Communications

Ten years ago today, President Bill Clinton gave the green light to the U.S. military to stop intentionally scrambling satellite signals, thus paving the way for civilians to use GPS with the same accuracy as the military had long enjoyed.

A decade later, mobile navigation is an indispensable part of many people's everyday lives, both in the U.S and around the globe. GPS receiver prices have dropped sharply, costing a few hundred dollars or less where they used to cost thousands. Devices have also gotten more compact and feature-rich, now routinely including access to real-time information from the Internet during route calculation--the latest traffic reports, online points of interest, and so on.

Clinton's order, which kicked into gear at 8 p.m. EDT on May 1, 2000, effectively increased the pinpoint accuracy of any consumer-grade satellite navigation receivers from around 100 yards to just 10 yards.

"President Clinton's landmark decision to open up the GPS signal in 2000 was the catalyst that triggered the launch of navigation systems as we know them today," said Johannes Angenvoort, executive vice president of Navigon, the developer of MobileNavigator for the iPhone and other smartphones, which is arguably the most comprehensive application of its kind.

A history of satellite navigation Apart from cars, boat, airplanes and so on, satellite navigation technology is now standard in mobile phones and handheld devices, but the satellite positioning signal has been available to the U.S. military since 1960. Then, the first navigation satellite, the Transit 1B, launched into space and marked the beginning of the U.S. Navy Navigation Satellite System. This system was developed primarily to guide Navy military missiles.

This pioneering project led the U.S. Department of Defense to improve accuracy with a follow-up system, which launched in the 1980s, called the Global Positioning System (GPS) that is still in use for positioning today.

When GPS service was first made available for civilians in 1983, for national security reasons, the U.S. military decided to scramble the signal, making it a little too inaccurate to be reliable. This practice, also known as "selective availability," was aimed at preventing military use of GPS by the enemies.

President Clinton's decision to turn off the GPS interference signal in an effort to make the GPS more responsive to civil and commercial uses helped consumer-grade mobile satellite navigation finally make its breakthrough.… Read more

Wednesday's recall of the 2003 Sequoia marks the third computer-related recall for Toyota Motor this year.

The Japanese car company announced a recall of 50,000 Sequoia 2003 model year SUVs to address problems with the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) System. If not fixed, some vehicles may not accelerate as quickly as the driver expects, Toyota said.

And earlier this month, Toyota said it would recall 9,400 Lexus GX 460 SUVs to correct a stability control system problem that could lead to a loss of control, which Consumer Reports designated as a "Don't Buy: Safety Risk."

These two recalls follow a February recall of 133,000 2010 Prius models to update software in the vehicle's antilock brake system (ABS), which could lead to inconsistent braking.

In the glitch disclosed on Wednesday, Toyota said it made a production change during the 2003 model year and published a technical service bulletin to address the issue when it was first identified in the fall 2003. "Since that time, Toyota has been responding to individual owner concerns by replacing the skid control engine control unit in Sequoias impacted by this condition," Toyota said in a statement. The engine control unit, or ECU, is an onboard computer.

There have been no reported injuries or accidents as a result of the condition, Toyota said.

The Sequoia and Lexus GX 460 recalls both involve stability control, which is one of many computer-controlled drive-by-wire technologies used in cars today. Toyota instituted the Vehicle Stability Control system in 1997 on Lexus vehicles (PDF), which it describes as "sensors, actuators, and computer electronics (that) help avoid and recover from vehicle skids and spins." Sensors detect when the vehicle's direction of travel does not correlate with "driver steering inputs." The system then uses throttle and selective brake intervention to help maintain the path of travel.

In the case of the Lexus GX 460, "it was a bad choice of (programmed) settings," said Jeff Bartlett, online deputy editor for autos at Consumer Reports, which first identified the problem. "If you were decelerating from a highway to an off-ramp--they just gave it too much latitude, really," he said in a phone interview. "It wasn't an electronic problem per se, it was more of an… Read more

Garmin-Asus is making good on its commitment to Android as the company introduced a new Android device on Wednesday called the A10.

Optimized for pedestrian navigation, the A10 features a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, a digital compass, also offers voice-guided directions. All maps are preloaded on the device, but you'll also have the option of downloading Garmin's cityXplorer maps that let you plan routes using transit options such as bus and subway systems. While the A10 is designed more for foot travel, it can be used in the car as well and comes with a vehicle mount. … Read more

Earlier this year, at  CES and the Detroit auto show, Ford gave us demonstrations of Sync's new mobile app capability. Taking it to production stage, Ford announced that this new Sync feature, called AppLink, will make its debut in the all-new Ford Fiesta, entering showrooms this summer.

Initially, AppLink will work with Pandora, Stitcher, and OpenBeak on BlackBerry and Android smartphones. Pandora offers customizable Internet radio stations; Stitcher compiles and plays podcasts and other Internet audio; and OpenBeak is a twitter app. AppLink lets you control these apps using the car's radio controls.

During our demonstrations of … Read more

OBD stands for onboard diagnostics and OBD-II is a collection of connection and protocol standards standards for all cars sold since 1996, when the OBD-II specification was made mandatory by the U.S. government.

