Wednesday, January 21. 2009

Wired's Honan on LBS Overload

Recall the fim Super Size Me? The fellow ate exclusively at McDonald's for a month to see what would happen. It was not pretty. Wired's Matthew Honan did the same thing - but with an iPhone (and later an Android G1) and LBS services. The results? Also not pretty. His report (including fear, adult situations, awkward meals) is well worth reading, as much for the tech review as the social commentary. I'll just share his conclusion - which was forced after a near car-accident when loading an app:

I had gained better location awareness but was losing my sense of place. Sure, with the proper social filters, location awareness needn't be invasive or creepy. But it can be isolating. Even as we gradually digitize our environment, we should remember to look around the old-fashioned way.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, LBS, GPS, Wi-Fi, Apple at 08:13 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, December 8. 2008

GPS-less iPhone in Egypt; What will Chinese iPhone not have?

Back in October I noted that Egypt (among others) has a ban on GPS (except with a special license). Apparently Apple removed the GPS capabilities to sell the phone in Egypt (at a much higher price than in other areas). Now the question becomes what to do in China? A deal might include revenue sharing with the government and removal of GPS and wi-fi.

New York Times (via Venture Beat, which also provides comment)

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, GPS, Wi-Fi, Apple at 06:11 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, November 18. 2008

Qualcomm/Skyhook Deal: Exit Strategy?

You probably saw the PR on Qualcomm's announcement yesterday that it would put Skyhook's locating technology into its location platform. Silicon Insider suggest if things work out it could be a fine exit strategy. Skyhook's funding comes from Bain Capital, RRE Ventures, and Intel Capital.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, Wi-Fi at 07:03 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Friday, October 31. 2008

Skyhook Tracking CNN Correspondents on the Magic Wall

A note from Skyhook's Rich Sutton pointed me to the video of John King below showing off not just "live locating" but also running correspondents' locations back in time and showing their recent "routes" which look just like airline routing maps found in the airline magazines.

What's unfortunate is that the CNN crew states that the app uses GPS.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Tracking, Real-Time/Dynamic Data, Wi-Fi, Routing, Tracking, Logistics, Media & Maps at 13:06 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, October 28. 2008

Podcast: PNDs vs. Smartphones

deCarta announced its connected navigation platform last week. At the same time the expectations for portable navigation devices is looking dim as for-fee smartphone solutions for navigation appear to grow. What is the future for these devices and what about the connected car of the future? Our editors look at what the experts say and share their own predictions.

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Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Open Source, Microsoft, GPS, Real-Time/Dynamic Data, Directions on the News Podcast, Local Search, Wi-Fi, Satellite Navigation, Geospatial Business, Routing, Tracking, Logistics, Apple at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, October 21. 2008

Google Gears Location Tapping Now Can Use Wi-Fi

Gears is an add-on for many browsers ( Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox other coming) and built-in technology in Chrome and Android, that provides extra goodies including geolocation. Until now, geolocation in Gears was provided by cell tower locations and was aimed at mobile phone apps. Today, Google announced location support via Wi-Fi access points. No word on if the technology is Google's or Skyhooks or someone else's.

ITN, Independent Television News, based in Britain, is one of the first content providers to use the API.

Also, Android, Google open source operating system, is now available to all, not just to selected developers. Download it here.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Wi-Fi at 09:33 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |