foursquare badges: The jury's still deliberating just how useful foursquare really is, but these "nerd merit badges" might be a step in the right direction.-

We've all got friends who flood their twitter accounts with updates of where they are. And even though it's pretty annoying, the way foursquare works is the more they tweet about wining and dining, the closer they are to "winning/unlocking" badges of...honor. Up until now, these awards were completely virtual and pretty useless. But now, look! They exist! So now, everybody who uses foursquare can have something to show for it, aside from irritated friends.

[image via dpstyles flickr]