Northern Lights May Increasingly Interfere With GPS


	Northern Lights May Increasingly Interfere With GPS

A53GG4

6-23-2008 9:59 PM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/2b30d8bb-2d01-41d6-b30d-c2b8023037dd/CAFE451B-B046-4233-AF98-80342A901405/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/" href="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.switched.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/"><H2><A rel="bookmark" href="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/" linkindex="22" set="yes">Northern Lights May Increasingly Interfere With GPS</A></H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/"><P class="byline"><EM>by</EM> <STRONG><A href="http://www.switched.com/bloggers/will-safer/" linkindex="23">Will Safer</A></STRONG>, posted Jun 23rd 2008 at 4:01PM</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.switched.com/img/C663CF52-B408-443F-AFEB-7A32BE8F1E84" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/"><DIV><A href="http://switched.com.com/gps/?&part=switched&subj=re&tag=dir.gps" linkindex="24">GPS units</A> are not infallible.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/"><DIV>Stories abound of users blindly following poor GPS directions (based on improperly developed maps) onto train tracks, <A href="http://www.switched.com/2007/04/02/can-your-gps-kill-you/" linkindex="25">off marked roads</A>, and even <A href="http://www.switched.com/2008/04/22/new-honda-gps-system-avoids-crime-doesnt-fight-it/" target="_blank" linkindex="26">into a nasty part of town</A>. </DIV><BR /><DIV>Now, there's a brand new problem: interference from the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, the natural lightshow seen near the Earth's poles when high-speed particles from the Sun hit the atmosphere. The natural light show distorts the signals from Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) that are 12,600 miles overhead. With increasing solar activity expected in the coming years, the bright lights could foul up navigation devices at an increasing rate.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/">Navigation device makers say this won't cause a dangerous situation for drivers as long as they use common sense while behind the wheel.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.switched.com/2008/06/23/northern-lights-may-increasingly-interfere-with-gps/">So, mainly, the same common sense that (we hope) will keep you from <A target="_blank" href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/20/uk-drivers-trust-gps-more-than-their-own-eyes/" linkindex="27">driving off the road into a river</A>, either.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/CAFE451B-B046-4233-AF98-80342A901405/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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