Imagine for a second that you’re out shopping, perhaps for a major holiday or to facilitate the demise of your latest paycheck. Perhaps, in this scenario, you’ve a tech item or two in mind, a camera maybe, and so you spend the day driving from one electronics store to the next in a spree of window shopping.

If you’re like a lot of Facebook users, you’ll probably pull out your smartphone at least a couple times to check up on the digital half of your social world. Imagine, in this scenario, that you notice something interesting – the sponsored ads are specific to your gadget-hunting activities of the day. They’re pointing you to nearby electronics stores and deals for items you might find at them.

Such could become the reality for many mobile users if Facebook acquires Waze.

Ads are only a small part of the larger picture, however, with the access to such data presenting opportunities for improved local searches, something Facebook has been working towards for a while now. Likewise, data from your Facebook could be used to provide recommendations when using the navigational elements, such as notifications of nearby deals around lunch time for restaurants you’ve liked on the social network.

As analyst Michael Boland told AdWeek: “It fits the paradigm of the real-time status, which is the lifeblood of the News Feed. [With a Waze acquisition], you add an additional dimension to not just what you’re doing or thinking but where you are and where you’re going.”

So the question is, then: is this good or bad? The answer to that will largely depend on who you’re talking to, and many will have an initial knee-jerk reaction that is negative to the idea of Facebook knowing even more than it already knows about you. When looked at in the grander scheme of our increasingly digital lives, however, it has some nice possibilities.

These are services many of us already use, albeit independent of each other. By merging them together, our habits, locations, friends, likes and more all become centralized in a single location, with the data working among a variety of services to tailor our digital lives as closely as possible to our real-world lives. Searches become more precise. Ads become eerily relevant. The information we need starts appearing just when we need it, a la Google Now.

Rather than having information thrown at us by advertisers who hope something will stick, the information will be more of the curated sort: carefully sorted and tailored and presented at the times we’re most likely to want it, helping us save money when we’re ready to spend it, find places when we’re ready to shop – all of it based on our own likes, preferences, habits, schedules, and routes.

Knowing that, perhaps the real question is: what happens when our physical and digital worlds become part of each other? Only time will tell, but the prospect is exciting.

The small location sensors have a range of 100 feet. That means if you misplace your keys within your house, car, or office you be able to locate the missing items using a map and a little radar display inside the app. The sensor gets power from a small coin cell battery promising almost a year of use per battery.

The sensors are designed to pair with the iPhone 5, iPhone 4 S, iPad, or iPad mini using an application available as a free download on the App Store. The app does require devices to be running iOS 5.1 or higher. The foundIT package includes two of the sensors for $49.95.

Once the sensor is paired with the application running on your Apple gadget, you can receive audible and vibration alerts if your items are out of range. That means if you’re at the airport and you set your bag down and walk away, if the bag has a sensor attached your smartphone will vibrate and remind you to go back and pick up your bag. It appears that the hardware is approximately the size of a remote control for a keyless entry system of a car.

[via Scosche]

Google provided an informational video that goes in-depth with its prank. It says that the Google Maps Street View Team discovered the treasures maps of William “Captain” Kid on September 16th, 2012, while they were on an expedition in Madagascar. There are several locations, like San Francisco’s Treasure Island, or San Jose State University, that have the “X” symbol marking treasure spots.

In the video, Google shows that there are many ways to decrypt the codes on Google Maps. Some symbols are revealed with sunlight and others when you align your mobile device with other mobile devices. There are more dangerous ways to decrypt symbols, such as holding your mobile device or laptop over an open fire, or skydiving in order to align your device with the landscape. Of course, Google is courteous (and pre-cautious) and has labeled some of these methods with “Don’t not attempt at home”.

All in all, it’s a well-executed and in-depth April Fool’s Day prank, expected from a company like Google. Throughout today and tomorrow, we should see some more awesomely thought-out pranks, so keep a lookout for them. If you haven’t already, check out YouTube’s April Fool’s Day prank, where they say that YouTube was actually an 8-year long contest where the winner is awarded an MP3 player and a $500 stipend.

