Skip to main content

Location in GMail Signature

GMail (including Google Apps) has a Labs feature that enables the addition of location to email signatures:

Enable Location in Signature

As with other location-based services from Google, it relies on IP address as well as Google Gears. When this Labs feature is enabled, it adds a new setting to the Signature settings (look under General settings):

Append location

Once this is done, whenever a new email is composed, a line is appended to the signature with the location.

Seems like Google’s going overboard with location-in-everything (including offerings like Google Latitude). Weren’t web-based email services supposed to offer location privacy (since originating IP in mail headers was restricted to the IP address of the email provider)?

Comments

Rainman said…
This Labs feature was launched a few weeks ago itself, wasn't it? Everything these days seems to be moving towards integration with Location Based Services - third party Twitter apps, Facebook (rumored?), etc. It looks like its only a matter of time before location features become mainstream with e-mail as well ( I have disabled this Labs feature for now ;-)).
Anonymous said…
What, you're not sharing your location?! I'm shocked! ;-)
Anonymous said…
... and yes, it came a few weeks ago. I'm behind the times.

Popular posts from this blog

Migrating from Palm Calendar to Google Calendar and iPhone

Here are the free steps to migrate from Palm's date book (or Pimlico's DateBk6 ) calendar to Google calendar for full iPhone sync. First, sync Palm with Palm Desktop . Next, open Palm Desktop, select the Calendar view, navigate to File | Export, select Export Type as Date Book Archive, Range as All and provide a file name. This will export the calendar data as Date Book Archive (.dba). There's a paid tool called DBA2CSV that converts .dba files to .csv files. However this can be done for free using Yahoo Calendar. Login into Yahoo Calendar and via Settings/Import, import the .dba file. It helps to have an empty Yahoo Calendar. Via Settings/Export, export the calendar as .csv file. Login to Google Calendar (also works with Google Apps For Your Domain GAFYD Calendar) and import the .csv file into any of the calendars. It is a good idea to create a test calendar and test the import before importing into your real calendar. That way if anything goes wrong, you can delet...

AD-5526 Digital Multimeter

The AD-5526 is an ancient multimeter from A&D but for $10 one can’t complain. Has all the basic features one would expect from a multimeter and at 5.2 cm X 9.5 cm X 2.6 cm, it’s quite compact. Uses a LRV08 12V alkaline battery – not a common battery in the USA.

RTL-SDR, Raspberry Pi and Plane Spotting via ADS-B

Most modern aircraft carry an ADS-B ( Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast ) transmitter that puts out information about the aircraft's identification, geospatial location, speed, and heading. This information is received by ground stations and air traffic control and used as a replacement for radar-based tracking. ADS-B relies on line-of-sight communication via signals transmitted at 1090 Mhz and has a range of up to 250 nautical miles. Sites such as FlightAware , FlightRadar24 , Plane Finder , RadarBox24 , etc. collect ADS-B information using a vast array of ADS-B receivers, some of which are run by hobbyists, and present this information on maps with near-real-time updates. With the advent of cheap software-defined-radio (SDR) dongles, over the past few years, it has become extremely cheap and easy for amateurs to receive ADS-B signals, upload data to these sites and, in exchange, get access to premium features from these sites. This guide will walk you t...