With a newborn on the way in less than two months, a new job, and all the other unanticipated distraction that life brings, I haven’t had any time to blog lately. So I figured I’d put together a list of stuff you just need to know (either because it’s important industry news or just plain cool). Expect some changes in direction here in the future as I try to transition this website into something that’s not nearly as time-intensive to create, but hopefully many times more useful! That said, here’s some news to peruse from the last week or so.
- Cyclopedia is a Wikitude-like application that overlays geographically-oriented Wikipedia entries over the iPhone 3GS viewfinder.
- The Wikitude World Browser if FINALLY available for the iPhone.
- Google ads are now appearing on iPhone maps.
- Spime Inc. has announced MapMan, an “LBS mapping and navigation engine that powers mobile, netbook, PND and MID based applications with map, routing, geocoding, and POI search features.” The full-blown SDK can be used both offline and online for accessing dynamic content.
- Apple is apparently looking to free itself from Google Maps dependence with the hush-hush purchase of mapping startup Placebase. The company differs from Google in that it offers a dizzying array of customization options, enabling many more layers to be built into a single map. Check out ComputerWorld for a good rundown.
- Micello–another startup attempting to provide mapping and positioning technology to indoor locations.
- Google and Best Buy have teamed up to assist gadget buyers find the best Best Buy deals at the stores nearest to them. The first application will go a step further than most, directly shoppers to products from within the store.
- Location-based place review app Buzzd has launched an iPhone version with plans to monetize in the near future.
- Senior financial executive at TomTom accused of insider trading, offices raided.
- Those lucky bastards over at Engadget were able to wrangle a Garmin nuviphone G60 before it launched officially with AT&T today and have a ton of unboxing pictures.
- Brightkite 2.0 is on the way with a simplified user interface.
- The Twitter Geolocation API has started to move out the door. What will this mean for other location-based startups?
- With a variety of new space satellites recently put into space, the accuracy of European GPS readings has improved from a 20 meter margin of error to less than 2 meters.
- SPRXMobile has submitted Layar, an augmented reality app currently available for Android, to the iTunes App Store.
A roundup: Location-based stuff to know is a post from: GPS Obsessed
