Rock and Ice Ultra
24th March 2008
It's cold.... very cold.... In a recent climate study of Canada's 100 largest cities, Yellowknife ranked first in 13 categories, including: Coldest Winter, Coldest Spring, Coldest Year-Round, Most Cold Days, Most Deep Snow Cover Days, Extreme Wind Chill, Most High Wind Chill Days, Driest Winter Air.
A couple of our Yellowbricks are there, helping the organisers keep track of key personnel during the race.
Sport Relief
28th February 2008
James Cracknell (and David Walliams) are attempting a cross-continent challenge for Sport Relief 2008, and a Yellowbrick is being used to track their progress from Dover to Africa via rowing boat, bicycle and finally a swim!
James is going to attempt this extreme challenge in the fastest time possible. If conditions are perfect, this could be in as little as seven days - setting a World Record that's extremely tough to beat. James will only be sleeping four hours a night in a mobile home and eating and drinking on the move.
ARC 2007
22nd November 2007
We're tracking four of yachts taking part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), setting off from Las Palmas on Sunday 25th November. This annual event is organised by the World Cruising Club and attracts more than 200 yachts from around the world.
Northern Child, Tillymint, Avocet and Nix are carrying Yellowbrick Trackers as part of a trial to consider the feasibility of tracking the whole fleet in future. These yachts will automatically update their position every hour (usually this is a manual, once-per-day process), and also be able to send and receive short messages.
You can view their progress here.
Mark's half way round!
9th November 2007
We got a text message from Mark this morning, to say he's half way round the world - that's 9000 miles into his epic 18000 miles circumnavigation.
Mark Beaumont set off from Paris on the 5th August on a solo attempt to break the World Record to become the fastest person to have ever circumnavigated the globe by bicycle. We've given Mark a Yellowbrick tracker which is proving to be very popular with his fans.
You can follow Mark's adventure at pedallingaround.com. We're also providing positions to the BBC who have their own online documentary about the record attempt here.
Sleepmonsters Tracking
5th March 2007
We're partnering with Sleepmonsters.com to provide tracking to Adventure Racing events. Sleepmonsters is the leading website for all things AR with sites in 11 countries. They provide excellent media coverage on races all over the world, and now they're offering event organisers the best tracking service available.
Come and see us at Explore
19th November 2007
We're exhibiting at the Royal Geographical Society's Explore seminar. It's a 2 day event offering lectures and workshops to help plan successful expeditions and research projects. Hope to see you there!
Short messaging with Yellowbrick
5th November 2007
It's now possible to send and receive short messages (email and SMS) using yellowbrick.
You need to attach a computer (Windows & Mac are supported) using a cable with a waterproof connectors onto the tracker. A full length (160 character) SMS message costs about 25p to deliver to a mobile phone. Let us know if you want to try this new service.
Better Yellowbrick
10th October 2007
After our first few months of operation we've decided to make some improvements to our trackers.
We've doubled the battery capacity, which means we can operate for at least 10 days on 15-minute position reports. We've swapped the GPS antenna for a more sensitive helical design too. Our testing results look very positive, and it looks like the upgraded trackers are more reliable in marginal GPS coverage. All of our trackers have now been upgraded.