As with the Android version, the Field Trip app for iOS is free to download, and it works as a virtual tour guide of sorts, automatically providing you with information of a particular point of interest that you come across. It can be great if you’re traveling and doing a little bit of sightseeing in a historical city.

The information that the app provides ranges from historical facts about a location to reviews of nearby restaurants. And similar to Google Now, Field Trip relies on your location to give you the most relevant and useful information. Essentially, you could think of that app as a sort of extension of Google Now, only it feeds you information automatically instead of having to ask for it first.

It’s not unusual for Google to wait a few months before releasing an app on iOS. Obviously, Android is Google’s baby, so the company usually releases new apps on their own platform before bringing them over to Android, contrary to what most app developers have been doing. Either way, Field Trip is now available on both platforms and is ready for your traveling needs.

The new additions to the Foursquare UI show up as discrete “X Facebook friends liked this place” and “Your Facebook friend Z left a tip here” messages. There are also profile icons of those friends who have checked-in.

However, Foursquare is keen to point out that your own check-ins won’t be publicized any more than they are already; Facebook friends will only see your updates from Foursquare if they’re friends in both services. In addition to showing up in the Foursquare apps for iPhone and Android, the new Facebook integration has also been baked into Foursquare on the web.

Foursquare added the “Explore” tab to its apps earlier this year, expanding what had until then been a predominantly location-reporting service into something which could recommend new places to visit. That extra data could well be the cause of interest from Apple; the Cupertino giant is rumored to be weighing a deal that would see Foursquare information baked into Apple Maps so as to make it more competitive with Google Maps.

Speculation that Apple was keen on working with Foursquare in some capacity began earlier this month, when Cue began using the service to check-in to locations via his Twitter account. Some suggested Apple might attempt to acquire Foursquare entirely, but the whispers from those familiar with the discussions seems to indicate that it would simply be a case of data sharing.

That would follow Apple’s agreements with other well-known third-party services to bolster iOS and OS X. For instance, deals with Twitter and Facebook have seen those social sites embedded into Apple’s platforms for mobile and desktop.

Although Apple Maps was praised for its interface when it debuted with iOS 6, users quickly discovered glaring errors in the mapping data itself. While geographical issues gained the most attention – leaving some drivers stranded after too closely following incorrect navigation instructions, for instance – the points-of-interest database and details of local businesses also proved patchy, sometimes including companies and locations that had shut down several years before.

An agreement with Foursquare would not only help Apple keep that location database more up to date, it could also be used to build upon Apple’s fledgling location-based services, such as Find My Friends. Apple Maps could suggest possible places to meet based on mutual location and preferences, using Foursquare reviews to highlight the more popular venues.

“Anything that shows up is using all the algorithms and magic that power Explore” product manager Noah Weiss told Venturebeat, dispelling suggestions that the promoted listings would simply be dumb ads. “This isn’t a display ad for an upcoming summer movie. This is: ‘hey, we think you might really want to go to Hertz because you just landed at the airport.”

In order to make the most of Promoted Updates, Foursquare will need to continue driving users to the Explore tab. That has apparently been on the rise anyway since the June app refresh, with twice as many place searches since then according to Weiss.

All of the Promoted Updates will be clearly marked “promoted” and there are apparently rules in place to limit how many such listings will be shown in any one session. Only twenty participants will be included in the pilot, including Best Buy, Butter Lane, Old Navy, Walgreens and The Standard Miami.

As well as seeing how well users take to the system, Foursquare will also be using the test to figure out what a reasonable charge for advertisers might be. After that, the company intends to launch a self-service platform which would allow businesses to create their own listings.

Ryan Patterson, an engineer for Facebook, designed the app at a hackathon event to easily exchange contact information. Rather than hunting for specific names, which can result in finding the wrong people or entering typos, Find Friends Nearby allows both users to log into and see each others details easily and quickly.

