Notices

Okay, so google has launched a new feature called "Near me Now".

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/201...is-easier.html

So this is great. Immediate location based search and it just needs a location aware browser. The N900's browser with the meamo-geolocation add on meets this criteria, I mean just look at our browser's ability to use mobile Safari's Google Latitude page to prove that.

Unfortunately, I can't test this on my N900 since there isn't a specific URL that takes you to a "Near Me Now" enabled google homepage. They're targeting this at (surprise, surprise) Android and iPhone browser's user agent strings only.

Now, I'd love to try this and if it works I'd love to use it but I hate the thought of dumbing down my browser by editing the user agent string to match that of Android or the iPhone for any appreciable length of time.

Anyone got a way to change user agent strings on the N900 browser easily?

Hell, if someone could even point me to the block of text to change in a browser settings file, then I could script a sed command to change the agent string back and forth and then tie that sed script to a desktop icon.

Or has someone got an even better idea?

I may have found my own answer:

http://my-maemo.com/software/applica...7&fldAuto=1023

I'm going to test this now.

Okay, forgive the ego of replying to my own thread but in case anyone else comes upon this and cares......

hideuseragent seems to work fine when I set it to "iPhone" and restart the browser. I go to www.google.com and it looks like the Safari Optimized version, but with no " Near me now" button.

But I don't think this is my problem as I had a friend point his actual iPhone at google and he also just sees a blank patch of screen where the "Near me now" dialog would seem to be.

Perhaps google just hasn't pushed this out live yet?

The Firefox browser has a plug-in called Near Me...but the problem I have with it is that it only returns 4-5 results max. I don't see any place to change it.

This is the mobile Firefox that works on the N900, right?
If so, I gotta try it. 4-5 results is better then nothing.

Perhaps more results would show up if you were near more items. Are you checking this in a rural area or a metropolitan one?

You could try the iPhone Google maps web site (no need to masquerade). i.e. http://www.google.co.uk/maps/m (or http://www.google.com/maps/m).

Click "menu" in the bottom right corner and choose search.

As long as you have the maemo-geolocation plugin installed the page knows where you are and will update your Latitude location too.

Yeah, I already use this and love it for replacing most of the functionality I had in the S60 Google Maps application.

However, if this "Near me Now" works, it would be much faster since it has no cumbersome map graphics to load.

Correct.

I was looking for something to replace my Windows Live Search app from my Motorola Q. Its cleaner than having "web based results". The Near Me is an advertised plugin from the Firefox Mobile page, and uses GPS (pretty quicly I may add) to find your current locale. It comes with some preloaded searches like "Pizza", so you just press and get the "itemized listing of results".

But like I said, it would be nice to get more than 4-5 results somehow. I would think that Google could find more than (5) pizza places between DC and Baltimore (I'm centrally located between the two cities). What is also weird is that I did a search for something else, and it found a place 20 miles away in Baltimore, so it seems like the small list isn't due to a small geographical radius.

As a fallback, I've created a web browser bookmark for the Google Maps search page. I may have to change my city manually, but at least I get more results.

You live near DC? Have you chimed in on the proposed DC meet up?

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...550#post457550

Didn't see my posts over there? Either way, my g/f is coming back tomorrow...won't get much chance to get out to play.



Plus letting her know that I just signed up for a pool league may not go over well either.




DId you get Near Me working???