Geode Plug-in Will Tell Firefox Where You Are
Mozilla is getting ready to push Firefox into the realm of geo-awareness with a new Labs offering that will be known as Geode. The company will make an official announcement later today, but already some details about Geode are trickling out.
Here’s what we know at this point:
- Geode will be a Labs-based Firefox plug-in
- Unlike many geodata services, Geode appears to aimed squarely at the desktop/laptop rather than mobile devices.
- Geode’s goal is make Firefox location aware. Say you’re in Manhattan for the week and you want to find a restaurant. Head to Yelp and Geode will automatically find nearby restaurants and offer directions.
Of course the brief descriptions and hints Mozilla has dropped so far raise more questions than they answer. The big question that seems most relevant is how web services will interact with Geode and what the advantage of having a centralized service will be. After all, sites like Yelp, Flickr and YouTube already offer pretty good geo-searching tools, what will be the advantage of having the browser handle that task?
It’s also worth noting is that Geode will not be the first add-on to bring location awareness to Firefox. The Firefox geodata plug-in Loki can already do much of what Geode promises to offer. Of course without more information from Mozilla, it’s impossible to know how Loki and Geode might differ.
We’ll be sure to update you when Mozilla makes its official announcement later today.
[Update: Mozilla has made its announcement, check out our follow-up coverage]
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