Orbicule announced today integration of Skyhook Wireless’ Wi-Fi positioning software into Undercover, its theft-recovery application for Mac.

Undercover sets itself apart from other laptop recovery apps with a few key features. First, the application is the only theft-recovery solution that transmits screenshots from a stolen Mac to reveal a thief’s identity. In addition, it can snap mugshots of the thief using the iSight camera which is built into every new Mac. The most interesting new feature is its ability to simulate a hardware failure on the stolen Mac, urging the thief to bring the laptop to an Apple store for repair, where it can be recovered.

This marks yet another laptop theft recovery app that is utilizing Skyhook’s technology to give laptop owners the best chance of recovering their stolen property. With its integration on four different laptop theft applications, Skyhook is firmly establishing itself as a necessary tool in laptop recovery. As the number of stolen laptops increases, so does the demand for reliable laptop recovery. It is clear that recovery app developers want to provide users with the best possible chance of getting back their stolen property, and this is achieved with Skyhook integration.

Undercover 3 is available for download at http://orbicule.com/undercover. A single user license costs $49. Site licenses and education licenses are available as well.

And you can read the full press release here.

As the App Store continues to grow, the amount of location based applications also continues a steady rate. As of the first week in January, there were over 800 applications available for download that use location from Skyhook Wireless as a core functionality. What is exciting about this continued growth is that location based applications are expanding into all application types. There are uses for location within Healthcare & Fitness, Music, Finance and even Games with the new “iMob Wars”.

We are now finding applications designed specifically to help one locate almost anything. You can download “Ice Cream Lover” to find the closest ice cream store or “Off Leash” for your local leash free dog park. There are dozens of applications like Red Rocket in the Toronto area that can tell you when your next train, bus, or subway car will be leaving. Find a doctor, find a home, find a job, and find a friend, all in relation to where you are, all now possible and available for download.

Since there are so many ways to use location in iPhone applications, we are now seeing more inventive and creative ways to use this technology, as well as some really innovative and useful applications. “Funky-o-Meter” is unlike other location searches, as it seeks out the most “funky and chill” places for you to try out. There is also the option to rate the funkiness of a venue. Also, an inventive way to use location is with “Have2P” application, which locates public restrooms, shows them on a map and can even identify if the restroom has a baby changing station.

Also with apps like “Forkfly” you can not only find places to dine close by, but you can receive discounts and coupons to use when you arrive. “Around me” is a great application, because it ties in multiple categories of information such as movie theaters, pubs, hospitals, and gas stations. “Kidstuff” is also very cool, allowing you to find locations with fun activities, such as billiards, go-karts, and arenas, for your kids, or for the big kid at heart.

All location aware applications on the iPhone are all powered by accurate and reliable location from Skyhook Wireless.

It seems the App Store is once again thriving. After a decrease during the holiday season, nearly 80 Skyhook-enabled apps became available for download the week of 1/12.As usual, the majority of these fall under the categories of Local Search, Travel, and Routing, but for the first time in a while, there is a new location-based app in the Games category called iMob Online. iMob is the first free multi-player mob game for the iPhone that lets players engage with other players in their current area.

Applications featured in the new Music category in the App Store are also taking advantage of location.Talk Radio and What’s on the Radio? Both allow iPhone and iPod Touch users to stream live music or talk radio based on current location.This is great when traveling or to eliminate having to use the scan option on your car radio or home stereo.

There are nearly 100 location-aware social networking apps in the App Store.Buddy is unique as it streamlines meetups by both interest and location.Using this app, you can find the “Golfing Buddy” or the “Jogging Buddy” that’s closest to you.

By Courtney Teeling

We are excited to announce the release of our upgraded SDK. The new SDK includes Android Support, hybrid positioning that combines WPS, cell tower triangulation and GPS, and simpler deployment models.

You will now be able to offer iPhone-quality positioning in location-aware Android applications. The standard Android location platform struggles to determine location in many environments. For example when Android phones are operated indoors and in urban areas users often wait 2-3 minutes for a location fix. The reliability of Android’s location accuracy and time to fix is also a common complaint from application developers.

By adding hybrid positioning methodology to the SDK, you can offer users reliable location results in all environments. You will now find streamlined features in the Skyhook SDK, making it simpler than ever to deploy across all platforms. The upgraded SDK is 75% smaller than previous versions, designed for deployment in mobile applications and devices with size constraints. Symbian enhancements now include support for the PSY interface on S60. This makes it simple for Symbian developers to deploy Skyhook location by requiring no additional changes to existing Symbian location applications. On Windows Mobile, Skyhook now supports the GPS Intermediate Driver, simplifying application integration. We have also added a feature that automatically enables Wi-Fi, dramatically improving the user experience by saving battery and reducing user interaction with the location functionality. You can also now tune user locations, helping to improve overall location accuracy.

You can license the SDK on a per unit/user basis. Ad revenue share models are also available in conjunction with our advertising partners.

The SDK supports the following platforms: Android, Windows Vista (32 bit), Windows XP (32 bit), Windows Mobile 5& 6.x Smartphone (arm), Windows Mobile 5 & 6.x PocketPC (arm) for cell phones, Windows Mobile 5 & 6.x PocketPC (arm) for PDAs, Windows CE 5.0 (arm), Symbian S60 FP2, Symbian/UIQ (Sony Ericsson P990), Mac OS X 10.4 (universal) & 10.5, Linux 2.6 (x86, gcc 4.1, glibc 2.6), Maemo 4.0 (arm).

To download the SDK now and view the complete supported platforms list visit our Developer’s Page

And feel free to visit our Developers Network to comment or ask questions about the new release.

This week ended with the App Store at almost 870 applications that use location as their primary feature. This was a bit of a slower week for new releases using location, however there were many applications that were previously available that released upgrades so this may account for the drop in new applications.

Still, some noteworthy new applications are new this week, with the first being Lethal. Lethal will pinpoint your location and then let you know the threat level in that area, using several different threat indexes, such as “Crime Index”, “Wildlife Index” and “Disease Index”. This is certainly the first application of its kind using the location based services in relation to safety.

Another application using location in a new twist is Coming Home Soon. This app allows a person to send an automatic text when they are approaching a destination to alert those expecting you, instead of having to remember to make a phone call or send a text. It also has the capability to send an email out, so that you can be tracked live using Skyhook’s accurate location services during your journey.

Overall, the biggest numbers seem to be in the Navigation and Travel categories this week, while Photography and Weather seem to have a bit of lull compared to the steady increase we were seeing prior to the New Year.