Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've seen the emergence of Location Technology. It's all around us, from our cellular phones, portable GPS, car based GPS, Apps, Games, and so on. What you may not realize is, Location Technology has been around for a long time.  

Here's a fun look at the History of Location Technology

I love to read books but no matter how much I read, I'm always amazed at how much our ancestor's were able to accomplish.  

Smoke Signals

Back... back in time, everyone from the American Indians to the Ancient Chinese used Smoke Signals to locate home and communicate signals to remote groups or individuals.

Celestial Navigation

I'm not a mathematician but I'm confident that many reading this can run circles around me when it comes to math. For centuries our ancestors used the stars and mathematics to determine coordinates based on the position or location of the stars and sun. I know I would've been lost for sure! In the mid 18th Century, clockmaker John Harrison invented a chronometer which allowed sailors to determine longitude by accurately tracking the time change between home and their current location

Homing Pigeons 

Certain types of Rock Pigeons were bred to be able to find their homes from extremely long distances. These were used for courier services and navigation for thousands of years.

Magnetic Compass

By using a magnet to point to the earths poles, this invention allowed navigators to finally determine their heading, in addition to latitude and eventually longitude.

Radio Triangulation

By measuring the strengths of radio signals, ships, aircraft, and military ground troops began to be able to estimate their coordinates from very long distances.  

Satellite GPS

There's a group of around 30 satellites that orbits the earth and is used to triangulate the position of the receiver. Nearby satellites send timestamped messages, and the receiver calculates the distance of each satellite based on the speed of the incoming messages compared to the time they were sent. The size of these receivers have shrank considerably since the 1960's when this technology was first deployed.

Automotive GPS Navigation

While many GPS receivers were used for military purposes since the 1960's, the automotive GPS nave unit became the first dedicated GPS device to gain traction among consumers. Initially mapless and slow, these devices now include very detailed maps with turn-by-turn directions and connectivity to additional services like real time traffic.

GPS Enabled SmartPhones 

Every smartphone on the market, be it the Blackberry, Android, iPhone, Windows, etc. have changed the apps industry by allowing third party software applications to take advantage of user location.

Today we have the ever evolving world of Location Based Applications, Gaming, and Social Networks. These apps are everywhere and most developers now have some location functionality to their product. The past 2-3 years, consumers have shifted from candy bar, texting focused phones, to full featured smartphones. These phones have taken over and are in the hands of millions of consumers. We've only touched the tip of the iceberg. The next decade will be an exciting time in technology and mobile electronics.

To friend or not to friend, that is the question

As more people embrace Facebook and other social media websites for business purposes, the already fine line between what's professional and what's personal continues to blur.  It can be difficult to determine which work-related contacts to connect with and what content to share.  Here is some friendly advice:

 

Let your boss make the first move

According to a recent survey, nearly half of executives polled said they are uncomfortable getting Facebook friend requests from people they manage (well that makes sense).  Regardless of how much rapport you have in the office, your supervisor simply might not want to connect with employees on personal networking sites. Avoid awkwardness by waiting for your boss to reach out to you first.  If you choose to accept the friend request, make sure you don't post anything you wouldn't want him or her to see!

 

Protect your privacy and your professional image

Familiarize yourself with Facebook's privacy settings.  Facebook seems to change the parameters of your privacy with minimal notice.  At one point, I swore I was invisible to everyone but my friends, then out of the blue, I'm getting friend requests from practical strangers.  Remember: Unless you use this feature, every word or image you post can be seen by all of your Facebook friends. Do you really want coworkers and clients to view your vacation photos?  Adopt a better-safe-than-sorry approach by creating a separate "work" list and limiting the content you make accessible to those contacts.  You can even go a step further and customize your settings to block specific individuals from viewing certain sections of your profile, such as photos of you and your friends. 

 

Exercise good judgment

This common sense message bears repeating: Don't be your own worst enemy.  If you have a bad day, cool off before clicking.  Badmouthing your boss, a colleague, or a hiring manager through Facebook is a highly risky move that's come back to haunt many professionals. Similarly, if you're currently employed (and you want to remain so), think twice before writing status updates about your search for a newq job.  In addition, avoid becoming a fan of potentially controversial people or products, or taking online quizzes (for which there are no privacy controls) that could be deemed unprofessional. 

