Daily Dispatch: Facebook privacy tips; Roundup of mobile shopping apps

Combing through hundreds of blog posts and news articles daily, Dirk Klingner, our technology-trend watcher, sifts through the noise to bring you the tech news most important to consumers. If you have a tip on a story you want to share, leave a comment below.

...Snap out of it! Now more than ever Facebook has your personal information flapping in the breeze; your activities, your photos, even your birthday are most likely available for anyone on God's green Google (advertisers, identity thieves, stalkers et. al.) to see. Understanding and changing your Facebook privacy settings is less intuitive than ever.

Price Check: Finding Deals With a Phone (Wall Street Journal)

...Many shoppers are accustomed to using the Internet to research products and prices before they hit the mall. But now, mobile-shopping apps take that research on the road. Apps such as Big In Japan Inc.'s ShopSavvy and TheFind Inc.'s Where to Shop identify stores in the immediate vicinity that have a product you're looking for, and then tell you which product is cheapest and closest.

2011 Audi A8: The first production vehicle equipped with Google Earth (Autoblog)

...In addition to the traditional hard-disk navigation system, an optional GPRS/EDGE modem is integrated into the MMI nav-plus system allowing a constant stream of information to be downloaded and accessed from Google.

Are Google's Local Barcode Stickers Their Backdoor Check-Ins? (TechCrunch)

...But it could also become something else: a backdoor way—or, more accurately, a front window way—for Google to get people to "check-in" at different locations. The "check-in" is growing social habit among the early adopter crowd starting to use geo-social apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt.

Lonely Planet Launches Augmented Reality Apps (ReadWriteWeb)

...Popular travel book publisher Lonely Planet has begun selling Augmented Reality apps for 10 US cities for $5 each in the Android Marketplace. The apps were built in conjunction with Mobilizy, the company behind user generated content AR app Wikitude.

Lighter Side: Comic -The first climate conference (The Joy of Tech)
Click through for a humorous take on the Original Climate Conference.