GPS Obsessed

Tons of people have asked me over the past few months when Google’s Latitude friend-finding application would be available for the iPhone.  Originally launched for Google’s own Android operating system, Latitude for the iPhone is on its way sometime this summer pending the release of the iPhone 3.0 update.

The reason Google is waiting for the software update is because Latitude won’t be launched as a separate application.  Instead, it’ll run inside the Safari web browser, enabled by HTML 5 which supports geolocation.  While this indicates that Google firmly believes the web is the new operating system, it doesn’t solve the problem of lacking background processing. Push notification is a step forward, but until Apple supports full background processing on the iPhone, you’ll likely have to keep the browser open to use Latitude.

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Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom are having a collective stroke regarding the possible privacy implications of Google Latitude.

A motion was filed this morning asking the government to investigate the “privacy implications of Google Latitude and to take action to ensure Latitude does not represent a threat to privacy.”

Product manager for Google Latitude in Europe, Mat Balez, told IT PRO that some of Parliament’s concern involves the possibility that the friend-finding software could be covertly installed on someone’s mobile phone.  However, users are alerted whenever the program is running, and have the option to hide their location or disable the service whenever they want.  Not to mention the fact that you have to opt-in to use Latitude in the first place.

Google takes these issues seriously, but I think those that take issue with ‘privacy’ implications should just not use the service in the first place.

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Google Latitude, the newly launched mobile and desktop friend-find application, has net over 1 million users in its first week.  Reported via FierceMobileContent, the news came from Google’s vice president of engineering, Vic Gundotra during a panel at the Mobile World Congress in barcelona.

From FierceMobile:

“We believe that 2008 was the year mobile Internet took off,” Gundotra said, citing flat data plans, full web browsers and an improved user interface as the catalysts behind the takeoff. “The iPhone was the first browser to let you surf the real web. But the browser can do more than just browse content-it’s a platform for innovations.”

According to Gundotra, the modern, cutting-edge mobile browser must comprise three key elements: The HTML5 core language specification, application caching and geolocation tools. He illustrated his argument by showing for the first time in public a new Gmail concept for smartphones that capitalizes on app caching to enable users to browse and search through messages even when the network connection is disabled. Gundotra also demonstrated a mobile search solution integrated with location, voice recognition and the device accelerometer to query “weather,” automatically receiving a local forecast for the Barcelona area as determined via GPS.

Does anyone want to argue as to who will dominate the LBS industry in the future?

Now I just know there will be a privacy advocate out there that says something about this, but a new Gmail Labs feature allows you to add your location to your email signature.  Yep, in your Gmail account just add Location in Signature in the Labs tab under Settings, then head to your signature preference and check “Append your location to the signature.”

Underneath your signature you’ll see the city, region, and country you’re in when you send the email.  For the time being the experimental feature uses IP address to detect location so accuracy might be an issue, but if you install Google Gears, its location module can find your location from Wi-Fi access points-much more accurate.

As you can see, this is a obvious opt-in process that allows you to delete your location from any email you choose, and the location signature does not show your exact location.  Hopefully these means we don’t see any disruption from privacy groups in the blogosphere tomorrow-oh please.

I’m not exactly sure why this hasn’t been implemented into Google’s location-aware Latitude social application, but should the uptake in Gmail be encouraging I’m sure will see it implemented at some point.

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ZDNet’s Matthew Miller received the RC33 update on his T-Mobile G1 and did a quick video run-through to show us the new features. There’s still plenty of work to do with Android to really get it up to par, but the latest update brings a variety of fixes, the ability to save photos/files by tap and hold, automatic system update checks, Google Voice Search, and Google Latitude in Google Maps. The last two features are definitely great new additions. Google just released Latitude last week. It’s a cool location-based feature that enables you to easily keep track of friends and foes on Google Maps. Simple yet effective. Check out the video below.

via zdnet

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Google has announced the launch of Google Latitude this morning, a new feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that lets you share your location with friends and family.

It’s very simple to use.  Just ‘opt in’ to Latitude via your Google account and then you’ll be able to see icons of your peeps on Google Maps on your mobile or desktop.  If you click on an icon, you’ll have the option to call, IM, text, or otherwise make contact.

Google allows you complete control over your privacy in Latitude.  Only friends and family you’ve selected at any given time will be able to see your location, and the icon location is only approximate.  If you click on the icon, Google will return a precise location of you or your friend with turn-by-turn directions to get there.

Google Latitude is currently available in 27 countries and works with most popular handsets and your iGoogle homepage.  Handsets include T-Mobile’s G1 or other Android-based phone, iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry, Windows Mobile 5.0+, and Nokia Symbian S60 devices.  T-Mobile G1 users will have access rolled out over the coming days in the United States and overseas access will come soon after.  Apple devices have a short waiting time as well.

You can download Google Maps for mobile with Latitude from your mobile device or browser by heading to http://google.com/latitude.  Check out the demo video below and more screenshots after the jump.

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