The feature has bigger implications too. Rather than just finding people in the immediate area, Facebook could add additional features that that allow you to find people with similar interests, or maybe find friends of friends. Highlight is an app launched at SXSW that has the same functionality already, but Facebook integrating the same features would help command a much larger audience.

There’s two ways to use the new feature. The first is by going to a mobile webpage found at http://fb.com/ffn, and the second is by digging through the iOS and Android app menus. Users need to go to Menu -> Apps -> Find Friends -> Other Tools, then tap on Find Friends Nearby.

[via TechCrunch]

Google has released a new app for Android users called Floor Plan Marker that will help improve the accuracy of its indoor maps. The company had launched its indoor mapping initiative last November with Google Maps 6.0 that provided indoor maps and navigation for major shopping centers and airports in the US and Japan.

To expand and improve its indoor mapping, Google is enlisting business owners and map enthusiasts to help provide indoor location data through the Floor Plan Marker app. Business owners are encouraged to upload floor plans of their buildings and use the app to help gather data about nearby WiFi hotspots and cell towers.

The app gives you onscreen directions to follow and then to provide feedback by placing onscreen markers to indicate your location. The data collected will help Google improve the accuracy of triangulating your exact position inside a building, especially with being able to determine which floor of a building you’re on. The app is free to download but can only be used by those who upload a floor plan.

[via TechCrunch]

For those of you on HTC devices that have been using HTCSense.com, you’ll want to follow the instructions below to retain the data you’ve saved with the site any time in the past several months. HTCSense.com has until now been both a backup service for HTC devices and a phone location service for devices with HTC branding, and the site will be revamped in one way or another to re-up these services in the future. For now though, you’ll want to do the following:

• Visit http://htcsense.com

• Log in with your HTCSense.com username and password

• Click the ‘Download’ button in the Account Overview section

• A .zip file containing your data will download to your computer for easy viewing

HTC recommends that you visit Google Play (formerly Google Android Market) to pick up any new apps you might need to work with data backup and phone location services. This is a bit of an odd play by HTC and we’ll be following up on this post with a bit of analysis to see if we can dissect what it all means. Stay tuned!

[via HTC]

Telmap currently provides a mixture of white-label and branded LBS apps for a range of platforms, including Android and BlackBerry. However, rather than sell direct to consumers through app stores, the company has deals with carriers such as AT&T – which offers Telmap Navigator – to offer subscription-based access to the various services.

Intel says that its goals for Telmap will span “devices, operating systems and CPU architectures” which presumably means anything from Core i3, i5 and i7 based notebooks through ultrabooks and Atom-powered netbooks and tablets, all the way to the company’s mobile-centric range of Moorestown chips for smartphones. Intel is also readying an x86 build of Android for its processors, and of course the company is heavily involved in the freshly-announced Tizen OS, building on MeeGo.

The lawsuit claimed that the camera software tracks and transmits location data to Microsoft even if the owner has opted out of sharing information. According to a unnamed security researcher, analysis shows that the Windows Phone 7 sends user location data to Microsoft’s inference.location.live.net even if a user has denied permission when prompted by the operating system.

Microsoft is of course adamantly denying the accusations and is now investigating the claims. A Microsoft spokesperson has released a statement today, insisting that the company does not store unique identifiers with any data transmitted and therefore would not be able to identify or track an individual even with the data collected. The statement is pasted below:

Microsoft is investigating the claims raised in the complaint. We take consumer privacy issues very seriously. Our objective was — and remains — to provide consumers with control over whether and how data used to determine the location of their devices are used, and we designed the Windows Phone operating system with this in mind. The data captured and stored on our location database cannot be correlated to a specific device or user. Any transmission of location data by the Windows Phone camera would not enable Microsoft to identify an individual or ‘track’ his or her movements.

