA and the LBC…

Connie: Hi Warren! Thanks for taking the time to be this week’s Q-ist. What are you working on right now?

Warren G: I’m producing a lot of music. I’ve got a few other things in the pipeline – I’m planning on dropping two EPs and then I’m going to drop a full length, Regulate G-Funk Era Part 2. We’ll go hard at that, just making music and getting into more film scoring and doing music for commercials and stuff like that. I’m producing other acts and helping them become stars.

Connie: I heard that you were thinking about opening up a BBQ joint.

Warren G: Yeah, I’ve been talking about doing catering with my family for a while. We’re still thinking about it. Actually, I’ve got a rig. I used to have a dog grooming business and I’m thinking about converting it into a pit with a kitchen – the whole nine on it and just catering in that because I love barbecuing.

Connie: Where are some of your favorite places to grub in Long Beach?

Warren G: In Long Beach, we’ve got Louisiana Best Seafood, it’s nice. They’ve got some great fried fish, shrimp and oysters. Whatever you want – it’s off the chain. Roscoe’s also got some good food – that’s a good one. And then I like The Boiling Crab.

Connie: What are some of your favorite late night spots?

Warren G: I like Mastro’s – that’s a nice steakhouse. I like Katana in Hollywood and Mr. Chow. Yes, indeed.

Connie: What are some of your favorite spots to go listen to music?

Warren G: I like to go to Lucky Strike in Hollywood. It’s a real nice bowling alley. They do the bowling alley where they cut all the lights out. That’s a cool spot to hear some good music.

Connie: Are you pretty good at bowling?

Warren G: I’m pretty good. I can roll a turkey!

Connie: Where do you like to catch Sunday football?

Warren G: I like to go to the local sports bars around where I live and hang out and just get it in. Get my drink on with some good beer and eat some good food. Tonight, I’ll be watching up in my studio.

Connie: Alright, we all want to know. Where do you go to avoid drama in the LBC with your best friend Snoop Dogg?

Warren G: Mai Tai, we hang out there. Gladstone’s. Those are some cool spots. And Hooters, oh yeah.

I’ve met a lot of impressive people in the course of Loopt, but I’ve only been intimidated once.

Before James Howard and I presented on stage at WWDC in 2008, we had to audition with some people at Apple, culminating with Steve in the Apple Town Hall.

James and I were standing around outside waiting and I remember thinking “wow, I’m about to go present a product to the best presenter and product designer in the world”.  I had idolized Steve Jobs since before I got an LC II for my 8^th birthday, which is what got me into computers and startups in the first place.

So I walked into the room thinking about how excited I was finally going to get a chance to meet my hero.  And then, looking out into a dark auditorium and only seeing two round pieces of glass glowing back, I froze up for the first and so far only time in my life.

I recovered after 5 or 10 seconds stumbled through the presentation, there were a few seconds of silence, and then Steve said “Cool, thanks”.  I usually present pretty well but this one was terrible, and I left the room sure that any chance of presenting at WWDC was over, and that I had disappointed one of the few people I cared about not disappointing.

The story has a happy ending, and we ended up getting to present at WWDC in what turned out to be a hugely important moment for Loopt.

I’ve thought a lot about that moment in the time since.  I’d know what to say to Barack Obama, I’m sure.   And I’ve never been quite sure what was so overpowering about talking to Steve until right now, as I sit typing this on my Macbook Air, running a company that basically exists because of a market created by the iPhone, listening to the Beatles on iTunes, iMessaging with friends about how sad this is, and emailing my Grandma the news, which she’ll read on her iPad (she never did manage to figure out any other computer).  I didn’t know how to talk to the guy that made everything I do now possible.

– Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO, Loopt