Google yesterday evening launched My Location for iPhone 3.0, which returns search results relevant to a user’s current location. The feature, which only works in conjunction with the Safari browser, helps to narrow down results when looking for stuff on the go. Previously, this was possible using the Google Mobile App. Because of privacy concerns, Google says it has made My Location an opt-in service.

The new search capabilities leverage the HTML 5 Geolocation API support included with Safari in iPhone 3.0. (More details can be found on Apple’s web site.) I think in the not-so-distant future more and more developers will leverage this browser’s geo-location capabilities to build compelling applications.

I’ve often wondered what kind of applications would emerge as a result, and how the location information would make them different from previous generations of apps. Any thoughts?

Earlier today, the guys from Skyhook Wireless sent me their latest location-aware applications report. The first thing I noticed was a sharp decline in the number of location-aware apps during the months of May and June 2009. Why? Because of something known as Bulk Apps — the dirty little secret of Apple’s App Store.

Continue »

Can Google be your phone company? The answer is yes. I came to that conclusion after I met with Vincent Paquet, co-founder of GrandCentral (a company acquired by Google) and now a member of the Google Voice team. Earlier today he stopped by our office to show the mobile app versions of its Google Voice service for Blackberry and Android. Google recently announced that it was going to make the Voice service widely available to users in the U.S. soon. Continue »

Much like every other aspect of our lives, Moore’s Law, the growing availability of broadband — both at home and on our mobile phones — and new web technologies are disrupting the video game industry. In his new GigaOM Pro report,”Virtual Worlds: Trends & Opportunities,” contributing editor and member of the GigaOM Analyst network, Wagner James Au, highlights some of the key shifts taking place in gaming, especially when it comes to MMOs and virtual worlds.

From the rise of cloud-based gaming companies to social gaming giants, the report highlights some key trends and offers a road map of the future. Gaming consoles, for example, are opening up to more social features, which may create new opportunities for gaming developers. Netbooks, meanwhile, are helping to shift the focus to web-based MMOs, resulting in new opportunities for startups. A little over two years old, the iPhone has become an extension platform not only for existing MMO experiences but also for a growing number of games that use social networks as their platforms.

If you’re interested in this business, you will find this report to be an invaluable way to get up to speed on this fast-changing industry. To obtain a copy of it — and get access to a myriad of others — simply sign up for a GigaOM Pro subscription-only research service, for just $79 a year.

By now, you all must have read about the next version of Microsoft Office 10. You’ve also likely heard about the web version of Microsoft Office. The problem is that if you want to compare the Office Web with Google Apps or Zoho, there’s little chance you can get your hands on it. Sure, there are some faux comparisons, but folks have not really tested the actual product. And don’t expect to do so anytime soon. Here is why. Continue »

A few months ago, 24/7 Wall Street, a New York-based blog, suggested that the sun was about to set on BusinessWeek, Forbes and Fortune — and that BusinessWeek would be the first to go. Well, they were right. McGraw-Hill Cos., the parent company of S&P and BusinessWeek, has reportedly hired boutique investment bank Evercore Partners to sell the venerable magazine that started in 1929. Fortune and Forbes are from that era of magazines as well.

Continue »

Every so often, one (or more) of our readers chastises me for being way too Apple-centric in my view of the world. Frankly, I can’t help it. Why argue with something that looks great and functions flawlessly (at least most of the time)? That is how I feel about Apple, its operating system and its devices. Many of you also have complained that since I don’t use Windows, I don’t understand a big portion of my readers. Given that on any typical day about 65 percent of our readers are using some variant of the Windows operating system to access this blog, one can’t quite argue with the numbers.

So, I have decided to use a Windows OS-based computer for at least two days a week. I plan to go on an OS X diet on Friday and Sunday — not exactly super-busy days. I typically don’t like using my computer on Saturday. (However, since I plan to take the entire day off tomorrow, I am working this evening.) In order to be better informed about the Windows world (warts and all), I have turned to Lenovo’s ThinkPad X301, a 13.3-inch ultrathin laptop that comes with a built-in broadband connection — too bad it is AT&T, which makes it utterly useless. Instead, I am using Verizon’s Novatel Wireless EVDO USB 760 modem, which works like a charm. Lenovo was kind enough to install Windows 7 (beta) on the device.

Back in the day, when I used to own a PC (a Dell desktop, no less), I remember moving data from one machine to another was quite a chore, and it would take hours to get the files sorted out. Not anymore. In fact, it took me just 30 minutes to get set up and be productive. How did this happen? Call it the power of the cloud. Continue »