Palm Pre Sprint has officially announced that the anticipated Palm Pre touchscreen smartphone will be available in retail locations on June 6. The Palm Pre will cost $199.99 with a two-year customer service agreement and a $100 mail-in rebate.
Ceragon Networks Ltd , a provider of high-capacity wireless backhaul solutions, announced on Tuesday that Codetel, a fixed and mobile operator in the Dominican Republic and a subsidiary of America Movil, is expanding its communications network using Ceragon equipment.
Tourists will soon be able to listen to commentaries, music and access wireless services on the London Eye
Astronaut Scott Parazynski has arrived on the Summit of Mt. Everest. He is carrying a SPOT satellite messenger device which allows users to leave a trail of electronic breadcrumbs on the web. Basic 911 messaging costs $99/year with satellite tracking another $49/year.
You can see Scott’s trail to the top of the world at SPOTAdventures.com.
SPOT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of satellite phone company Globalstar, launched a social networking site dedicated exclusively for its SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger user community earlier this year. SPOTadventures.com, offers SPOT users a free, interactive way to share their travel and outdoor experiences in real-time with others on the web.
SPOTadventures.com utilizes Web 2.0 tools for uploading photos, videos, audio, text and maps to enhance subscribers’ communication of their outdoor adventures. Instead of using different sites to host a photo gallery or write a blog, users can now create, manage and share content from one location.
SPOT + Memorial day weekend = some great geotagged stories. You can follow them on Twitter, too.
According to a new GAO report, GPS satellites might soon go kaput. According to the GAO:
Some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected. In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals; it encountered significant technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule; and it struggled with a different contractor.As a result, the current IIF satellite program has overrun its original cost estimate by about $870 million and the launch of its first satellite has been delayed to November 2009–almost 3 years late. Further, while the Air Force is structuring the new GPS IIIA program to prevent mistakes made on the IIF program, the Air Force is aiming to deploy the next generation of GPS satellites 3 years faster than the IIF satellites. GAO’s analysis found that this schedule is optimistic.
The sky isn’t falling and neither is the Global Positioning System, the U.S. Air Force said during a Twitter news conference, reports PC World.
“No, the GPS will not go down,” tweeted Col. Dave Buckman of the Air Force’s Space Command. “GAO points out, there is potential risk associated with a degradation in GPS performance. The issue is under control. We are working hard to get out the word. The issue is not whether GPS will stop working. There’s only a small risk we will not continue to exceed our performance standard,” the Air Force official said.
The tweet forum marked the first time Space Command has used its Twitter page for a scheduled forum. During the session, held Wednesday afternoon, the Air Force sought to allay fears raised by a Government Accounting Office report critical of its management of the GPS program.
The GAO report predicated only an 80 percent likelihood the Air Force would be able to maintain the full 24-satellite constellation over a period between 2010 and 2014. Going below 24 satellites could result in lower GPS performance, GAO said.
Don’t discount the likelihood of attack, or slew of attacks, says GPS World.
Equipment to interfere with the GPS signal is readily available over the Internet, as are instructions to bench-assemble one’s own. We have not adequately foreseen nor forestalled the havoc that some well-placed malfeasance could create.Putting aside for a moment images of the wreckage, consider the after-effects, when Congress and/or other government bodies finally wake up to how vulnerable GPS and GPS-driven infrastructure truly are, and move to regulate or restrict its use. This could stifle the industry that has grown, so far, largely unfettered. Consider a public backlash that, misunderstanding, blames GPS and manufacturers for such a disaster.
Conventional GPS can have difficulty providing reliable positions in poor signal conditions, such as in city or rural canyons. Assisted GPS, or A-GPS can locate the device roughly by what cell site it is connected to. The assistance server accesses information from the reference network and has computing power beyond that of the GPS device and communicates with the GPS receiver via a wireless link.
The IIR-M satellites are modernized — hence the M designation — with an upgraded antenna panel that provides increased signal power to both military and civilian receivers on the ground, two new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal.
The final Block IIR-Ms went up in 2008 with a total of eight IIR-Ms now operational. The shift in GPS from an essentially military application to a dual-use system can be traced back to 1983, when Soviet fighter jets shot down a civilian passenger plane that had strayed into Soviet airspace. In response, President Reagan declared that GPS should be available for worldwide civilian use.
GPS satellites are popping up everywhere:
GPS Magazine, Spatialnews, and GPS World have more.
Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, now offers Intuit GoPayment, a way to process credit cards using a mobile phone to accept credit card payments.
A mobile phone with access to the mobile Web, the GoPayment application, and an Intuit GoPayment merchant account will do the trick, the company says.
Intuit is working with Sprint to help small businesses get paid easily and quickly using the GoPayment application on select Sprint phones.
