Hey, music lovers. We’re teaming up with our friends at Fun Fun Fun Fest to bring some Fun Fun Fun to four lucky campuses (Texas State, University of Texas at Arlington, New Mexico State, Texas A&M) with a University Scavenger Race. The festival — which is based in our HQ of Austin, Texas — boasts a lineup with the likes of Slayer, Public Enemy, Odd Future, Spoon, Passion Pit, and Diplo, plus many more.

On Saturday, October 1st, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m., you’ll have the opportunity to compete for sweet swag and tickets to this year’s fest. You can have a maximum of five people per team, so mark it on your calendar and get your teams together now! Sign-up here: http://on.fb.me/oJKCov and be sure to friend FX3Fest on Gowalla, as tasks and challenges will be listed and viewable the day of the race.

Josh took the stage this morning at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco to give the first look at where Gowalla is going next.

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler shared his thoughts and a few screenshots: Gowalla Is Reborn As A Beautiful App For Travel And Storytelling.

We can’t wait to share the new Gowalla with you. More to come in the next couple of days!

A little over two years ago we unveiled a new way to share and discover the world’s most loved places. Little did we know that our product would inspire people in every country around the world to venture out and share their lives on the go.

You have visited millions of places, taken millions of photos, and shared millions of stories.

Shortly after Gowalla’s second birthday we took some time to reflect on the first two years of its life and to envision what we wanted our next several years to look like. It was a challenge, especially in light of our core mission: Inspire the world to GO.

As Gowalla has grown we’ve added many new features to the product. Some have had great success. Others haven’t worked out as well as we’d hoped. After the two-plus years of consistent feedback and amazing experiences, we believe this is an opportune time to  prune the branches that were twisted in order to focus on the experience we desire to cultivate.

This has led us to some difficult decisions.

Most notably, we will be removing Items completely with the next release of Gowalla. While they have been a trademark feature of Gowalla since the beginning — one that our entire team poured much effort and passion into — fewer than half a percent of our active community makes use of them. It now causes more distraction than joy for the vast majority of our community.

We will also be removing Notes, a personal favorite of mine. However, unlike Items, Notes are likely to return at some point in the future — simplified and united with our vision.

Pins will remain a part of Gowalla, but much of the fat surrounding them will be trimmed.

In a few weeks, sometime prior to our next update, we will turn off awarding of new Items. Later this year, the feature will be removed from the app, and then from our API altogether. We are, however, exploring a way for our users to download the data associated with their Items as well as the other deprecated features at some point after the update.

The concept of intangible virtual goods inhabiting some form of physical space is a remarkable one. Perhaps someone will pick up this torch and explore the idea further. You’ve taught us a lot about how this can work.

We know this will be sad for a core group of our longtime community members. You’ve made this feature a very special part of your routine. They remain an important part of Gowalla’s history as they helped kindle our fire to discover the world. To that end, our mission has not changed. It has only intensified. We hope you will continue to join us for this exciting next chapter of Gowalla.

Personally, I’m more excited than ever to GO out. To GO explore. We have much to show you soon.

A recent poll conducted by AL.com to find the top 5 Alabama spots most deserving of custom art found Vulcan Park and Museum, Alabama Theatre, McWane Science Center, Mobile Carnival Museum, Sloss Furnaces ranking above all other choices. These new stamps are live, featured and ready to be added to your virtual passport, so, go.. and discover the “Heart of Dixie”.

Lollapalooza 2011 kicks off today in Chicago, chock full of some super-fun bands with loads of excellent music. Two of those bands have teamed up with Gowalla to give away free music when you experience Lollapalooza on Gowalla: Cults, and The Vaccines. So if you’re heading to Lolla, be sure to start your story on Gowalla, and when you do, you’ll get an email with music and other fun stuff from our friends at Columbia Records, the label for both Cults and The Vaccines! So what are you waiting for?! Go rock out at Lolla with Gowalla!

(Yeah…you’re right, that was just a horrible pun waiting to *not* happen…-10pts JJ!)

Wherever you’re going, whatever you’re doing, be sure to make the most of the rest of your summer, and be sure to take Gowalla along for the journey. Oh, and keep your eyes open at the remaining summer music festivals—you just never know when you’re going to be surprised with some sweet serendipity from your friends at Gowalla!

Calling all student ballas using Gowalla, like to know where their friends at .. holla!

We’re looking for energetic, friendly folk eager to help tell their University’s story and spread the Gowalla gospel. What makes your school special? Where do you hang out between classes? Is there a coffee shop on or close to campus great for studying at?

We want to know and so do your peers.

As a campus street team member, you’ll act as a liaison between Gowalla and the university, plan and host fun activities throughout the semester, guerilla market some while ultimately leveraging your school’s visibility on the platform. In turn, we’ll hook you up with rad t-shirts, fun swag and stickers in addition to mad street credit.

