User panel says US should scrap GPS off switch
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Sat nav industry reckons degrading sat nav is bad American and international sat nav stakeholders have advised that the US government should never again degrade the civilian Global Positioning System (GPS) signal.â¦
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Privacy advocates yesterday called on the federal government to scrap a Department of Homeland Security data-mining program designed to create terrorism risk assessments for every traveler who enters or leaves the United States.
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Could be spoofing satnav, not just jamming UK gov defence boffins will carry out GPS-jamming trials in Cornwall today and tomorrow.â¦
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Availability will still be selective though The US military announced yesterday that it will no longer procure Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites with the capability for worldwide civil sat nav degradation.â¦
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Electronics retailer trims guidance as Americans curb spending.
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(InfoWorld) - Several U.K. schools have dismantled their Wi-Fi networks after parental complaints and one report of health problems. One teacher at Stowe School, a private school west of London, blamed headaches and nausea on the wireless access point installed in his classroom, said James Tearle, head of IT at the school. The access point was removed, and no one else has reported problems, he said. The teacher, who is head of classics, is a valued member of staff, Tearle said. "He is more comfortable now that we have removed the wireless from his area," he said. Stowe School has consulted the U.K.'s Health Protection Agency, but so far no abnormal problems have been found with the Wi-Fi network, Tearle said. The network remains in operation throughout the rest of the school, Tearle said. A small Wi-Fi network at The Prebendal School in Chichester, a city southwest of London, was dismantled at the request of parents, said Timothy Cannell, headmaster. The network could be restored in the future, he said. "Some parents were just concerned about the levels of radiation from wireless networking," Cannell said. "We just felt we should look further into it." In addition, the Ysgol Pantycelyn school in Carmarthenshire, Wales, also dismantled its Wi-Fi network after receiving parental complaints, according to a recent report in The Times of London. Wireless networking is seen as a low-cost way to expand Internet access. U.K. cities such as Norwich and Milton Keynes have deployed free Wi-Fi networks around their centers. But some Britons are concerned over the long-term health effects of Wi-Fi systems, which use microwave frequencies close to those of mobile phones. Studies have shown use of mobile phones can have adverse health effects, with some people experiencing headaches and discomfort, said Graham Philips, technical manager for Powerwatch.org.uk , an organization that studies electricity and microwaves. Wi-Fi transmitters, however, haven't been extensively studied, he said. "We do think there is cause for concern," Philips said. "We would recommend people donât use them." There are mitigating factors with Wi-Fi versus mobile signals. People would likely have reduced exposure to signals from Wi-Fi transmitters than a mobile phone, since Wi-Fi routers aren't pressed against their head, Philips said. Wi-Fi operators have sought to allay concerns. Norfolk Open Link, the Web site for Norwich's Wi-Fi system, said that aerials are mounted on lampposts and buildings, away from users. The site further said the power output of the Wi-Fi equipment is very low and "there is very little exposure to radio wave energy." Â
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The national passenger rail service risks a &quot;major point of failure&quot; if infrastructure needs remain unaddressed, the US Department of Transportation warned in a scathing report made public today.
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WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Dec. 11 - Air Force and NASA officials scrapped the scheduled launch of a new surveillance satellite this morning after technicians found a software glitch that would have left the vehicle without adequate solar power.
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JAPANESE GIANT Sharp has pulled the plug on its Linux-based PDAs in the United States as no-one seems to want them. The company said that it will continue to sell them in Japan where they sell like hot cakes
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The clock is ticking for Windows XP, the tried-and-true Microsoft operating system that millions of businesses and individuals depend on. Soon, the only Windows option will be Vista, an operating system that businesses as well as individuals have disliked and often avoided. The lackluster changes to Vista, coupled with the high costs of switching tens of millions of computers to it, have convinced InfoWorld that XP should not be retired as planned on June 30.                                                      "Over the past year, CIOs and CTOs have consistently told me they see no significant benefits to Vista, and really don't want to spend the time and money to update all their computers, retrain their users, and deal with application incompatibilities for a cosmetic upgrade," said Galen Gruman, executive editor at InfoWorld.Already, due to customer resistance to Vista, Microsoft has granted XP a stay of execution, delaying its scheduled demise from December 31, 2007, to June 30, 2008. But that's not enough. InfoWorld's editors believe Microsoft should make XP available indefinitely. Therefore, InfoWorld has launched a petition drive aimed at convincing Microsoft to not only stay XP's execution but to take it off Death Row."We encourage IT and business staff alike to sign the petition today and to ask their friends and colleagues to do the same," said Eric Knorr, editor in chief at InfoWorld. "In the past, Microsoft has responded to customer dissatisfaction and changed its plans, so there's reason to believe it will listen today if the message is loud enough," he added.Under Microsoft's current plans, June 30 is the last day that Microsoft will have XP available for sale as shrink-wrapped software, as well as available from computer makers as an installation option on new computers. Makers of white-box computers can sell XP until December 31.Related Links InfoWorld's Save XP petition form Analysis: Why XP should be saved Flash countdown clock till XP's demise (to use this clock on your own Web site, please e-mail Gruman for the code snippet) Submit your "Save XP" video
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A government video shows the potential destruction caused by hackers seizing control of a crucial part of the U.S. electrical grid
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Galileo, once billed as a potential rival to the US Department of Defense's GPS system, is now facing serious issues following disagreements over the development of the system by eight companies tasked with its build-out.
