Internet par satellites : Riffifi in the firmament

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In space, in an area called LEO (Low Earth Orbit) located at a distance of approximately 200 down to 1.000 km above our heads, several hundred, even thousands, satellites are already flying. They are mainly dedicated to communications and observations of all kinds, civil and military.

But for a short decade a fratricidal war has been declared, a frantic race between several private and semi-public companies to offer high-speed internet to all humans, wherever they live on the globe. The thing is important, because this market, beyond the altruism and generosity displayed by these ambitious programs, promises several billion dollars in earnings in the coming years. Read more …

UKHO delays removal of Admiralty paper charts

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British backpedaling : UKHO postpones phasing out of Admiralty paper charts until at least 2030 ! Six months after setting the goal of 2026 for the complete withdrawal from production of all paper navigation charts (¹), UKHO (United Kingdom Hydrographic Office) said the 2 February only in response to user feedback, It now plans to continue to provide a paper map service until 2030 at least (²).

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XB-8000 new WiFi AIS transponder for mobile devices [Update]

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xb-8000Vesper Marine, company established in 2007 in Auckland (New Zealand), specializes in the design of devices for AIS data broadcasting. Their latest product, XB-8000, is a Class B AIS transponder certified NMEA2000® compact, low consumption, responding to the yachting market and small professional units. It was essentially designed with WiFi transmission in mind to navigation applications developed on tablets and smartphones.

[Update] After the acquisition of Vesper Marine by Garmin, this device is discontinued since February 2023. The brand name is also removed.

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eSail4VR V.1.14 Update

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A new version of eSail4VR just released in Windows Store online stores, Google Play, App Store (macOS), AppStore (iOS/iPadOS). It brings the following improvements since the major version 1.11 (¹) :

  • Setting of the “VMG max tolerance” option increased from 0° to 20° (5° previously).
  • Improved routing algorithms.
  • Improved stability.
  • Correction of the passage of the antimeridian.
  • Correction de divers bugs

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(¹) eSail4VR 1.11 available on platforms [Update]
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eSail4VR 1.11 available on platforms [Update]

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In gestation and intensive testing for several months, the news version 1.11 is available on all platforms (¹). A large number of new items on the menu, dont le « Mode Expert », a new routing engine, support for the “boost” effect well known to specialists. The improvements mainly concern the user interface to respond to the numerous requests and feedback from users. Let's see the details below…

[Update 29/01/2022] Fixes have been made to resolve crashes on certain platforms. See the latest versions on eSail4VR page.

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The European Union is moving towards Open Data

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Europe is moving forward slowly, but she moves forward… towards free access to data from public services ! March, the 21 December 2022 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, under the reference C/2022/9562, The " Regulations of the European Commission establishing a list of specific high-value datasets and the modalities of their publication and re-use". Read more …

Iridium emails accessible via webmail

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On this opening day of the Paris Nautic boatshow, and as the Christmas holidays approach, I can't resist providing a small gift to the users of the satellite messaging app Iridium Mail & Web app. A tip that I have just been reminded of in the last newsletter of our friend Dominique, to iTabNav.fr, that you may meet on the Booth E11 – Hall 2 to ROM-Arrange.

For those who don't know yet, the email account created for use with the Iridium Mail & Web app (¹) has been accessible for some time by a webmail From any internet browser. Read more …