location based services

Before Facebook goes public next year, it wants to know a bit more about what you do when you're out in public. The social networking giant is acquiring geo-social app startup Gowalla.

This week, the premium audio equipment company Harman International (HAR) agreed to purchase Aha Mobile. The company essentially turns a smartphone into an in-vehicle infotainment system.

Check-in phenom Foursquare just passed 3 million users, a milestone that cements its growing lead in mobile social networking. But how did it outrace competitor Gowalla, which was born at the same time and with arguably better technology? By having the right real world social networks, of course.

Intel and Nokia are partnering on a lab to explore 3-D technologies, which already are popular in games and movies. The companies believe consumers will want similar vivid imaging and interactive experiences while using their smartphones.

Location-based services have seen rapid growth, with Foursquare in the lead. Facebook, wanting a piece of the action, has bought NextStop. The social travel recommendation site's location-based technology and engineering talent will be valuable to Facebook.

In its latest move to safeguard computer users' rights and burnish its reputation as a global privacy cop, Germany is seeking to dig deeper into Apple's collection of its customers' location-based data.

Under Apple's newly updated privacy policy, the company will collect and use information about its customers' real-time geographic locations to provide stronger location-based services. Meanwhile, Apple announced it has sold 3 million iPads in the 80 days since the device was launched.

Right now you probably use your GPS to get to the mall, rather than find your way around the mall, but Kevin Foreman, CEO of Point Inside,envisions that will change in the near future. The team at Point Inside, which makes a mall navigation app for the iPhone and Android devices, is made up of...