The bill Congress approved not only finances the radar-to-GPS switch, it will also allow for unmanned drone flights in U.S. airspace within the next four years. This, of course, is assuming these flights will be of a non-military nature, because Predator drones are already in use over the United States. As for the radar-to-GPS approval, ABC News provides details:

The bill authorizes $63.4 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration over four years, including about $11 billion toward the air traffic system and its modernization. It accelerates the modernization program by setting a deadline of June 2015 for the FAA to develop new arrival procedures at the nation’s 35 busiest airports so planes can land using the more-precise GPS navigation.

If you want an example of what TRACON-strapped air traffic controllers are currently working with, you can watch the following video from AirBoyd’s YouTube channel. It’s a 38 minute play-by-play of Florida air traffic controllers talking a passenger in after the pilot passed out.

While the story itself is incredibly compelling, the video also gives you a great example of the technology that’s available to the FAA:

Instead of time-consuming, fuel-burning, stair-step descents, planes will be able to glide in more steeply with their engines idling. Planes will also be able to land and take off closer together and more frequently, even in poor weather, because pilots will know the precise location of other aircraft and obstacles on the ground. Fewer planes will be diverted.

The FAA’s goal is to have the GPS system in place in the 35 busiest airports in the U.S., and the bill’s authorization of $63.4 billion over the next four years will clearly facilitate the switch.

The last remaining hurdle for the FAA is President Obama’s signature, signing off on the program; however, considering the current President’s spotty record in relation to NASA, is there a guarantee the bill will get executive approval?

Karma, in this case, comes in the form of Apple’s Find My iPhone feature. The built-in app allows users to track their lost devices using the iCloud and GPS. If you find yourself missing your iPhone, you can log in to the iCloud from another device and pinpoint the exact location of the device. This, of course, assumes that you previously enabled the Find My iPhone feature.

UPI is reporting that Find My iPhone has led to a interesting drug bust in Marietta, Georgia.

After an iPhone was reported missing in the early morning hours on Tuesday, police used the Find My iPhone app to track the device to an apartment building. When they approached the door, one suspect tried to jump off a second-floor balcony. Unsuccessful, the police grabbed him and found the stolen iPhone on his body.

But what they also found was 1,100 grams of pot, five handguns (3 of them stolen), 42 tablets of oxycodone and an assault rifle.

Two suspects were subsequently hit with theft, weapons and narcotics charges.

You can add this to the growing list of idiot criminals that are foiled by technology. Want more? Check out idiot admits to brutal beating on Facebook, and after that, how about idiot taunts police on Facebook? If you want to go back even more, read about the rioting idiots that talked about vandalizing cop cars on social media or even drunk idiot who calls 911 because his iPhone “wont work.”

[Lead Image Courtesy]

Ready to bring the shame? I hope not, because lucky for you (this time) the bringers of awesome future technology are from Team Earth (Sweden, in fact) and the awesome they’ve brought us is a slick piece of eco-friendly technology called PowerTrekk, tomorrow’s battery charger.

And here comes the best part: PowerTrekk is a darkness-defeating fuel cell charger that runs on – ready – WATER! It runs on approximately one tablespoon of WATER! You can charge your mobile electronics with the stuff that drips out of clouds and public fountains. This brilliant piece of future “cleanly and efficiently converts hydrogen into electricity” via PowerTrekk’s Proton Exchange Membrane. That sounds intense, but all you have to do is place one fuel pack, called PowerPukk, into the the PowerTrekk and “add water to provide instant and limitless power on the go.” Watch it in action:

UH-mazing.

myFC, the company that has created this device, promotes PowerTrekk as the ideal accessory for “business professionals in developing countries who seek freedom from wall charging either because they work in remote areas (where the grid is absent) or in cities where, from time to time, the electrical grid is unreliable.” Whether you’re charging your phone, camera, or even an iPod (because when you are completely removed from electricity the first thing to worry about is what jams you need to set the mood), simply plug the device into PowerTrekk’s USB port and – presto – you’re off like a battery-charging bandit. Take a look at all of it’s gadgety wonder:

So let’s recap: No power outlet? No problem. No car battery? No problem. No spare batteries? NO. PROBLEM.

The next time you’re venturing out into the wild, whether that’s an unfamiliar city or the actual wild that you see on Discovery Channel, take a look at your communication devices and ask yourself: Which one of these cute geometry-morphs do you hope to be:

Now, behold: there’s an app that lets you map out all your sordid sexploits.

I Just Made Love, developed by SharQ, employs your iPhone or Android smartphone’s GPS function so you can create a map index of all of your sexcapades. Really. But brace yourself because this is more than just a tool for sexual cartography because, for better or worse, IJML lets you include all the gory details of your trysts.

IJML allows users to select from a variety of positions they may have enjoyed while fornicating as well as the option to specify what type of environment in which the encounter occurred. Just had a session of missionary that rocked the boat? You can share that info.

