Geolocating trending search, or just shrinking your brain?

I've been meaning to write about this article since I read it online. The author talks about using the cellphone to "navigate our lives." I know that having a web-enabled phone has really altered how I "navigate my life." When we're out running errands and want to grab something to eat, we look for restaurants; I use Google Maps to get an idea of where I'm going (and have started to try the Latitude option on my Bb - but most of my friends don't use it so it hasn't provided much benefit); I mobile blog; I look up definitions or check the weather (or check any number of other accounts/services I subscribe to); and I remember finding out towards the end of last year that some airlines are letting customers have true e-tickets with a barcode on their Blackberry that gets scanned. And all this is on top of the fact of being connected in pretty much every way imaginable (mobile phone, Google talk, AIM, Twitter, Facebook, SMS, Bb Messenger, and email).

With search going in different directions (image, video, micro-blogging, deep web, semantic, etc.), it makes sense that geographic/spatial search should be a part of it. That's why I think that things like Latitude, despite the interesting privacy issues related to disclosing and knowing where people are, will be interesting as the technology develops and expands. As the article noted, some old friends got together because they happened to notice they were nearby each other. As we grow to rely upon unknown "consumers-like-us" in our decision-making (for example, I think trends indicate people trust a review for a product or service that they find in an online community/forum more than they trust the company to tell them about the product/service. Think about it, you probably Googled something recently and relied upon what you found from "JohnX231" and others to help you make a decision.) we will find people using some "search nearby" feature to query individuals around them, as well as the Web, to help them get information.

The downside to these mobile maps? Perhaps a shrinking hippocampus.

“I have wondered about the fact that we might as a culture lose the skill of mapping our environment, relying on the Web to tell us how to navigate,” said Hugo Spiers, a neurobiologist at University College London. “Thus, it might reduce the growth of cells in the hippocampus, which we think stores our internal maps.”

I'm not sure if it's related, but pretty much since I started using my phone to keep appointments, I seem to have the darndest time remembering things without my phone. Like tonight, my wife thought someone was going to stop by for a quick visit - I couldn't recall the conversation with the individual, but the visit wasn't in my phone, so I assumed it wasn't happening tonight. I was wrong - just forgot to put it in there - and he indeed stopped by.

What cool things do you use your mobile phone or mobile maps for?
Are you afraid your brain is shrinking in your head but growing inside your digital "appendages" (computer, cell phone, etc)?