This past March, I came home from SXSW with a problem. The so-called "location war" hadn't yielded one check-in service to rule them all. In fact, several new ones popped up just at that conference alone. Check-in fatigue set in. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse. Now Facebook has launched itself right smack dab in the middle of the location space with Places. And others like Yelp are still pushing hard there. It's getting even more out of control. I'm about ready to declare check-in bankruptcy. Or I was, until Gowalla decided to do something bold. The location-based service has decided to fundamentally altered their app to allow you to check-in to not only their service, but also into Facebook's and even Foursquare's as well. Yes, they've just become compatible with their chief rivals.