BROWSING: Emails-Location Based Services

If you've ever used a GPS device for directions, you might already be acquainted with Karen Jacobsen. As the voice of "Australian-English Karen" in Garmin GPS products, she calmly instructs harried drivers to turn left, go 1.8 miles or "recalculate" their trips every day.

A friend of mine has been longing for a smartphone for years, but he's continued to hold off on the hopes that when he does eventually get one, it will do absolutely everything from making phone calls to preparing grilled cheese sandwiches.

BARCELONA, Spain - The smartphone market got just a little more crowded as laptop maker Acer Inc. announced a lineup of four new Windows Mobile-based smartphones, the first of its efforts to cash in on the growing sector. Acer will run up against a...

When it comes to mobile in the enterprise, presence is the buzzword. Just like it was three years ago.Presence - a vaguely defined term referring to the ability to determine the availability and whereabouts of others - was a key feature in the early...

Location-based services provider TeleNav Inc. has partnered with Sprint Nextel Corp. to exclusively offer its latest fleet management service to the wireless provider's enterprise customers.TeleNav and Sprint Nextel officials are touting the new Vehicle Manager as economical and a way for companies to manage...

Sales of GPS-enabled mobile phone are expected to buck the global trend of handset shipment declines this year, according to a report from ABI Research.And even though the market is expected to feel a pinch this year, unit sales of GPS-enabled phones should grow...

Google Inc. is jumping headfirst into the location-aware social networking space.The Internet titan unveiled Latitude, a Google Maps feature that allows users to share their location information and check the whereabouts of friends who opt to divulge that information. The offering is integrated with...

London's Handmade Mobile Ltd. is bringing its Flirtomatic service to the United States. The mobile and online social networking community, which claims more than 1.3 million registered users, launched in the United Kingdom three years ago and recently deployed service in Germany. The company has...

Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless each appear to be easing their stance on sharing subscribers' location information with partners, efforts that put weight behind their bluster about openness.Sprint Nextel announced it will open its location platform to location aggregators WaveMarket Inc. and uLocate...

Looking to expand its enterprise-focused wireless network solution, Trapeze Networks said it has acquired Newbury Networks.Trapeze said the deal will allow it to combine its network equipment and management systems with Newbury's wireless local area network location systems. Terms of the acquisition were not...

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are hoping to use GPS-enabled wireless phones to help them study traffic data. Participants in the study will be asked to download software onto their phone that tracks their movements and submits the information to a server...

Text messaging aggregators such as mBlox, OpenMarket and VeriSign Inc. have built lucrative businesses by serving as middlemen between carriers and companies (or political candidates) looking to send text messages to massive numbers of mobile users.That's exactly what Isaias Sudit wants to do with...

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...

Craig Harper went from trying to keep track of his daughter to launching his own company that aims to help businesses keep track of their mobile workforce and be more productive.In 2006, Harper bought his 9-year-old daughter a Disney Mobile family cellphone, which gives...

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...

Sprint Nextel Corp. is targeting parents of trick-or-treaters by halving the price of its GPS-based child-locating service.Sprint Family Locator, which allows parents to view the location of their children from a Web-enabled phone or computer, will be available for $5 a month starting tomorrow....

All John Famiglietti needs is access to a computer to manage a fleet of 44 rigs that are equipped to clean up hazardous materials in the country's largest city. Famiglietti, head of environmental operations of WRS Environmental Services, can be in the office, on...

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...

North America currently dominates the location-based services market with 81% of LBS revenue in 2007. But the Asia-Pacific region is set to challenge that position, with a share of 27% of the market by 2013, up from 11% last year, according to a new...

As wireless continues to change how companies do business, Alltel Communications L.L.C. is now offering an application allowing employers to track mobile workers in real time.The Alltel Workforce Locator service is a tracking and mobile resource management product designed by Autodesk Inc. The service...

Google Inc. has taken its Street View service to mobile.The Mountain View, Calif.-based company launched a new version of Google Maps for mobile that includes the same street-level photo images it offers on desktop computers. Google also added a beta version of walking directions...

Ever had to wait 10 minutes for a credit card transaction in a cab to go through? Those days might be over for New York City's iconic yellow cab fleet thanks to the Sprint-Nextel Corp. and VeriFone Holdings Inc. taxi business, VeriFone Transportation Systems...

Privacy advocates triumphed over the Bush administration in a legal battle in which a federal court affirmed that wireless location information stored by a mobile-phone carrier is constitutionally protected and that law enforcement officials have to secure a search warrant based on probable cause...

Like millions of motorists, Eric Hanson used a Global Positioning System unit in his Chevrolet TrailBlazer to find his way around. He probably didn't expect that prosecutors would eventually use it too — to help convict him of killing four family members.