Satellite

News Corp. Hires Hacker to Break Into Dish Satellite Network, Steal Security Codes for Pirate Cards

This is classic corporate espionage/sabotage at its finest. Dish Network is accusing News Corp.—which used to have a 39 percent stake in DirecTV and still provides its security tech—of hiring hacker Christopher Tarnovsky to break into Dish's network, steal the security codes, and use them to make pirated cards to flood the black market. It sounds insane, but Tarnovsky admitted in court he was paid James Bond villain style, with $20,000 cash payments mailed from Canada hidden inside "electronic devices." More »

6:30 PM on Thu Apr 24 2008
By matt buchanan
8,736 views, 14 comments

Latest by kclofter: @CFStang: Brilliant! more »

japan

Japan Confirms Kizuna Satellite Internet Is World's Fastest, Blows Our Crappy Broadband Away

Generally speaking, the state of broadband in the United States sucks. Hard. You know what sucks harder than your crappy DSL line? Satellite internet—it's stupid expensive and super slow. Except in Japan. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency is reporting that their tests of the world's fastest satellite internet—155Mbps downstream to homes, and 1.2Gbps to businesses with properly endowed antennas—have been successful. Not only to they plan to cover all of Japan, but a fair bit of the Asian Pacific region. Meanwhile, we shit ourselves over 50Mbps cable that runs $150 a month. [JAXA via Impress, JAXA (More Info, readable)]

3:10 PM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By matt buchanan
7,185 views, 35 comments

Latest by JustADude: I have internet connections all over the world in places I have business branches and yes our prices here are failures by comparison. Satellite has lag it always will but it you are steaming Youtube for example, once it starts the more »

toshiba

Toshiba X205-SLi5 and SLi6 Gaming Notebooks Pack Penryn and SLI Goodness

Along with the re-designed and cheaper Satellite notebooks from last week, Toshiba's tossing out a pair of gaming notebooks packing Penryn chips (Core 2 Duo 8300 or 9300) and NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT running in SLI, with HDD configs up to 400GB. Starting at two grand, which isn't bad for "gaming" notebooks, but churning the 8600M GT seems a bit old and busted with 9-series cards right around the corner. Plus, the plain Jane looks aren't going to turn any heads. [Toshiba]

1:35 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By matt buchanan
1,355 views, 3 comments

Latest by Sleeper_Service: @zimstyles: Quick! How do we add it? more »

xm

BlackBerry Users Get XM Radio, Excuse to Take Phones Into Bathrooms For $7.99 a Month

I used to sleep through class by tuning my cellphone's FM radio to a classical station, sitting in the back, and putting a jacket over my face, so this XM Radio on BlackBerry is pretty spectacular news. All you need is a BlackBerry 8800, 8700, Pearl or Curve and $7.99 a month. You'll get 20 "exclusive" XM channels (list after the jump), and you can download the app here or text "XM" to 47201. Time for a nap. Since this uses the phone's regular data connection, you hopefully won't be forced to wear giant ridiculous looking headphones in order to get reception. More »

2:44 PM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Jason Chen
6,668 views, 44 comments

Latest by justinpe: @globones: I would like to expand on the "Mom dressing you" analogy Mom = Satellite Radio Clothes = Music/Content You = You So your mom shops for you and takes care of all of your clothing expenses. That way you don't have to decide what more »

laptops

Toshiba Satellite Laptops: New Fusion Look, Charge-Anytime USB Ports, Cheaper Prices

Mr. T's favorite laptop maker rolled out slick, useful and budget-minded updates to its Satellite line today. First up, the 13.3" U400, 14.1" M300, 15.4" A300 and 17" P300 have a new look called "Fusion," a shiny finish with pinstripes and smoothed edges, not unlike that sucka HP's successful smooth-n-shiny-n-pinstripey look. The eight shots in the gallery make the design look a bit greenish, so we'll have to wait to pass final judgment. It's one thing to look nice on the outside, but like T, these have a lot going on on the inside, too... More »

