Sometimes, an official press release can say it a heck of a lot better than I could…well, at least a lot more straightforward and without the sass. Nevertheless, this one is rad, and worth all your attention so lend me your ears, eyes and brains and check this out:

Popular friend finding service to be run by leading publisher of mobile location based applications

Boston, MA - January 10, 2007– Today, uLocate Communications Inc. announced their acquisition of the Buddy Beacon™ name from Helio LLC. Introduced by Helio in partnership with uLocate in 2006, Buddy Beacon leverages location based technology to allow users to share their location from their mobile device so they can more easily connect with their friends. As part of the agreement, uLocate will continue to work with Helio to operate and innovate on top of the Buddy Beacon service currently available to its members. This acquisition solidifies uLocate’s position as the leading publisher of mobile location based services.”Helio turned to uLocate to develop the technology behind Buddy Beacon,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of uLocate Communications. “The rapid adoption of Buddy Beacon by Helio’s members has demonstrated that consumers are ready to use GPS technology as a method of connecting with their friends. When integrated with WHERE™, our leading location based application platform, we are confident that the Buddy Beacon user experience will be unparalleled by any other mobile friend finding application in the market.”"uLocate has been a great partner to work with as we developed the Buddy Beacon concept into a leading location sharing service,” said Greg Hayes, Head of Convergence for Helio. “We look forward to continuing to work with uLocate to build on Buddy Beacon, further leveraging their location based services expertise.”

“Mobile Location Based Services, and GPS applications, are at the forefront of the industry’s mind,” said Brent Iadarola, Global Research Director for Mobile and Wireless at Frost and Sullivan. “When you combine their acquisition of the Buddy Beacon name with the additional technology and distribution power of their product WHERE, the world’s leading location based mobile application platform, it is clear that uLocate is a key company to watch in this exciting space.”

For more information on uLocate Communications, Inc. and Buddy Beacon, please visit www.ulocate.com.

About uLocate Communications Inc.
uLocate Communications is the leading publisher of mobile location enabled applications. In addition to developing mobile LBS applications for strategic partners, uLocate operates WHERE, the world’s leading mobile LBS application platform which is currently available to subscribers on numerous wireless operators.

About Helio
Helio is a joint venture between SK Telecom, one of the world’s most advanced wireless carriers, and Earthlink, the next generation internet service provider. With advanced mobile services, exclusive, high-end, beautiful devices and smart pricing on a nationwide high-speed 3G network, Helio is built for consumers who have mobile at the center of their lives. www.helio.com

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Contact:
Dan Gilmartin: 617 502 3100
uLocate Communications, Inc.
dgilmartin@ulocate.com

This week’s WHERE Widget of the Week is actually going out to two people I’ve never met, but feel like I know pretty darn well because of their weekly podcast Diggnation. That’s right, this week’s widget goes out to you Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, seeing as though your month of calling off beer is almost at an end.

There you have it, this week’s WHERE Widget of the Week is none other than Brewery Finder. What does this have to do with Diggnation you might ask? Simple. If you have watched you’ll know, if not, I’ll fill you in…each week along with their video podcast, the boys test out a different beer while they read over the weekly top stories from Digg.com. They decided to take the entire month of January sober, and seeing as though it’s over this week, I thought they might need help finding their nearest brewery. Ok, realistically they probably won’t need help at all, but nevertheless, this one is for you guys.

The widget, according to our site, basically has this description: “Because it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere, use Brewery Finder to find the closest brewery to quench your thirst.”Log into your account, drag Brewery Finder onto your phone and who knows, if you’re in the San Fran area, you might just run into the guys!

In a world of instant messages, text messages, and quick fire emails from your cell phone, how great would it be to let people know exactly WHERE you were sending a message from instead of just what you were doing?  How great would it be to set up location based reminders that will actually remind you when you’re In a place, or around it?  Yeah, pretty great my friends, pretty great indeed.

Lucky for all of us, those days are here, and the new WHERE Widget Jot You is making all that junk I Just mentioned entirely possible.  From the actual WHERE page, it says that the Jot You widget is, “Location-based messaging. Leave notes for your friends — or reminders for yourself — at the locations you choose.”

Don’t just tell your friends where you’re hanging out, SHOW them.  Don’t just walk by the same place every day and forget the very thing you tried so hard to remember, have a location-based reminder do it for you.  With WHERE and Jot You, all these things are possible, so what are you waiting for, install it!

While this is not exactly about GPS, Widgets, or heck, even WHERE for that matter, this is about the mobile industry and it is just a sign of the times absolutely changing…for the mobile warriors out there, for the better.

This “sign” is the simple fact that for all you DirecTV customers out there, you can now program, and schedule recordings on your DVR back at home using nothing more than your phone.  Yeah, you heard me right, you can program recordings from a mobile website that your cell phone can access and not have to worry about missing all your precious shows.

Straight from the DirecTV website, here’s what they have to say:

“RECORD SHOWS ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
Tied up at work? Stuck in traffic? Got some downtime while traveling? With DIRECTV’s DVR SCHEDULER you no longer need to be at home to program your DIRECTV Plus® DVR. This free and easy-to-use feature will let you schedule recordings from any computer or mobile phone anytime, anywhere, so your shows are ready to watch whenever you are.”

So now I’m at an impasse…do I celebrate the changing of the times to allow for this advance, or do I weep openly that Television is now so dramatically accessible?  I know not.

I thought about it today while browsing around the WHERE Page, and I realized, there is a pretty good chance that all of You might be a little bit behind, as I clearly was, on what is all current and new with the WHERE program.

