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Posts with tag satellite

Man Accidentally Kills Wife During Botched Satellite TV Install

by Tim Stevens, posted Mar 26th 2008 at 7:20PM

Man Shoots Wife During Botched Satellite TV Install

You know those annoying pro-cable commercials that always talk about how awful or expensive it is to install a satellite dish, and how comparatively easy, cheap, and dependable cable is? Yeah, well, they don't have anything on this story out of Sedalia, Missouri, where a husband has admitted to shooting his wife during the install of a home satellite TV system.

Amazingly the husband, Ronald Long, was trying to use a .22-caliber pistol to shoot a hole through the wall in the couple's home to enable them to run a wire through to the television. His first shot was apparently unsuccessful in penetrating the wall and his second shot somehow hit his wife in the chest, 34-year-old Patsy Long. She was pronounced dead on Saturday night.

Ronald could now be charged with manslaughter, though prosecutors haven't confirmed whether that is their intention. It also remains to be seen whether the cable companies will start filming new ads about these new potential dangers of satellite dish installation, but we wouldn't put it past them.

In related news, and just in general, we'd like to know this: When will gadgets stop killing people!?

From KHQA

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Justice Department Approves XM / Sirius Merger

by Thomas Houston , posted Mar 24th 2008 at 4:46PM

Following a year of review, the U.S. Department of Justice just announced that it will allow the merger of XM and Sirius, the two leading U.S. satellite radio providers. Interestingly, the Department of Justice does not see the merger as anti-competitive. Engadget explains:

The deciding factor appeared to be the proprietary hardware needed to receive both XM and Sirius; since consumers who shell out aren't likely to switch, the DOJ doesn't think the marketplace is all that competitive to begin with, which makes the impact of a merger relatively small. In fact, the DOJ says the merger could actually benefit consumers, who might see lower prices as the result of more efficient operations, broader programming options, and faster rollouts of new technology.

Although the Justice Department's decision is important, the merger won't happen without the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -- the next stage in the process.

From Engadget and CNN


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DirecTV Begins Testing On-Demand Services

by Thomas Houston , posted Mar 18th 2008 at 4:02PM

Satellite-based television provider DirecTV recently began beta testing new on-demand technology that enables viewers to browse, select and watch movies, tv episodes, and other content.

While on-demand features have been available for years with cable providers such as Comcast, they have not been available through DirecTV, due to the one-way nature of satellite TV. By combining a digital video recorder (DVR) and a broadband (high-speed Internet) connection, DirecTV is finally able to provide on-demand functionality, and the company plans to launch the full service this spring with about 3,000 titles.

Although Comcast trumps DirecTV in the on-demand arena -- the cable giant currently gives subscribers access to over 10,000 titles with no delay -- DirecTV is still the undisputed leader in HD programming.

From tgdaily and The Wall Street Journal


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Spy Satellite Shot Down, Pentagon Shows Video

by Tim Stevens, posted Feb 21st 2008 at 9:07AM

Spy satellite shot downAccording to military representatives, they succeeded in shooting down that disabled spy satellite last night in what can only be described as an impressive demonstration of hitting a very small, very far away, and very fast-moving target with an apparently very capable missile.

They even showed a video to the public, which you can see here. The screengrab to the right is from the successful missile shooting.

The satellite, of course, has been the topic of many news reports over the past few weeks, particularly its payload of 1,000lbs of toxic fuel capable of creating a poisonous cloud of gas if exposed to the atmosphere. The Navy is quite positive that the missile hit resulted in the destruction of the fuel but we really won't know for sure until the bits and pieces start tumbling into the sea -- just off of the coast of Hawaii.

Aloha space debris!

From Engadget, CBS4

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Spy Satellite Splashdown Point Identified (With Map)

by Tim Stevens, posted Feb 20th 2008 at 1:19PM

Spy Satellite Landing Site Map

In what has become a highly publicized excuse to use some of their explosive toys, the U.S. Navy is planning to shoot a disabled spy satellite out of the starry skies tomorrow morning. Whether they'll even succeed in hitting the thing is a topic of debate, but assuming they do, there's the question of where the debris will land -- not to mention the potential toxic gas cloud created by the 1,000lbs of fuel still on-board. To this effect, the Navy has issued a warning to stay out of a 1,400-mile area in the Pacific.

All flights are prohibited from this area at any altitude from the hours of 2:30 to 5:00 am tomorrow morning local time. As you can see from the above map (viewable in Google Earth via this kmz file courtesy of Alan Clegg) the area includes a region that is, by our accounts, is fairly close to Hawaii. We're sure the Navy has this thing completely in the bag, but that said, just this once we're happy to not be sunning ourselves on the beaches of Maui.

From Fark and The Register

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Spy Satellites to be Pointed at U.S. Citizens

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 14th 2008 at 6:14PM

The domestic wiretapping program run by the NSA was disturbing enough to privacy advocates, but a new program moving forward that would allow law enforcement and security agencies to use spy satellite imagery may give the members of the ACLU a collective embolism.

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have held up the the program while trying to figure out some of the more pressing legal and privacy issues, but it seems that the program is moving forward now and a legal framework has been put in place. The program will not be used to intercept voice or data communications, but to obtain satellite imagery. All law enforcement requests must be accompanied by a warrant, and a third party panel that includes Justice Department officials will thoroughly vet all requests to ensure civil liberties are not violated.

