Google Maps knows where you are, even on a desktop
Many people have used Google Maps on mobile phones to find out where they are, helping them home after a long night etc. Now Maps does it on your desktop or laptop.
Just click the new dot under the navigation arrows. You’ll need a recent browser – Chrome 2 or Firefox 3.5 – or to have installed Google Gears (the tool that lets you use enabled web sites offline). That’s it.
The accuracy is unnerving – it uses local wifi hotspots to locate you if possible, or falls back on your network IP address (most of these have been quite accurately mapped).
Privacy? Get over it… you don’t have any, as Scott McNealy said. You can turn it off of course, but you’ll miss out on plenty of useful stuff that will ride on the back of this. And expect ads for the pizza place next door.