If you dig and are in it to win, sign up here.

The impending school year is fast approaching and some important questions loom as new students prepare to commence their collegiate careers. “What are the best spots to eat at on campus? Where are the quietest places to study? How do I get to the Psychology building? What does that iron statue in the quad represent?”

With smartphones becoming ubiquitous and a collate of useful applications, most students hold convenience in the palm of their hands. Instead of giving them a campus map that’ll likely end up at the bottom of their backpack or ingested by the dog, set up an orientation trip on Gowalla! The subject or theme shouldn’t limit itself to solely dining or historic buildings, but instead offer insightful or enriching information of notable “what” or “wheres” on and around campus.  

The University of Oklahoma has recently put together several cleverly titled trips on Gowalla to help students familiarize themselves with residence halls, onsite recreation facilities, places to grab a bite in addition to significant spots on campus.  

Michigan State University interestingly applied the concept of adding a historic layer to a campus tour set in 1918 which offers exposition and photos of various buildings and their functions during the specified year. The narrative is led by fictitious third year student Erasmus Cole whose main role is to provide factual anecdotes about each featured spot. To make the tour more interactive, four other historical characters have been supplemented to bring varied perspectives to the 1918 campus.

If you haven’t created a Trip before, here’s a quick and easy step-by-step to get you going. *Note: If you don’t have a Gowalla account yet, sign up here.

1. Login to your account, click Trips at the top followed by Create a Trip: 

2. With a theme in mind, give your trip a name, categorize it and fill in a description. 
 

3. Add spots. You can either narrow your search by city or visit the spots independently via the Gowalla website and click the little gear icon found on the right side of the spot’s name and click “Add to Trip.”  Including descriptions or interesting tidbits as they pertain to your trip is recommended and a plus.
 

4. When you’re ready to share it with the world, select Publish Now followed by Save Trip. *Note: You can save the trip as a draft if you need more time to work on it.

5. Once you’ve published your trip, you have the option to revisit and edit or share it with your networks via Facebook, Twitter and Email. 

So there you have it! In 5 simple steps you can shape and contribute to the forthcoming adventures of new and tenured students. If you’re inclined, practice the “5-Step Rep” and create more than one trip.

Want us to send you balla swag to help spread the good Gowalla word at your school? Shoot us an email at campus@gowalla.com.

Hey, we’ve got some exciting news: we’re introducing some really cool improvements to Gowalla in the months ahead, including changes to Trips and Highlights. And we could make them even cooler with your help. Got a sec? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this: 

* Create Trips: Make us a list of the awesome things we could be doing in your city. Need a little inspiration? You can create a Trip around pretty much any theme you like: date nights, spots to take kids, local secrets, coffee shops, lunch spots, best places to grab dessert, favorite outdoor activities, amazing places to spend an afternoon—whatever you like. If you’ve never created a Trip before—or hey, if you’re just a little rusty—here’s a great post on how to do it. 

* Tell us about a Trip: Are we missing out on terrific Trips you or a friend have already created? We want to feature them! Email us at live@gowalla.com with links to the trips and the subject line “Awesome Trips”.

* Add Highlights: Got a secret spot you’re ready to share? Tell us about the absolute best of the best in your favorite destination by making it a Highlight. Get some tips on adding Highlights and see some the latest additions here.

Ready? Go! We’ll be watching. 

Highlights are a fun way to recommend favorite places and share your insider knowledge with the world. Today we’re adding seven more colorful Highlights to the mix, including Takeout, Fashion, Foodie, Sweet Tooth, and Gluten Free.

If you haven’t had a chance to add a Highlight yet, here’s a quick refresher. Highlights are added to a spot directly from Gowalla while you’re out exploring. Just tap the Highlight button, choose which one and add a short tip or description. If the coffee makes this place special, what’s their caffeinated masterpiece? Why is this spot a great destination for fashionistas?

Some tips: You can add more than one Highlight to the same spot. So if it’s a picturesque spot with a great wine collection, add them both!

In addition to the mobile apps, you can also add Highlights on the web. Visit any spot on Gowalla.com and click Choose One next to Add Highlight then add your description.

Finally, you can add Highlights to any spot in Gowalla, whether you’ve checked in previously or not. If there are special places in a favorite destination or your old hometown that you haven’t yet visited with Gowalla, no problem! Just search for the spot on the web and add your Highlights.

We just rolled out three new stamps for the state of Alabama which include the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, the Talladega Superspeedway, and the U.S.S. Alabama in Mobile.

Our friends at AL.com are conducting a poll to see what other iconic staples deserve a custom stamp of their own. If you’d to like weigh in, click the website hyperlink and cast your vote. 

Voting concludes on Monday, July 18 at noon and you can vote once per day.

In the words of Ricky Bobby, “Shake and bake!”