Latitude

Article updated at 4:35 p.m. PT with more information from Google's official announcement.

Starting Thursday, iPhone users surfing to m.google.com/latitude can access Google Latitude, Google's friend-tracking feature. Latitude plots friends' pictures on a Google map when they opt to share their location with you.

Earlier this morning, some CNET employees were able to start experimenting with Google's Web-based Latitude for iPhone ahead of the official announcement.

Once loaded, Latitude becomes a tab on m.google.com, Google's mobile face.

The main interface presents a list of contacts. Clicking on your own … Read more

Someone needs to rectify the growing disparity of applications that Google has for other mobile users and what is available on the Palm units. I had hoped that the Pre would bridge this gap with the new webOS offering incentive for engineers to expand their audience reach, but so far to no avail.

I mentioned previously about my frustrations with the lack of a built in public transit on the Google Maps application. This time around it is Google Latitude that I have found out is not available.

Now, I was nowhere near as upset about this one because my … Read more

Aiming to bring small, low-cost laptops to schools, Dell has just announced the Latitude 2100, a Netbook specifically targeted to educational markets. We recently got a chance to take a brief hands-on look at the Latitude 2100--and we think its appeal will go far beyond the classroom.

The basic components are similar to what you'd find in almost any other Netbook--Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, Windows XP--but the chassis of the Latitude 2100 is specifically designed with young users in mind. Somewhat thicker and heavier than typical consumer Netbooks, the system has a semi-rugged feel and a thick rubberized cover, along with an optional anti-microbial keyboard.

The entire package reminded us in some ways of the original Intel Classmate laptops, which were the first examples of Netbooks. One new feature that seems especially intriguing (but may tax the Intel Atom processor) is an optional touch screen.

To appeal specifically to educational buyers, the systems include a handful of unique features, including a small light on the back of the lid, called the Network Activity Light. It can interact with third-party software or simply turn on when students are surfing the Web (instead of working on classwork), which can help teachers keep track of the status of everyone in the classroom. … Read more

Updated on May 14 at 2:40 p.m. PDT with additional comments from AMD.

The chip choices that Dell has made for its business PC line provide some insight into the challenges facing Advanced Micro Devices in the wake of the European Union ruling Wednesday against Intel.

"At this point in time we have one AMD desktop but no AMD notebooks," Darrel Ward, director of product management for Dell's business client product group, said in a phone interview Wednesday on a topic unrelated to the EU case. "If you talk to us a year from … Read more

Google has two new applications that let users of its Latitude service share their location with people who are not using the service.

The first, for Google's Talk service, will update your chat status with your location (at a city level) every time you check in with Latitude. The other is a badge you can stick on your blog or social-networking profile that shows precisely where you are.

It looks like this:

Just like embedding a Google Map, you can pick the terrain type and zoom level, and it pumps out some simple code for you, including a link … Read more

Taking a different approach to Google's Latitude software, Yahoo has released a Facebook application called Friends on Fire that lets people share their location with each other.

Google Latitude is an island unto itself, using Google's own technology for cell phone-based location detection and for managing who gets access to your location. Friends on Fire, though, stitches together a variety of services: Yahoo's Fire Eagle, a service that can store and share your location with authorized applications, and Facebook, which handles the issue of identifying who your friends are and granting them permission to see your location.

The service is intriguing, though as with any service that has to tiptoe carefully around a lot of privacy landmines, it can be somewhat burdensome to set up. It's great that Yahoo is making something real out of its Fire Eagle service, which previously was more about plumbing than a faucet. … Read more

Dell is back with a slimmed down version of its fully rugged 14-inch laptop.

Like the company itself, the XFR's second-gen improvements on the device are incremental and in some cases, slightly experimental. The E6400 XFR is the name of what used to be the Latitude XFR D630. The laptop gets an internal tuneup, boasting better processing power (Intel Core2Duo), discrete graphics enabled by better cooling. The new XFR also keeps most of its original features: touch screen, a solid-state drive, mobile broadband, GPS, and long battery life. In this case, Dell says an additional battery pack will keep the laptops going for up to 13 hours.

The XFR is strengthened by a new exterior material the PC maker is calling Ballistic Armor, which replaces the magnesium alloy used in its other laptops. It's allowed the machine to be trimmed down--it's now 8.5 pounds instead of 9 pounds--and also strengthened: it meets military specifications for ruggedness and can withstand a 4-foot drop rather than 3.

Ballistic Armor was developed by a partner company and licensed exclusively to Dell. It's a hybrid, nonmetal polymer designed to better absorb shocks and withstand the elements. That Dell is experimenting with different materials is intended to signal its willingness to try new things and focus on creating different options for targeted customers.

In this case, that's military contractors, government, and utility company field workers, law enforcement, and other groups that are not known for being particularly gentle with their computers. … Read more

Dell is offering Windows-Linux hybrid laptops that use both Intel and ARM processors. Though the user would never know it.

As pointed out in this EE Times report, entitled "Dell has dragged the Linux-ARM Trojan horse inside the Wintel PC," Dell is offering a processor-plus-OS subsystem separate from the main Windows-Intel system.

The goal is to give users instant access to e-mail without booting up the operating system and extend battery life by running Linux on a very low-power ARM processor. Basic ARM processor designs are licensed by U.K.-based ARM Holdings to companies like Samsung and … Read more

To avoid a trademark problem should we call it gnetbook, pnetbook or knetbook? Cooley thinks all the ideas are pretty. Google wants to mind your power for you, but if they treat that data like they do your posts on blogger you may find your dryer deleted without notice.

Sony INT-W250 WebTV High-Speed Linkup http://www.theonion.com/

You have until the end of the day to download Windows 7 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10160285-56.html

Google PowerMeter http://www.google.org/powermeter/howitworks.html

Google deleting blog posts without warning http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-05/music/google-39-s-new-killer-app-why-are-music-bloggers-39-posts-disappearing-and-who-is-deleting-them/all… Read more