The new location-based service FindMe is a straightforward app that uses cell phone towers to broadcast your general whereabouts to Facebook friends, saving you from updating Facebook manually with places you frequently travel. In beta, FindMe installs on your cell phone and updates your Facebook status when it senses you've changed locations. For each new cell area FindMe detects, you'll be able to tag it "Work," "Home," and so on, and you'll only share addresses you manually enter yourself. As you change zones, FindMe updates your bearings, going "dark" when you switch to offline mode.
Like Google Maps for Mobile, FindMe relies on cell phone towers to generalize your geography, so the service works for all cell phones regardless of GPS support.
FindMe's reporting style prompted a friend to IM me, "What the heck is with your Facebook status?"
(Credit: CNET Networks)It's a somewhat good, somewhat limited idea that suffers from half-formed presentation issues. For instance, FindMe doesn't believe in grammatical standards when updating Facebook, nor in identifying FindMe-produced status messages with a proprietary icon. Not only does this miss the promotion boat, it confuses friends who wonder why I keep changing my status to "Jessica is at an unknown location," or to this caveman grunt: "Jessica Work."
FindMe also has the annoying "useful" habit of updating every 15 minutes even when the phone is stationary. Assuming I never leave the office and don't go dark, my Facebook status would show 32 "Work" messages during any given eight-hour weekday.
I welcome the team's plan to add Wi-Fi or Bluetooth sensing, or both, in addition to GPS support. The integration would add finer resolution for distinguishing between your desk and the deli next door. Future development will see FindMe as a standalone app that can feed Web site widgets, Skype status, and possibly Google docs. I hope it offers more granular status options, as well, like only broadcasting starred tags or turning off updates for unknown locations.
FindMe is currently available for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry phones. To try it, add the FindMe app to your Facebook profile.
Erica Sadun over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) has come up with a useful mobile application/hack for the iPhone. It's called FindMe, and just like the name suggests, it's a location-based service that helps you find your stolen or misplaced handset, and potentially whomever is in possession of it.
It works by auto transmitting your phone's location in the same way the iPhone currently does for the Maps application--by using the location of local cell phone tower or Wi-Fi signal. In this case, the catch is that the service employs Twitter to send the status updates, meaning you and a few other folks can monitor the signal privately, and check the location right on Google Maps.
When it comes time to actually find your stolen phone, things might get a little difficult. While the system gives you a general location that's accurate up to a quarter mile, you're not going to get the exact positioning you'd get with something like GPS. An application called BlackBerry Tracker has been offering such a service for the past year, and even lets you set up geofences that trigger tracking automatically when a phone breaches the invisible borders. With FindMe you might just have to call your phone and hope you're close enough to hear the ringtone (Note: we don't recommend you going vigilante against thieves of any sort).
Another thing to note is that the installation is not for the faint of heart. You'll need a jailbroken iPhone, minor knowledge of shell scripting, and some comfort with editing a few lines of code. You can find full instructions over at TUAW.
(Credit:
uLocate)
With the release of Apple's iPhone just a few months away, we're already seeing phone companies scramble to to keep customers by adding value to their phones and services. WHERE, from start-up uLocate, is no different, providing a bevy of GPS-enabled widgets for mobile phones while managing to use a drag-and-drop Web interface. Subscription to and use of the widgets requires a monthly fee of $2.99. For now, the service works with only six of Sprint's handsets, though about a dozen more are being added next Monday.
The widgets range from weather information providers to locators for bars and restaurants. Users can create their own widgets by joining the WHERE Developer Program. It's free if you've got a Sprint handset and are paying for a WHERE subscription. uLocate also created Helio's Buddy Beacon and MapQuest Find Me.
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