Google Rolls Out Cell Phone Locator

May 16, 2008

Landlines are on their way to becoming as obsolete as the 8-track due to the fact that a growing number of people either do not pay attention to their land line or do not have one.

May 12, 2008

Americans are expected to receive an estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages on their cell phones in 2008, according to San Francisco's Ferris Research, which tracks mobile messaging trends. That's nearly double the amount received in 2006.

May 5, 2008

T-Mobile USA launched its first commercial high-speed wireless service in New York City, and plans to expand the service to 20 to 25 other major U.S. markets by the end of the year.

April 23, 2008

The battle over cell phones in schools ended with the state's appeals court voting to uphold a ban on cell phones in public schools in New York city.

Google Rolls Out Cell Phone Locator

Google on Wednesday released upgraded mapping software that figures out the general vicinity a mobile telephone is in based on which transmission tower it is using. Unlike the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) technology Google uses the exchange of signals between the phone and nearby mobile phone towers to estimate the phone's location.

The beta, or test, version of new Google Maps for mobile software lets users find their location , even if the phone making the connection isn't equipped with a GPS receiver.

Unlike other mapping devices, Google's new tracking feature can display a phone's location without the user entering an address or coordinates through the keypad.

The free Google Maps version 2.0 comes with a "My Location" feature that determines which cell tower a mobile telephone is using and displays a map of the area with a blue circle pinpointing the spot.

Unlike GPS, Google's tracking feature works while handsets are indoors. "My Location" also drains less power from a phone's battery than a GPS receiver does.

On the downside, Google's service isn't as precise as GPS. In most instances, Google hopes to get within one-quarter to three miles of a user's location — close enough to provide helpful "neighborhood-level" information.

(November 29, 2007)