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Ten years ago today, President Bill Clinton gave the green light to the U.S. military to stop intentionally scrambling satellite signals, thus paving the way for civilians to use GPS with the same accuracy as the military had long enjoyed.

A decade later, mobile navigation is an indispensable part of many people's everyday lives, both in the U.S and around the globe. GPS receiver prices have dropped sharply, costing a few hundred dollars or less where they used to cost thousands. Devices have also gotten more compact and feature-rich, now routinely including access to real-time information from the Internet during route calculation--the latest traffic reports, online points of interest, and so on.

Clinton's order, which kicked into gear at 8 p.m. EDT on May 1, 2000, effectively increased the pinpoint accuracy of any consumer-grade satellite navigation receivers from around 100 yards to just 10 yards.

"President Clinton's landmark decision to open up the GPS signal in 2000 was the catalyst that triggered the launch of navigation systems as we know them today," said Johannes Angenvoort, executive vice president of Navigon, the developer of MobileNavigator for the iPhone and other smartphones, which is arguably the most comprehensive application of its kind.

A history of satellite navigation Apart from cars, boat, airplanes and so on, satellite navigation technology is now standard in mobile phones and handheld devices, but the satellite positioning signal has been available to the U.S. military since 1960. Then, the first navigation satellite, the Transit 1B, launched into space and marked the beginning of the U.S. Navy Navigation Satellite System. This system was developed primarily to guide Navy military missiles.

This pioneering project led the U.S. Department of Defense to improve accuracy with a follow-up system, which launched in the 1980s, called the Global Positioning System (GPS) that is still in use for positioning today.

When GPS service was first made available for civilians in 1983, for national security reasons, the U.S. military decided to scramble the signal, making it a little too inaccurate to be reliable. This practice, also known as "selective availability," was aimed at preventing military use of GPS by the enemies.

President Clinton's decision to turn off the GPS interference signal in an effort to make the GPS more responsive to civil and commercial uses helped consumer-grade mobile satellite navigation finally make its breakthrough.… Read more

Two U.S. senators met with President Obama on Thursday to push for a national ID card with biometric information such as a fingerprint, hand scan, or iris scan that all employers would be required to verify.

In an opinion article published in Friday's edition of the Washington Post, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) say the new identification cards will "ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs" and "dramatically decrease illegal immigration."

Schumer and Graham pitched the idea to President Obama during a private meeting Thursday at the White House. Graham … Read more

The White House's new cybersecurity chief faces a tough agenda, but will be able to draw on the lessons of a 40-year career, including stints at Microsoft and eBay.

Former security adviser Howard Schmidt is returning to the White House as President Obama's new cybersecurity coordinator, the White House announced Tuesday.

In his new role, Schmidt will report to the National Security Council. Schmidt will also "have regular access to the president," said an official who spoke to The New York Times.

Earlier this year, President Obama initiated a review of the government's cybersecurity policies … Read more

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday is scheduled to announce $2 billion in grants that will be used to build broadband networks in underserved communities.

The funding, which is part of the $7.2 billion that was set aside for broadband in President Obama's $787 billion economic recovery deal earlier this year, will start with an initial $182 million investment in 18 broadband projects in 17 states. Biden is announcing the stimulus grants in Dawsonville, Ga.

The money is specifically meant to expand affordable broadband access to underserved areas of the U.S. Officials would not name which companies … Read more

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles discussing how people in the tech industry are working with or around federal and state governments.

Can you chart a logical path from a 2003 academic conference on the legal issues surrounding virtual worlds and online games to Barack Obama's first executive action as president?

Beth Noveck can.

If you're not familiar with her--and few outside her specific professional and social circles would be--Noveck, a 38-year-old lawyer originally from Toms River, N.J., is Obama's deputy chief technology officer for open government.

Precisely what &… Read more

On Tuesday morning, the Obama administration formally unveiled its Open Government directive, an effort aimed at weaving the philosophies of openness, transparency and participation into the DNA of the federal government and its agencies.

That directive comes as a direct result of President Barack Obama's first executive action, on January 21, only hours after the hoopla from his inaugural parade and parties had died down, when the new chief executive issued the so-called Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government.

That document, which began, "My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government," was … Read more

The Obama administration on Tuesday officially unveiled its Open Government directive, a document that charges each federal agency with making high value data publicly available and with quickly coming up with formal open government plans.

The announcement follows up on President Obama's first executive act--the issuing on January 21 of his Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. That document set forth, among other things, that, "We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government." … Read more

The idea behind 43 President Screensaver is a good one. It's a screensaver slideshow featuring the names and faces of the 43 United States presidents set against colorful backgrounds. We can see how teachers and history buffs might enjoy it. Unfortunately, the design of this screensaver montage is poor.

We easily installed 43 President Screensaver on our laptop. The ZIP file download contains both the program and instructions for using it. We didn't need the instructions to get up and running. Screen resolution was noticeably low once the slideshow began. The photos 43 President Screensaver displays are very … Read more

With many Americans losing jobs and an economy that's still in the crapper, most of us are having trouble just making ends meet, let along trying to purchase a brand new automobile. And with the government trying just about anything to try and stimulate the economy, The U.S. government is sponsoring a program called Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS for short) and perhaps better known as "Cash for Clunkers".

The basic concept of CARS is to encourage Americans to purchase new automobiles that are more eco-friendly and fuel efficient than those of the past by offering … Read more