Take a peek at Google’s newest mobile offering – an upgrade of Google Latitude that includes a “check in” option that’s bound to scare the pants off the folks over at FourSquare. This new functionality starts in Google Maps 5.1 today. Where before you were only able to show your location to friends (and foes,) now you’re able to do that in specific locations with names, names such as Big Brain Comics, Pump’n Joes Gas, or Punch Pizza.
In this new version, you’re using Latitude to do the following things with the following features:
Notifications: turn on check-in notifications so that you’ll get a notification to check in at each location you enter.
Automatic Check-Ins: just like it sounds, this option checks out in automatically when you enter locations (but only locations you’ve pre-specified, so no Big Brother.) Check Out: Latitude automatically checks you out of locations once you’re out of range.
Also, features include: Place Page: Each location that’s integrated into this system already has a Place page with reviews, links, directions, etcetera. Status: Like FourSquare, you can earn special statuses if you’ve checked into a place enough times, (and possibly if you’re the one with the most check ins, though its unclear at the moment.) You can be Regular, VIP, or Guru.
Sharing: Google is careful to note that everything in Latitude is 100% opt-in, from sharing your location to allowing your location to be automatically shared. Share with the whole world, your friends only, or just with yourself. Coming later this week you’ll be able to see your whole history of check-ins at google.com/latitude on your computer.
To begin your journey on this new system, download the latest version of Google Maps from Android Marketplace, [DIRECT LINK FOR ANDROID USERS WITH VERSION 1.6 AND HIGHER], and join Latitude from the main menu. If you’re using iPhone, check out the new Latitude app to see your cool Android friends’ check-ins, and Google will be updating your app soon so you’ll be able to check in as well.
We’re honestly surprised it took this long, but Google is finally employing a social hook that so many of its peers (Foursquare, Facebook, Yelp, and so on) have long embraced: the location-based check-in. Coming to Google Latitude with today’s Maps 5.1 for Android, the company hopes to set itself apart from the competition with features like check-in notifications (disabled by default), automatic check-ins for your most frequent establishments (case-by-case activation), and “check out” that detects when you leave a location.
So what’s the incentive to use the service? Not much at this point — no badges, no sharing through third-party services like Twitter (Latitude-only at the moment), no support for simultaneous check-in with other services, no special vendor discounts (Google told us there’s nothing to announce yet), and no ability to create a venue like your apartment (Places only). What it does right is a tiered system of special statuses based on check-in frequency — you can become a regular, VIP, or Guru (Google says it’s not definite yet on how many check-ins each status bump will require). iOS Latitude users will be able to see where their Android friends check in, but at this point the option to pimp your specific location is for Google’s platform only. If you’re a fan of Latitude already, this is probably a no-brainer, but for everyone else, don’t expect mayoral coffee discounts just yet.
Last week Google’s Latitude app snuck onto the App Store a bit early and was shortly after the sneak peek pulled. If you were sad that you missed the peek at the new app, you will be glad to hear that Google Latitude for the iPhone has hit the App Store again and apparently for good this time.
Google Latitude is an app that lets you track where your friends are in the real world and you can even use the maps to meet them wherever they happen to be. This is the perfect app for stalkers it seems. All of the friends that you agree to share location information with show up continuously on your map.
This would be a great way for parents to keep up with where their kids are. The app has privacy settings that will share only city level information, hide the users location altogether, and allow the user to turn off background updating whenever they want. The app will by default share your location information down to your exact location when your device is closed and the screen is locked. The app is offered for free right now.
After making a false start last week, the official Latitude app from Google seems to have stuck its landing in the iTunes App Store. Surprisingly for an initial release, Latitude is already showing a 2.0.0.346 version number demonstrating, perhaps, just how long this one’s been waiting for Phil Schiller’s sanction. Whatever the case, there’s never been a better opportunity for iOS 4 users to track down their very own Ana Leftin.
Ah, the games that grown-ups play. It’s a situation that’s beginning to feel an awful lot like the Google Voice fiasco that made the rounds in mid-2009, but if it ends in a similar fashion, you won’t find us kvetching about the teases. As the story goes, a bona fine Google Latitude app made its appearance in Japan’s App Store hours ago, only to be yanked before it could sashay over to any other nation. TechCrunch reckons that it was El Goog doing the pulling — it’s quite possible that the folks in Mountain View weren’t quite ready to publicly reveal it, and with all that Chrome actiongoing down yesterday, it’s not hard to imagine how an impending launch was overlooked. At any rate, the description of the app as well as most of the screenshots were in English, so we’re cautiously optimistic that it’ll resurface in the near future once a few Is are dotted and Ts crossed. With iOS 4 supporting background location, there’s hardly a reason to wait any longer, right?
Our pockets and camera bags are stuffed with locationally aware devices, yet for some reason we find ourselves still having to do stuff manually when we get somewhere. Shouldn’t our thermostat click on the AC when we head home? Shouldn’t our house lock itself when we embark on our morning commute? Shouldn’t our car come and rescue us, even if it entails turbo boosting through a brick wall? We tend to think so, and Sunlight Foundation’s geocron is a simple way to start that kind of automation. Born out of a desire for one of the app’s developers to avoid having to manually send his wife a text to pick him up at the train station, geocron tracks your location in Google Latitude and automatically e-mails, text messages, or pings a web page when you reach a certain location. You can set up windows of time for each activity and, while using this service does have the somewhat disconcerting requirement of perpetual access to your current location, the source code is available so you can run your own, private instance. Or, you could just give your wife a call — regular conversation is generally considered an important part of a healthy relationship.
You always knew that Google Maps had ‘em — schedule a trip on public transit and the app would tell you exactly when the next few trains or buses would arrive (or, at least, were supposed to arrive). But, getting to the full schedules yourself was never possible. Now it is, with Google Maps getting an update to allow you to tap on bus or train stations and retrieve a listing of which lines will pass through and when, making it a little easier to identify a proper last call that won’t see you springing for an expensive taxi ride. Beyond that, Google has re-organized the information about restaurants and other businesses, and will also suggest friends who are sharing their whereabouts on Latitude. That last bit is helpful if their last call was a little later than yours and they’re now too inebriated to tell you where to find them.
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.
Oh, Jenny Humphrey — will you ever learn? It’s not at all smart to sneak out at night wearing a seductive outfit, only to find your way into a club, get drugged and open yourself up to all sorts of regrettable mischief. Thankfully, Gossip Girl‘s own Nathaniel Fitzwilliam Archibald is an experienced Droid owner, and he’s also in the business of saving damsels in distress. Having Google Latitude just a click away sure is convenient, but having this particular gal’s phone number just a Tommy Tutone jam away doesn’t hurt, either. Makeshift vid of the rescue is just past the break.
Samsung’s just gone ahead and pulled the trigger on announcing its S5620 Monte ahead of Mobile World Congress next week, offering a decent set of social features and Google integration at what should be a pretty reasonable price. The “reasonable price” part of this equation comes thanks to a 3-inch WQVGA display and 3.2 megapixel camera, though exact pricing hasn’t been announced; meanwhile, you’ve got a whole host of features that you’d typically associate with higher-end devices like WiFi, Exchange ActiveSync support, and integration with Google’s Latitude service to keep track of your friends’ whereabouts from afar. Riding atop the latest “2.0 Plus” version of Sammy’s ubiquitous TouchWiz UI, the phone features 3.6Mbps HSDPA on the 900 and 2100MHz bands (read: no US support here) and has AGPS, integrated FM radio with RDS, and microSD support up to 16GB. We should know more on pricing and availability around MWC, we imagine, but for now, specs and this lovely picture are all we’re going to get.
