We’ve just rerouted auxillary power to BlockChalk!

So what is BlockChalk, you ask?

The easiest way to explain it is to look at it.  Just fire up your iPhone, point Safari to http://blockchalk.com, and you’re in.  No download, no installation, no sign-up, no trouble.

BlockChalk is the voice of your neighborhood.  You can use it to talk to anyone, about anything.  It’s like a virtual graffiti wall, a community bulletin board, and a poster-covered lightpost, all rolled into one.  Using the GPS in your iPhone, it shows you messages that other people have left at the place you’re standing, and it lets you leave your own messages, too.  It’s anonymous unless you decide to share more.  You can even privately reply to other users while still remaining anonymous.

BlockChalk is good for all sorts of things — posting garage sale signs, finding your lost cat, ranting about pot holes, raving about your local cafe… the list goes on, but we’re pretty sure that you’ll come up with more interesting ideas than we have on our own.  That’s why we’re putting it out there now.

This is a very early alpha and we consider it an experiment; please tread appropriately.  Right now it only works on the iPhone (we’re using Safari’s shiny new geolocation support) but if it looks like anyone cares about this thing you can bet we’ll expand the list.  We’ve also got RSS and JSON feeds and a simple XML API so you can get the goodies for yourself, but be advised these interfaces are experimental and likely to change.

Since we’ve just turned it on, you’ll probably be the first to chalk up your block.  Go for it and let us know what you think by clicking “Feedback” on the site.

Get chalking,

Stephen and Dave