Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Social Software, Browsers
On the cutting edge of geolocation with Mozilla Labs' Geode
If you've been waiting for a browser than natively supports location-based services, here's your first taste. Firefox 3.1 is all set to include geolocation based on a new WC3 standard, but you can test it out now with a Firefox add-on called Geode, from Mozilla Labs. Geode lets websites request your location the same way they request to install add-ons or open blocked popups. The possibilities for this technology are immense -- mobile devices are already taking advantage of it, so why not laptops?
The first services to be compatible with Geode are the social network Pownce, Yahoo!'s location-management product Fire Eagle, and a demo food finder from Mozilla. Geode gets your location via wifi, using Skyhook's Loki technology, and you can pass it to a website as a city, a neighborhood, or an exact location. I'm looking forward to seeing the other uses developers come up with for this technology before it goes mainstream in the next version of Firefox.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tanel said 9:58AM on 10-12-2008
Installed Geode week back or so and FF just crashed when i pushed "My Location", Neighborhood or other those slide-down buttons, multiple times - maybe its just my million plugins conflicting with it but who knows :(
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LeeH said 11:36AM on 10-12-2008
Are there privacy implications to this? Will this enable any website or web service I visit to pinpoint my location?
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Josh said 10:45AM on 10-12-2008
They can do this pretty accurately already just by looking at your IP address...
Jay Hathaway said 11:40AM on 10-12-2008
LeeH,
Sites only get what you give them. When a site asks for your location, you can give it your city, neighborhood, exact location, or nothing at all.
Mysterius said 4:39PM on 10-12-2008
So is Geode is safe to use in public, as long as I stick to trusted sites?
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Jay Hathaway said 4:42PM on 10-12-2008
I think so. I basically treat it like Core Location on the iPhone - if I don't think an app needs to be using it, I don't authorize. But for stuff like Google Maps? I say go for it.