Posted 11/10/09 at 09:01:31 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Google Latitude just got a little bit more useful, and creepy. Latitude now has support for Location History and Location Alerts. Locations History allows you (and only you) to view a log of your various Latitude check-ins. These can be overlaid on Google Maps or Google Earth.

If you have Location History enabled, there’s another feature available to you. Location Alerts is a service (still in beta, for whatever that’s worth at Google) that will notify you if you are near one of your Latitude friends. You can choose enable SMS and/or email notifications. The system automatically filters out places you go often. So if the next door neighbor is on your Google Latitude friend list, you won’t be notified every time you go home.

If these new features sound intriguing to you, head on over to the Latitude apps page to enable.

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Posted 08/13/09 at 04:44:18 PM by Andy Salisbury

iGoogle already gives you plenty of ways to keep in touch, whether it be Gmail, Latitude or keeping up with the day’s news. But, never one to leave well enough alone, the folks at Google have decided to bolster their army of gadgets in the interest of making iGoogle a more social experience.

Among the first new gadgets to be released are Who has the biggest brain?, Chess and Scrabble. There are even news sharing gadgets from the likes of NPR, The Huffington Post and YouTube. Even keep track of a collective To-Do list with your closest friends.

These features are currently live for those of you living in Australia, and Google plans to make them available to the U.S. over the next week.

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Posted 05/19/09 at 09:06:09 AM by Paul Lilly

Dell today launches it's "student rugged" Latitude 2100 netbook, a colorful new netbook line designed specifically for K-12 students. As such, a number of features separate the 2100 from your standard-fare netbook.

• Rubberized design
• Custom-built Mobile Computing Station for classrooms to store up to 24 netbooks with a single Ethernet and power cord
• Network Activity Light so teachers can monitor wireless connectivity
• Offered in five bright colors (School Bus Gold, Chalkboard Black, Ball Field Green, Blue Ribbon, and Schoolhouse Red)
• Personalized window on back of battery pack for school logo or name

Hardware-wise, the 10.1-inch 2100 comes equipped with an Intel Atom N270 processor (1.6GHz, 533MHz frontside bus, 512KB L2 cache), up to 2GB of memory, HDD or  SDD (16GB SSD comes standard), integrated Intel GMA950 graphics, 3-in-1 media card reader, and choice of Ubuntu, Windows XP, or Vista. Dell also says the optional touchscreen is a first for education netbooks.

The 2100 is available now starting at $369.

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Posted 03/27/09 at 06:06:54 PM by Andy Salisbury

A well-informed tipster just leaked Dell’s brand new Latitude 2100 “Welch” laptops to Gizmodo, where they’re now spreading the news about the school-oriented netbooks.

These new little beasts will be based off of Intel’s Atom processor (up to 1.6GHz), can support an optional SSD, pack up to 2GB of RAM, and weigh just under 3lbs. There’s also three USB ports, a SD/MMC slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth, 3 and 6-cell battery options, a 10-inch screen, and the possibility of a touchscreen.

As for pricing and availability, it should be out around May 2009, just in time for the back to school shopping season, and cost under $600.

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Posted 02/10/09 at 04:45:38 PM by Andy Salisbury

Unlike the Mini 10, it looks like Dell’s Latitude XT2 has some solid release information, and thanks to the Korean site AVING there’s even a video of the machine in action!

The Latitude XT2 will sport a 12.1-inch 1.280 x 800 pixel screen, up to 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, built-in GMA 4500HD graphics, Windows Vista Ultimate, up to 5GB of DDR3, up to 120GB 5400RPM HDD, standard 802.11 a/g/n WiFi and gigabit Ethernet, and it’ll all weigh only 3.78lbs.

As for pricing, it’ll start at $2,399. So while the cost is mighty heavy, it is quite the handy little piece of tech. Given that you’ll be pinching and swiping for 11-hours, there will be plenty of bang for the buck.

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Posted 02/04/09 at 03:52:35 PM by Andy Salisbury

MySpace announced this week that they’ve happily booted 90,000 registered sex offenders from their social networking site. But, as some research would reveal many of them simply took this in stride and made their way over to Facebook to do their business.

Former New York City police officer John Cardillo, and now CEO of Sentinel, a security technology firm based out of Miami, has said that Facebook is a “safe haven” for sex offenders. Notably, Facebook isn’t currently a client of his service.

After these gentlemen were booted from MySpace he did a search on Facebook for many of the same names. “We found over 8,000 offenders on their site without much effort,” stated Cardillo. “My professional opinion is that the real number is 15 to 20 times that.”

Cardillo’s Sentinel works by searching a gigantic database identify sex offenders. The database of offenders consists of more than 700,000 names, photos, dates of birth, email and IM addresses, and other “important data points.”

Well, let’s think of it this way – at least they probably don’t have access to Google’s Latitude.

Right?

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Posted 02/04/09 at 02:57:52 PM by Andy Salisbury

Stalking your friends and family (and others?) just became a lot easier thanks to Google’s latest app for your mobile device, Latitude. The app simply works by using location-based technology built into one’s cell phone to track their every movement, so you can know exactly where they are, at all times.

Currently Latitude is available for Google’s G1, color-screen BlackBerrys, most Windows Mobile devices as well as other assorted smart phones. Google has mentioned that they’re working on a version for the iPhone, iPod touch and Sony Ericcson phones.

Sadly for Google, they’re a tiny bit late to the party, as other applications such as Loopt and Where are already following people on plenty of devices. But, given the name-power of a company such as Google (as well as the admittedly good work they do), there’s little doubt that this will catch on to be as popular, if not more, than the other guys.

Sound a little creepy? Well, truthfully it is. But, when you think of it as a tool for weary parents to keep track of their kids, or weary kids keeping track of their elderly parents it does make a little bit of sense.

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Posted 10/25/08 at 04:29:46 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The focus is now on eliminating the excruciating system load times that users have had to reluctantly brook till now. Dell is leading such efforts and is set to debut its instant-on technology. Users will soon get a glimpse of Dell’s new instant-on technology for Latitude laptops, according to a company executive.

The instant-on system will let users access key applications and data without actually booting the machine. If Jeff Clarke, senior vice president and general manager of Dell Product Group, is to be believed the technology will also be energy-efficient as it will provide limited access to the system without engaging the CPU.

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