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FieldLogix announces the release of its guide for creating a company policy for dash cameras. The guide discusses all of the factors involved when creating a dash camera policy and how to make the policy driver-friendly in order to minimize driver resistance. “In todays’ litigious world, fleets are often targeted by unscrupulous motorists for insurance […]
In 2009 Pioneer asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban Garmin Ltd (NASDAQ: GRMN) from importing any global positioning system (GPS) device made with technology that infringes on its patented technology. Recently the ITC said Garmin isn’t violating Pioneer’s patent rights because Pioneer didn’t fulfill legal requirements of having a domestic industry for the underlying technology, which relates to how data may be stored, retrieved or displayed on GPS devices.
The commission looked at whether Pioneer, a Japanese maker of car-navigation and audio equipment, may use a portfolio licensing program as proof of a market when only one or two patents in the portfolio were being asserted. The ITC’s reasoning in today’s ruling won’t be made public until Pioneer and Garmin can redact confidential information. The International Trade Commission’s ruling may limit future patent disputes at the agency for Pioneer.
If you thought your partner was cheating on you, to what lengths would you go to try and catch them? Would you secretly place a GPS tracking system on their vehicle? Would you hire a private investigator to figure out what your spouse is up to when you’re not around? A woman in New Jersey […]
Weeks of declining gas prices have come to an end. Gas prices are on the rise gain, slowly but surely.
A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is currently $3.63, up seven cents from one week ago. Gas prices are up 92 cents from one year ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
Rising oil prices over the last few weeks are the main reason for this month’s increase in gasoline prices. Oil prices are fluctuating day to day, but seem to be on an upward climb week by week.
Just when businesses and consumers thought they were in the clear – oil and gas prices have started to rise again. Gas prices certainly have come down in recent weeks, but they aren’t as low as last summer.
Two weeks after the U.S. and other 27 allies announced they were tapping domestic oil reserves (which temporarily knocked down the price of oil to almost $90 a barrel) oil is back around $100. And gas prices, which have been declining since May, are up over 4 cents since one week ago.
Oil is rising again as investors bet that the economies of many countries, including the U.S., will improve in the second half of the year, and global demand for petroleum will rise. While most experts agree that the world has plenty of oil, there are concerns that supplies could get tight as demand rises.
For Ryder, the decision to invest in a green fleet of natural gas vehicles is paying off. The company just reported that it is seeing a big increase in demand for its natural gas vehicles. A growing number of businesses are transitioning their fleets to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) as alternatives to gasoline and diesel because natural gas vehicles burn less fuel and produce less emissions.
Ryder (NYSE: R), a leader in commercial transportation and supply chain management solutions, announced last week that it has secured lease agreements for 87 heavy-duty natural gas trucks from customers looking to take advantage of the fuel cost savings and environmental benefits of alternative fuel powered vehicles. According to Ryder, natural gas is a domestic resource and it is 25 percent cleaner than the cleanest diesel. When your company commits to going Green with CNG vehicles, you demonstrate corporate and environmental responsibility and business savvy.
“Corporate and government fleets are the strongest adopters of natural gas vehicles” said Dave Hurst, senior analyst for Pike Research, which recently published a report analyzing global clean technology markets. “More and more fleet managers are attracted to the lower fuel costs of natural gas, in addition to the opportunity to reduce their vehicles’ carbon footprint.”
A large portion on the new truck order is part of the Ryder/San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) Natural Gas Vehicle project – a joint public/private partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, San Bernardino Associated Governments, Southern California Association of Governments, and Ryder. The $38.7 million project includes a total of 202 natural gas vehicles available for lease or rent, three strategically located natural gas compliant maintenance shops in Southern California, and two fueling stations. Ryder took delivery of 70 vehicles in May and is expected to have the balance of the full 202 SANBAG natural gas vehicle order in its green fleet by the end of 2011.
Parkhouse Tire Uses FieldLogix To Improve Fleet Maintenance and Enhance Employee Supervision
For the past two years, Parkhouse Tire has been successfully using FieldLogix, an industry leading GPS fleet tracking system. The company has been expanding their fleet and recently doubled the number of FieldLogix devices installed in their vehicles.
Parkhouse Tire Fleet Manager, Joe Guerrero, said “I like the ability to see where vehicles are, where they have been, and how many miles each vehicle has been driven… I’ve been given ‘bologna’ by past employees who claimed to have started their day at a certain time but actually started later. Monitoring employees makes them more accountable.”
This week the GPS industry challenged LightSquared’s credibility in a response to the company’s new plan for a hybrid satellite and LTE mobile network. LightSquared either knew or should have known about apparent interference between its proposed LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network and receivers for GPS (Global Positioning System) before it requested a waiver from the […]
LightSquared is in fight or flight mode. The company has publicly been on attack against the GPS industry, which has expressed grave concerns regarding the potential of interference to its operations from LightSquared’s proposed network.
In a press release LightSquared said that the GPS community is responsible for this mess, because it had the opportunity over the last several years to install filters “that cost as little as five cents each” that would have mitigated any interference issues. LightSquared said that its new plan for deploying its fledgling nationwide wholesale wireless broadband solves interference for “about 99.5% of commercial GPS devices, including 100% of the 300 million GPS-enabled cell phones.”
The new plan calls for LightSquared to use only the lower portion of its L-band spectrum, and not the upper portion, the latter of which abuts the spectrum band used for GPS system services. It also will reduce the maximum power of its base stations by more than 50%. Theoretically, these tactics in concert will lessen the chance that interference to GPS operations will occur.
The Coalition to Save Our GPS doesn’t think much of LightSquared’s latest plan, calling it a “Hail Mary solution,” and a “non-starter.” The Save Our GPS Coalition has dozens of hig profile members including major GPS players such as Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) and TomTom, as well as Delta Airlines, FedEx, UPS, Caterpillar, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
This weekend two robbery suyspects were caught red-handed with a stolen iPhone and other items after a GPS tracking system on the phone led police officers to their exact location. This story is a good reminder to activate a tracking system service on your electronic devices if it’s available.
On Saturday afternoon an 18-year old woman named Lilli Gordon and her mother pulled into Rooster Rock State Park in Oregon for a quick pit stop. They were visiting from California and were on their way to the airport to fly home. While they were away from the vehicle, someone broke into their car and stole several items, including an Apple iPhone 4.
“When the incident happened I was really upset and I was pretty hysterical and crying. But on the way to the airport I was like ‘oh my God, if the phone is on my dad can track where it is,” Lili said.
The young woman, Lili, had just gotten the new phone a few days before the trip. When she bought it the clerk recommended she activate a tracking system program called Mobile Me that can track the phone through GPS.
