Location Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iPhone location data to be closely regulated in Europe

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 19th, 2011)

The fuss over the storage of location data by iOS has crossed international waters. The EU data protection advisory panel, a watchdog group that advises the European Commission, has said that location data is personal data. This ruling may lead to further restrictions limiting how this data may ...

Exclusive: TinyChat to enable location-linked video chat on iPhone 4

by Michael Rose (May 13th, 2011)

When it comes to ad-hoc video chatting with friends, strangers or space aliens, the heir apparent to the Chatroulette throne is TinyChat. This Flash-based video-chatting service, launched in 2009, lets you create chatrooms on the fly. You and several friends can all broadcast, while more ...

Apple's Bud Tribble will testify before Senate committee, says Franken

by Michael Rose (May 6th, 2011)

In the ongoing commotion around location, privacy and what your iPhone knows about what you did last summer, the witness list for upcoming Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearings on mobile privacy has been announced. Senator Al Franken's (D-MN) office told The Loop that Apple's VP of software ...

Apple responds to location tracking controversy

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 27th, 2011)

This morning, Apple officially responded to the location tracking controversy that has plagued the Cupertino company. [Apple executives, including Steve Jobs, spoke on the record with AllThingsD about the issue.] In a press release, Apple asserted that it is not tracking user locations (despite ...

Apple slapped with federal lawsuit over location tracking

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 25th, 2011)

Well, you knew this was coming. After all, suing Apple has become something of a favorite past time for individuals and companies. Bloomberg reports that two iPhone users have filed a federal lawsuit against Apple alleging invasion of privacy and computer fraud regarding the iPhone's ability to ...

Your iPhone is silently and constantly logging your location [updated]

by Richard Gaywood (Apr 20th, 2011)

Update 2: Apple has issued an official response. Update: This story has generated followups from Thomas Ricker at Engadget, David Pogue, Andy Ihnatko and Dan Moren at Macworld. Researcher Alex Levinson points out that despite the Guardian's positioning of the location data as a shocking ...

Localscope is a slick and complete tool for finding and getting to your destination

by Mel Martin (Feb 25th, 2011)

There are plenty of apps that find restaurants, hospitals and other things near you using the iPhone's GPS. Localscope, a US$1.99 app, is the most complete and easy to use solution I've seen. Localscope easily lets you find destinations using Google or Bing, Foursquare, Twitter and Wikimapia. ...

Director DJ Caruso on using iPads to make I Am Number Four

by Mike Schramm (Feb 18th, 2011)

Here's yet another example of the iPad excelling in a place it was never intended to actually go: making movies. Director DJ Caruso did an interview in an Apple Store recently, and he says that he used the iPad in all kinds of ways to help make his new movie I am Number Four, from controlling ...

Apple's new Berlin store will open in upscale Kurfürstendamm

by Mike Schramm (Jan 15th, 2011)

Two different German Mac news sites report that Apple's latest store in Berlin will be placed in the Kurfürstendamm section of the city, an upscale shopping avenue that houses big fashion store name hotels and nice restaurants. That sounds about right for an Apple store. Both iFun and Macerkopf ...

Find My Friends MobileMe feature found in iOS 4.3 beta release

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 13th, 2011)

Yesterday, Apple rolled out iOS 4.3 beta to developers, and the first look at the latest iOS version yielded up some gems, including multi-touch gestures, hotspot functionality, a return of the orientation lock and new camera effects. Earlier today, MacRumors uncovered settings for a feature called ...

Lawsuit over app privacy targets Apple and developers

by Kelly Hodgkins (Dec 28th, 2010)

Apple and several mobile developers are facing two separate lawsuits over the collection and unauthorized sharing of private user data with third-party advertising networks, according to iLounge. The first lawsuit, Freeman vs. Apple, was filed in a northern California federal court and targets ...

Yelp's iOS app goes universal

by Mike Schramm (Dec 24th, 2010)

I have to say, I really like the Yelp app on my iPhone. Of course, I'm in LA where there are plenty of full listings for all kinds of things; I can see how Yelp might not be quite as useful in a less populated area. But when I need to find a new restaurant or where a certain retail place is, I've ...

Several iPhone and Android apps sharing private user data

by David Quilty (Dec 20th, 2010)

An investigation by The Wall Street Journal has found that some iPhone and Android apps are spying on users and potentially transmitting personal data to other companies. While both Apple and Google say that they have privacy protections in place for their customers, many apps are able to skirt ...

Google Latitude now on the App Store

by Kelly Hodgkins (Dec 13th, 2010)

Nearly 22 months after its first announcement, Google Latitude has finally landed on the iOS App Store. Unlike last week when the Latitude app appeared briefly in the Japanese store for a moment, this time it is official. Latitude is Google's location-based service that lets you see the location ...

Google Latitude app shows up, disappears from Japanese App Store

by Mike Schramm (Dec 8th, 2010)

An app for Google Latitude briefly appeared on the Japanese iOS App Store yesterday, only to disappear a few hours later. Latitude is, of course, Google's persistent location-based service, allowing you to see where your friends are at on a map and share your own location in real time. There are ...