It was almost exactly two years ago that Google launched Latitude, their location-based service. Two years may not seem like a long time, but it’s “the equivalent of a decade in location services,” Latitude PM Ken Norton jokes. Most importantly, it was just before Foursquare launched to the world at SXSW in 2009. That changed the entire game, literally, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt likes to say. You see, it brought the idea of the “check-in” into play. And that ended up being the idea that launched a thousand location-based services. Today, finally, Google is getting on board with that idea.
Yes, the check-in is coming to Latitude — finally.
Latitude at its core has always been about sharing your best available location with people on a continuous basis. In other words, it was a service that relied on location updates running constantly in the background. “It has been good for seeing where you are, but not seeing where you ARE,” is now Norton puts it. In other words, you could see that a friend was at a place on a map, but not that they were at a Starbucks. To find that out for sure, you’d still have to send them a text. → Read More
It should be pretty clear by now that Google is taking location very seriously. The original launch of Latitude in early 2009 was just a first step. Now they have robust APIs, Google Places, and key executive Marissa Mayer is now in charge of these and various related projects. And earlier today they finally rolled out a Latitude iPhone app. But if a fairly small tweak to Chrome is any indication, Google means to go deeper still.
More specifically, Chromium, the open source browser on which Chrome is based, just recently received a new experimental feature hidden behind a flag (meaning you have to explicitly enable it). In the latest builds of Chromium version 10, you’ll see an option called “Experimental location features”. Apparently, when switched on, this allows the browser to run “experimental extensions to the geolocation feature.” → Read More
Today at LeWeb ’10 in Paris, France, our own Michael Arrington took the stage to talk with Google’s Marissa Mayer. Mayer recently took a new job within Google. Technically, she’s now the head of consumer products for the company. So what’s she working on?
Well, as we’ve all heard, location is a big part of it. But she’s also thinking about a bigger picture item that Google is still working on. This is what Google is calling “contextual discovery”. This means being able to look at either a person’s browsing profile or their location profile and serving up interesting data to them without them searching for anything. Yes, it’s Google results without the search. → Read More
At Google I/O in May, the search giant indicated that they were about to take their commitment to location to the next level. Sure, Latitude had been around for a while, but everyone knew that Google could do more in the space. The announcement of some new location APIs seemed to a big part of the solution. And now comes the fun part.
Today on their Geo blog, Google is announcing that they’re beginning to open the Places API for business. The first developers getting access? Those working on check-in services. → Read More
“Foursquare gets all the hype.” It’s something I hear just about every day from just about every other location-based startup. And it’s true, though I would argue that it’s warranted — and investors seem to agree. But it’s also important to keep some perspective. While Foursquare is just shy of 2 million users, other services like MyTown have quickly surpassed that number. Same with Google Latitude, which is at 3 million. And you can put Loopt on that list as well, as today they’ve hit 4 million total users.
Loopt was one of the first location-based services to get a lot of hype — even getting on stage at the Apple event first talking about the App Store way back when. But as we’ve noted numerous times, they started out at a disadvantage because the iPhone didn’t allow third-party apps to run in the background. And that was Loopt’s model, continuous location updates. But with iOS 4, the iPhone does finally allow for that functionality — and specially for background location. And Loopt is benefiting from it. → Read More
Along with all the laptops that Dell accidentally leaked today, they also announced an update to the Latitude E5410 and E5510 models. These two refreshed systems are based off of the ever popular E-series of laptops, and feature the latest Intel processors and chipsets. → Read More
Google appears to be getting a tad paranoid about its own privacy policies on the heels of the whole Google Buzz debacle. The company apparently sent out an e-mail to some Latitude users this morning, warning them that the service might be giving away their location – which is kind of the whole point of the app – and asking them to check their settings.
As a reminder, Google Latitude is a location-aware application that was specifically designed to let mobile phone users broadcast their location to certain people.
Update: commenters tell us Google started sending out said e-mails a while ago, not today. → Read More
Google Mobile Maps is getting a new feature tonight called Google Latitude. It will allow you to broadcast your location to select friends, family, and colleagues based on the coordinates of your cell phone (via GPS or otherwise). If you have the GPS feature enabled in Google Maps on your mobile phone, you are probably familiar with the reassuring, pulsating blue dot on the map that represents you wherever you go. Google Lattude is now essentially letting you share that blue dot with anyone you like.
But Google Latitude is a full mobile application in and of itself. (Download it from your mobile browser at google.com/latitude). You can keep track of where everyone is at any given time, and from within the app you can call, email, or IM them. Everyone you have opted to follow shows up as a picture icon on a map or in a list view. The list view is like a location-based Twitter. → Read More
Here are Hans and Roy from Dell to tell you about the new multitouch firmware upgrade for the Latitude XT tablet PC. Hey relax, Roy, you’re doing fine, buddy. Just slow down a bit and watch those erratic hand motions there. Picture the entire internet naked or something. Hans, you’re doing a great job, pal. You can get the update on Dell’s site here – it’s about 15MB or so. Once installed, multitouch functionality will work with most of your everyday programs. Latitude XT Software Update is Here [Dell Support Site] → Read More
Whether you like it or not, today is Santa Rosa Day, where all the king’s horses and all the king’s men pimp their new laptops that have Intel’s latest chipset. Dell is no exception and two of its business-centric laptops, the Latitude D830 and D630, stand on guard for thee. Since they’re intended for business customers they have (as build-to-order options, natch) a bunch of security features to keep your company’s secrets under lock and key, including fingerprint reader and encrypted hard drives. The D830, which we’ve taken great pains to picture right here, has a 15.4-inch screen, so I wouldn’t exactly call it super-portable. → Read More
Seems Dell is the latest company to jump on the rugged-notebook bandwagon. Dell’s D620 ATG (All-Terrain Grade) laptop is a response to Panasonic’s infamous line of ToughBook computers that can take pretty much anything thrown at them (literally). The base model starts at $2500 and comes with a 14-inch widescreen display, up to 4GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo CPUs, port covers, shock-mounted hard disks, and a spill proof keyboard. Those who are outdoorsmen/clumsy should immediately surf over to Dell.com to order one. Dell ships ruggedized Latitude portable [Electronista] → Read More