4:20 PM on Tue Apr 1 2008
By Wilson Rothman
5,605 views, 16 comments

Latest by bsoft: Uh, my ThinkPad T61 can do "sleep and charge" - the USB ports are active when the device is off or sleeping if it's plugged in. You can turn on or off the setting using the BIOS. My old Compal EFL30 more »

satellite

XM/Sirius Merger a Go: What It Means To You

XM and Sirius just cleared the largest (and longest) hurdle on their path to getting all conjoined: The Justice Department officially okayed Sirius's $5 billion buyout of XM. They said that the growth of mobile broadband "made it even more unlikely that the transaction would harm consumers in the longer term," squashing arguments from radio and broadcasting groups the merger would be anti-competitive. The DoJ thumbs up makes the merger more likely to happen, which Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin has repeatedly promised will make for cheaper, better programming. More »

3:25 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
By matt buchanan
9,157 views, 43 comments

Latest by ViperBorg: I REALLY don't like this. I'm a Sirius subscriber, and after listening to XM once, let me make that clear, once. I HATED, no LOTHED XM. If, after this "Merger" buyout, etc, etc, etc, Sirius starts sounding ANYTHING like XM, more »

700mhz

Dish's Surprise 700MHz Win Means What?

Dish Networks, sat TV provider, has won a block of the 700MHz band in the FCC's recent auction. Given Dish's primary business is television from the heavens, one has to wonder what they're up to. At first, I thought internet, as DirecTV has. But the analysts say that the tiny corner of the band that Dish bought is actually not suitable for 2-way communication, and is better for broadcast. Maybe they're planning to pipe their channels over the airwaves. That could be useful in portables. [Yahoo]

9:40 PM on Thu Mar 20 2008
By Brian Lam
2,854 views, 16 comments

Latest by twistfunk: more bandwith so they can broadcast in true HD? more »

satellite

Proof Satellite Sucks: Dish and DirecTV Get FCC Approval to Downgrade HD Channels Until 2013

High-def channels consume bandwidth like Britney Spears at a Frappuccino trough (props, last night's South Park). That's a problem for twinkly satellite providers Dish Network and DirecTV, who just don't have the capacity to blast every channel in HD—so the FCC just gave them the nod to downcovert broadcasters' HD signals until 2013. Basically, it means that just because a channel is broadcast in HD, they don't have to give it to you in HD. More »

1:00 PM on Thu Mar 20 2008
By matt buchanan
12,021 views, 57 comments

Latest by mboesch: I have been with Dish Network for the passed three years. Never had any trouble, but thinking about get HD channels. My question is to anyone to you think Dish will ever catch up with Directv? I have been thinking more »

airplanes

DARPA Close To Awarding Contract For Spy Plane That Stays Aloft For 5 Years

According to Flight Global, DARPA is close to awarding a contract to build an unmanned aircraft that can stay in the air for up to 5 years at a time. DARPA describes the "Vulture" project as a "persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package." In other words, the aircraft can hover over a single area, narcing, communicating, or surveying for years at a time. More »

9:20 PM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Sean Fallon
17,894 views, 31 comments

Latest by jtowntex: This tech. has already been proven in such harsh conditions with standard aircraft materials like carbon fiber. Additionally, stonger/lighter fibers have been since developed. As for attack - who cares most of the expense in an aircraft is in crew more »

space

Boeing to Design New DARPA's Networked Swarm Spacecrafts

Start buying Cold War nuclear shelters and piling up the canned food, because Boeing Advanced Systems has started System F6, "DARPA's Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange space technology program." In other words: multiple, networked specialized spacecraft swarms that are intelligent enough to perform a single coordinated task together, like analyzing the crops or deciding to destroy humanity, Skynet-style. Actually, it could completely change satellites for the better, according to some experts: More »

12:45 PM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Jesus Diaz
15,993 views, 42 comments

Latest by ntrgc89: LOVED the picture, absolutely hilarious more »

question of the day

Question of the Day: Which is Better? Satellite, Cable, Download, or Antenna?

