Apple Inc. won't be the only one cashing in on today's iPhone 4 launch in Canada, as crafty entrepreneurs and charitable do-gooders piggy back on the marketing frenzy.

Google previously announced (at its I/O developer conference) the creation of a Places API as part of the Google Maps API. That Places API is now open for business and being made available to third party developers.

Google has begun opening up access to a new Application Programming Interface (API) called the Places API . Developers building apps that include a "check in at this place" feature can use the Places API to search across all the places users might check in for basic information like business name, address, phone number and other descriptive information. That information will be editable by the ...