The programming team behind EveryBlock, a location-specific news aggregator, has released the software's source code under the GPLv3 license. This could signal a way for the journalism industry to keep its foot in the door of local news reporting that's increasingly falling into the laps of "citizen journalists."

Since the code is fairly complex, programmers will likely start out using snippets of it to create smaller projects. Though releasing the code makes it technically possible to design all sorts of geolocation apps, St. Pete Times news technologist Matt Waite says, "If you think you just turn it on and put some ads on it and it will make money for you, you're high."

Mozilla Labs recently offered a sneak peak and download of Geode. Geode is one of the first applications to use the new W3C geolocation specification API. It is currently available as a plug-in for Firefox 3 (and seems to only support Windows and Mac systems at this time). Mozilla Labs indicates it will likely be a new feature integrated in an upcoming browser release.

Geode uses web-based tracking, which tends to be faster than the traditional GPS geolocation methods. This would enable Firefox to sense the user's location and give information, for example, on local businesses, or quick access to local news.