PaulSpoerry.com

You found me… insights on technology, philosophy, Windows, hacking and more.
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact
  • Categories
  • Search
  • About

FireFox 3.5 Geolocation – scary accurate

PaulSpoerry | June 21, 2009

Firefox 3.5 can tell websites where you’re located so you can find info that’s more relevant and more useful.

Websites that use location-aware browsing will ask where you are in order to bring you more relevant information, or to save you time while searching. Let’s say you’re looking for a pizza restaurant in your area. A website will be able to ask you to share your location so that simply searching for “pizza” will bring you the answers you need… no further information or extra typing required.

Or, if you’re mapping out directions to get somewhere, the website will know where you’re starting from so all you have to do is tell it where you want to go.

This service is totally optional – Firefox doesn’t share your location without your permission – and is done with the utmost respect for your privacy. And, like all elements of Firefox, it’s being created using open standards to ease adoption by Web developers.

I don’t know if I would ever really find this useful, I guess we’ll have to wait and see when FireFox 3.5 is release and website begin employing the feature en mass. However, since I had the beta on my machine I decided to give it a try by visiting the Geolocation demo website. The results were scary. Often when you try to look yourself up by IP, etc you’ll get “close”, usually only getting down to the main switching station for your provider. FireFox and the Geolocation demo site literally pinpointed my exact address! FREAKY! Of course you have to give permission for a site to use Geolocation, and if you want to disable it completely I suggest you check out HowToGeek’s site for explicit instructions.

Comments
1 Comment »
Categories
FireFox, Silverlight, Tech, Web Life
Tags
beta, firefox, firefox3.5, geolocation, Privacy
Comments rss Comments rss
Trackback Trackback

Google Latitude – Share your location with your friends

PaulSpoerry | February 4, 2009

Google Latitude LogoGoogle Mobile Maps is getting a new feature 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. Latitude already works in 27 countries on Windows Mobile 5.0 or later, , Blackberries, and most Symbian-based devices such as Nokia smartphones. Android support will begin in about a week, and an iPhone app is coming soon. If you live in the U.S., there is also an iGoogle gadget that shows everyone’s location and messages.

“What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members’ locations,” said Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude. For example, a girlfriend could use it to see if her boyfriend has arrived at a restaurant and, if not, how far away he is.

Google Latitude MapGoogle isn’t oblivious to your privacy; Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. They can then share their precise location, the city they’re in, or nothing at all. A Google account is required to use the service. For choosing who gets to see your location, you can use contacts stored with Gmail or Picasa. Latitude is very much like a private version of Yahoo’s Fire Eagle geo-location service; there is no way to broadcast your location to the public at large, only to your own Gmail contacts. Oddly, it does not yet work with Google Friend Connect.

Like other location aware mobile application, Google Latitude uses either your GPS satellite location or by proximity to mobile phone towers and wireless networks.

Read up more on Google Latitude here. This link will also send Latitude to your phone as well as let you check if your phone is compatible.

Get Google Mobile Maps here.

Comments
1 Comment »
Categories
GMail, Gadgets, Privacy, Tech, Web Life, Windows Mobile, iGoogle
Tags
Android, blackberry, blackberry phones, Friend Connect, geo-location, geolocation, Gmail, google, Google Friend Connect, google latitude, google maps, google mobile maps, gps, latitude, location aware, nokia, picassa, symbian, Windows Mobile, yahoo fire eagle
Comments rss Comments rss
Trackback Trackback

Recent Posts

  • FCC releases Internet speed test tool
  • Microsoft shows games on Mobile, PC, and Xbox
  • Google Voice Explained
  • Windows Mobile 7 to be announced, 6.x to become free
  • Microsoft finally patches 17-year-old bug

Popular Posts

  • µTorrent 1.8.3 Final (uTorrent 1.8.3)
  • Google Chrome’s JavaScript Engine Is CRAZY FAST
  • Google Chrome’s JavaScript Engine Is CRAZY FAST
  • 20 Classic Hip Hop Album Covers Redone With Legos
  • Windows 7 Benchmarks – XP vs Vista vs 7

Recommended Hosting

rss Comments rss valid xhtml 1.1 design by jide powered by Wordpress get firefox