OBD technology was born out of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) and California Air Resources Board's (CARB) mandate that vehicles equipped with more-sophisticated emissions equipment and better diagnostics systems to monitor that equipment. The agencies wanted to ensure that new vehicles were running as cleanly and efficiently as they could. However, purchasing diagnostics equipment for each of the manufacturers' proprietary vehicle information systems would be prohibitive for third-party garages and testing centers. Thus, the OBD standard (and the subsequent OBD-II revision) was born.

The first part of the OBD-II standard is the connector. The 16-pin female interface connector must be located in the vehicle's cabin within 2 feet of the steering wheel. For most cars, this means in the driver's foot well or just below the steering wheel. Although, the physical connection is always the same in OBD-II-compliant vehicles, not all of the 16 pins are always utilized and the data isn't always sent over those pins in exactly the same manner, so there is some variation within the standard. Specifically, there are five major signaling protocols for vehicles sold in the United States between 1996 and 2008 that can usually be discerned by the configuration of pins used. New legislation has narrowed these five variations down to one, ISO 15765 CAN, for all vehicles sold after 2008, so the OBD-II standard is decidedly more standard from that point forward.

Outside of the US OBD-II standard there are also the European EOBD and EOBD2 standards and the Japanese JOBD standards.

What does it do?

Where the real work of the OBD-II standard takes place is within the data sent over the connection. During normal operation, your vehicle is constantly monitoring a little more than 100 standard Parameter ID (PID) codes. Every vehicle must be capable of sending or receiving these codes over its OBD-II connection. These codes tell the tale of the systems monitored by your vehicle's emissions system, everything from fuel system status to engine and vehicle speed to the status of the vehicle's various O2 sensors. If there is an error with any of these parameters or if a value falls outside of a predetermined safe range, the vehicle will illuminate its Check Engine light.

The vehicle's computer is able to send all of this diagnostic information over the OBD-II connection to a connected diagnostic tool via PID along with special PIDs, known as trouble codes, that detail the issue. There are about 900 possible trouble codes in the OBD-II standard reporting on everything from fuel systems to emissions controls to transmission status.This makes it easy for a mechanic or emissions official to quickly diagnose an issue with a vehicle's engine and emissions equipment without hours of guessing and checking.… Read more

Research In Motion is making a play for the automotive market, announcing Friday its acquisition of QNX Software Systems from Harman International. QNX brings an open-platform operating system to the game and RIM is looking to advance it in the automotive world.

In a statement, RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said:

RIM is excited about the planned acquisition of QNX Software Systems and we look forward to ongoing collaboration between Harman, QNX and RIM to further integrate and enhance the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle audio and infotainment systems. In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities … Read more

As the world waits for new MacBooks, readers have chimed in with comments ranging from Apple losing its technological edge to the iPad overshadowing the venerable laptop line.

Last week, I offered a combination of both realistic--albeit tame--predictions (e.g., new Intel processors) and more fanciful hopes (built-in 3G) about upcoming MacBooks. In response, readers offered some thoughtful insights and suggestions.

PC rivalry: One reader suggested that Apple is falling too far behind its PC rivals. "While the PC world is already enjoying the fruits of (new Intel) processors (and) Blu-ray...we are still living in the dark ages in the world of computing according to Apple."

Along these lines, another reader asserted that selling aging hardware at relatively high prices amounts to "just calling your customers stupid."

Not surprisingly, some readers disagreed. One person said that because Apple is more prudent about upgrades, there is more stability on the Mac platform. "(Apple) is simply not going to put anything out there unless they can feel confident the consumer will have minimal issues. So far, for me at least, it has been nice not having any of the old PC issues of the past."

iPad overshadowing MacBooks: Some possibly prescient comments were made about the iPad ultimately overshadowing the MacBook. "For some people, the iPad with the basic productivity suites will be all the computing they will ever need, and therefore the low end MacBooks may be affected," said one reader.

Another chimed in: "I can see the iPad and future versions of the concept taking over home computing. Yes, there probably will still be professionals that will continue to need a 'full' laptop but for everyone else I am convinced that the simplicity of the iPad will see it replace the normal MacBook."

Not so fast, according to this reader.… Read more

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--Of all the reasons put forth asserting why Google's Nexus One is not selling, I subscribe to the most simple one: no brick-and-mortar stores.

When the estimates came out showing the initial 74-day sales tallies of the Google Nexus One were a fraction of the iPhone and Droid, it was fodder for a lot of opinion about why Google's phone had already failed--or not. (The Apple iPhone hit 1 million on day 74, according to Flurry).

Allow me to ignore a lot of well-reasoned arguments about how Google is trying to break the typical … Read more

Engineers at a U.K. factory will be just as crucial to the success of the Williams Formula One team as the track-side engineers at the Grand Prix in Melbourne, according to Williams co-founder and engineering director Patrick Head.

If there is an abnormality in each car's engine, brakes, wings, or power supply, the problem is expected to be noticed in the U.K. before its track-side engineers find it, which might not be until something goes wrong.

Each Williams F1 car is equipped with over 200 telemetric sensors, which feed data to both the Melbourne and U.K. … Read more