Comments on: Mozilla Labs Geode: Follow up

By: شات

شات — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:36:23 +0000

nice،،،،

By: Epicanis

Epicanis — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:13:09 +0000

I absolutely love the geolocation concept and am very pleased to see it being developed - but there is something bothering me about the use of “Skyhook”…and it’s not what you might think.

Basically - the problem with getting Skyhook™ on Linux seems to be that Skyhook™ needs low-level access to the system to command the wireless card drivers to scan for detectable access points and report back what they see, right?

Wasn’t the reason given for the fact that Ubiquity was only partially functional on Linux that (and I admit I’m ignorantly and grossly oversimplifying here in my interpretation of this…) the developers couldn’t decide on a way to get low-level access to window-control functions for certain features on Linux?

What disturbs me here is it makes it sound an awful lot like Firefox is turning into a new “Internet Explorer”, pushing towards requiring deeper hooks into the core system rather than running as an ordinary application. Am I mistaken?

(Still very much looking forward to geolocation functionality in Firefox 3.1 - without Skyhook™ or other proprietary platform-specific components - and appreciate Mozilla taking the lead on this…Thanks!)

By: Robert O'Callahan

Robert O'Callahan — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:05:01 +0000

This API is actually great for user “D”. Because he/she can set the location to the UK, and sites that use the API instead of IP-address hacks will serve the UK content. Everybody wins.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:48:41 +0000

First off this is awesome! I spent a couple hours playing with the API and integrating it into a GeoLocation website (www.gpstwit.com) and it’s fast simple and very useful.

- The system seems smart and puts the end-user in control so people should not be as concerned about privacy (as they seem to be).
- The current design works fine with WiFi but doesn’t work on wired desktops, that said great V1.

It’s a great idea and I’m excited to see it take off. This is the convergence of Mobile and Web. Bravo.

By: Fowl

Fowl — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:29:44 +0000

I’m not sure how this could be a security feature…

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:19:17 +0000

I find it funny that most recent innovations on the web boil down to a variant of “pr0n mode” ;)

That being said, geolocation in the browser can indeed spawn innovation, so I am excited about it. Yet I can be abused just as easily, so it is good to put privacy on top of the priority list here.

By: Amos

Amos — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:49:58 +0000

skierpage: D is obviously very clued in. He/she is already suffering the effects of geolocation based on IP address and is warning that there are negative consequences to a geo-location-aware web.

These are valid concerns. They don’t pertain directly to Geode or the JS Geolocation API since, as you say, the user will have control over what, if anything, gets sent using that API when using Firefox. But the concern that web sites will increasingly use your location to alter your experience to your detriment is legitimate.

Unfortunately, your scenario 1 is only going to work if the site you are talking to gives more weight to what you tell it than what it knows about your IP address. For restrictive sites, that isn’t going to happen.

Other than a Tor network that was large and vibrant enough to avoid being blocked itself, along with some sort of exit node location setting, I’m not sure how one would get around the existing IP based filters.

Anyhow, I’m happy that the voluntary location aware ability is coming, if only because it will save me typing in my postal code and will render those databases less valuable. Real geo info, despite some draconic access policies in some governments, is the way to go!

By: skierpage

skierpage — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:46:00 +0000

FYI, Latest nightly FF3.1 20081013033718 + Geolocation 0.4 is broken again, I don’t see the banner and the callback isn’t called.

The manual case is very important in two scenarios:
1. Even in browsers with geolocation support, there must be a way to override your location. (”Show me stuff somewhere else than where I am”.) That could be a fourth button [Somewhere else...] on the banner
bar that appears.
2. Apps running in browsers with no geolocation should provide a fallback in JavaScript (”Tell Buzzword 2.0 where you are… (or install Firefox 3.1)”.
I hope the two scenarios can share code.

Commenter “D”, *try* geolocation out instead of spouting off, otherwise you just advertise yourself as clueless. When a site attempts geolocation, *you’re asked* what to do. Permanently disallow it and there’s no geolocation.

By: D

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:31:41 +0000

This is horrible.
I am currently living in Spain, but I am from the US.
I hate pages, even if everything in my OS is set to EN_US, to force Spanish contents on me, or even restrict access to certain sites or services because I am not living in the US.
Geolocation only serves to fragment the web, you don’t get the same hits in google.es, for example (searching for software always puts a link to a scam-ish site named softonic or something like that). It is confusing, and makes the experience much worse, even if my profile is set to American contents, those based on my location are almost forced on me.
Stop this, please, it will only fragment the web further.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:16:11 +0000

Wow. The comment thread on the post over in Mozilla Labs is…incredible. Try to improve browsing experience, and half the world laments, “But it’s not the way it was before!” Not to mention all the hue and cry about privacy, which you have very, very carefully designed around.

*sigh* Sometimes it makes you wonder if the human race is worth designing for.