GPS - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• GPS group seeks partial ban on LightSquared

  A group of GPS vendors and users has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to permanently block LightSquared from using the upper band of its licensed radio spectrum for a cellular data network.

• Senator vows to block FCC nominees over LightSquared

  The controversy over satellite-LTE carrier LightSquared could prevent the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from filling two vacant seats if a U.S. senator follows through on a threat issued this week.

• OpenWorld 2011: TomTom launches Geospatial for govt, business

  Dutch SatNav device company TomTom is making another tilt at business and public sector windmills with the launch of a ‘Google Maps for enterprise’-style geospatial service.

• FCC tells retailers to stop selling mobile phone jammers

  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has issued warnings to 20 online retailers selling illegal mobile phone jammers, GPS jammers, Wi-Fi jammers and other signal jamming devices, the agency said Wednesday.

• LightSquared to defend project in open letter in newspapers

  LightSquared said late Sunday that it planned to run the next day in major newspapers in the U.S. an open letter explaining its position over the controversy surrounding its LTE (long-term evolution) network, particularly concerns about its interference with GPS (global positioning system).

• LightSquared says GPS fix will cost $50-$300

  Satellite-4G carrier LightSquared said Wednesday that gear to prevent interference between its network and precision GPS gear will cost US$50 to $300 per device and it is in talks with the U.S. government about covering the cost of upgrading or replacing all federally-owned devices.

• After takeover, Navigon goes with Flow as Garmin goes 3D

  Garmin and Navigon each launched devices at a joint news conference on Thursday, on the eve of the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show in Berlin. The navigation companies are still following separate roadmaps, Garmin's June acquisition of its former rival too recent to influence their product plans.

• Ford puts cloud services at heart of Evos concept car

  Ford's Evos concept car shows how the company is increasingly looking to electronics and entertainment to keep customers hooked on driving its cars, Chief Technical Officer Paul Mascarenas said Thursday.

• GPS group slams LightSquared's new plan

  A group of GPS vendors and users has challenged mobile startup LightSquared's credibility in a response to the company's new plan for a hybrid satellite and LTE mobile network.

• LightSquared to start building LTE network

  LightSquared plans to start building its terrestrial wireless network soon, despite a regulatory approval process that has sparked vehement opposition from GPS vendors and won't be over until at least the middle of August.

• GPS makers trade barbs with LightSquared

  A GPS industry group dismissed mobile startup LightSquared's alternative proposal for an LTE network that would operate on frequencies close to the GPS band, saying the company hasn't presented any clear plan to reduce interference.

• LightSquared files GPS report and new plan

  LightSquared filed a long-awaited report on possible GPS interference by its planned cellular network to the FCC on Thursday, along with a formal proposal to use a different block of frequencies to prevent those problems.

• LightSquared faces more turbulence over GPS

  There's little disagreement about what a test report expected this week will say about LightSquared's proposed LTE network: It knocks out GPS on many devices. There's far less consensus about what causes the problem and what to do about it.

• LightSquared gains netTalk, faces more critics

  Mobile startup LightSquared has gained another wholesale customer on Tuesday even as more critics joined a group that opposes LightSquared's planned LTE network on the grounds that it will interfere with GPS.

• Lawmakers want to block LightSquared approval

  A U.S. House of Representatives committee has stepped into the fray over startup LightSquared's planned mobile data network, and passed a bill that would block the Federal Communications Commission from spending any money granting the carrier a waiver it is seeking.