The Marine Technology Hub
Last week we saw how a GPS misused could cause a fiery frig up, but can giant fiery explosions on the Sun frig up the whole GPS system? I first heard about this thanks to a small article in the February issue of Soundings…
I guess we can thank poor Bo Bai for reminding us to never, ever completely bury our heads in navigational gadgetry. Bai was headed to the Saw Mill River Parkway in Bedford Hills, NY, last night, but according to a railroad spokesman, “As the car is driving over the tracks, the GPS system tells him to turn right, and he turns right onto the railroad tracks”, adding “he tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective”…
Above is the odd little Smart Radio SR261 “AIS Modem”, which claims “most of the functions of a class A ais transponder with a fraction of costs.” Let me say right up front that I absolutely do not recommend using this device, and think it may even endanger the AI system…
I’m sorry to report that the state of FCC approval for Class B AIS may be even worse than reported last month. Today an industry source told me that even though all the Commissioners have received a briefing on the Amendment and none expressed reservations, or even asked questions, it has somehow gone onto what’s known internally as the “wait and see list.” Apparently the only force that might move it along is encouragement from concerned citizens like us…
General tech innovation awards are interesting, but what about our little world? In fact, I was quite slack about reporting the various boating innovation awards all last year, and so I’ve compiled a list of all the electronics-related awards in the four competitions I know of:
Last night Garmin announced a slew of new mobile products, and I must say: WOW! Check out the Colorado, a high-end handheld designed for driving, hiking, boating, and…um…multimedia, location-aware, gaming/educational experiences!…
At this point in the year I like to cruise around the various “Best of” tech lists, mostly for geeky fun, but also looking for innovations that may eventually trickle down to the boating world. Like Popsci.com’s Innovation of the year, which is this flexible, light, and supposedly inexpensive Powersheet solar panel at right…
It’s good to hear that Aeolian shook the snow off her decks and made it to Bermuda. John Gass emailed that the skipper is “very pleased” with his new NavNet vx2 system, but the electronics in this included nav station shot…
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