It’s weekend and after clearing up some email, I started exploring new stuff around. I stumbled upon Google Latitude. Yet another Beta from Google you must be thinking, but I must tell you this one is worth exploring.

Not too sure if you have heard of Nokia Friend View, Google Latitude is very much on those lines. Simply put Latitude is a spy in your pocket

Latitude is an add on in Google Maps for mobile. It lets you sign in with your Google Account, and sets your current location using the GPS (Global Positioning System) device on your mobile. These days many mobile phones are coming with GPS devices and this will exactly make use of that.

Here’s what it lets you do:

• Update your status-For instance I have updated my status here in the picture as “Testing Google Latitude”.
• Add friends and share your location with them.
• See their location on Google Maps
• For those concerned about invasion of privacy it lets you manually set the location, so for instance you may be on the road, but your location may show as office
• It also provides an iGoogle gadget which you can use on computer to view locations (pictured here)

It works with most locations, if it says “not supported in your region”, just change the URL on your browser to point to .google.com instead of say .google.co.in .

On the whole it seems to be an excellent piece of work from Google and with recent steps Google is taking in terms of Social Networking with Friend Connect and now Latitude, they may very well be on their road to creating the world’s largest network of social networks.

For now good work Google, you guys keep pushing the limits on use of technology and bring it to masses.

And readers get on to Google Latitude and give it a try!

Popularity: 15%

Image credit: shapeshift

Like all good things in India, the iPhone will end up having its own niche market. There always have been and will be people who will buy it because of its iconic status.

The question is – is it really worth it?

At a minimum of Rs.31000, you can proudly sport a device that has been priced a little above the current price of vegetables. For a device that has sold millions, it is surprising that they have such high manufacturing costs – not to mention the stock price that needs to live up.

Next, what is 3G doing here? Waiting for the future to arrive? It is like a kindergarten student buying a Ferrari because his children will have better roads.

Let’s look at the features – nothing much has really changed except for the tons of applications for the iPhone – How many of us know that we can also install many of these on the iTouch ?  What about the several hundred applications that are already available for Windows Mobile, Sybian and Blackberry devices?

What about the service plans ? That remains to be seen. While calls in India may be cheap, mobile internet is definitely not. And with mobile internet speeds as ours, it’s going to be worth watching what happens to the user experience.

At 2 megapixels, the camera on the iPhone is pretty basic. There are phones offering higher resolution at much cheaper prices. Next comes interoperabilit. Let us see how many phones are there in the market that say, “Please dont save anything in the memory card because I want you to send everything via my services only”. And not to mention the issues that are being raised about privacy and hung iPhones in the other side of the world.

It is time to know just a little more.

Truth is we have people who spend many times more on a mobile phone than they earn in a month. Truth is that this has been a great letdown for the thousands who will still buy the device. Truth is we have people who understand less and use the features even lesser, but will tout the iPhone with all the hype.

For the saner few, there are a lot more good phones with superb features at great prices. From the Asus P320 to the HTC touch to the latest Nokia N96. Or you can always tag along a much cheaper iTouch along with your phone!

For the die hards – go ahead and buy it! its not a very bad phone either.

Popularity: 13%