Devs: RIM Adds Wi-Fi Geolocation Service for Location-Aware Apps

RIM improved their location services that they offer devs this month with the addition of Wi-Fi geolocation. Originally devs had to use GPS to find your location and then RIM added the ability to get your location from cell phone towers (Cell Site Geolocation) a year ago. Now devs can also get your location based on the Wi-Fi network you are connected to. RIM collected this information anonymously from BlackBerry users to enable the feature worldwide.

Wi-Fi geolocation nicely compliments the GPS and cell tower location services and should help devs get a quick location on OS 6.0+ devices. Check out more details about the service and API’s on RIM’s devblog. Some apps may already be setup to use this service as Ebscer points out on Twitter if they are using the Optimal Geolocation mode.

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Profile Assist Changes Your Settings Based on Location, Time, or Battery Level

I am always on the hunt for a better app to automatically manage my BlackBerry settings and radios based on my location or time. The latest I have spotted in Profile Assist by Craig T. The app lets you easily set events based on your customizable triggers on location, time of day, or battery life level. That lets you change your ringer profile, Bluetooth settings, Wi-Fi, wallpaper, and GPS settings based on those triggers.

The best part is that Profile Assist is selling for a very reasonable $0.99 in App World. The main downside I see so far is that it looks like the app uses GPS instead of cell phone tower triangulation for location events but hopefully they will update that. There is also a platform limitation that cannot change your profile or Bluetooth settings while holstered but the app will vibrate and change the settings as soon as you unholster or unlock your phone. Let us know what you think of the app if you give it a spin!

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Elasitas Menoo Enters Location Based Food Review Field With Private Beta

We heard about Tasterous a bit back and now it looks like they have some competition coming. Ashley let us know about Elasitas Menoo which is currently in private beta. Menoo attempts to mash together location based services with food reviews in a sort of Foursquare meets Yelp. So far I have learned from DailySocial’s coverage that Menoo’s US version of their service works with AllMenus.com to get their info along with their catalog from Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand. They also told confirmed that augmented reality features will be coming with BlackBerry 7 devices.

You can sign up for an invite to the private beta of Menoo at this link. Let us know if you get in!

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