Location-Based Services Topic Center

Location-based services news, in-depth articles and more

Solar flare blacks out some radios, but the end is not (necessarily) near

Don't set your Google Inactive Account Manager just yet, but there are billions of tons of solar matter hurtling toward the Earth at more than 600 miles (970 kilometers) per second. NASA estimates the plasma will hit our atmosphere late Friday night, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.
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VA deploys sensors to track most equipment

The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun installing millions of sensors to track any piece of equipment that costs more than $50.

LightSquared asks to share weather-balloon spectrum for its LTE network

Embattled satellite carrier LightSquared proposed that the government let it share spectrum with federal uses such as weather balloons so it can get enough spectrum to launch its proposed national LTE mobile network.

House panel sets Friday hearing on LightSquared probe

A subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives will hear testimony on Friday about whether the FCC followed its own rules when it gave LightSquared conditional approval for an LTE network early last year.

Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin lobbies for LightSquared

Two names that have recently been out of the limelight recently turned up on Tuesday at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission: Bankrupt would-be mobile broadband carrier LightSquared and former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who was helping to sell LightSquared's story to the agency.

Nokia, Samsung, Sony join forces to improve indoor navigation

Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Sony and Qualcomm have formed the In-Location Alliance, which will work to improve the accuracy of indoor positioning, the companies said on Thursday.

Three tools to pinpoint rogue access points

Locating and tracking an object via radio waves has been in everyday use since the WWII invention of RADAR (Radio Detection And Ranging). Today, everybody from automobile drivers to airline pilots to mapmakers to construction professionals rely on GPS, another form of radio-based location and tracking.

Google failed to delete all Street View data in UK

Google disclosed in an email to the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office that it had not yet deleted all user data collected by its Street View vehicles, as it had agreed to more than 18 months ago.

Nokia plans to cut 10,000 staff by end 2013, sells Vertu

Nokia said it plans to cut up to 10,000 positions globally by the end of 2013 and is selling luxury phone maker Vertu in a bid to cut costs, even as it plans to boost investments in feature phones and smartphones based on the Windows Phone operating system.

10 ways your smartphone knows where you are

One of the most important capabilities that smartphones now have is knowing where they are. A smartphone can combine its location with many other pieces of data to make new services available.

Why Tech Startups Partner With Companies In Industries They Want to Disrupt

Sometimes tech startups make deals with the very industry players they're trying to disrupt.

Location-based services: Are they there yet?

Mobile apps that use your location to offer services are no longer new. But are they truly useful to businesses? We look at Facebook, Foursquare, Google Latitude and Yelp to see how they're doing.

8 realities about location-based apps

Use your common sense before buying into the hype of location-based apps.