The Advancements of Mobile GPS Technology

Even though today's GPS technology doesn't require a great deal of space, the software that allows the device to function does. Once software, is created, it gets improved upon and will get smaller. All of the functions that come with the GPS device aren't needed by every consumer.

A GPS unit really only requires a radio emitter and a clock to work. The emitter sends the time reading of the clock to a overhead satellite. Then the satellite calculates the amount of time that it took for the radio signal to reach it, and then the satellite calculates the distance from this information. Three or four satellites will compare their locations with the amount of time that it took the signal to reach them. This is how they are able to determine your location.

If the GPS device is transmitting your location to a third party, the GPS unit will be small enough to clip to a pet's collar or fit inside of a cell phone. Thanks to the technological advancements in GPS devices, an expensive watch virtually impossible to steal.

The portability of a mobile GPS unit allows consumers to use them in a variety of different ways. Besides plotting navigation or tracking objects and living things, these devices can use the data as information for a variety of different applications. Recently, small digital cameras with GPS units installed in them are being sold to consumers. These cameras keep track of places where pictures were taken, and they can be used to create digital maps using the photos that were taken to mark locations.

Though they are larger, laptops are just as portable as mobile GPS devices. A GPS device can easily be attached to a laptops with a USB cable. A laptop with a GPS unit attached to it can be used in a car to navigate a route, and store the information for business report later on.

Before you use a mobile GPS unit on a flight, check with the airline to make sure that you are allowed to use it on the flight. Most airlines will allow you to use unit during the flight, however there are some that don't allow them to be used during the flight.

Everyday, more uses for GPS devices are being developed, and I bet that in a few years from now, we will wonder how we ever managed without them.

Bandwidth 101 - Understanding Loop - Port - And More

Here's the scenario....you're in need of increased bandwidth to meet your business voice and/or data applications. You're targeting T1 or DS3 as your solution...without a router (let's say you already have one or will get one seperate from the bandwidth provider).

Before you go out and jump at the first "attractive" business bandwidth offer you see.....there's a few things you need to understand. Particularly the terms Loop and Port....as well as "dedicated" and "shared" connections. Otherwise....you risk paying more for something you don't really need. Or worse yet....paying less for something that doesn't do what you must have.

So here we go....now pay attention and take notes.

Loop is the connection from your building to the provider's interface point, which is usually the main central office for your region, not necessarily the local central office.

Port is the actual connection to the internet backbone.

If your equipment was in the provider's data center, you would not need loop, but there will always be a port.

If your price quotes vary wildly, most likely you are running up against the "shared" vs "dedicated" issue. a "dedicated" connection (usually quoted by Tier I providers like AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Qwest, Savvis) will get you the full bandwidth to the internet backbone. A "shared" connection will get you full bandwidth to the carrier's interface point, from which they buy a big connection to their Tier I carrier.

An example, they buy a T3 (aka DS3) which consists of 28 T1 connections. Then they sell 60 T1 connections, recognizing that not all users will be requiring their full bandwidth at any particular time. Kind of like the old AOL issues of them having 1 modem for every 12 customers, and then having to buy more modems as customers complained about busy signals.

The issue of "shared" connections is a lively issue. You might trek over to the BroadbandReports.com forum for Wireless Internet Providers where you will see several discussions about how many customers can be supported by a link of a certain size.

If you are hosting a web site at your location, or if you are running a real time application and need absolute time sensitive responses to your internet queries, then you want to pony up to pay for the dedicated connection.

Another issue affecting your price would be how long is the loop from your central office to the carrier's interface point. Assuming that you're in Rancho Santa Fe CA (for example), a carrier requiring a loop all the way to Los Angeles would have a higher cost (and thus a higher price), than a carrier with an interface point in San Diego.

As for any questions about IP addresses, and e-mails:

Most Tier 1 providers will give you up to a class C (256) Block at no charge with justification. Plenty of IP address coverage for whatever your application.

Email, is almost a none issue with T1 service, as most people buying a T1 don't need ISP Email's. But if you do need them, find the best offer. However most providers consider email a free service.

There you go. Now you're armed with a priceless education. That should translate to smart price shopping.

