Appnoodle

Google Latitude extends the reach of social networking by enabling users to snoop on keep up to date with their friends’ positions and broadcast their own location via their mobile. In essence, that’s it, but of course it’s important to disable the service when your location needs to be a closely guarded secret – when you’re in the pub having thrown a sickie or attending a Robbie Williams concert, for instance.

Glympse
Owners of Android powered phones in the UK (and presumably other territories) who are keen to reveal their every move will be disappointed to learn that Latitude is unavailable and there’s consequently no app for download in the Android Market – though it is promised soon according to the Latitude home page.

There is a solution however, it’s a neat one and its name is Glympse. Rather than set your visibility, pick who can see you (and presumably forget all about it), Glympse is specifically designed to give a snapshot of your activity. It’s a different approach and it makes a lot of sense.

So how does it work? Well, it couldn’t be simpler really. Fire up the Glympse app on your phone and you’re met with a customised view of Google maps which includes your online status. Set your nickname and a picture via the settings menu and you’re ready to go.

Glympses can be sent to contacts via email or text message and their duration set for anything from 5 minutes to 4 hours – there’s no option for making a Glympse permanent. Once a notification is received, a contact can be followed in real time on the Glympse web site or by using the mobile app.

Summary
This is a really sweet little app with plenty of uses and it cleverly bypasses most privacy concerns with the built-in time limit. In summary then, it’s hard to find a reason not to have this on your phone. Highly recommended.

Developer web site: www.glympse.com
Price: Free
Availability: Downloadable from the Android market.