JiWire adds iPhone version of directory: Apple isn't letting third parties write software for the iPhone yet, but they are enabling smart Web applications that can provide an application's look and feel while there's an Internet connection. It's tedious, but it works. JiWire has leveraged their worldwide directory of over 150,000 hotspots to create an iPhone-targeted search; you can click the link to see what it looks like in a regular browser, too. It's rather nifty, as results are easy to read in the screen, you can tap a phone icon to call the venue, or tap a map icon to see the location in the iPhone's Google Maps program. I can't wait until I can get JiWire's directory as a downloadable app on the phone itself. I spend most of my time out with an iPhone dowsing for service. (Disclosure: I own a tiny number of shares in JiWire, a privately held firm.)

Navizon releases a desktop version of their location-finding software: Navizon uses Wi-Fi and cell tower signals to determine a set of coordinates through individual reporting. Users with software installed on mobile devices can mark their precise location, which is then shared among the community. The company claims 60,000 users. The release yesterday allows the software to be used on computer with Java installed, and Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Navizon differs from Skyhook Wireless, which derives most of its data set from constantly driving major cities across the world, mostly in the U.S., Canada, and Australia at this point. Skyhook corrects its data from uploaded information provided automatically by its software. (The software works well, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to report the position of my desktop computer--Navizon thinks I'm two miles north.)