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DelivAir uses drones to deliver to people, not physical addresses
Drone deliveries -- the impatient consumer's Holy Grail -- have been in the pipeline for some time, and while Amazon is pioneering the cause, (although Rival 7-Eleven has completed nearly 100 aerial deliveries to date), its model is still somewhat encumbered by factors at odds with the advantages drone delivery technically offers. Recipients need to be present at an address, for example. Now, though, Cambridge Consultants -- the team that brought us intelligent bins and Renaissance doodling -- has developed a drone delivery system that'll get you your stuff anytime, anywhere, in a matter of minutes.
Swarm redesign shows just how much it knows about you
Foursquare's Swarm check-in app has catered to lifeloggers before, but never quite like this. The location-centric company is launching Swarm 5.0 for iOS (Android is coming in a few weeks) with your trip history as its focus. The check-in map is now at the very heart of the app, making it easy to see where you've been. You can share it, too, if you want to keep your friends up to date. There's also a revamped profile that gives you a better view of your many achievements, whether it's your ongoing check-in streaks or the number of unique places you've visited. You can even see places you have yet to mark on your 'bucket list.' It's a bit disconcerting to realize how much info you've volunteered to Swarm, but this is a big help if you're trying to remember the last time you visited a given restaurant.
Uber puts you in control of your user data
Uber is making removing the hurdles to deleting your account entirely. Like so many other services, simply uninstalling the app from your phone doesn't wipe your data on the company's servers. Not any more, according to The Verge. Rather than having to contact Uber support to eliminate your personal information, a forthcoming update adds the feature to the app itself. From the privacy settings you'll apparently be able to start a 30-day countdown, and after the clock hits zero your customer data will go the way of the dodo.
Shield your address from Uber by using cross streets
If you haven't deleted Uber yet, the ride-hailing service has actually added a pretty useful feature today designed to protect user privacy. When you're typing in either a destination or pickup location, you can now enter two cross streets and get picked up or dropped off there. This helps shield your actual home address or destination from the driver. Of course, you've been able to do this when getting picked up by simply dragging the map pin to a specific location, but that doesn't help you when you're heading home.
Uber finally lets you adjust your pickup location
Lest we forget among all the corporate stupidity, Uber is actually popular for a reason: It's convenient, and taxi service often sucks. The ridesharing firm has just fixed one of the main bugaboos with its app, the fact that you can't modify your location once you order a ride. Riders in the UK, US and Canada can now change their pickup address if they notice it's wrong, avoiding a "frustrating situation where riders aren't riding and drivers aren't earning," Uber says.
Foursquare lets other apps use its core location tech
Foursquare has been willing to offer its place data to outside partners, but it has long kept its location awareness tech, Pilgrim, close to the vest. Now, though, it's opening things up: the company has released a developer kit for Pilgrim, letting other apps take advantage of Foursquare's positional wizardry. The tools help apps determine where you are down to the building level (without even opening the app), and let them act accordingly. A fitness app could plan an exercise routine based on where you ate, for instance, while a location-based game could adapt its experience around your neighborhood or the local store.
Microsoft privacy dashboard gives you control over your data
Microsoft has been accused of overstepping privacy boundaries with Windows 10, but it's ready to try and regain some of that broken trust. It's launching a web-based account privacy dashboard that lets you monitor and control the information Microsoft services use. You can view and wipe your Bing search history, Edge browsing history and your location activity. And if you're worried about what Cortana Notebook and Microsoft Health are doing, you can edit your data for those services.
Facebook won't flag your friends on a map anymore
Facebook is making some significant changes to its Nearby Friends feature that lets you see where pals are, Techcrunch has noticed. Most significantly, it has eliminated the precise tracking feature that tells you exactly where friends are by pinpointing them on a map. Now, you can only see them in a list along with an approximate distance away. While the original feature made it easy to check someone's progress or tell you when they arrive, for instance, it's also a bit of a privacy nightmare if you forget to turn it off.
Foursquare's revamped city guide app puts search at its center
Foursquare's namesake app is all about finding things to do around town, but it hasn't really put the strongest focus on the finding part -- it's usually focused on suggestions. Well, the company is fixing that today. The new Foursquare 10 for Android and iOS has a redesigned home screen that puts search at its heart. On top of a more prominent search box, you'll also get big quick access buttons that help you find common activities, such as dinner or nightclubs. And if you're on iOS 10, you'll get rich notifications that include photos and quick actions.
Tweetdeck adds location and date search filters
Twitter spews an amazing volume of information into the world, yet its search function has never been precise. To be fair, it's faced far greater pressure to combat abuse, like it did releasing tools to cut trolls out of notifications last month. Today they're enriching that functionality even further, but just for Tweetdeck: Users creating search columns can now filter by location and date.
