Yahoo brings location to Facebook, Firefox; plays catchup

Yahoo on Friday released a new Facebook app and Firefox add-on for Fire Eagle, its location-based service (LBS) for sharing your location with friends. The apps should do a lot to elevate the utility of LBS with the general user, but Yahoo still has a ways to go when compared to its competition.

Yahoo on Friday put a fresh new spotlight on Fire Eagle, its “project” that dabbles in location-based services (LBS) like Brightkite and Loopt. For some time, Yahoo has offered a variety of applications and plug-ins, and it has now introduced a Facebook app and Firefox add-on, which may help to boost adoption of LBS with the general public.

Of Fire Eagle’s two new additions, the Friends on Fire Facebook app is by far the most interesting and the easiest to set up. The app’s Facebook landing page introduces users to the basic appeal of sharing one’s location with friends. You can easily discover someone’s location for lunch or a weekend get-together, and you can mark up a map to view “signals,” tips, and event invitations. Considering that most people have a Yahoo account and Facebook is nearing 200 million worldwide users, Fire Eagle is the map that friends can (privately) scribble on, mark up, and share with just the people they want.

Read more: arstechnica.com