satellites

On Tuesday, the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) of New York voted unanimously to approve Verizon's proposal to provide Fios TV service in all five boroughs. The vote moves the service closer to becoming an option for customers in New York to choose over cable or satellite TV.

"If we are successful in the last steps of the approval process, we will deliver on our promise to begin offering Fios TV in parts of each of the five boroughs later this year," Monica Azare, Verizon senior vice president for New York and Connecticut, said in a press release.… Read more

Possibly the best piece of software that Microsoft has published in ages, WorldWide Telescope lets users explore the universe with impressive content from the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, and other famed ground- and space-based telescopes. Colorful nebulae, distant galaxies, black holes, and radiation clouds are all accessible from your desktop with a few clicks.

You can move around the sky by clicking with your left mouse and dragging the screen. Seven tabs help you navigate: Explore, Guided Tours, Search, Community, Telescope, View, and Settings. There are multiple mouse and keyboard commands … Read more

If you haven't already joined the rush to buy a handheld GPS device, you probably will soon. Or maybe your next new car will come with built-in navigation capabilities. It's increasingly likely, too, that your cell phone has GPS built in.

For all the attention on the millions of gadgets that use GPS, the heart of the Global Positioning System really is the network of satellites orbiting the globe and relaying signals to your Garmin. That network is now due for an upgrade, starting in the middle of the next decade.

Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin announced that … Read more

The proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio may have sailed through a U.S. Department of Justice review without conditions, but key congressional Democrats are urging the Federal Communications Commission to impose limits designed to protect consumers.

In a letter on Thursday (PDF), Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said they're not taking a position on whether the FCC should clear the deal, but they believe the regulators should consider certain steps as they weigh whether the union of the only two U.S. satellite radio operators satisfies the "public interest." … Read more

The European Union on Sunday launched Giove-B, the second (and last) test satellite in its $5.3 billion Galileo project, according to Reuters.

The first test satellite, Giove-A, was launched in December 2005. Giove-B will test the program's high-precision atomic clock and signal transmission, Reuters reported.

Galileo is Europe's upcoming satellite radio navigation system, and it's the EU's largest space program. Galileo will eventually become an ultraprecise system of 30 satellites, but it has hit a few bumps along the way.

The project's launch date has been pushed back several times, from the original goal … Read more

Apparently, small business is big business. Merely a week after Dell announced that it was refreshing its Vostro line of laptops for very small businesses, Toshiba has unveiled its expanded range of Satellite Pro laptops.

Granted, the Satellite Pros are pitched toward students and government as well as small businesses, but many of the features are the same: starting prices below $1,100, processor options that include AMD, and crapware-free out of the box. These characteristics help distinguish the Satellite Pro from the company's consumer Satellite line. (Meanwhile large businesses can still look to Toshiba's Tecra line for … Read more

The Canadian government has put the kibosh on the $1.3 billion sale of a Canadian satellite company to a U.S. firm for fear that such a deal would give the U.S. government too much control over sensitive satellite images.

The government said Thursday that it was blocking Alliant Techsystems' bid for MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates to protect Canada's sovereignty. The New York Times noted this was the first time in 23 years that the Canadian government has blocked such a sale to a foreign company.

The satellite, called Radarsat2, is owned by MacDonald Dettwiler, but the … Read more

Someone at Toshiba has taken PR 101, where you learn that two headlines are better than one and that a trickle of information is often better than a single splash (unless you're Apple). Thus the handful of press releases that hit the wires this morning, which provide further details of the new Satellite lineup the company announced last week.

Last week's announcement focused on the new Satellite look (which Toshiba describes as "gray pinstripes set upon a field of black" and my colleague Dan Ackerman describes as "a distinct metallic sheen"), and the new Sleep and Charge feature, which lets you charge USB devices even if the laptop is powered off. This week's news listed the full specs of 11 preconfigured Satellite models that are available at Toshiba's site. We've listed all the details after the jump.… Read more

Wednesday, Slacker announced that Devicescape Connect, a Wi-Fi management software, will be available for the Slacker Portable going forward. This seemingly innocuous communiqué is actually great news for current Slacker Portable owners (all 12 of you), and it may offer just the right amount of incentive for hold outs who were waiting on better Wi-Fi integration. The main improvement is the ability to access "captive portals," such as the one at the CNET offices that requires a user to click through a terms and conditions page in order to access the free public Wi-Fi. Another added functionality … Read more