[via WinRumors]

There are 27,000 iPhone users in the country that are part of a class action that is seeking $25.7 million from Apple. That would work out to a $932 per person in the suit. Apple has offered no official comment on the suit at this point. Since Apple has already been fined, even though the fine was tiny, there would seem to be a precedent in the case.

The location tracking row has blown up all around the world. Apple clams that it no longer stores data about the location of towers and WiFi hotspots used on the phone. Apple still denies any intent to track the location of the users. The first hearing in the case is set for October or November in the southern city of Changwon. The legal team in the case is searching out more users to join.

[via Huffington Post]

Family Link is a service that subscribers can sign up for that allows others to locate their vehicle and sign up for location alerts. The pilot program is by invitation only and will run through the end of this year. What the program does is allows the subscribers to log into the Family Link website and view the map to see where the vehicle is at any time.

The subscriber can set up email or text notifications to let them know where the vehicle is at any time of the day and they can change the frequency of the alerts. The idea is interesting and would let parents keep an eye on kids on the way to college. A family member unable to go on a road trip could see where their family was at any given time rather than worry something might have happened to them. The information provided will tell the address the vehicle is near and can show the speed the vehicle is traveling.

The bill is called the “Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011″ and hopes to close any loopholes in the current federal law regarding location privacy. The proposed law will apply to both device manufacturers and app developers for smartphones and tablets.

“Our laws do too little to protect information on our mobile devices,” Franken said in a statement. “Geolocation technology gives us incredible benefits, but the same information that allows emergency responders to locate us when we’re in trouble is not necessarily information all of us want to share with the rest of the world. This legislation would give people the right to know what geolocation data is being collected about them and ensure they give their consent before it’s shared with others.”

However, Apple has insisted that they do not track their customers location, and have issued an iOS update that has addressed most of the concerns. Google also responded saying that they require consent for every location service and allows users to shut them off.

[via Apple Insider]

Apple’s vice president of software technology, Guy Tribble, testified before Congress to explain Apple’s policies regarding location tracking. Tribble explained that the unencrypted location data file was due to a glitch in their iOS software that resulted in the file storing data indefinitely, instead for only one week. They recently released updates iOS 4.3.3 and 4.2.8 for the AT&T iPhone and the Verizon iPhone, respectively, that fixed this problem.

The new iPhone updates not only limit the data cache to one week, but also allow users to completely wipe out the data by turning off location services. Additionally, the data file will no longer be backed up to iTunes.

Tribble also explained to Congress that Apple does not collect the data to track its customers. The data gathered is only of the location of WiFi hotspots and cell towers that iPhones and iPads access. All of the data is completely anonymous and hence there is no way that Apple would know who it came from. He also insisted that Apple randomly audits its developers to ensure that they are not stealing this location data.

[via Business Insider]

Apple had assured users that it was not tracking their movements, and that the location cache was just a “crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database” that was used to speed up positioning fixes by the iPhone. Apple’s full Q&A response is located here. But as this now well known graphic shows, by looking at the data, one can easily get an idea of where the iPhone (or other Apple device) user has been.

Apple had not said when the update would be available, so the fact that it is already here shows that they are taking into consideration the concerns of their users. Keep in mind, to make sure the cache is not stored on your iPhone or iPad, and that you are truly travelling incognito, you will need to turn Location Services off.

Have you installed the update? Any issues?

Researchers have discovered an unencrypted database file stored on iPhones and iPad 3GS devices that log location information of the user for up to a year. The data collected includes longitude and latitude coordinates estimated in relation to cell tower and hot spot locations and stored with timestamps.

Android and Windows Phone devices have been pointed out to collect location information as well, but using a slightly different method. Android devices only record the last few dozen locations, whereas a possible oversight in the Apple firmware allows it to store up to a year’s worth of information as well as collect data even while location service apps are turned off.

Enjoy the video segment below. For the full episode you can head to the official South Park site.

