Official Press Release time again this fine Wednesday afternoon! Check out how cool it is that uLocate and WHERE have helped Buddy Beacon’s functionality be completely extended and now rocks about 100% more than it used to, which is HARD to do.

Pretty awesome friends, pretty awesome indeed. Scroll down for the Press Release Love:

uLocate Communications Enhances and Extends Buddy Beacon™ Functionality

Revolutionary friend finding service offers cross-carrier interoperability on five mobile carriers, as well as applications on iPhone and Facebook

Boston, MA - February 13, 2008– Today, with the release of a new version of Buddy Beacon™, uLocate Communications introduced the world’s most advanced location enabled mobile friend finding service. With Buddy Beacon, users can choose when to share their location, and what they are up to, with their friends. Buddy Beacon is the first location enabled friend finding application that is interoperable between multiple carriers.

In addition to cross-carrier interoperability, the Buddy Beacon platform allows users to update their location and status on leading online social networking sites, including Facebook. As a compliment to this feature, uLocate has also unveiled a Buddy Beacon application on Facebook. This functionality extends the Buddy Beacon user experience beyond mobile devices.

“Historically, consumers who use mobile friend finding applications have been limited to interacting only with other users who share their same carrier,” said Scott Ellison, VP of Mobile and Wireless Communications at IDC. “With Buddy Beacon, uLocate has removed this limitation by providing a friend finding product that transcends the single carrier barrier. Additionally, the introduction of cross-platform functionality with online services, such as Facebook, provides the potential for viral adoption of the application. uLocate has clearly emerged as a leader in the mobile friend finding space.”

“Helio has always been committed to providing our members with innovative ways to communicate with their trusted circle of friends,” said Greg Hayes, Head of Convergence at Helio. “The new Buddy Beacon experience provides better context for location sharing, enhances ease of use and creates new occasions to publish location as a social networking activity. We know that our members will benefit from the enhanced capabilities that we have developed in conjunction with uLocate.”

“Consumer adoption of Buddy Beacon has been remarkable. We are delighted to now offer the service across numerous carriers and the iPhone, as well as extend the service functionality to the web,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of uLocate Communications. “Buddy Beacon is a revolutionary application that offers a new way to interact with your friends and keep them updated on where you are and what you are up to. We plan to continually advance the functionality and availability of the service in the months ahead.”

For more information, or to get Buddy Beacon on your phone, please visit www.where.com/buddybeacon.

About uLocate Communications Inc.

uLocate Communications is the market leading developer of location based applications. In addition to developing location based applications for strategic partners, uLocate markets and operates WHERE™ and Buddy Beacon™. WHERE is the leading location based application platform that offers consumers access to a library of over 60 location based widgets on multiple operators in North America. Buddy Beacon is the world’s largest mobile friend finding solution that lets consumers leverage the power of location based technology to connect with their friends. For more information, please visit: www.ulocate.com.

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Contact:

Dan Gilmartin

VP Marketing

uLocate Communications, Inc.

dgilmartin@ulocate.com

617-502-3100

Happy Monday friends! Great news comin’ down the pipe this fine February Monday, looks like WHERE’s parent company uLocate just made an absolutely awesome acquisition! I’ll let the official press release do most of the heavy lifting talking, but bottom line is, this acquisition should be unreal, and lead to many more exciting and innovative advances!

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the official press release from uLocate, check it out, then head back over to WHERE.com and play around with all your amazing WHERE Widgets!

Team and technology to enhance and extend the reach of uLocate products

Boston, MA - February 7, 2008 — Today, uLocate Communications announced that they have acquired Zync, a Boston based start-up that develops predictive web-based technologies that provide users with recommendations for local events and activities based on the preferences of like-minded individuals. Combined with uLocate’s award winning location based mobile products, these technologies will accelerate the delivery of next generation mobile and web applications. The Zync team will play an integral part in this convergence by joining uLocate’s existing team of mobile and location based service experts.

“We have reached a major inflection point in the evolution of networking,” said Brad Rosen, co-founder and CEO of Zync. “The worlds of mobile and the Internet are finally colliding, enabling a new breed of compelling applications and user experiences. With WHERETM and Buddy BeaconTM, the uLocate team has demonstrated market leadership with products that will impact the way people use location based technology to enhance their everyday lives. This acquisition offers the Zync team an opportunity to work with a world-class company at a critical time in the market. We couldn’t be more excited.”

Rosen joins uLocate as Vice President of Products. In this role, he will leverage his 15 years of experience in product development, and his successful track record of growing early-stage companies, to guide product strategy and drive consumer usage for uLocate’s products.

“Since launching in April 2007, our product WHERE has brought over 50 location based applications to market and launched on six North American carriers,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of uLocate Communications. “We are now ready to begin the next chapter for our product development strategy. Zync’s web based technology, and their team of experienced individuals, will allow us augment our mobile accomplishments by creating a new type of location based consumer experience.”

