The Google latitude

It is something to do with Geography?
Well, not quite. It is a mash-up of Google Maps, positioning technology and Google’s social media services such as Google Talk.

What happens?
Simply put, Google Latitude broadcasts your position to your friends and contacts.

How does it do that?
To start with, you need to install Google Maps (m.google.com on your browser) on your mobile device to enable Latitude.

So, there’s no need for the Global Positioning System (GPS) device?
No. While a GPS-enabled mobile can give your friends a far more accurate location, this service uses ‘Cell-ID’ (it extrapolates your location from the nearest cell tower to broadcast online).

What if I don’t want everyone to know where I am?
You can choose to add only select friends and better still, you can open Latitude on a browser and manually place your location.

Which phones support Google Latitude?
It works on the iPhone, all colour BlackBerry devices and most Symbian S60 phones (all mid/high-end Nokias).

—Kushan Mitra