satellite

Google points to Iowa for sowing satellite antenna farm

Google announced earlier this month that it was gearing up to start laying fiber-optic lines in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., to deliver very high-speed Internet access to residents. Now, the Web giant is setting it sights on Iowa, according to Data Center Knowledge.

"We are building a very small earth station project that is right next to our data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa," says Google spokesperson Jenna Wandres.

If all goes according to Google's plans, the antennas would receive feeds from broadcast networks and even be bundled with the high-speed fiber service, according … Read more

FCC suspends LightSquared waiver over GPS interference

LightSquared suffered a possibly fatal blow today when the FCC said it would indefinitely suspend the company's effort to build a national wireless broadband network using satellite spectrum.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Department of Commerce agency tasked with overseeing military and government spectrum use, determined that LightSquared's interference with other devices, including GPS devices, was unavoidable.

"Based on NTIA's independent evaluation of the testing and analysis performed over the last several months, we conclude that LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to … Read more

NASA mission calculates global ice melt and rising sea levels

From 2003 to 2010, NASA satellites systematically measured all of Earth's melting glacial ice--the results added up to 4.3 trillion tons of water and a global sea level rise of half an inch.

Put in perspective, that's enough ice to bury the entire U.S. 1.5-feet deep.

These calculations are detailed in a new study released today by a team of scientists at the University of Colorado. The scientists used satellite measurements from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), which launched in 2002 and focused on how melting ice from glaciers and ice caps … Read more

Exede: The satellite broadband service you've been waiting for?

Buried among the gadgets, superthin screen OLED TVs, and all the other products we saw at CES this year was something not terribly sexy-looking, but something that will potentially affect millions of people living in rural America.

It's Exede, a new satellite broadband service from ViaSat that just launched this week. Yes, you heard right, satellite, those contraptions that orbit the earth, and until now a very sluggish way to receive Internet service (satellite has frequently been referred to as the Internet service of "last resort").

However, thanks to the launch of ViaSat-1, a next-generation satellite system … Read more

Ultrabooks: The next, cheaper phase

Toshiba is already pushing toward the next phase of ultrabooks--which can be summed up as making the skinny laptops more affordable.

Upcoming ultrabooks from Toshiba will break below the $700 mark, according to Carrie Cowan, a product manager in Toshiba's Digital Products Division. She spoke to CNET on Wednesday on the CES show floor (see video below).

To date, Toshiba's sole ultrabook offering has been the Portege Z830. Though it has been priced on occasion as low as $699 at Best Buy, it is usually listed at $799 or higher.

And Portege laptops are typically listed at even higher prices, as the brand represents Toshiba's upscale offerings.

But this spring Toshiba plans to bring ultrabooks into its most affordable Satellite line. That means prices at $699 and possibly even lower, Cowan said. … Read more

Seagate GoFlex Satellite to get Internet and more

LAS VEGAS--If you own a GoFlex Satellite from Seagate, I have some excellent news.

Seagate announced today at CES a new firmware that turns the wireless storage expander for mobile devices into another much superior device. This is by far the most significant upgrade to the product.

First of all, the upgrade will give all of the existing GoFlex Satellites the capability to connect itself to an existing Wi-Fi network and share that connection with other Wi-Fi clients connected to it. This means, when your iPad is connected to the Wi-Fi network of the Satellite to stream content from it, you don't have to disconnect and reconnect it to another Wi-Fi network to gain access to the Internet. You'll have both the expansion of storage space and the connection to the Internet at the same time, as long as you use the Satellite in an area of another Wi-Fi network you're authorized to access. … Read more

Possible Plan B for T-Mobile? Dish needs a partner

If T-Mobile USA doesn't end up with AT&T, Dish Network is waiting in the wings.

Dish is interested in a partnership with T-Mobile, pooling together their collective wireless spectrum to create a stronger competitor to AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Dish CEO Joseph Clayton said in an interview with Bloomberg.

It's one of a number of alternative options that T-Mobile could pursue if the AT&T deal falls through.

T-Mobile's primary justification for its merger with AT&T is the lack of spectrum and parent Deutsche Telekom AG's reluctance to put … Read more

Echo II: When satellites were young and shiny (photo)

Back at the start of the Space Age, satellites weren't always the high-tech wonders that they are today.

Behold the 135-foot Echo II, NASA's "rigidized balloon," which served as a passive communications satellite. Here, it's seen undergoing a tensile stress test in a dirigible hanger at Weekesville, N.C. Microwave signals sent from Earth bounced off the orbiting metallic balloon to another point back on Earth.

NASA sent Echo II into orbit on January 25, 1964, and it was in service until June 1969, when it re-entered the atmosphere and burned up. Its predecessor, the … Read more

Princeton researchers use satellite images to track disease

Tracking where humans migrate and cluster in any given country from season to season is, in some places, a tall order. Which makes tracking the risk of infectious disease outbreaks that thrive in dense populations tricky as well.

Satellite images of nighttime lights could be the answer, according to researchers at Princeton, who report on their findings today in the journal Science.

Using nighttime images taken of Niger's three largest cities between 2000 and 2004 by a U.S. Department of Defense satellite, and checking those images against public health records compiled by Niger's Ministry of Health, they … Read more