Free Windows 10 upgrade - We did it!

So we did it. We waited one whole day after its launch to upgrade the computer in our conference room to Windows 10. Being at a technology company, it is in our nature to push the limits, roll the dice. It’s kind of geeky and fun to be the first people to see what new technology has to offer during the first 24 hours after release. We also need to test our software to make sure everything is still working. I thought we should share our experience as many people will probably have more of a wait and see attitude before pulling the trigger; Microsoft did after all give us all 1 year to get the upgrade installed for free.

So far so good. All of our basic MS products are running fine. We do a lot of business over gotomeeting so we did a gotomeeting test run and that was flawless. We tested our desktop software, GeoJot+ Core and everything is running smoothly. We are about to check out ArcGIS. If we have any problems, I will post an update.

We are already seeing some basic user interface benefits. At its most basic level, it is just easier to use. They got rid of the silly charms on the right side of the screen. Windows 10 seems to be a much better combination of their mobile and desktop platform than Windows 8. It seems that they did a good job of listening to users and bringing necessary items back to the forefront where they are readily accessible.

The operating system is supposed to handle resources better like memory and the operating system is supposed to run better. The jury is out on that, we haven’t used it enough to come to any conclusions in that regard. But we do like Cortana who is neither a man nor woman but instead “a cloud of infinitesimal data computation”, just ask it.  Click here for more information on the upgrade.

LightSquared and GPS - Chapter 2

Many of you probably remember the hubbub about LightSquare and their technology’s interference with GPS receivers. LightSquared initially launched in 2010 to build a nationwide wireless LTE network other companies could use to offer their own services to customers. 

LightSquared entered bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after the FCC revoked its conditional license to operate due to concerns that LightSquared's planned LTE-based network in the L-band would interfere with GPS receivers. The company is now emerging from bankruptcy and taking another run at it. 

And it seems there has already been a first shot across the bow from LightSquared aimed the GPS Innovation Alliance.  

Apple's GPS bug resolved

We just received word from Bad Elf that the new Apple iOS 8.4 release has fixed the bug that prevented most external GPS accessories from providing location data. The bug was introduced about 2 months ago in iOS 8.3.While that is a relief to many of our partners and customers that this bug from Apple was fixed, unfortunately they did not fix the bug we are experiencing with iOS not allowing our GeoJot+ app to edit data in the field. The latest beta of iOS 9 doesn’t either.

But there is always silver lining. While creating a workaround for Apple’s bugs, we are changing where we store photos on Apple devices, this will have the fringe benefit of simplifying some of data management on iPhones and iPads, particularly for people who take hundreds of photos per day. We are working on testing the new version of GeoJot+ now and we will let you know as soon as it is released! If you are interested in testing out the beta version, please let us know.