Tag: satellite
Satellite radio set to challenge DAB thanks to backing from BMW and Nissan
Satellite radio is already a huge success stateside, with Krueger heavily involved in the popular satellite subscription service Sirius.
UK Satellite TV Comparison Guide: Sky versus Freesat
Two services that require you to stick a satellite dish to the side of your house.
One has been around for two decades, the other has just celebrated its first birthday.
Both will demand an upfront payment: one will continue to drain money from your bank account each month.
So which is best? Read our comparison guide to see if you should go with coming-of-age Sky or new-kid-on-the-block Freesat.
Read on to find out…
First orbital collision – US and Russian satellites get a little too close
In the first reported orbital collision ever, a US and a Russian communications satellite have accidentally collided 780km above Siberia. A “massive cloud of debris” has been produced, and NASA is tracking the hundreds of bits resulting from the crash, in the hope that they won’t interfere with the ISS and the shuttle, which is due to launch later this month.
It’s comprehensively answered the question of “how much stuff can we stick up there without it hitting each other?”, as 6,000 satellites have been sent into orbit since the first in 1957. Only about half are still in use, with the others having become defunct over the years.
The satellites in question belong to Communications firm Iridium, based in Bethesda, Maryland, and Russia’s civilian space agency, Roscosmos. The former was launched in 1997 and only weighed 560kg, so probably came off rather worse in the collision than its one-tonne Russian rival from 1993.
Place your bets in the comments below as to when the second collision will occur. The closest wins a bit of charred satellite, dug out of the tundra of Siberia.
(via BBC)
Sky offers Sky+HD box for under fifty quid as satellite giant pushes high definition
Sky has decided that it’s time to get really aggressive when it comes to high definition in the UK, and to that end has slashed the price of its Sky+HD box to just £49. That’s a third of the price it was early last year (£150) and is the satellite broadcaster’s hope of getting many more subscribers hooked on pay-for-HD.
In fact, thanks to a lot of enticing marketing and the lure of a variety of sports, films and other content in high definition, Sky has just had its best quarter — in the three months to the end of December, 188,000 people signed up for high-def services, taking the total number of subscribers to nearly 800,000…
Toshiba announces Satellite A350: its first 16" widescreen laptop
What do you do when a 15-inch laptop is just that little bit too small, but a 17-inch one is a bit big? Simple! Buy a 16-inch version, like the Satellite A350 widescreen notebook from Toshiba…
Watching the inauguration from space
Watching the inauguration yesterday from the ground, it was almost impossible to get a proper sense of scale of the proceedings. It was clear it was massive, but how massive? Well, click the image above to get a bird’s eye view of the scene in Washington from 681km up in the atmosphere.
You see those brown blobs? Those are massive crowds of people. Millions, in fact. The image is courtesy of Google’s (well, it’s not really theirs) GeoEye-1 satellite. More awesome satellite images over the break.
Five finally coming to Freesat: 18th November
Since Freessat’s May launch, one notable absentee from the channel line-up was Five.
Due to a contract with Sky, the broadcaster wasn’t able to commit to Freesat straight away, but from Tuesday 18th November it takes up residence on channel 105.
Five has advanced a lot since the early days of bad reception and seedy porn (well, the reception’s better at least). Its autumn schedule includes Paul Merton in India, 1968 Unseen, Dangerous Adventures for Boys, Unbreakable and Axe Men…
Sky and Virgin Media bury the hatchet, offer each other's basic channels
The long-running dispute between Sky and Virgin Media over carriage charges, and the dropping of channels from each other’s platform, may have finally come to an end as the two companies agree new channel carriage agreements…
Freesat announces new "plus" service coming mid-November; Humax offers first HD DVR
Freesat, keen to join the likes of Freeview+ and Sky+ in offering DVR capability on its platform, has announced that Freesat+ will be available from mid-November.
When a suitably-equipped digibox is connected to the satellite feed, full DVR functionality is offered, including pausing and recording live TV, detailed channel guides, series recording, and so on…
Google goes mega-high-resolution on Google Maps with the GeoEye-1 satellite
Above you can see the first image taken by the GeoEye-1, Google’s very own satellite. They don’t own it outright – they share it with the American National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which collects and analyses geographical data for national security purposes…