Intuit GoPayment is for business owners who need a hassle-free and affordable way to get paid on the spot. It’s ideal for anyone who sells products or services out of the office.
With GoPayment, there’s no need to carry special hardware, such as a wireless terminal. Business owners can also add multiple employees to a single merchant account at no additional cost. Along with accessing GoPayment via the mobile Web, business owners can also download the GoPayment mobile application to a wide-range of supported handsets.
To monitor transactions, GoPayment users can easily access Intuit’s online Merchant Service Center to search, view and create reports. Business owners who use QuickBooks can save time by downloading their transactions from the Merchant Service Center directly into QuickBooks Pro or Premier 2009.
Optional Bluetooth hardware makes GoPayment even easier to use. These small and lightweight mobile accessories include a card swipe that automatically reads credit card data, reducing manual entry. In addition, a combination card swipe and printer automatically populates card data and lets business owners give customers a printed receipt on the spot.
It uses the same technology (128-bit SSL encryption) as the financial services industry standard to protect information during transmission. Sensitive credit card information is never stored on the handset and each user has a unique login and password to access GoPayment data.
Intuit GoPayment is available for all mobile phones with access to the mobile Web. It’s also available as a downloadable native application on a wide-range of popular handsets. Here’s a list of supported handsets and information on optional hardware.
GoPayment costs $19.95 a month and requires a one-time merchant account setup fee of $59.95. Transaction costs range from 1.64 to 3.54 percent, with no additional fees or long-term contracts. Business owners may cancel at any time.
Netbooks, as of this year, are categorized as notebook computers with a low-powered x86-compatible processor, small screens no larger than 10 inches, a small keyboard, equipped with wireless connectivity, under three pounds, and low cost.
Piper Jaffray, which is known for predictions that often spark debate, is predicting that Apple plans to release a seven-to-10-inch tablet PC in 2010. The computer would include a touchscreen, a proprietary CPU, and be priced at $500 to $700.
At the Core
Munster is known for extreme predictions and recently sparked debate when he predicted Apple was planning two major news-grabbing events at the end of June, the return of CEO Steve Jobs from sick leave and the unveiling of a newly designed iPhone. Munster predicted the iPhone would debut at a special event at the end of June rather than at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in early June.
Analysts used several different factors to get their predictions. Jaffray considered various indications from component contacts in Asia, recent patents related to multi-touch sensitivity for complex computing devices, comments from Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi last year, and the hiring of chip experts.
Analysts aren't the only ones predicting Apple's intentions. After Apple hired former IBM executive Mark Papermaster, a chip expert, IBM filed a lawsuit against the executive. The lawsuit was based on several factors, but the greatest sticking point, according to IBM, was Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi, a direct IBM competitor.
Because of Apple's...
The O’Reilly Where 2.0 Conference, earlier this week, featured a variety of speakers (Speaker Presentation Files), sessions, workshops and exhibitors, with many new products and announcements. The barriers to building location-based online and enterprise apps have been lowered, and the field is crowding with players. Now everyone has access to incredible amounts of data and the tools to visualize it.
Skyhook Wireless, provider of the Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) and the hybrid location system XPS, that use cell towers, Wi-Fi and GPS to provide geolocation info, today announced the Loki plug-in for Web developers. MapQuest, Flickr and WeatherBug, have all integrated Loki to auto-locate visitors.
The Loki plug-in works with all major Internet browsers and operating systems to determine the precise location of any Wi-Fi-enabled device instantly, given the user’s permission. Web developers can use visitor location information to personalize content, ease local searching, deliver localized ads and more.
Skyhook Wireless has also partnered with many leading web sites representing several content categories such as local search, photo sharing, local news and friend finding. Other Loki plug-in launch partners include:
Cameras connected to laptops via USB let people remotely monitor and take photos. Remote capture software such as BreezeSystems and Nikon Capture let you operate and monitor digital cameras through your laptop. Now an iPhone app from OnOne let’s you use an iPhone.
DSLR Remote is a wireless remote control for Canon cameras that runs on an iPhone. It connects to a laptop over Wi-Fi and can control settings including shutter speed, aperture and white balance. The camera’s Live View feed (if applicable to the DSLR) can also stream to the iPhone.
DSLR Remote will be in the App Store soon for an introductory price of $10 (it’ll jump to $20 soon). There’s also a Lite version if you just want the capability to snap photos. It works with the Digital Rebel XT, Rebel XTi, Rebel XS, Rebel XSi, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, 5D, 5D Mark II, 1D Mark II, Mark IIn, Mark III, 1Ds Mark II, and Mark III.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 8:10 AM PDT To get the most out of upcoming mobile broadband networks based on LTE , the use of femtocells is a key ingredient, according to industry organization the Femto Forum.
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