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Posts Tagged ‘location based services’

Google Maps know where you are

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Google has just released Latitude their update to Google Maps that allows you to know where your friends are.

You can get the software for Blackberry, S60 and Windows Mobile. Android is expected to launch in a few day and an iPhone version as part as Google Mobile App at some point.

To download just point the phone browser to google.com/latitude.

Once installed, sign in with your Google email, then add friends and a request will be sent to them.

It doesn’t track real-time, but sends the last logged location.

Google bought Dodgeball a while back which was a social media location based service but development seemed to die, though Latitude does seem to be the bastard child of Dodgeball.

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Posted in Mobile | Comments

Yahoo’s Fire Eagle knows where you are

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Yahoo is turning its attention towards location based services with a new bit of software by the name of Fire Eagle, designed to help those with a fondness for social networking and the like to store and share their location information and settings only with those services they see fit.

it’s a web platform, so users can access it over their PC as well as their mobile and developers can build applications on top of it – apparently over 55 have already been built during Fire Eagle’s beta phase (the developer site is here.)

Privacy issues have always dogged location based services, so Yahoo gets extra bonus points for building features into Fire Eagle that let users govern who gets to know where they are at any point in time. Extra bonus points for allowing people to be able to delete their info – too many web companies are holding on to data they shouldn’t be.

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Posted in Mobile Applications | Comments

T-Mobile puts $6m into LBS mob deCarta

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

T-Mobile’s venture capital arm, the not very surprisingly named T-Mobile Venture Fund has decided to put its money where its mouth is with location based services. The fund has announced that it’s investing $6 million in LBS company deCarta, which says it’ll be announcing more investors soon.

deCarta says it does the whole gamut of LBS services from “off-board, server-based applications offered by mobile operators through to “connected navigation” — the ability to integrate personal navigation devices and smartphones through real-time two-way mobile connectivity to a variety of dynamic data sources and local search services “.

deCarta has an impressive list of operators onboard but what’s even more heartening about this announcement is that deCarta really seems to be out to charm the developers to its platform. Looking forward to seeing what deCarta (and the developers) have in store.

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Posted in T-Mobile | Comments

First two iPhone app makers get slice of $100m

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Back in March, VCs took the wraps off a $100 million fund, available to be invested in companies making applications and services for the iPhone. A couple of months later, and Business Week has revealed the lucky people that have picked up funding under the scheme.

So far, says the magazine, 1,700 companies have applied for funding and just two have got it. The two in question are Pelago which makes a location-based app called Whrrl, which uses data from your social network to make recommendations and iControl “which makes a home automation application that would give iPhone users remote control over air conditioners, lighting, window shades, and so on”.

For a device that’s had the innovative label stuck to it far too often, you’d think that the iPhone would have inspired some unique applications – while these Pelago and iControl’s apps are doubtless clever, there are already shedloads of similar applications on the market. Apparently, the VCs behind the fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have also made one other offer to a start-up and are looking at 10 others seriously. Hopefully, the iPhone may inspire some inventive applications yet.

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Posted in iPhone | Comments

Investors get Buzzd over location-based social networking

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Buzzd, which specialises in location-based city guides and social networking, has reeled in its first round of investment led by Greycroft Partners and Monitor Ventures but so far hasn’t put a figure on the funding.

Buzzd says it’s going to put the funding towards “product development and distribution” and will get a new board member in the form of Fern Mandelbaum of Monitor.

What’s clever about Buzzd is that, as well as delivering all the usual city guide info from the likes of Time Out, it also makes use of social networking techniques to give users reviews on bars and the like from their friends – and who do you trust more to send you to a good bar than your mates? It’s also done a tie-up with a tequila firm, so users can even send their friends free drinks – nice touch.

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Posted in Mobile Applications | Comments

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