When it comes to television programming, there is no one service that does everything right. The number of channels, HD programming, and price are just a few of the weapons companies use to compete for your entertainment dollar. And then there are always downloading options from BitTorrent and the like. So, the question is, which one is really the best and why? Hell, I'll even throw in "Antenna" despite the fact that it is about to be phased out. More »

6:40 PM on Mon Mar 3 2008
By Sean Fallon
25,765 views, 92 comments

Latest by tackett: Download for sports only broadcast in Europe. Netflix (DVD & On Demand) for TV shows/series, as well as movies. more »

connectivity

Japan's Kizuna Satellite to Beam Souped Up Internet Connection Back Home

Japan is launching the Kizuna satellite, which will bring high-speed internet access to Japan's remote territories and neighboring countries, as well as providing continuous networking in case of emergency. The $342 million project, spearheaded by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is expected to culminate in internet connections reaching speeds of 1.2Gbps, dwarfing current ADSL connections that typically allow data transfer to occur at below 8 Mbps. Users will need to install an antenna to be able to receive a signal, but for those speeds, I'd be willing to trade in a pound of my very own flesh. More »

8:00 PM on Sun Feb 24 2008
By Haroon Malik
6,005 views, 29 comments

Latest by buckminster: At an altitude of 22,240 statute miles, one way light time is .11 seconds so latency is a show stopper. more »

kaboom

Video of Spy Satellite Getting Shot Down

Watch as General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and apparently Jack Bauer's older brother) shows how the Lockheed Martin's Aegis missile launches and successfully destroys the rogue spy satellite. This is a huge success for the Pentagon and the anti-missiles system that was first conceived in the mid-80s as part of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Specially after many critics were saying it wasn't going to work.
More »

8:06 AM on Thu Feb 21 2008
By Jesus Diaz
107,817 views, 106 comments

Latest by GOKOR: Stupid Major League Baseball...they should have known they couldn't spy on us forever. more »

nasa

Lunar Astronauts To Have Mobile Phone Service

NASA will definitely beat the Mt. Everest phone calls when they launch mobile phone service on the moon around 2012. Their MoonLite system will link astronauts, the lunar base and Earth via satellite. Even though there is over four years until launch, the service will only have a speed of 3kbps down/2kbps up. One small call for man...ah forget it. [Silicon.com via Newlaunches]

2:40 PM on Wed Feb 20 2008
By Eric Sheline
1,519 views, 17 comments

gps

SPOT GPS Tracking Device Is Perfect for Remote Climbers and Jealous Girlfriends

Walt Mossberg has had a look at the SPOT satellite messenger, a GPS gadget aimed at adventurers and thrill seekers. Not only does it call in the emergency services if you're stuck and there's no cellphone tower for miles, but it also sends out position updates to keep friends back home updated on your expedition. It locates you via GPS, and transmits data by satellite to a control center, which routes messages on for you, and its three buttons couldn't be simpler—"OK/Check," "Help" and the one you'll hopefully never click, "911." More juice below. More »

7:05 AM on Wed Jan 30 2008
By Kit Eaton
6,221 views, 17 comments

Latest by adventuretrak: I've been an authorized SPOT dealer since the device was first released back in November, and I can answer some of the questions that have been presented here. First off, with our sales price of $149.99 and rental costs of more »

home entertainment

New DirecTV Satellite Capable of 150 HD and 1,500 Local Channels

The latest DirecTV 11 satellite just built by Boeing could potentially increase the total capacity of their programming network to 150 national HD channels and 1,500 local channels. So get ready to fire up those HDTVs—the satellite is expected to launch in March. [Boeing]

4:20 PM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By Sean Fallon
6,857 views, 38 comments

question of the day

Question of the Day: Cable or DSL

A lot of you read us at work, which is fantastic, but we want to know what kind of pipe you use to read us at home. Are you on some kind of package deal with your cable provider, or are you sucking down bits through your telephone jack. We're assuming that none of our readers have dial-up access here, because that's just shameful. Here's the poll:

5:00 PM on Thu Jan 24 2008
By Jason Chen
10,048 views, 106 comments

Latest by ryman: i'm giving benefit of the doubt and will say gizmodo readers are of higher intelligence. if you FIOS in your area get it as fast as you can. more »

gadgets

Southwest Airlines Testing Satellite Broadband Internet Access For Your Pleasure

According to their own press release, Southwest is going to be testing in-flight broadband satellite Wi-Fi access so you can check your mail and do all sorts of stuff (though probably not surf porn or talk to someone on Skype). They'll start testing on four planes this summer, with a wider rollout to come whenever they damn well feel like it. [PRNewswire]

12:54 PM on Wed Jan 23 2008
By Jason Chen
1,531 views, 19 comments

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