Swing a cat in Silicon Valley or San Francisco right now, and you'll hit 17 people using a social location app on their iPhone. Loopt is one of the SoLo startups, and it's just unveiled an interesting new feature called Pulse.

It's all about real-time recommendations based on a user's current location. It serves up suggestions for 'hot places' and 'hot events' nearby, based on how many people are there and what they think of it.

As part of that, the Loopt mobile app now lets users 'check in' to locations, so their friends can see which bar, restaurant or club they're currently hanging out in. The checking in concept has been popularised by fellow SoLo app Foursquare.

Meanwhile, Loopt has also been signing up venues to offer discount e-coupons to its users, with fast-food chain Jack In The Box one of the first to participate.

One of the reasons social location is such an interesting space right now is because there are several nimble, innovative startups in the space, constantly competing to introduce new features - other examples are Gowalla and Rummble.

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As the grizzled veteran of the bunch, Loopt will be hoping its new features - as well as its focus on a wider range of handsets than just the iPhone - will help it continue to build momentum.