50th space wing gains control of newest gps satellite

Correction: This website and the September issue of GPS World magazine mistakenly reported that SVN-63, the second IIF satellite, had been set operational on August 23. This is not the case. As of September 29, the satellite is still not set healthy to users.The 50th Space Wing’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron accepted command and control of the second Global Positioning System Block IIF satellite on August 19, and set it operational on August 23. The Space and Missile Systems Center’s GPS Directorate, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base, remained in control of the satellite during a 30-day on-orbit checkout period before the hand-off to 2 SOPS.

Persistent systems acquires openwave's mobile location-based business

Persistent Systems, an outsourced software product development (OPD) service provider, has announced that it has, through its U.S. subsidiary, acquired the location business from Openwave Systems Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Nbc using foursquare for election coverage

NBCPolitics.com, the digital home for political headlines, insight and analysis by NBC News, today announced an exclusive election partnership with foursquare. The “Campaign Check-ins” data visualization on NBCPolitics.com will display check-ins from President Obama’s campaign team and the Republican presidential candidates’ campaign teams as they travel across the country on the campaign trail. People will also be able to view real-time check-ins from the NBC News journalists embedded with the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns.

On the edge: go big green

Nav On Time, a French Company located in Toulouse, has successfully completed a trial campaign of its Mow-By-Sat precision guidance on a commercial lawnmower. In August, the prototype of a GPS-guided robot lawnmower was installed on a golf driving range near Toulouse and tested in real conditions of use, day and night, maintaining a 25,000 square meter lawn since then. In a previous campaign, the mower covered more than 2.2 million yards — equal to1,250 miles or 2,000 kilometers — in 2,100 hours. (See videos of the mower in action at www.youtube.com/DSnavontime.)