How To Buy The Satellite TV Equipment To Watch English Channels Such As BBC, ITV, And Ch4 In Europe

What you need

• A satellite dish, 85cm or larger depending on your location (see below)
• A second hand, used, ex-rental Sky Digibox
• A Freeview Card or expired Sky viewing card
• A TV

Optional items

• Sky contract (UK address is required)
• A satellite finder meter or an accurate compass

Choosing a Digibox The satellite we are looking for is Astra 2D which is positioned at 28.2° east, has a footprint focused tightly on the British Isles, making reception difficult in large areas of mainland Europe. So the choice of box is important.

The best place to buy a Sky Digibox is from ebay.co.uk. At the moment most people are upgrading to Sky+ and Sky aren't bothering to collect their old boxes, so people are selling them on ebay, where they are going cheap.

Ideally a Grundig GRD310/2 or Panasonic TU-DSB30 (not a 31) box is the best choice or look for old Pace and Grundig boxes which work superbly with low signals.

Buying a viewing card Once again ebay.co.uk is the best place to get a card if you did not get one with the box. There is no difference in the channels you can get on Freeview card compared to an expired Sky viewing card. If you want to watch subscription channels like Sky One then you will need a Sky contract, this requires a UK address and a UK bank account. One very easy way to do this is to get a friend, who has a Sky contract, to order a second box for 'use in their caravan' and then pay them your subscription.

Personally I have never felt the urge to have any Sky channels. Freeview gives you all the BBC TV and radio channels, plus all ITV channels, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Choosing a satellite dish The only important thing about a dish is the size, other than that, just pop down your local DIY store and you should find a suitable dish. Note that quite often, the shop will assume that you want to watch satellite TV from that country where a small 60/70cm dish will do, this is not the case here.

Look at the Astra 2D footprint map on astra2d.com and determine the size of dish you need. The bigger the better, but as a guide you will need at least an 85cm dish for central France, 1.8m for Southern Spain, 3m for Mainland Greece and 3.5m for Turkey and Cyprus. I use an 85cm dish in the Southern French Alps and it does struggle on the digital only channels like ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.

The detector is called a Low noise block downconverter ( LNB ) It is the device on the front of a satellite dish that receives the very low level microwave signal from the satellite, amplifies it, changes the signals to a lower frequency band and sends them down the cable to the indoor receiver.

There is nothing special about these and the one that comes with the dish should be fine.

It is possible to buy multi headed LNBs, the popular one being the Quad LNB which has four output cables that can independently feed 4 boxes.

Setting it all up There are usually local companies who will set up your system for you, especially in the 'ex pat hotspots' such as The French Riviera, but with a little patience and a compass you can do it yourself, I'll cover this in a later article.

How Can Save Money Making Long Distance And International Calls Through Internet

Broadband internet phone services, sometimes called internet phones, utilize the internet as opposed to regular telephone network systems to transmit phone calls. Voice over internet protocol, or VoIP technology, will convert your voice into "packets" that are digitally formatted. These packets are then sent out over the internet and are then converted back to the traditional analog signals before the point that they reach the receiver and the person on the other end.

Broadband phones are viewed as very convenient by many because from the user's standpoint these phones work just like a regular phone would when they are set up correctly. In other words, when the phone rings, the person picks it up and talks. To call someone, the person just makes the call as they normally would from a regular phone. This is specifically referring to hardware broadband phones as opposed to the software broadband phone services that require a computer in order to operate. Additionally, broadband phone services are like other phone services in that they can be acquired in bundles with caller ID, call waiting and voicemail.

The main selling point on broadband phones, however, is the significant savings on long distance phone calls. This is due to the fact that your broadband phone uses the internet to transmit calls as opposed to your regular phone's traditional phone lines. This means that your call will bypass certain tolls, such as the Telco. This makes your broadband phone services much less expensive. In addition, many broadband phone service providers offer user to user free calls, if both callers have the same broadband phone service provider, much like the program that many cell phone companies are doing.

