Vesper 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.
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 (
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 
Inflation does not spare satellite telephone services, to believe that the price of radio waves increases with the cost of transport ! Does this mean that the cost of the round trip of a radio wave toward Iridium satellites (environ 2 x 780 km) is directly impacted by the increase in fuel prices ? Damned, I will have to be explained !