The WHERE FAQ is an amazing and extremely simple way to get acquainted with all things WHERE and lets you get quick answers from everything ranging from the simple (how to add WHERE Widgets to your phone) to the more complex and timely (getting WHERE on MetroPCS, Sprint or Alltel).

Nevertheless, I think you should browse over, get brushed up, and brace yourself for what I’m extremely sure will be an exciting 2008.  Anything the FAQ doesn’t answer, please feel free to contact US and we’ll get your questions answered, and heck, might even add them to the FAQ!

How is this for cool my good friends, WHERE has officially launched on MetroPCS, making it the 4th major carrier in the U.S. to join!  How rad is that.  I even found another little article out there that had this to say:

“Ulocate communications today announced that its GPS widget platform “WHERE” is now available with the U.S. wireless operator metroPCS. Where costs $2.99 per month and is currently compatible with five metroPCS phones. MetroPCS has over 3.6 million subscribers in the United States.” 

Now, for all you who are with MetroPCS and want to hop on the WHERE train…here’s how to go about it, straight from our FAQ:
Application download and installation:

1. Launch the @metro by pressing the right navigation key and select the Mobile Shop icon.
2. Select the Shopping Cart to browse the @metro mobile shop.
3. Scroll down to the @connected category and select the “OK�? key
4. Select the WHERE application to download.
5. Once you authorize payment from your MetroConnectSM account, the application will
   download automatically—WHERE will be added as an application under @metro Apps.

Web account creation and web to handset sync:

1. Launch @metro Apps by pressing the right navigation key and scroll to the WHERE icon.
2. Select “OK�? to launch WHERE.
3. After WHERE has finished loading on your handset, select “Menu�? and then “Web Activation�?.
4. Now select the “Finished�? button below.
5. When prompted, enter your Activation Code from your handset and select “DONE�?.
6. Now restart WHERE—your handset is now sync’d to your web account.
7. Complete the web account creation form to setup your WHERE.com account.
8. Success! Drag and drop a few Widgets to your virtual phone and start using WHERE.

This little gem of news should come as no surprise, but November 2008 is rapidly approaching, and that means ELECTION Time is too.  I don’t know what you believe, I don’t know which way you vote, and to be frank, I don’t really care because that’s your business.  What I DO care about, is no matter which way you vote, you stay informed, and make an intelligent decision based on all you learn.

Lucky for you, me, your mail man and all the rest of us, WHERE Is going to help out!  That’s right, this weeks WHERE Widget of the Week is Eventful Politics.  What it does, according to our site, is simple: “November 2008 is fast approaching. Eventful Politics keeps you informed of political events in your area. “

So, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Demopublican or Republicrat, I don’t care…get informed, get to the local election events in YOUR area, and cast your vote.  We must be the change we wish to see in the world, right Gandhi?

Man, it’s just a week of acronyms isn’t it?  First the post on LBS, now we’re talking about LIP’s, yeah, Location Independent Professionals.  The age of the office might just be coming to an end and people like me, people like you, the mobile warrior, always roaming, might just be starting to take over.  We few, we proud, we LIPs can be anywhere the Internets will reach, and now, anywhere the cell phone signals will travel.

That said, I just found a pretty awesome article packed with 12 ways you can use your cell phone besides to just place and receive calls.  The ideas range from using the phone to scan, copy and fax, to check on the status of your airline flights.  My personal favorite, however, is the final entry on the list, number 12:

“#12 To find out what’s around you

Where provides GPS widgets for you to customise your mobile phone (US only) and find out things like:

• Local points of interest around you
• Weather reports for your location
• Earthquakes — find the most recent earthquakes by proximity (we had one the other day in Grenada!)
• Your nearest golf course
• Where the nearest roadside help is
• The nearest wine tour at your local wineries”

Head over, find ways you can join 2008 and get as far away from your office as humanly possible.

Ok, I’m not positive, but I am fairly sure more than once on this humble establishment that my sense of direction is quite possibly the worst of all time. I have lived in the town I live in right now on and off since I was 5 years old, and to this day, if you blindfolded me, drove for 15 minutes and dropped me off somewhere, I would probably get lost and not be able to find my way home.

So, what do I turn on WHERE to find and get beyond excited about? Yeah, how about a WHERE MapQuest Widget. Believe it. NO more getting lost, No more never knowing the directions to any business or restaurant. From the official site, here’s what you’re in store for when you boot up the MapQuest Widget: “Find businesses and services near your location using MapQuest’s directory. You’ll be able to call or get directions, too.”

The great part about that, is it uses MapQuest’s directory. Huge directory. Massive. So, where you are will no longer be the great mystery; all will fall into place and your starving buns will be occupying that restaurant seat before you can say “Help.” Believe it.

Welcome to 2008.  It’s officially official that it’s officially 2008 now.  No almosts, no halfways, it’s here, and it should be an absolutely wild ride.  I am not exactly sure what 2007 was the “year of” but there is a great deal of talk that 2008 will be the year of LBS.  LBS, my friends, stands for Location Based Service.  In short, GPS finding you, to help You find all You need.  In shorter short…WHERE.

That’s right, the article mentions that LBS are popping up all over the place and a select few are really exciting and doing exciting things.  Contests are one way that companies are getting the word out, and WHERE Is no stranger to that…the article says, “…Another hot LBS contest, the WHERE Developer Contest, is sponsored by WHERE, one of the top platforms for developing mobile applications. The WHERE platform enables developers to create rich BREW/J2ME mobile applications using a simplified markup language.”

If this truly is the year of the LBS, which I Believe it will be, I could not be with a better group of people, doing better things.  I can’t wait to see what 2008 brings for WHERE, and what WHERE will bring to all of you in 2008.  Hold onto your hats kids, it’s going to be a fun ride.