Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Wee-Fi: Firefox Geolocation

Wee-Fi: Firefox Geolocation

Mozilla releases early version of geolocator technology: Geode, an add-on for Firefox 3.0 from Mozilla Labs, uses Skyhook Wireless’s Wi-Fi positioning system to provide approximate coordinates for your current location. A more full-blown geolocation service will be built into Firefox 3.1, allowing choice among providers, use of GPS, and other extensions. Firefox 3.0 with this add-on supports a Web site querying a user’s location; the browser prompts the surfer for whether they want to reveal this and at what granularity (exact, neighborhood, or city). Mozilla is supporting the W3C Geolocation spec in both this add-on and the full 3.1 implementation.

Starbucks page gone missing from Apple, Engadget discovers: Apple’s had a page up about its partnership with Starbucks, one that’s stalled in expansion the last year, where the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is available via iPhones, iPod touch players, and laptops. I speculated back in February that the move from T-Mobile to AT&T for Starbucks signaled a closer partnership with Apple, but that hasn’t materialized yet. (The full iTunes Store requires a laptop with a “real” Wi-Fi connection via AT&T or T-Mobile, depending on which firm operates the store, instead of the limited free Wi-Fi used for the music-only iTunes subset.)

American Airlines joins the in-flight filtering club: Passengers aren’t viewing inappropriate content, apparently, but the possibility of it—and perhaps flight attendants being able to use that to their advantage in negotiations—appear to be leading to filtering. Delta also said recently that they would provide minimal filtering when they launched trials. Knowing Virgin, they’ll add 18-plus seating sections where pornography is encouraged.




In-Flight Providers Lobby against US Call Ban
Wee-Fi: Delta Filters, Smart-Fi, Abandonment
Norway consumer body challenges Apple over iTunes
(Reuters)