At this point, you may be asking why memory isn’t sufficient enough to document these exciting events? Why would anyone need to use icons of geometry people doing, among other things, the horizontal mambo on the couch?

I’m so glad you ask because this is the best/worst part.

Honestly, I don’t even really know how to break this to anyone gently, so I’m just going to throw this on you directly: if you subscribe to the belief that “good fences make good neighbors” then you’re gonna hate this part because the most scandalous feature of IJML is that you can view a map to see who else around you is sharing their sexy good times via IJML, what kind of sex they were having, and any other drippy comments they’ve decided to include with their post. If you’re morbidly curious enough to see what your neighbors in the community are up to when they’re between the sheets (or elsewhere), be warned: the comments are pretty bawdy and you’ll probably need to spend a few minutes in an autoclave when you’re done.

Are you sorry you asked yet? No. Good. Here’s what you’ll learn if you click on one of those markers created by your adventurous neighbor:

So the next time you accept that invite from your neighbor to attend the annual Memorial Day barbecue, just try to refrain from suspiciously eying the other attendants while considering which of them seems most likely to be the type of exhibitionist that would use IJML.

If you’re not at work right now or if you’re lucky enough to work for an open-minded employer, I cannot recommend enough a visit to IJML’s statistics page on their website if for nothing else than to take a gander at the completely hilarious icons depicting geometry people in various states of sexual congress.

At the risk of ruining the happy ending of this article, I will say that a lot of the markers on the map appear to be old so the people that shared their sexy results might not even be your neighbors anymore. So sleep a little better with that knowledge, I guess.

Well, if two malls in the U.S. have their way, they will track potential customers and their movements around the mall via mobile phone location data. Apparently, we’re one step closer to the kind of personal advertising as seen in the movie, Minority Report:

Starting on Black Friday and running through New Year’s Day, two U.S. malls — Promenade Temecula in southern California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va. — will track guests’ movements by monitoring the signals from their cell phones.

The report indicates the data is anonymous, but these malls will be able to track users, or their devices, anyway, from store to store.

Is this a good thing? Should retail outlets be able to monitor the movements of people based on their smartphone-generated location data? Or should something like this have to have legal approval beforehand? Apparently, there are goals associated with the tracking, and, of course, they are marketing related:

The goal is for stores to answer questions like: How many Nordstrom shoppers also stop at Starbucks? How long do most customers linger in Victoria’s Secret? Are there unpopular spots in the mall that aren’t being visited?

While both malls say personal data is not being tracked, how hard is it to match a phone signal up with its user? For instance, “we have a potential shopper who just left the store next to ours. Let’s put our best foot forward at the storefront and try to attract those who are passing by.” Apparently, however, that is not the intention of this tracking project:

“We won’t be looking at singular shoppers,” said Stephanie Shriver-Engdahl, vice president of digital strategy for Forest City. “The system monitors patterns of movement. We can see, like migrating birds, where people are going to.”

CNN also documents the tracking service being used by the malls in question:

The tracking system, called FootPath Technology, works through a series of antennas positioned throughout the shopping center that capture the unique identification number assigned to each phone (similar to a computer’s IP address), and tracks its movement throughout the stores.

Consumers who don’t want to be followed have one method of opting out of the tracking service: turn their phone off.

This leads to a couple of questions: Would you shop at a mall that tracked users based on mobile data? Do these tracking services violate privacy, even if no personal data is being collected? Shouldn’t there be another way besides powering down your device to opt out of this tracking service?

Let us know what you think.

So much so, in fact, the ACLU has decided to throw its hat into the ring, issuing a call for wireless providers to stop tracking their customers. The edict came to light via an ACLU blog post, one that details their position quite well. Now, it should be noted there a legal ramifications to be considered because of the location data stipulations in the Enhanced 911 statute, but that’s not the same thing as AT&T doing it for potential marketing reasons. The details concerning location data in regards to E-911 are, according to Wikipedia, as follows:

Location information is not only transmitted to the call center for the purpose of sending emergency services to the scene of the incident, it is used by the wireless network operator to determine to which PSAP [Public Safety Answering Point] to route the call.

Again, this is not what the ACLU is fighting against. It’s obviously important to know where to send emergency response units in relation to 911 calls, but why should the wireless providers be allowed to track and keep a customer’s location data?

The ACLU would like to know the same thing:

But the major carriers – AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint – don’t just know where we are from moment to moment. They also retain detailed data about our location for extended periods of time, as we learned recently when we received this document in response to our national public records request on how the authorities are using location data. The carriers also readily share the information they gather with government agencies and law enforcement.

Why should they be doing all this?

To strengthen their position, the ACLU’s post mentions Verizon and its intention to sell user data to various interested businesses. As a Verizon customer, how does that knowledge sit with you? Should Verizon be allowed to sell the data that shows where you’ve been for marketing purposes? Or, were you even aware these companies were allowed to do so?

