On the iPhone at least. Android and other smartphone platforms have had livestreaming video apps for a while now. But the tide has finally turned in the favor of iPhone users too – as Ustream has finally had its app approved for distribution in iTunes (app store link).

For me, this release culminates three of the biggest technological trends of 2009; Lifestreaming, Location, and Video.

First up – Lifestreaming. Twitter. Facebook. You’ve probably heard of these sites. It’s now easier than ever to instantly share events to a large distributed audience online – what you’re doing. By sharing information via these networks you are building connections and, by extension, reach.

Location. GPS is nearly omniprescent in most modern smartphones. Your devices now know in an instant where you are in the world. Apps like Google Latitude, Foursquare and my new fav – Gowalla, all exist because they know where you are. So too do augmented reality apps like Layar (see Layar Technology Now Available for iPhone). Location awareness is a true technological paradigm shift.

And finally video. I’ve been on this soapbox long enough. But the web is rapidly becoming about video and video content — witness Comcast’s bid to acquire NBC/Universal; a traditional “pipe” getting into the video content game. Or U2’s massive live concert on Youtube that generated over 10 million streams across 7 continents.

So what does all this mean? The Ustream app has magnificent repercussions for citizen journalism, family ties and yes, even real estate (think of working with a relo client remotely to show them properties, for example). The power to broadcast live, each of us from the palms of our hands, will certainly change the way some of us communicate.

Time to go fire up my phone.

You’ll be able to find me here. Live.

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In my post New Firefox Brings Location to the Browser, I asked the following question around the new browser’s location awareness capability.

So the race is on – which will be the first site to implement this feature? Any bets?

Well today, we have a winner. That was fast.

The blue circle has come to your desktop with Google Maps. If you’ve use the Maps app on your iPhone you’ll know what I’m talking about.

When you visit Google Maps with a supported web browser, you’ll see a new My Location button in the top left corner of the map. Simply click the button to center the map to your approximate location. If your location can be determined accurately enough, it’s shown with a blue circle, just like on Google Maps for Mobile. Click the button again to remove the blue circle, or to re-center the map after you’ve moved it away.

Combine this feature with the new embedded real estate searches in Maps (see Google Gets Serious about Real Estate Search) and you’re starting to see the foundation of a really slick application.

Something that might live in the new Google Chrome OS perhaps?

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Location awareness is one of the killer features in the new iPhone. Especially in real estate apps, like Zillow’s app, which recently broke ½ million downloads.

We all know the old axiom with property, right? Location, location, location.

Now that can be translated to your desktop, in addition to your phone. The new version of Firefox (3.5) has added location awareness as one of the new features in this release. From their website:

Now Firefox can tell websites where you’re located so you can find info that’s more relevant and more useful (for example, getting directions or finding restaurants near you). It’s all optional – Firefox doesn’t share your location without your permission – and is done with the utmost respect for your privacy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Zbc-Rg6e8[/youtube]

The is potentially huge for online real estate sites, which in the near future could query their visitors, ask for their location and return the most relevant results quickly and seamlessly to their desktop.

Granted if you are searching from home, you (hopefully) already know where you are. But if you were house hunting in a city in an unfamiliar State or pulling out a 3G-enabled netbook in a coffee shop on a Sunday morning open house tour, this could be a killer feature.

So the race is on – which will be the first site to implement this feature? Any bets?

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k[/youtube]

Google recently flipped the switch on a new service called Latitude; which takes Twitter-like status updates and mashes it up realtime location data. The premise is Latitude will let you share your location and see where your “friends” are anywhere on a map.

It’s pretty easy too. Using your mobile browser (Android, Blackberry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile handsets are currently supported – iPhone coming soon) visit google.com/latitude and ping the service with your location. You’ve then just broadcast that location to all of your contacts (those you’ve opted-in, of course).

Google Talk is integrated with Latitude, so you and your friends can update your status messages and profile photos on the go and see what everyone is up to. You can also call, SMS, IM, or email each other within the app.

There are a number of other location-based social network platforms out there (Loopt springs to mind) but Latitude is the first that I am aware of that also brings a desktop component to it. Adding the Latitude gadget to your iGoogle page lets you see at a glance, from your desk, exactly where everyone is.

This is where the potential for real estate search gets really interesting. Imagine the ability to get real time updates from your clients as they are conducting a home search. Alternatively, as a home buyer, you could location-tag properties with “search update” and view them all collectively once you return to your computer. 

Location awareness is a growing trend that we’ve seen in closed ecosystems like the iPhone so far, but that we’re starting to see go cross platform. I suspect we’ll be seeing much more in this arena soon.

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