This article bothers me. The author says that we should check in downtown and announce that we're hungry or need a gift somewhere "and then sit back and watch the discounts roll in."

1) I'm a little tired of tech bloggers stating their own opinion on what a company should be doing as fact. A a little more humility here would be appreciated; they would be high priced consultants if their ideas were so golden.

2) If someone wants food, they're going to pull that information down on a service like yelp. That's a much more appropriate context for offers to be exposed, too. If tons of appealing offers have not surfaced in sites like yelp, why would they appear in LBS services? *

* I'm not saying LBS can't monetize, but the issue is more likely that the local deal / advertising market is not there yet, not that the LBS companies need to hire techcrunch writers for ideas.