[via IntoMobile]

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 devices are said to also store location data of its users. They have not yet answered how frequent the location data is transmitted and how long the location histories are stored. However, they have said that the location data is not saved directly on the device.

This is different from Apple’s situation because researchers have found that the location data from an iPhone 4 is stored in an open file directly on the device. But other researchers do point out that the information is not being used by Apple to track its users, but rather being stored perhaps to track the performance of the phone and the network. The historical data should in fact be deleted as time goes on, and that such a process isn’t happening probably due to oversight.

This appears to be the case with Google’s Android devices, which only the last few dozen locations are recorded, where as on the Apple iPhone or iPad, more than a year’s worth of location data could be stored. And to make matters worse, it is said that Apple devices store location data even when location service apps are turned off.

[via CNET]

Apparently the iPhone even tracks the users location when location services are off. Such a suit has now happened. Apparently, two iPad/iPhone users have filed a lawsuit against Apple seeking class action that accuses Apple of invasion of privacy and computer fraud. The suit also alleges that Apple “secretly recorded the movements of iPhone and iPad users.” The suits were field by an iPhone user in Florida named Vikram Ajjampur and William Devito, an iPad user from New York. The suits were filed in a court in Tampa, Florida.

The suit is seeking a court order to bar Apple for collecting the location information and cited a report last week from a couple programmers that claimed iOS 4.0 logs latitude and longitude coordinates along with the time the spot was visited. Apparently, the programmers think the iPhone and iPad store about a year’s worth of data. The case is Ajjampur v. Apple Inc., 11-cv-00895, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida (Tampa). I would bet that the suit is also seeking damages of some sort, but that isn’t specified at this time.

[via BoingBoing]

The new program is called “ShopAlerts by AT&T” and large discount chain Kmart has already signed up. This means that subscribers that are nearby a Kmart could receive text message deals for Kmart. Other participating companies that have signed up early include HP, SC Johnson, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Nature’s Recipe, and the “Got Milk” campaign.

However, the new service is only able to detect locations within one mile from the subscriber, which means subscribers will not know if there is a coupon or deal until they get very close to their destination. Local weather and traffic information will also be included in the texts. To subscribe, you can visit AT&T’s ShopAlerts site.

[via USA Today]

The initial roll-out will include partners in five European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain; in the UK, Facebook is working with Starbucks, Argos, Alton Towers, YO! Sushi and even R&B star Usher. Users will be able to check-in via their smartphones, using Facebook’s apps for mobile together with the touch.facebook.com site.

For more on Facebook Places, check out Ben Bajarin’s analysis after the launch of the original North American version, and his views on whether we’ll see a considerable uptick in LBS.

Press Release:

Facebook® Deals launches in the UK

From today you can check in on Facebook from your mobile and claim special offers, rewards and discounts from top brands. What’s more by checking in you share these benefits with your friends on Facebook so they can take advantage of them too.

Part of Facebook Places, Facebook Deals helps you find offers in your local area from your mobile phone or discover money-saving tips from your friends through your News Feed.

If you’re passing a Starbucks today you can check in and claim a free filter coffee; or head down to Debenhams on 14 February and check in to claim a free Benefit mascara & makeover. For Usher fans heading to the O2 Arena for the London dates of his OMG Tour this week, check in to get 20% off his album and a free remix from the official merchandise stand.

Plus if you check in on Facebook over the next few weeks you will be able to find launch offers from Argos, Alton Towers Resort, Benetton, Mazda, O2, and YO! Sushi.

Joanna Shields, VP EMEA, Facebook says: “We all love a bargain so whether you’re on the lookout for a special offer at your favourite restaurant or tips from a fashionista friend about a discount on shoes in a department store, Facebook Deals will help you find it.

Facebook is built around people and sharing personal experiences and Deals is a great extension of this. By bringing valuable and relevant offers to you wherever and whenever you want them, Deals delivers a powerful experience that combines technology and location in a way that a pure online or offline experience could never deliver.”