From Associate Press

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US Spy Satellite to Come Crashing to Earth

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 28th 2008 at 3:48PM

US Spy Satellite to Come Crashing to Earth
Duck and cover! A US spy satellite has lost power and is preparing to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Where? The government either doesn't know, or isn't saying. When? The best estimates are late February, early March.

Typically spy satellites are disposed of in a controlled fashion, usually crashed into the ocean to keep any sensitive data out of the hands of foreign governments. But without power this satellite's descent will be uncontrolled and difficult to predict.

Worst of all, the satellite may contain beryllium, a light metal with an extremely high melting point routinely used in the aerospace industry. Beryllium is highly toxic, and if inhaled can lead to chronic and incurable respiratory problems.

So build a shelter and get a gas mask -- this one might get ugly.

From USA Today

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DirecTV Boosts HD Offerings to 70 Channels

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 16th 2007 at 12:00PM

DirecTV Boosts HD Offerings
DirecTV is breaking out the big guns in the war for TV superiority. The satellite TV provider has bumped up its HD lineup from just a handful of channels to over 70, with plans to offer 100 by the year's end. T

Overnight, this addition channels pushes DirecTV from dead last in the HD race to first, and by a huge margin. For example, satellite TV competitor Dish Network -- previously the HD channel leader -- offers between 30 and 40 HD channels depending on the market.

Many of the channels are, of course, of the premium (HBO, Showtime) variety, but the lineup also includes HD channels we haven't seen in too many places before, including Food Network, CNN HD, and Sci-Fi HD.

$9.99 a month gets you all the HD channels tied to your particular package. For $4.99 a month more, you get access to all non-premium HD programing that's not included in your package.

From BetaNews

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Are Satellite Dishes a Serious Eye Sore?

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Sep 11th 2007 at 3:35PM

Satellite Dishes
For those who don't have cable access (or choose to look to the skies), the satellite dish is normally an innocuous little dish that does little to tramp on a home's aesthetics.

What happens, though, when an entire apartment building is filled with satellite-using tenants, as in the picture above? The results are somewhere between artistic (as seen in the picture from Amsterdam below) and just plain Borg-like. Where do you fall on satellite dishes-as-art?

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XM's First Radio With Color Screen

by Tom Conlon, posted Aug 15th 2007 at 12:42PM

XM's First Radio With Color Screen
This week, XM announced its first ever radio with a color screen, the XpressRC. The unit, to be manufactured by Delphi, features a split-screen with one half showing the song that is currently playing and the other half showing what's playing on up to three other channels.

In addition, the receiver allows you to pause for up to an hour and pick back up where you left off, which doubles the pause time of previous units. The XpressRC also lets you record up to 10 favorite songs for later listening.

Perhaps the most important new feature, though, is the new FrequencyFinder option, which automatically finds the best empty FM frequency for playing XM over your car stereo speakers. This nice addition follows last year's FCC investigation into XM, which found that some XM units were not compliant with signal strength laws and that the FM transmitters on them operated outside of transmission limits. Hopefully, it actually works. We've tested our fair share of FM transmitters for satellite radio, MP3 players and iPod peripherals and have yet to be satisfied with a single one.

The XpressRC will be available in October for $170.

From BetaNews

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TomTom to Add Video to GPS Units?

by Tom Conlon, posted Jul 5th 2007 at 4:14PM

TomTom to Add Video to GPS Units?

A recent filing with the European Patent Office reveals that navigation pro TomTom is working on a GPS unit that will overlay directions on top of a live video feed from a camera in your own vehicle. The idea of seeing the directions on top of what's really there in front of you is kind of cool ... but is there a point? Wouldn't that be much more distracting than simple, streamlined graphics?

But, this is just a patent, and not an indication of a future product. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of this technology -- if it's used solely for the purpose described above, or if there are other uses. For example, will it record? If it did, parents could use the system to monitor the driving behavior of their children. Or, it could be used to determine who's at fault in an accident. Better yet, imagine TomTom putting together something similar to Google Maps Street View, but with user-generated video instead of photos.

From Engadget

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The Internet in Space

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 16th 2007 at 1:05PM



Nearly all Internet traffic is run through cables and wires strung across poles, buried underground, or floating in the sea. This is just fine most of the time, but when you're hoping to send critical data through the Internet and you're a long way from the nearest Starbucks, say, or on some remote island, your options are fairly slim.

That could some day change, thanks to a new project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. BBC News is reporting that networking hardware manufacturer Cisco and satellite manufacturer Intelsat will be working together to develop a means to put a networking router in space, effectively creating an orbital hotspot. (It's like reception-anywhere satellite radio, only for Internet access.) Eventually, this same technology could be used to spread Internet access throughout space.

Unfortunately, at first, the system will only be available for government uses. When launched in 2009, "Iris" will allow troops on the ground to use Internet-based communication systems from virtually anywhere. But remember, the Internet itself was government-only back in the day (as was GPS). With any luck, it won't be too long before you're able to check your MySpace page from anywhere in the world.

From BBC News
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