I See What You Did There

Okay, so Google Latitude is an imperfect tool, but it's sure a fun one. I spent a good hour yesterday stalking myself, then I stalked the Wabbit, then I went to Wabbit's office with the program open on my BlackBerry only to find him also geeking in it on his desktop. We went to dinner and couldn't stop doing it; it's like crack. Though Latitude would tell you differently, we actually both ate at the same restaurant.

It tracks the basic neighborhood correctly, but not always the exact location. According to Latitude, beowabbit spent the night in the church yard a few blocks from his house in Quincy, while I slept on the banks of the Mystic River in Somerville. Walking distance, but not precisely right. Sometimes it can detect that I'm at my workplace, while other times it has me swimming in the Charles River (which is just down the street).

One thing to consider is that our PDAs are not newer models, so maybe we're lucky that it works at all on them. I get better results when I use it on the computer. Right now I can tell that Wabbit is on the T, but he's just past Charles MGH and he doesn't pass that stop on his usual commute, so either he's going somewhere other than work, or Latitude is wonking. 2-minute Update: Now it says we're both in Boston Common. Mkay.

So, my early adopter opinion: this toy is hella fun, but it really is a toy at this point and shouldn't be depended upon for any serious tracking. I'm sure Google will work the bugs out in time. I can happily recommend giving it a try just for fun, though. I would suggest sticking to just one or two people to track until you get the hang of it.

The 25 Things Meme

1) When I first became aware of the word "meme" (which was when I started using LJ in 2002), I thought it was pronounced "me-me" because they're usually about the person posting them. It was several years before I heard it pronounced out loud.

( the rest are under here )