UK launch deals
You can find out full details including terms of their Deal on each of the brands’ Facebook Pages…

Alton Towers Resort: On Friday 18 February, the Alton Towers Theme Park will open a day earlier than planned for the Half Term holiday, offering exclusive use for anyone who checks in on that day only. Tag up to 3 friends for free entry and the first 100 people to check in will also receive a free one night stay in one of the themed Resort Hotels.

Argos: From Monday 31 January, Argos will donate £1 to its national charity partner Teenage Cancer Trust for the first 10,000 customers that check-in at an Argos store this week.

Benetton: Benetton has chosen a Charity Deal to support Architecture for Humanity, an association which applies design and architecture to social projects. From 31 January 2011 and throughout February, Benetton will donate two pounds/two Euros for each Smartphone check-in in one of the 3000 Benetton stores involved in the scheme in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.¹

Debenhams: On 14th February, Debenhams and Benefit are giving away over 1,000 free mascaras and makeovers for the first 10 check ins at each Benefit counter at Debenhams stores across the UK.

Mazda: From 31 January to 7 March 2011, Mazda will be offering the chance to win 1 of 5 Mazda MX-5 Miyako’s for the summer! Mazda is also offering the exclusive opportunity to buy an MX-5 with 20% discount.²

O2: From Monday 31 January, O2 is offering 10% off all accessories, including gaming kit in all stores. On Saturday 5 February, the first four customers will receive a free xbox 360 in 26 stores and the first two customers will receive a free Playstation3 in 18 stores when bought with any new or upgrade mobile consumer contract only.³

Starbucks: From 9.30am on Monday 31 January, the first 30,000 customers who check in to participating stores will receive a free tall filter coffee. Customers can also get a free piece of cake with the purchase of two drinks at participating stores on any Saturday throughout February.

YO! Sushi: From Monday 31 January, YO! Sushi is giving away 2000 meals to the value of £60,000. The first 1000 diners to check in at any of their 47 participating restaurants, tag their friend and show a member of staff their phone screen with the confirmation message receive complimentary food and drink.⁴

Usher/O2 Arena: Check in at the O2 Arena to get 20% off Usher’s album and a free remix of Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home) from the official merchandise stand on the London dates of his OMG Tour this week.

Following the launch in the US in November 2010, Deals launches today in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

How to find and claim a Deal
Finding deals near you is easy. Using your mobile browser on www.facebook.com or the latest version of the Facebook app, open “Places” and then click “Check In”. A list of Nearby Places will appear and a yellow ticket will show next to Places that are offering deals.

When you touch the Place you can view the Deal and check in to claim it. Then just show your phone to the shop assistant or waiter to redeem your Deal.

You’ll see a few different types of Deals: Individual Deals offer a one-time discount, free merchandise or other reward; Friend Deals offer deals that you and your friends can claim when you check-in together; Loyalty Deals reward you for being a frequent customer; and Charity Deals allow businesses to donate to a particular cause when you check in.

Notes

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

Please note that these deals come from the businesses themselves, not Facebook, so check with them at the location for more details; such as when they’re running, how many offers are available, and whether a deal is just for you or also for your friends.

You can find out more about Facebook Deals at www.facebook.com/deals
You can also find our Places Guide at www.facebook.com/places and a video of how to check in on the Facebook UK Page at www.facebook.com/facebookuk

For Gowalla, the opportunity is to expand their 500,000 strong user base, and hopefully encourage some of those who try out the Disney check-ins to keep using the service after they get back home. Disney, meanwhile, gets to further publicize its parks and build social network engagement.

Gowalla expects to have around 200 locations outfitted with stamps by the end of the year, and those who have already visited prior to the deal’s announcement will retroactively get the stamps if they checked in while at the parks. You can see the most popular places – and examples of Passport pages – here.