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Plus: My GPS proves your radar gun is wrong. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.
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Except for the military, dedicating spectrum to a particular user is no longer a good idea. Making a big chunk of spectrum available to all users and restricting access as needed is a far better strategy, ignoring the politics, of course, says columnist Craig J. Mathias.
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(InfoWorld) - Satellite navigation boxes using the GPS (global positioning system) are no longer the preserve of luxury car owners in Europe. Now you see them in the humblest vehicles on the Continent's highways. That's part of the reason why the European Commission Wednesday proposed taking on the entire â¬3.4 billion ($4.7 billion) cost of creatingÂ Galileo, Europe's answer to GPS, which is based in the U.S. "Do consumers really want this product? To answer that you must ask why consumers like GPS so much," said transport commissioner Jacques Barrot at a press conference Wednesday. "Consumers are answering the question by buying more and more GPSes," he said. "Galileo will make money, and with the E.U. as its owner, it will generate income for the E.U. budget." Barrot's confidence wasn't shared earlier this year byÂ the companies picked to share the cost and benefitsÂ of building the 30-strong constellation of satellites. Unsure of the costs and unconvinced of Galileo's eventual commercial potential, theÂ companies dragged their feetÂ to a point in June where the Commission abandoned the partnership with the private sector. Under the original plan, public money was supposed to pay for the first four satellites and then the private consortium of companies building the satellites were to pay for two-thirds of the 26 remaining satellites. This amounted to a private sector cost of â¬2.4 billion. The companies -- AENA, Alcatel-Lucent, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, TeleOp, and Thales -- were to recoup their investment costs by then operating the satellites and collecting fees once they were in operation. Barrot said Wednesday that the Commission wants the â¬2.4 billion to be paid for out of European Union funds. The E.U. has already committed â¬1 billion to the project. He said that he initially wanted the 27 member states of the E.U. to fill the funding gap through payments directly to the European Space Agency (ESA). But as 10 countries in the E.U. aren't members of the ESA this was dismissed, leaving the E.U. budget as the only possibility for ensuring that the project is financed. With the E.U. as the sole owner of Galileo, it will still need companies from a variety of industries to build the system's infrastructure, Barrot said. Astrium (EADS group) and Thales Alenia Space (Thales and Finmeccanica groups) approached the ESA for some of this work recently, the commissioner said. "Galileo is extremely important for the strategic autonomy of Europe. We can't let this opportunity to manage the know-how in this advanced technology pass," Barrot said. Transportation ministers of the E.U. member states will meet in Luxembourg on Oct. 2 to debate the Commission's proposal. Countries with most to gain from the project include France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. They are believed to support the Commission. However, others including the U.K. and the Netherlands, remain to be convinced that there is a real need for a European GPS. Separately, U.S. president George W. Bush said in a statement issued by the U.S. mission to the E.U. Wednesday, that he will stop the GPS signal from being interrupted or degraded by military purposes. One of the main justifications for launching Galileo was that GPS is ultimately at the mercy of the U.S. Department of Defense, and could be jammed for strategic reasons, potentially endangering private users' lives. Galileo is intended to be purely for civilian use. However, the U.S. recently has taken steps to assure GPS users that they can count on the system. "President George W. Bush has accepted a recommendation to end procurement of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals," the White House press secretary said in a statement Tuesday. Although the U.S. stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals in May 2000, this new action will result in the removal of "Selective Availability" capabilities, thereby eliminating a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide. This decision reflects the nation's commitment to GPS users that this free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world, the statement said.
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Seven major U.S. and foreign travel industry associations urged the government to suspend a computerized system for assessing international travelers as potential terrorists.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission yesterday asked a federal court to shut down a New Hampshire operation, alleging that it disables users' computers to bully them into buying antispyware products.