location-based services

Broadcom to use Wi-Fi positioning tech in chips

Chipmaker Broadcom is adding Wi-Fi positioning technology from Skyhook Wireless to its semiconductors to help provide more accurate location-based services.

Broadcom plans to use GPS (Global Positioning System) and Wi-Fi to help provide accurate location-based information for mobile devices, the company said. Location-based services are becoming hot, especially since the launch of Apple's iPhone 3G, which comes with GPS. The location applications that use GPS have been among the most popular applications downloaded from the Apple App Store.

But GPS has its limitations. Skyhook's Wi-Fi location technology can use known Wi-Fi hot spots to augment GPS. The service … Read more

Garmin gets in the social-networking groove

For the most part, the only person you can socialize with on a handheld GPS navigator is the chick who tells you to turn left after 100 yards.

Garmin wants to change that. The device manufacturer has partnered with location-based app company ULocate to bring its Where.com software, previously available only on compatible cell phones and carriers, to some of its devices. (It hasn't said which ones specifically.) This will give Garmin owners access to Where's own Buddy Beacon software, which shares users' current locations with friends. It can be hooked up to Where's Facebook application, … Read more

Skyhook combines GPS and Wi-Fi for location

Skyhook Wireless announced Monday that it is integrating GPS into its geolocation service to get an even more accurate fix for location-based services.

Up until now, Skyhook's geolocation service, which is used on Apple's iPhone, among other services and devices, has used Wi-Fi hot spots to get a fix on location. The service works very well in densely populated areas where there are a lot of Wi-Fi radios transmitting signals. And it's great for locating places indoors or in cities with a lot of tall buildings, all places where satellite-based GPS, or Global Positioning System, technology has … Read more

Buzzd: 1.2 million venues in directory, strategic investment on the way

Buzzd, a mobile service focused on "real-time" reviews of bars and restaurants, says it's making some inroads in the tough, crowded location-based networking market.

The New York-based start-up is set to release numbers on Thursday announcing that 1.2 million venues are now listed in its directory, 10 percent of which were added by users. As for demographics, about 80 percent of Buzzd's users (it doesn't provide specifics on active users) are in the U.S., concentrated around cities like New York and Los Angeles, with another 10 percent in Europe and 10 percent in … Read more

Nokia to acquire Plazes, eyes geo market

With more GPS-enabled handsets on the way--iPhone 3G, I'm looking at you--there are few Web 2.0 niches that are more hyped-up than location-based services.

The latest evidence: Nokia announced Monday that it plans to acquire Plazes, a start-up still in private beta.

Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2008, were not disclosed. Plazes, which is based in Zurich, Switzerland, but works primarily out of Berlin, will become part of Nokia's Software and Services division. Plazes' technology will likely be worked into future mobile apps.

It's good … Read more

Meet Sense Networks, the latest player in the hot 'geo' market

What if your nightlife agenda was dictated not by text messages, phone calls, or your city edition of Time Out, but by a shifting pattern of dots on a Google Map?

As absurd as it may sound, a New York company called Sense Networks thinks that's the solution. On Monday, the company emerged from stealth mode and simultaneously released an "experimental" product called CitySense, an urban navigation product that puts a new spin on the hot market of location-based mobile networking.

Backed by hedge funds rather than the venture firms that typically fuel tech start-ups, Sense Networks … Read more

Yelp plans splashy debut in location-aware mobile market

Business reviews site Yelp will be focusing quite a bit on mobile features in the near future, including an upcoming location-aware iPhone app on the way, company representatives told CNET News.com Wednesday.

This will mean that iPhone users will be able to log onto the Yelp application and search for businesses and reviews of establishments close to their geographic coordinates. In other words, you will be able to look and find which sushi restaurants are within five blocks of your location--and see Yelp members' warnings on which ones might make you puke.

The application is still in development and … Read more

JuiceCaster geotags your shared media moments

Updated at 2:30 p.m. PDT to include more details about how location information is displayed and gathered in JuiceCaster, and more specific information about the feature's launch.

First came mobile social networks, then came geotagging. Since location-based features take advantage of your ever-portable mobile phone to pin your activities to a place, we weren't surprised to learn that on Wednesday JuiceCaster (reviewed) added automatic geo-anchors to its multimedia sharing service.

Soon JuiceCaster photos and videos that are auto-posted to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, and other sites will share the individual's street name and city. … Read more

EU greenlights TomTom deal for Tele Atlas

TomTom , Europe's largest maker of car-navigation devices, Wednesday received approval from the European Commission to buy digital-mapping company Tele Atlas.

The deal was accepted by the EU without conditions after a six-month antitrust probe. The deal is worth $4.5 billion and is expected to be finalized in June, according to a statement from TomTom. Both companies are based in the Netherlands.

For TomTom and Tele Atlas, this was "the best possible outcome allowing the new combination to go ahead with the full execution of its strategy," the companies said in a joint announcement.

The decision came … Read more