Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Looking for a GPS device that can take a licking and keep on tick… err, tracking a satellite signal? Well look no further than the pocket-unfriendly Solara Field Tracker 2100. The electronics and durable housing allow it to operate in a temperature range of -40C to +65C, and that includes the color LCD display which has been tested to -42C. If dropped in water less than 2 meters in depth you’ve got about an hour to remove it before any damage will occur, and it should keep functioning fine up to altitudes of 40,000 feet.

Best of all though, the FT 2100 connects to the Iridium satellite network allowing you to send and receive text messages, custom or pre-defined, no matter where you are on Earth. Sure, it’s only got enough storage to keep the last 10 messages received, but something tells me if I was trapped on a mountain I’d happily overlook that limitation. $880 plus $29.99/month with a 3-year contract for text messaging privileges.

[ Solara Field Tracker 2100 ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Shane McGlaun

I have been feeding on a steady stream of HD TV and movies for years now and I can’t stand to watch SD programs. It would really suck to have to go back to SD programs and thankfully, DirecTV has all the channels I like to watch in HD.

The HD lineup was the reason I chose DirecTV over Dish Network for my new house. Dish Network is trying to improve its HD offerings though and has just introduced seven new national HD channels. I wonder if that means they got that satellite that failed to reach orbit correctly last year repaired.

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By Jonathan Kimak

Last week the GeoEye-1 satellite, which is co-owned/sponsored by Google, took a photo(above) of the Kutztown University campus in Pennsylvania. The satellite is primarily funded by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency(NGA) with Google being the second largest funder.

The satellite is able to take pictures at a resolution of 41cm which is close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond. Google is only allowed to receive photos that are a maximum of 50cm resolution due to government restrictions. The NGA will receive their photos at a 43cm resolution.

Even with restrictions the satellite will provide Google Earth and Google Maps with the best pictures yet.

Right now the GeoEye-1 is undergoing calibration to ensure it achieves maximum resolution.

VIA [ Wired Blog ]