location

Delete location data from your previous tweets

Sometimes your social media accounts can be useful tools to stay in touch with your friends, family, or even customers. When it comes to Twitter, many of the third-party apps may have your location setting enabled by default. Additionally, it's very easy to accidentally tap the button to add your location when you're working on a smaller mobile screen. So how can you fix that and regain some of your privacy?

Instead of deleting all of your tweets, you can strip the location information from them using a tool provided by Twitter on their Web site. Here's … Read more

How tweets reveal where you live

Monday's top-story rundown knows where you live:

Just when you think it's safe to tweet, here comes WeKnowYourHouse.com. The site is a social media experiment designed to show how easy it is for tweets to be used against you. If a Twitter user has location turned on, and they send a message with the word "home" in it, then the site will display it along with a Street View image of the location. Similar to PleaseRobMe.com, it showcases how some users may not be aware of how much information they are sharing.

But you … Read more

Facebook less trusted than Amazon, Google, survey says

People don't go to Facebook to shop for necessities, or even for luxuries, so it's not surprising a survey released today found that folks don't want to share their personal data in return for service on the social-networking site.

The survey -- done by Placecast, a location-based marketing firm -- found that U.S. adults are more than twice as likely to trust Amazon than Facebook with personal information. The firm aimed to gauge Americans' comfort with relinquishing private data in exchange for receiving marketing promotions offline, online, and through mobile devices.

Sixty-six percent of U.S. … Read more

Checkmark offers slick location-based reminders

Apple's Reminders app, introduced in iOS 5, works perfectly well at notifying you according to your time- or location-based criteria. But a new app called Checkmark (99 cents for a limited time) gives you location-based reminders using your GPS and important locations you enter, and with a great-looking interface that's easy to navigate.

You start by adding locations important to you such as Home, Work, the Gym, and a friend's house you often visit. You can locate yourself via GPS, but you also can search for an address on a map and add a location pin that way. The next step is creating reminders based on your locations.… Read more

Late again? Twist will text or e-mail your apology

Many of us remember how liberating mobile phones were when it came to meeting people: "Which street corner was that again?" "Should I buy tickets for both of us?" "Sorry, I'm running late."

A start-up called Twist, though, believes phones can make the process much more convenient -- by automatically handling some of those messages.

With an iPhone app, the startup's technology tracks when a person leaves on a journey and tells the person at the destination what the expected time of arrival is based on data from Google Maps, Bing, and … Read more

Facebook quietly removes 'test' friend-finding feature

Facebook has quietly removed a controversial feature that would let users on mobile devices find other Facebook users nearby, even if they weren't friends with them on the popular social network.

That feature, which Facebook said it was "testing" with users in a roll-out yesterday, became the topic of controversy earlier today when a company called Friendthem accused Facebook of stealing the idea. In a release provided to CNET and other outlets, Friendthem's CEO said the company was mulling a lawsuit.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment on the removal of the feature. In an earlier … Read more

With friend-finders like these, Facebook may find itself sued

Last update: 11:10 a.m. PT

Facebook's new feature that helps users discover who's around them is a stolen idea, according to a company that's been offering a similar service for the past year.

The chief executive at Friendthem, a service that shows users others who are nearby based on geo-location, says that his company got there first, and even discussed the idea with a company executive earlier this year.

"I was amazed on Sunday to read that Facebook is blatantly stealing our idea with what they are calling, 'Find Friends Nearby,' Charles Sankowich, Friendthem'… Read more

Google unveils app for managing off-site workers

Google today unveiled a location-based, check-in style service designed to help businesses oversee and direct their employees in the field.

Google Maps Coordinate could, for example, be used by a dispatcher at a utility company to find out which of its repair trucks was closest to a downed power line, assign that driver to the repair task, and issue appropriate instructions, Google said in a blog post.

Mobile staffers download the Coordinate app to their smartphone and can then share their real-time location with their dispatcher or manager. They can also use the app to check in when they've … Read more

Facebookers check-in at the world's most social landmarks

People who check-in on Facebook tend to like sports arenas, public parks, and shopping centers, according to data the social network crunched to figure out the world's most social landmarks.

The data follows check-ins made in 25 cities around the globe and found that the most popular places to be during the summer months tend to be outdoors; people like shopping in markets, watching sporting events, and going to music festivals.

Obvious tourist places also seem to be a hit. Users checked-in while gazing at dinosaurs is the American Museum of Natural History in New York, people watching on … Read more