At SPRXmobile we believe in explicit location updates instead of implicit (like Latitude). We see that people still are worried around location updates and have the need to actively update their location when desired.

Some of the current worries and problems around loc. updates we see today:

• Loc. update apps use to much battery because the use of GPS
• You would like to update your location when you are inside. Inside GPS does not work
• The degree of accuracy is something you would like regulate. Are you in Amsterdam? or are you on Prinsengracht 404?)
  
• You are not sure which apps update where and when. Too many apps slurping your location. Not sure about the interval. You need to manage all these settings.
• Location Updates when automated are not a social gesture. There is meaning behind location updates. When we automate this the meaning is lost..
• You need to start up separate apps to update your location. It should be made possible to update from “where” you already are on the web (and that is twitter of course ;-))

That’s why we built WhereMeNow. It’s probably the easiest way to update your location. You regulate the accuracy. You decide when. It uses Twitter to do so.. Here is how it works..

1. Go to www.wheremenow.com and fill in your Twittername and click the link to Fire Eagle button.

2. Authorize WhereMeNow to update your account on FireEagle

3. Done! You now just tweet your location to @wheremenow..

Some cool things about this service:

• Everybody sees in twitter where you are. Updates are now social.
• It’s a H.U.M.A.N. who makes the update
• You get a confirmation tweet back when you updated
• We will create a personal page on WhereMeNow with you last updated location on http://wheremenow.com/[twittername] (planned to launch this tomorrow)
• We will add a RSS button to your personal page so people can see where you are in other parts of the web.

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Watch the Android Develeopment Camp Amsterdam live recorded stream here. It was a great event, full, inspiring and great networking.

Hear people from Wikitude (at 00:16 and my Fav), PicSsay (at 00:45), Twitli (at @00:57) and ShopSavvy (at 1:27) talk about their apps. Its one big stream, quality is not high but doable. Please skip me set the stream up in the first 10 minutes of the video…

Live TV : Ustream

SPRX initiative, organized together with:
Peter Robinett - @pr1001 - http://www.bubblefoundry.com/
Yuri van Geest - @vangeest - http://yuri.typepad.com/
Martijn Pannevis - @panman - http://martijnpannevis.nl/
Maarten den Braber - @mdbraber - http://maartendenbraber.com/

And thanks to MoMo Amsterdam, T-mobile and Google.

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I have the G1 now for a week. It is a good phone which is still very new. This means that it doesn’t have the 10.000 apps like the iphone. Yet it already does some amazing things apart from seamless Gmail, Google Calander & Talk integration. The application that I keep going back to is Wikitude.

Wikitude is projects wikipedia location data on your screen on the camera input. You hold the camera level in front of you and see the world through its lens. Wikitude projects wiki data over it. As you turn the phone around you see the different points of interested projected in the screen. It a simple idea but very powerful. Here is the developer demoing their product:

My next tourist guide is in my phone. When I arrive I just hold my phone up and see what’s up, superimposed on the camera image.

It a good start. Its in the same category as Point and Find from Nokia. Here is Scobeizer checking it out. Point and Find works with image recognition instead of looking up data based on a GPS position like Wikitude. Point and Find is a QR-code like application. It scans an image and the get an action from it. Yet it can ’scan’ any image, even your house, and then go to your private website.

Both are examples of combining the real world with the virtual world. It will make the webbrowser based internet look very old.

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LoveWall is an interactive bluetooth installation that scans bluetooth names and looks these up in Last.fm user names. It then matches two users on the screen with the found Last.fm data. Its developed by @wilbertbaan based on the Roomware software and the Last.fm api. He shares his rollout learnings on his blog.

I want this in my office! Rock on.

Eclectro Last.fm Lovewall (interactive bluetooth installation) from Wilbert Baan on Vimeo.

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