Up to this point, those using Google Latitude and Foursquare have basically been tracking a small handful of their equally tech-savvy friends.

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Google is making another attempt at becoming a player in the location space with the launch of a free, open API for Google Latitude, the company announced today.

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Neither did Skype or Dodgeball (which was bought by Google in 2005, shut down only to resurface temporarily as Google Latitude then Foursquare in 2009) both of which have gone onto enormous mass-market successes but have both changed the way we relate with our world.

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