Some smartwatches will have GPS capability with the newest update.

Yesterday, Google made an announcement about their Android Wear that sounded an awful lot like the first death knell for GPS running watches from companies like Garmin and the like. Or maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

As you’re probably aware, the Android wearables market has exploded in the last few months as several so-called ‘smartwatches’ have hit the markets to mixed reviews and enthusiastic support. Of the several different smartwatches available, several of them will get an update soon that will turn on their apparently latent GPS capabilities. read more

The Soyuz rocket launched two Galileo satellites into space on Friday. European Pressphoto Agency

The two Galileo satellites were successfully launched on August 22, 2014 at about 9:30 a.m. local time from French Guiana. I say successful in that they were indeed launched into space. The mission was rather less successful in that the satellites somehow ended up in the wrong orbit and are now about 2,000 miles away from they should be. The intended orbit for the most recent GPS satellites was circular while the current orbit is elliptical.

From what all of the reports I have seen indicate, no one is exactly sure what went wrong and a decision about what to do with the wayward satellites has not been reached. The Wall Street Journal reported that the European Commission has requested an inquiry “to clarify the circumstances and the potential implications for the mission” and if some sort of correction measures are not taken, the satellites will be completely useless. Best case, their life will be significantly shorter than expected. Yikes.

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This may not really be relevant for most of you, but I thought it was really interesting.

The concept design for a device that turns street maps into 3D tactile maps has been released and the idea is quite impressive. Created by Jorge Trevino Blanco, the device is handheld and will scan the surrounding area and create a 3D pin impression of the area—kind of like that pin box you pushed your hand into when you were a kid. The concept, named Discover by Blanco, has several Braille buttons labeled “Discover,” “City,” “GPS,” “Read,” “Time,” and “Tag.” read more