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According to unnamed sources cited by The New York Times, Facebook plans to introduce a new location-sharing feature to is social networking service. The feature will let users share their own location as well as see the location of ... Leap Wireless recently indicated that it has permanently closed 27 -- about 10% -- of its 269 Cricket Wireless stores. It has also laid off 180 people, trimming its staff level down to 4,200 employees around the country. The ... Today Apple made a fourth beta of the iPhone OS 3.2 software development kit available to developers. The SDK provides developers with the tools they need to write for iPhone OS, which also applies to the iPod Touch and ... 
AT&T lands the Motorola Backflip as its first Android handset. Based on our experiences, it's tough to recommend to anyone other than the most diehard Motorola and AT&T fans. Palm today announced the Plug-In Development Kit (PDK) for Palm WebOS. The PDK allows developers to use C and C++ in addition to the Web-based framework of the Palm OS. With the new PDK, developers get access to OpenGL ... At the Digital Inclusion Summit, the FCC released a statement supporting free wireless broadband for some Americans in a bid to increase affordable broadband service nationwide. The commission did not specify which Americans would qualify for such a service ... Today Samsung announced that it is offering the SCH-r100 Stunt to Cricket customers. The Stunt is a tri-band CDMA bar-style phone that has entry level features. It includes Bluetooth, speakerphone, and simple messaging services. It costs $100. The NFL and Verizon Wireless today announced a four year deal that will bring NFL Mobile programming and the NFL RedZone channel to Verizon Wireless phones. Specific phone and pricing information for the new service will be available in ... Google today released the Android Native Development Kit revision 3 (NDK r3), offering expanded capabilities to Android developers. Most interesting to end users is probably enhanced support for OpenGL ES 2.0, now offering improved graphics rendering through vertex and ... Travel Channel will also bring new content to Gowalla, starting with locations used in "Food Wars." Today Asiq announced what it calls the first aircraft Bluetooth Access Point. The AP, in conjunction with Asiq's SafeCell application, will allow airlines to offer cellular services (including SMS, MMS, voice messaging and email) on board aircraft during flight. ... Today Verizon Wireless indicated that its preliminary tests of Long Term Evolution in the Boston and Seattle trial markets demonstrate that the next-generation wireless technology can deliver peak download speeds of 40 to 50Mbps and peak upload speeds of ... Qualcomm has announced that it is bringing new dual-mode HSPA+ and EVDO Rev. A and B. chips to femto cells. Qualcomm says the chips are the first to combine 3GPP HSPA+ and CDMA2000 1X and EV-DO Rev. A and ... Swype recently began offering a beta version of its QWERTY keyboard input software. Users can download the beta version of the software for free, though the number of users Swype will allow is going to be limited at first. ... T-Mobile USA has called off its year-long exclusive search deal with Yahoo and has replaced it with Google. The deal was completed recently and Google replaced Yahoo as the default search engine on T-Mobile handsets approximately March 3. Phone ... Today the Federal Communications Commission proposed a major change to the Universal Service Fund. The USF is collected from U.S. citizens via their phones bills and is put towards developing voice services in underserved rural areas. Rather than put ... Verizon Wireless has eliminated the mail-in rebate previously necessary for customers to get the lowest price for the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. Customers will now only pay $149 out of pocket for the Pre Plus and $79 ... AT&T recently announced that it is going to be adopting new standards for its packaging and handset designs to reduce waste, encourage recycling and reduce its carbon footprint. AT&T is working with manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging ... According to an unnamed source cited by Reuters, Verizon Wireless plans to sell two new devices from Microsoft that are not Windows Phone 7 handsets. Reuters' source says that the two new phones are being developed under the code ... Microsoft today announced that its new Windows Phone 7 platform will include the company's Silverlight and XNA technologies for developers. Silverlight is a runtime designed to make it easier for developers to create rich, attractive interfaces that are intelligently ... "Apple's done a very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their intellectual property" in the App Store, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a University of Washington audience last week.
Although Ballmer was stating the obvious, observers and analysts quickly surmised that he was trying to sweeten the waters in advance of Apple's decision on whether to replace Google with Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on the iPhone operating system. Business Week reported in January that the two giants were in negotiations for that deal. Asked by Reuters about the prospects after unveiling the Windows 7 Phone Series last month, Ballmer said, "I hear the same rumors you do." The App Store has more than 130,000 products for sale or free, fueling the sale of iPods and iPhones and creating a user experience that other smartphone manufacturers have tried to emulate. Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile has less than 1,000 apps.
"It would appear that Microsoft is no longer in denial about what Apple has accomplished," said Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group, a technology consulting firm. "The question is, will Microsoft be able to drive a wedge between Apple and Google and find a new and unlikely ally in the mobile space?" As Ballmer praised the App Store, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based nonprofit, launched a broadside against Apple by publishing the company's 28-page developer licensing agreement on its web site. Since NASA now has an iPhone app, the group cleverly filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the agreement that the government agency signed with Apple.
"The entire family of devices built... Facebook could use the service to provide advertisers with targeted information such as the nearest ATM. The feature is expected to be similar to Foursquare, a location-based social network that enables users to "check in" with one another and meet up. Some Internet users have accepted location services as a way to gain information they feel is valuable, such as a coupon for a nearby restaurant or personalized weather services. But others fear it's another example of Big Brother watching and, in this case, knowing where they are.
Facebook has been working on the feature for more than a year and is expected to make it available to its millions of users, reports say. The company also plans to provide application programming interfaces to third-party developers who want to add location features to their Facebook applications. The company is tight-lipped about the service. "We are constantly experimenting with new ideas and products internally," said Meredith Chin, a Facebook spokesperson, in an e-mail. "We don't have anything more to share at this time." Facebook may want to announce the feature at its F8 Conference next month. U.S. companies offering location-based services must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, which requires users' consent. Under the 2003 act, companies have given users control of location services on web sites and in mobile apps. In Europe, the European Union has taken steps to protect users from information gathered through location-based services. Some companies have taken extra steps by adding privacy-enhancing technologies.
Companies hoping to give advertisers ways to target audiences have been implementing location-based services for some time. Rummble, a location-based social network,... XML error: Invalid character at line 89 |