 

Consistently monitor your online reputation

Managing your so-called "digital footprint" requires more than merely monitoring what you post.  Check your Facebook account regularly to keep tabs on the information others are broadcasting about you. You'll want to act quickly if someone makes an inappropriate comment on your Facebook wall ("Steve, are you still working for that boneheaded boss?") or identifies you in an embarrassing photo.  You can easily delete comments posted on your wall and untag yourself from pictures by clicking "Remove Tag" under the image.  You also might contact the person to express your displeasure and politely request that he or she keep your professional reputation in mind in the future.  While Facebook enables savvy professionals and job seekers to build key connections, there are also many pitfalls to sidestep.  By taking the tips highlighted above, you can be sure that Facebook helps, not hinders, your career.

Are you on Twitter? Thirty-two million other folks are, but most of them aren't using it to search for work. A recent poll revealed that only 8% of respondents have used Twitter to help with a job search. Don't let this valuable medium go unmined as you look for your next opportunity. Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success," has tips to help you use Twitter to raise your professional profile and fast-forward your job search.

Create your personal brand

Instead of just jumping in, Schawbel says, "Before using any social network, create a single, unified social-media strategy, so that your brand remains consistent throughout each network that you join, including Twitter." He recommends using the same professional picture/avatar and user name, a consistent bio, and a personal brand statement that explains what you do and who your audience is.

Tweak your Twitter homepage

Take advantage of all of Twitter's tools to make sure your Twitter homepage looks professional. Says Schawbel, "Just like your other social network profiles, your Twitter profile should be completely filled out. This includes your full name, location, a biography, and -- the single most important element -- a single link to a site of your choosing. I recommend directing people to a blog, your LinkedIn profile, or a site that you feel best represents you. If you really want to take your brand to the next level, then a custom Twitter background, which you can make using twitterimage.com or twitterbacks.com, is required."

Build your audience

Don't think you know anyone on Twitter? Think again. "A percentage of your friends, family, and previous coworkers are already on Twitter," he reveals. "You can easily import contacts from most Web-mail programs or find people using Twitter's search engine and invite your network onto Twitter with an email invitation. Then, use Twitter search to locate people in your industry, follow them, and interact with them through a series of tweets and 'retweets' over time."

Start tweeting

Not sure what to tweet about? Tweet what you know, says Schawbel. "The more you tweet about what you know, the more you'll become the go-to person on that topic in the Twitterverse. The key to building an audience is to remain interesting to your current followers so that they retweet your messages and more people discover and follow you. And, again, by constantly following more people, namely the influencers in your industry, and pushing out relevant tweets, your audience will grow rapidly."

Not sure what to tweet about?

Tweet what you know, says Schawbel. "The more you tweet about what you know, the more you'll become the go-to person on that topic in the Twitterverse. The key to building an audience is to remain interesting to your current followers so that they retweet your messages and more people discover and follow you. And, again, by constantly following more people, namely the influencers in your industry, and pushing out relevant tweets, your audience will grow rapidly."

Let folks know you're looking

There are a few ways to alert followers that you're in the market for a new job. "First, revise your Twitter profile to call attention to the type of job you're looking for. Second, customize your Twitter background and add in text that talks about where you're headed in your career. Finally, you can send a tweet after you've built your follower count, which states your expertise and the type of job you're looking for," he advises. To get a job you may have to help others find them, too.

There are a few ways to alert followers that you're in the market for a new job. "First, revise your Twitter profile to call attention to the type of job you're looking for. Second, customize your Twitter background and add in text that talks about where you're headed in your career. Finally, you can send a tweet after you've built your follower count, which states your expertise and the type of job you're looking for," he advises. To get a job you may have to help others find them, too.

Adds Boston-based Schawbel, "If you discover a job lead on Twitter and it's not related to what you want to do, passing it on is an effective way to network."