The only real drawbacks to having broadband internet service are that you must have a high speed internet connection. The broadband phone services can also be affected by the same security and reliability issues of your internet connection on your computer such as viruses, a down server or power outage. The sound quality may be a problem. The sound may be distorted and there may be clipped sentences. Some of the broadband service providers do not offer 911 services. Additionally, many of those that do only offer basic 911 which means that the operators can not access the caller's phone number or location. Finally, broadband does not offer free long distance services. The long distance charges are determined by the service provider. You need to ask when you are evaluating the various broadband phone services.

Internet Minus the Wires? Of course!

Nowadays, when you talk about the Internet, not only those who are degree holders, well educated and intelligent can relate to you or understand you. Because of the high demands for Internet usage, people began to become familiar with it. Not only the students or the teachers use it, but also we can say that people from different walks of life are more so enjoying it. Why not? if it can be the answer to a lot of possibilities. We gain knowledge and wisdom, and even make our work a whole lot easier. It has even become the bridge to those who are separated by distance, communicated people who are miles apart. Indeed the Internet has brought us a lot of things that most of us consider as something of great help. But then of course when you talk about the Internet, definitely speed and connection will come into your mind. And the most popular of it is the broadband internet connection. A kind of connection that is more than twenty times faster than the usual dial-up connection. Known to many, the broadband connection maximizes not only the time that one has to spent in using the world wide web, but more the effort that you will exude once you have to go online.

With the help of Broadband Wireless Internet, the already easy and accessible way in connecting to the Internet has become more trouble-free and effortless. Because it is wireless, one can go online anywhere as long as the area you are in is still part of the coverage area of your Internet Service Provider or ISP. More so, some ISP provides greater range than Wi-fi, which gives a lot more advantages to those who are using the wireless connection. And since it transmits signals through the air and not through the wire, it eliminates the chances of interventions while using the Internet. Another factor is that it is Plug and play, which simply means you can use it with ease and simplicity. It would not even require software or a technician for you to use it. One just have to plug the modem into a wall outlet and presto, you can start surfing!

And because it is high speed, you can download pictures, music and videos that easy. It can even provide you up to 1.5 mbps of speed that would not even require a phone line or cable connection. You don?t even have to wait for the connection because it is always on and it is even designed with built-in security.

Being able to become familiarize with what a Broadband Wireless Internet can offer, you now have options to choose from between the wired and unwired connection. Depending on your needs and desires you can now decide as to what type of connection you should use. But what matters most is the fact that anywhere, anytime, any day, the Internet is just one click away.

Some Things to Consider Before You Purchase a GPS Tracking System

In today's business world, a companies equipment and vehicles are a very important part of running a business. Companies are starting to keep track of their things by using GPS tracking systems. If you're thinking about purchasing GPS systems, here are somethings you need to consider before you go out and buy one.

In most cases, with GPS tracking systems their is not a one time purchasing fee. There is a monthly service that is usually required to maintain the GPS tracking system. So before run out and purchase a system, you need to make sure that your budget includes the cost of the monthly service fees, upgrades, repairs, and routine maintenance all fall into the overall price of the system you buying.

Before you invest in a GPS tracking system, you need to decide if there is an alternative option available to a GPS tracking system, that will do the same job without a monthly service fee. Lo jack is a popular alternative tracking system. This systems is a lot simpler than their GPS counterparts, because it only requires two devices, a transponder and a retriever. Systems such as, Lo jack are great when it comes to simply locating a lost vehicle, but it will not record where the vehicle has been.

When you get down to the nuts and bolts, it all depends on your companies needs, with a GPS system in place you can track the company vehicle, and monitor the verbal communication that is taking place in the car. The GPS system that has a good surveillance system in place, might be a good idea if you or your employees frequently have to go into areas that have a high crime rate. Plus most GPS systems include roadside and mechanical assistance.

Remember that a GPS tracking system is only going to be as good as the support that it has backing it. When you do decide on a system, make sure that you research the quality of its support. You should ask question like, have the employees been professionally trained? Is the companies call center and help that they provide efficient? Do they have a seamless communication system in place that allows them to communicate with emergency institutions? Dose the company have an established relationship with the various police stations in your area. These are just a few of the things that you need to consider before you go out and purchase a GPS system Making sure that you ask the right questions, and do the necessary research are an important part of any investment.