Twitter Adds Geolocation...Then Takes it Away

Yesterday TechCrunch reported that Twitter had turned on geolocation on their website.  The feature was shortly taken down, but it is sure to be back soon.  This had actually been a feature that has been available through the API since November, but not through the main website.  Tweets tagged with a location have a little place-marker icon next to the time and date.  Clicking on this icon launches a Google Maps and shows you exactly where the tweet was sent from.  This new feature can be utilized through user's main streams or the individual tweet page.

The release of this new feature comes at a fairly significant time as location seems to be the name of the game for most developers: Facebook is said to be unveiling it "answer" to location at their f8 conference in a month, Google has Latitude and Buzz for their location-based services, and of course the SXSW conference is this weekend will be sure to have more than a few app with new location-based features.  Additionally, Twitter will be holding its first Chirp conference, just one week before Facebook's f8, so location will surely be a big focus for Twitter.

Though the functionality was only up temporarily, look for it to be back up soon.  Probably sometime before SXSW. Hit the jump for one more photo.

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Open The Floodgates: Droid Gets Multi-touch (in Maps)

The Droid has gotten multitouch in a native Google app, and it's Google Maps. Multitouch was available on the Droid from the get-do, but only in a browser called Dolphin Browser. Android has always been capable of multitouch gestures, but Google just hasn't implemented it for some reason. The Google Maps update is available in the Android Market right now, and brings native support for multitouch to the Maps app.

This very well may be the beginning of the end for Apple's stranglehold on multitouch. The Palm WebOS  devices have had it since launch, and now the Nexus One supports it natively (albeit not across the entire OS......yet). It's only a matter of time before multitouch is rolled out OS-wide. This is just the first crack in the dam, and now that Android users have all tasted the sweet sweet taste of pinch-to-zoom, they won't be turning back.