Good thing the oft-maligned ACLU is paying attention, and if more consumers joined the fight, something might actually get changed — provided these consumers know and/or care about how their wireless provider treats the location data being it collects and stores. To further explain their position, the ACLU as posted an open letter asking for these wireless providers to cease their tracking habits.

To further explain their position, the letter issued the following requests:

At a minimum, you should be keeping your customers informed by:

• Providing your customers with a clear explanation of what information is being kept about their account.
• Informing your customers when and how their account information is being shared with third parties.
• Notifying your customers if their information is ever breached or lost.

You should also be giving your customers control over their personal information by:

• Providing them with an easy way to control how long their personal information is kept.
• In particular, not storing their location data without their explicit affirmative permission.
• Informing them about government demands for their information whenever legally possible.

The ACLU is also asking for consumers to get involved, via an online petition. If you care about your privacy and how the wireless providers track, store and use the location data your phone generates, you should probably pay attention to how the ACLU does in its attempts to disrupt these practices.

The alternative, at least at this point, is to continue on as if your wireless provider is looking out for your best interests and all that location data will be kept private. Of course, that would mean completing ignoring Verizon’s stated intentions, but then again, apathy is apparently easier than being concerned.

The difference is, neither Apple or Microsoft share the data they collect. TomTom, on the other hand, does.

While they maintain a position that all user data is anonymous, they do share it with government officials, specifically, the traffic information. Not only that, but TomTom also shares vehicular speed data, allowing the police to place speed-deterring cameras at known speeding hotspots. So while the data from individual vehicles remains secret, the fact that TomTom customers speed is not. A direct quote from the company addresses the situation:

We are now aware that the police have used traffic information that you have helped to create to place speed cameras at dangerous locations where the average speed is higher than the legally allowed speed limit. We are aware a lot of our customers do not like the idea and we will look at if we should allow this type of usage [emphasis added by editor].

While the adherence to keeping its customers anonymous, is it much of a stretch to think law enforcement agencies will want more from this technology? Perhaps a daily list of speeders they can send snail mail tickets to? Is that too much of a tin foil approach? Perhaps, but considering the way the US government has already ignored a user’s right to privacy concerning wireless tech, perhaps not.

TomTom users can opt out of the data collection aspect of using the device, provided the conspiracy against them is getting a little too close for comfort. Apparently, and perhaps thankfully, the TomTom company is a little embarrassed by the news concerning their data collection protocols, and so, CEO Harold Goddijn has been making the rounds in an attempt to salve any wounds:

Google is pitching the feature as rending the traffic report obsolete. “Ever been stuck in traffic, only to find out you’d have been better off going a bit out of your way to take a less congested route? If you’re like me, you probably hear the traffic report telling you what you already know: traffic is bad on the road you’re currently on, and you should have taken another,” says Google Maps engineer Roy Williams. “It doesn’t need to be this way, and we want to help.”

“You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps,” says Williams. “Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account. It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads. Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates.”

The feature sounds like a good idea, but I’ve been steered in the wrong direction plenty of times by Google Maps directions that I’m going to be a little cautious on this one – at least while Google Maps Navigation still carries the beta tag. You may want to test it out when you’re not in a hurry to get somewhere before relying on it when you have an important appointment.

The feature is available on Google Maps Navigation for Android in North America and Europe. It is unclear when it will become available more broadly.

The free Android app allows AAA members to request roadside assistance without having to place a call. The app uses the phone’s GPS to send the location of the user to AAA Roadside Assistance.

“AAA is committed to developing new and innovative ways to better meet the needs of its members,” said Marshall L. Doney, vice president, AAA Automotive and Financial Services.

“Breakdowns are never a pleasant experience, but mobile offerings such as the AAA Roadside app can help AAA locate members quickly and be prepared to try to resolve their car trouble on-site so we can get them back on the go.”

AAA members can register up to eight vehicles to their app profile. The AAA Roadside app launched in 2009 with an iPhone-compatible version that has been downloaded a half million times.

"The number of GPS-enabled LBS subscribers is expected to take a big leap in coming years with market revenue reaching around US$ 9.8 Billion in 2013," a representative for Localeze tells WebProNews.

"We are pleased to work with an industry leader like TomTom and its industry customers, to deliver our descriptive local search business listings," says Jeff Beard, president, Localeze. "Relevant points of interest and information including a business’ name, address, and phone number drive a more dynamic and interactive experience for consumers when they are on-the-go."

"Localeze has a wide network of local search platform partners and far-reaching, pervasive local search business listings,” adds TomTom VP of partner development Dan Adams. "By working with Localeze, we can strengthen our product offerings with relevant content for our vast range of industry partners."

Among Localeze’s 14 million local search business listings are about 600,000 verified ones. This deal should force that number up.