[via CNN]

Unfortunately, while the press release makes it sound like InvisiTrack uses actual TV broadcasts for triangulation, in actual fact you’ll need both a new receiver in your mobile device and to be near at least two transmitters to go with it.  Still, in ad-hoc mode the receivers themselves act as transmitters, creating a mesh network from which position of all involved can be extrapolated from just one location lock.  While 10-times the range of existing triangulation systems sounds great on paper, we’ll wait until InvisiTrack LS gets picked up by mobile device manufacturers before we get too excited.

Press Release:

InvisiTrack™ Utilizes TV Bands to Bring Accurate Location Positioning Indoors

Introducing InvisiTrack Location System (LS) – The World’s First Accurate and Reliable Indoor/Outdoor Low-Frequency Location Positioning, Ranging and Navigation Solution That Requires No Fixed Infrastructure

CTIA Wireless 2010
LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–InvisiTrack, Inc. today announced its InvisiTrack™ Location System (LS), the world’s first accurate and reliable indoor/outdoor location positioning, ranging and navigation solution that requires no fixed infrastructure for effective operation. InvisiTrack LS is available now for integration with mobile phones and TV band-based products.

“We started InvisiTrack with a vision for creating a location technology that provides accurate location fixes with equal effectiveness both indoors and outdoors, enabling users to navigate seamlessly between both environments”
InvisiTrack LS advances the state-of-the-art in location positioning technology by maximizing the superior propagation characteristics of low-frequency radio signals to provide accurate and reliable location fixes indoors. This solution differs from legacy location methods, such as those designed to work with Cell-ID, GPS, A-GPS and Wi-Fi signals, which do not provide accurate and reliable location fixes indoors due to limitations imposed by the propagation characteristics of high–frequency radio signals.

GPS enables users to navigate to the main address of a shopping mall; LBS can provide a list of what or who is inside. InvisiTrack LS vastly improves this experience by enabling users to navigate to their destinations inside the shopping mall and find whomever or whatever they are looking for. InvisiTrack LS also enables mobile network operators and online advertisers to deliver precisely targeted location-based advertisements, finally making possible effective pay-per-walk-by advertising.

In 2008, the FCC opened up sections of radio frequency spectrum, called TV bands, for public use. TV bands between 512 and 698 MHz offer significant benefits for location positioning and tracking indoors, compared with higher frequency services like Wi-Fi, operating at 2.4 GHz. TV bands provide increased range for signal propagation and detection, leading to significantly greater effectiveness at penetrating buildings and other large structures. InvisiTrack LS utilizes TV bands to increase signal range by up to a factor of ten over that of legacy location methods, to work in many environments where higher frequency solutions do not, and to provide accurate location fixes with resolutions of less than 3 meters indoors and 1 meter outdoors without need for fixed infrastructure.

The InvisiTrack research and development team has taken a unique approach in developing InvisiTrack LS, basing it on three complementary innovations, each of which is patented (or has patents pending) in the U.S., Europe and Asia:

