I've been playing with Popcorn messaging and chatting w/ Popcorn_Ryan (its solo founder) for a few months.
IMHO, I don't get a lot of value out of it (yet). There isn't enough context and it's difficult to have an actual conversation. That said, it's a very interesting experiment and I'm curious to see how it evolves.
@carmeldea has a great writeup on the app here - http://pando.com/2013/12/03/firs...
For densely populated areas (ie NYC), this app is a lot of fun. Of my favorite aspects of the product is how it handles your location perimeter in such urban metros, ie in Midtown, I found myself chatting w. a whole group of popcorners (is that what you call users of the app? ;)) than when I traveled to lower Manhattan.
Side note: lots of interesting private messaging/ephemeral apps coming out of Popcorn Messaging's home territory in LA. One of those has a ghost as mascot. :)
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The map button is pretty frustrating if you're not right-handed.
If you don't have the app: instead of tapping the map button to invoke a view that has to be dismissed, holding the button down temporarily shows a map overlay that goes away when you let go. This button is in the top-right corner of the screen. If you're left-handed, this means you can never actually see the map, because you press it, it shows up under your thumb, then you let go and its gone.
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