About uLocate Communications Inc.
uLocate Communications is the market leading developer of location based applications. In addition to developing location based applications for strategic partners, uLocate markets and operates their own services, WHERE™ and Buddy Beacon™. WHERE is the leading location based application platform that offers consumers access to a library of over 50 location based widgets on multiple operators in North American. Buddy Beacon is the world’s largest mobile friend finding solution that lets consumers leverage the power of location based technology to connect with their friends. For more information, please visit: www.ulocate.com.

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

Ok folks, we’re officially in the Green Revolution and as such, we should all be on board.  Hybrid cars are coming out in record numbers, more people are walking, biking and using public transport; heck when celebrities are behind the cause shouldn’t you be? (Please, please tell me you heard my sarcasm.)

At any rate, I’m disappointed in all of us.  I just read an article that explained how this past quarter, only 9.4% of all Americans who purchased new cell phones actually recycled their own handsets.  Yeah, not even 10%.  Ok, now there IS a little silver lining, this is double the number of handsets recycled last quarter…still, not anywhere near where it should be.

According to the article:

“More than one third of all old handsets, 36.8 percent to be precise, were stored away in the fourth quarter of 2007, and now are collecting dust in closets throughout America…onsumers keep their old phones because they perceive them to have some residual value. However, all too often, those handsets end up in the trash when spring cleaning comes.” 

So, get up, find your phones and START RECYCLING.  I’m not a celebrity, I probably won’t ever be, but I think it’s pretty cool to save the planet.  Head over, read up and get recycling! 

I don’t know where you live, but I will say this:  I hope it’s not at all like where I live.  Winter here is without a doubt, miserable.  Well, not always, but bottom line is, if you don’t like sub-zero temperatures (we hit -35 below zero the other day) and if you don’t like TONS of snow (we have about 2 feet in my front yard) don’t live here.

That said, this Widget has been featured before as a WHERE Widget of the Week, but it’s going to be again for one reason, and one reason alone:  How many flippin’ car accidents happen due to the ice, snow and foul weather around here.  Everywhere I drive, every time I run an errand someone is in a wreck.  The worst part about this is, if you don’t have a phone book in your car, don’t know who to call, how to move your car, and don’t want to rely on the police to pick the “best” choice for you, you’re pretty much screwed.  Enter WHERE Auto Repair Widget.

This little baby will save your life.  That’s all I’m going to say about it.  According to the official site:  “Your old pick-up truck didn’t quite make it to the rental location so use the Auto Repair widget for your roadside emergency services.”  Boot it up and sit back and chill.  Easy peasy.  Now just drive safe!

Thinking of buying a GPS unit, GPS enabled phone, or some other kind of snazzy new GPS device this year?  If you’re like, oh, the whole rest of the world, that answer might be a very big Yes and with Tax Return Time just around the corner, who knows, you might have some extra cash to drop on some fun new tech.

So, with all the new product, all the new tech, all the snazzy fancy gadgets, where do you turn and what do you look for?  Glad you asked, I just found a pretty sweet and short article with 4 tips on what exactly to look for and questions to ask yourself when you find yourself in the market.  Head over and check out the article, but here are their 4 tips:

• “Do you want a handheld device or one designed primarily for use in a vehicle? Some vehicle units are portable, but not as convenient as handhelds.
• Do you want an add-on unit for your car, or the more expensive factory-installed unit that utilizes the vehicle’s dashboard controls?
• Instead of a separate device, would you rather have a cell phone that offers GPS service for about $10 a month extra?
• If you want to buy an add-on GPS unit for your car, consider how easy it will be to hide it from potential thieves when you leave your vehicle unattended. “

Great tips!  My advice is simple, get a phone that you can slap WHERE on and really make the most out of your snazzy new GPS phone.  With all our widgets, there’s really no going wrong!

Every so often I read some little bit of news that just absolutely makes my day.  Now, the fact that the whole wide world is getting a whole lot more technologically advanced doesn’t make a lot of people happy, but one thing that is not debatable about the shift…it’s bringing everyone a lot closer and distance a lot more meaningless.

That said, I just found some news that mobile internet service in Africa is gearing up to see a gigantic boost.  That’s right, coverage and availability in Africa will drastically rise, allowing cell and mobile internet connections in places that previously were dead space.  While this is good news for a lot of people, the price points still put the service very much out of reach for many African citizens.  According to the article:

“Analysis from growth consulting company Frost and Sullivan predicts that Africa’s demand for mobile Internet access will increase between 40% and 50% between 2006 and 2009. It is thought that this expansion is due to the continent’s lack of sufficient fixed line structure and the reduced cost of handset and mobile internet service prices.”

Whatever the case may be, this is just one of many signs that the world is advancing towards realities we never thought of.  Before you know it, there will not be a single place on the planet where you can not make a phone call, shop online, or visit WHERE.com.  Insane.