Narrow Bandwidth Ranging: To maximize performance in challenging outdoor environments and improve location accuracy indoors, InvisiTrack developed a range-signal boosting technology that enables InvisiTrack LS to operate at up to 10 times greater range than other location methods in use today This patented hardware and software technique enables InvisiTrack LS to make accurate distance measurements by using narrow bandwidth ranging signals, thus allowing use of low-frequency radio bands, such as VHF and UHF TV bands, while maintaining compliance with FCC regulations.
Multipath Error Correction: One of the foremost problems when attempting to navigate in metropolitan areas with buildings and other large structures that reflect radio signals is an effect known as multipath error propagation, a leading cause of inaccurate location readings. InvisiTrack LS overcomes this problem by using a unique signal design and high-resolution maximum likelihood estimate methods to calculate the precise range between InvisiTrack LS-enabled devices even if the devices are separated by obstacles, such as walls, floors, buildings and other reflective structures. This method is asynchronous and does not require fixed infrastructure for accessing and maintaining a synchronized clock source.
Virtual Triangulation: By simply moving an InvisiTrack LS-enabled device, such as a smartphone, the user establishes virtual points in space. InvisiTrack LS uses these points to triangulate the position of a tracked target. Virtual Triangulation supports applications requiring both 2D (i.e., latitude and longitude) and 3D (i.e., latitude, longitude and altitude) coordinates, and produces accurate location positioning when using as few as two InvisiTrack LS-enabled devices, unlike other location methods that require three or more clock-synchronized signal points of reference for operation.
“We started InvisiTrack with a vision for creating a location technology that provides accurate location fixes with equal effectiveness both indoors and outdoors, enabling users to navigate seamlessly between both environments,” said Russ Markhovsky, Founder and CEO, InvisiTrack, Inc. “With InvisiTrack Location System, not only have we created ‘The Last Mile of GPS’, but we’ve also opened the door to an entirely new genre of location-based services that will bring new utility to consumers and will tap new revenue streams for first market-mover companies making effective use of the technology.”

A unique feature of InvisiTrack LS is its ability to operate flexibly in ad hoc/mesh and fixed/mesh configurations with encrypted and unencrypted signaling options, supporting a range of location-based services benefitting consumers and businesses, as well as public safety and other government organizations.

Mobile devices configured with InvisiTrack LS offer vast improvements in location functionality, including location positioning, ranging and navigation with seamless traversal indoors and outdoors—notably in areas where legacy location methods have not been effective.

Additional information is provided on the InvisiTrack Web site at www.invisitrack.com.

About InvisiTrack:

Founded in 2005 with support from the State of Maryland and the University of Maryland, InvisiTrack is creator of advanced location positioning, ranging and tracking technologies, including InvisiTrack Location System (LS), the world’s first accurate indoor/outdoor location positioning, ranging and tracking. InvisiTrack is working with leading mobile handset manufacturers, network operators and service providers to bring a new genre of location-based services to consumers, enterprises and government agencies.

The Seesmic team has one of the best opportunities right now: they’re the Twitter client for Windows Phone 7 Series right now. We know that a lot of companies and people out there would love to be in their position. But the team seems to be pretty humble about the entire experience, thanking Microsoft for the ability to develop their desktop client in the Silverlight platform. Of course, developing their desktop application (which has been a huge success for the company) in the Silverlight platform is both great for the desktop, but also means it’s fantastic for the Twitter client that will be utilized on the Windows Phone 7 Series Operating System later this year. Just as we’ve seen from Xbox LIVE Arcade games utilizing XNA Game Studios 4.0, with Seesmic using the same software to run the desktop client and the mobile client, means that things can be synced on the go, and utilized in tandem, instead of one and then the other. It also means that no unnecessary code needs to be learned while developing for the desktop and mobile clients; it’s all just seamless, and works.

And while the team stressed that coding for other platforms, like Android and iPhone, would still mean that developers would have to develop new code for Silverlight (unless they’re already programmed in Silverlight, obviously), that it’s easy enough that anyone can do it.

During our hands-on time with the Twitter client proper, we got to see the action closeup, as opposed to the big screen during the keynote. The transitions from each screen within the panoramic view are just as seamless as we’d expect, and the options available within the client are just as full-featured as they should be. You are able to see your timeline, replies, as well as direct messages. However, the real magic happens when you select “nearby” tweets, which brings up the integrated Bring Maps, and showcases for you right there on the screen all the tweets coming to you within a set distance. Opening up a Twitter profile not only brings up the bio of the person, along with their most recent tweets, but it also brings up their Twitter background, right there in the client. It’s fun to watch, and also helps the user feel more integrated with the service itself. We can’t wait to see more of the Seesmic Twitter client as it develops, so we’ll be sure to keep checking in with the team as the months progress.

Discuss Seesmic running on Windows Phone 7 Series over at Windows Phone Forums!