My friend Pete Warden does a splendid job of data mining, of analyzing the information that companies make available and/or track, but without telling us exactly what they’re doing. His last adventure was with Facebook, where his data analysis got him into hot water with the notoriously lax company (see his blog post I got sued by Facebook).

This time he and fellow researcher Alasdair Allan have stumbled into something rather astonishing: a time-based archive of iPhone lat/long locations where you’ve used your phone. Better yet, they wrote an open source app called iPhoneTracker that lets you visualize the data so you can understand what’s going on. A caveat: iPhoneTracker is quite clearly not intended to be a polished application with a fully implemented interface but rather a tool to let you see your own tracking information. It reveals alarming data pulled out of your primary iPhone backup file.

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You all know I really despise AT&T, even though I continue paying them thousands of dollars per year for three cell phones. Since getting my Verizon iPhone I haven’t dropped a call and I can actually hear the other party. Steve Gillmor got one on Friday and, wow, what a difference. Not to mention that the world’s toughest dead zone: Devil’s Slide is non-existent for AT&T and TMobile, but works the entire way on Verizon for me.

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Google Nexus S is the first phone to run Gingerbread, the fastest version of Android yet. Gingerbread builds on some of the most popular Android features like multi-tasking and Wi-Fi hotspot and adds a refreshed user interface, an improved keyboard, near field communication (NFC) support, and more.

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Five years ago, penning a MediaPost piece that feels like it was written far more recently, I asked, “Is all mobile local?” That question would have been a more fitting title for the column rather than the wonkier one I used, “The Mobile-Local Redundancy,” which sounds like a rejected name for a Jason Bourne movie. The question and the column answering it remain relevant, making me wonder if so little has changed in sixty-one months.

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Verizon and Apple both, made big gains on Wall Street as highly substantial rumors were being made of Verizon finally getting support for the iPhone. WSJ.com has cited unnamed sources, though they seem positive that their information is accurate. Before going further, it should be noted that neither Apple, Verizon, or the manufacturers of the supposed Verizon iPhone, Pegatron, have made official statements.
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Some interesting mobile safety apps from Down-under out of the LBS Wireless crew.. welcome several news apps designed to keep users safe – Gone Boating, Gone Trekking and Gone Flying. The apps utilize the GPS, Google maps, calendar and camera features of the iPhone. Each application enables the user to record their departure, destination and waypoint information. They also enable the user to email or post a Twitter message containing their trip details and maps. With the applications users can:

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If you’re a Verizon customer, you’ll want to read this. Verizon has automatically opted all customers into a new program which allows them to share your information with just about anyone they want. Apparently some customers are receiving a notice via mail but for some reason I did not and others haven’t received one either. Verizon is clearly hoping to keep this under the radar.

Here is the legal language from Verizon:

Verizon Wireless and its affiliates (the “Verizon Companies”) provide services to you. In doing so, we may each collect certain information that is made available to us solely by virtue of our relationship with you, such as quantity, technical configuration, type, destination, location and amount of use of the telecommunications services you purchase. This information and related billing information is known as Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI). The Federal Communications Commission and other regulators require the Verizon Companies to protect your CPNI.
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Possibly the most interesting news so far to come out of the Mobile World Congress taking place in  Barcelona this week is that there seems to be clear agreement among mobile operators and equipment manufacturers to develop and bring to market a universal mobile phone charger.

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I’ve been taking a look at Google Latitude, a new geo-location tool that looks to be an oh-so-easy way to share your location data in real time with friends and colleagues.

I installed it on my Nokia N95 8GB yesterday in a process that was one of the simplest and quickest installations on this smartphone that I can remember. The installer upgraded the copy of Google Maps that was already installed to the latest version 3; from within Maps I chose to use Latitude.

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Although the deal was pretty well signed, sealed and delivered back in November last year, it is now official: Microsoft has trumped Google and Yahoo! to be the search engine of choice for Verizon.

Microsoft CEO made the announcement on the partnership at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (more…)