Instagram is dropping photo maps
Instagram isn't just piling on new features -- it's taking them away, too. The social image service says that it's removing the Photo Map feature, which lets you see where a person's snapshots come from. The removals started last week, Instagram adds. It's currently focused on removing maps on profiles of other people, but you'll eventually lose access to your own photo map as well. Location info will stick around (such as pages showing all the photos taken at a given place), however, so you won't lose track of where you took that stunning flower shot.
Snapchat's location-based 'geostickers' arrive in ten cities
You might have thought that Snapchat's Geofilters do a pretty good job of jazzing up your snaps when you're in an area blessed with them. Now, the company's rolling out new stickers you'll only be able to attach if you're in the right spot (like New York's pizza rat above).
Android will now automatically send your location to 999 operators
When you call 999, operators need to know exactly where an emergency is before they can dispatch the required service. That information can be difficult to share if you're in unfamiliar surroundings but a new update coming to Android will take all of the guesswork out of locating where you are. It's called the Emergency Location Service and it uses available WiFi connections, GPS and mobile masts to pinpoint your location and share it with an operator while you're speaking with them.
Android Pay will tell you where it works nearby
One of the ways that Google is making Android more useful is by harnessing your location data for context-aware services. For instance, Nearby uses GPS and Bluetooth to monitor where you are, launching a relevant app should one be particularly useful. Now, XDA-Developers has uncovered code inside Android Pay that suggests that it'll bring a similar level of location-aware smarts. If true, then it's possible that a future update will show you retail outlets in your nearby area that take Google's mobile payments platform. Keen-eyed investigators have even found the location-pin style icon that you'll use to activate the feature. Of course, this is all a rumor until it isn't anymore, but it's perfectly in keeping with Google's location-savvy future.
Facebook knows when you visit a store because of its ads
Facebook's already offering retailers ways to convert ad views into sales online, but now it has a way to see if those views generate in-store traffic. To gauge how effective a retailer's ads are in getting folks to make a trip to a physical location, Facebook will track when users visit a shop after seeing its ad on the social network. The company says that the numbers are an estimate though, based on if the user has location service enabled on their mobile device. That feature is rolling out "over the coming months."
Swarm brings back Foursquare's real-world perks
Foursquare is continuing its quest to bring back all the things you liked from its old check-in app. Swarm now offers real-life perks depending on where and how often you check in. You'll get a discount if you swing by certain stores, for instance, or enter to win a prize if you complete a challenge across multiple shops. Only some locations will have these benefits, but Foursquare is promising "hundreds" of prizes ranging from cruises to drones to VIP concert tickets.
Court says police don't need warrants for phone location data
You would think that police would require a warrant to get your phone's location info, right? Not according to the US' Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. It just ruled that asking a company for cellphone location data you've offered to a third-party doesn't represent a search under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, and thus doesn't need a warrant. According to the judges voting for the decision, volunteering your position info means you've given up a "reasonable expectation of privacy" -- if you didn't want to share where you were, you wouldn't have handed that knowledge over to someone else, would you?
Uber is using Foursquare location data to help pick you up
If you've used ridesharing often enough, you've probably run into problems getting the driver to pick you up at just the right spot. Ever play a frantic game of phone tag as the driver circles the block looking for you? Mercifully, that might not be much of an issue in the near future. Uber is partnering with Foursquare to use the location-based service's data to improve the accuracy of pickups and dropoffs. It'll tweak Foursquare's point-of-interest info to show drivers where to go when you request a ride or a bite to eat. It may indicate where the front entrance is, for example, or tell UberEats drivers to stop near the side door.
Twitter taps Yelp for detailed location tagging in the UK
The next time you decide to add a location to one of your tweets, expect to see a lot more businesses and popular places in your list. That's because Twitter has teamed up with business listing and review site Yelp to supply location services for UK and Japanese users inside its app. It's very similar to the deal the social networking giant struck with Foursquare in the US last year, giving brands and (more importantly) followers a little more context around what it is you're doing.
You can predict city gentrification through check-ins and tweets
Do you dread the thought of gentrification jacking up real estate prices (and stifling culture) in your neighborhood? In the future, you might only need to keep tabs on social networks to know when your part of town is changing -- British researchers have learned that Foursquare check-ins and Twitter posts can help predict gentrification. If many people start visiting unfamiliar locations in materially-deprived neighborhoods (say, trendy new restaurants) with their friends, that's usually a good sign that these areas will be gentrified before long. Accordingly, places that are dominated by locals and regulars tend to resist that shift, no matter the income levels.
