As my editor will verify, I’ve become somewhat obsessed lately on the idea of building a backyard theater. Now even I have the good sense to realize some of my enthusiasm is nothing more than spring fever (last year it was fish pond). But somehow 2008 feels different… and with a deal like this the odds of me actually following through are tantalizingly realistic (don’t ask about the fish).

First, let me back up and explain what a “backyard theater” is. EH has posted a lot of outdoor uber theaters in it’s pages, most so far out of our budget it’s laughable (if you’re not laughing, you’re crying). Backyard theaters take a more every-day-guy approach. Often, they’re nothing more than a bed sheet, a projector off ebay, and your kids receiver/speakers. And to be honest, that low-budget feel is half the draw – nights like these with friends and neighbors aren’t supposed to be full-blown cotillions. Rather, they’re meant for sharing an igloo cooler and your favorite movie.

If this is a project you’d be into, I highly recommend doing a bit of research as there’s a plethora of great sites out there dedicated to nothing but taking the home theater outside. To get a taste, hit the forums at BackyardTheater.com and go from there.

Once you’ve sampled the above options and advice, you will appreciate how crazy the price is on today’s Widescreen inflatable screen. At 144″ diagonal (12′ wide, 12′ tall) the screen is perfect for 16:9 shows and comes with a integrated pump, stakes, tethers, storage bag and even an extra fuse in case the kids try it out in the pool (our lawyers are gonna love that line). The frame is made from weatherproof/fade-resistant nylon and weighs about 25lbs in all. Setup and breakdown time is minimal and storing the entire screen is at most one shelf in your garage. This widescreen model is also slightly raised to accommodate multiple rows of lawn chairs and hammocks. A cheaper version is set lower to the ground.

Reviews are glowing for the entire line, mostly due to the bang-for-buck nature. Most will admit these are not high-end screens and may only last a couple seasons of use, but compared to the $1k-12k ticket price for the competition, it’s a no-brainer.

Vehicle Tracking System is a huge system because it can consist of 24 satellites of a space for tracking any vehicle, So if you can interesting to know more about GPS Vehicle Tracking system and how it’s work then read on……

Vehicle Tracking System is used various products for tracking the vehicle. GPS Tracking for vehicles is used by many organizations such as car dealers, rental agencies, Courier companies and Taxi service companies etc. where they can view their vehicle on interactive map of their Real Time Movement. The map allows zooming in for a closer look. On this map vehicle can be represented as dots and it can indicates.

* Red dots represent that Vehicle that are parked.
* Green dots represent that Vehicle that moving.
* Yellow dots represent that Vehicle that are idling.

Working of an Vehicle Tracking System:

It can be done by online in which you can log in to the Vehicle Tracking System’s website then you can select a vehicle and click on ‘locate’ button. The Tracking system passes a request to GPS devices which is build into the vehicle which give response back with the position of the vehicle in terms of longitude and latitude. Vehicle Tracking System can also find out

# Speed of a vehicle in miles/hour.
# Indicating about the direction of vehicle in which its movement.

Now that you know how vehicle tracking devices work, I’m sure that you would like to install a GPS Vehicle Tracking System in your vehicle.

The Hawkeye AVLS comprises of:

• A Hardware unit which is mounted in the vehicle,
• A Control Station run by the service provider
• A Server on the Internet which displays the position of the vehicle

The Hawkeye hardware unit in the Vehicle computes an exact latitude and longitude position when it receives data from at least 3 GPS satellites.

This position and certain other data such as heading (direction), speed and time are encoded, compressed and sent by SMS to the Control station.

• The time interval between SMS messages can be set or changed from the Control Station or the end user’s screen.
• It is possible to have SMS set to an ‘On Demand’ mode. This is useful in scenarios where continuous monitoring is not required. Whenever it is necessary to track the vehicle, a command is sent out from the Control station / end user and the current location of the vehicle is plotted on the screen. This reduces the cost of SMS drastically.
• Data is sent in an encrypted format, so it cannot be decoded by anybody except the intended receiver.
• Data is sent in a compressed form. This allows us to send data for at least 20 positions in one SMS. Hence, if the frequency of SMS messages is set at 1 hour, when one SMS message is received by the Control Station, it updates the last 20 positions the vehicle has traveled, on the map (one position every 3 minutes).
• Besides time, speed, position and heading, other parameters can also be monitored and the data sent in the SMS eg temperature in Reefer vans etc.

The Control station sends the decoded data from the Vehicle to the Web server. The Web server displays the position of the vehicle together with any other data specified, on the map. The data is also stored in a database, so that it can be played back and a record kept for future use.

When a client logs into the web server, he is identified through his user name and password.

• The client is then presented with a list of vehicles he is permitted to view.
• The client can select the vehicles he would like to track.
• Vehicles can be identified by giving them different colour icons.
• There is an option to view the history/track of the previous positions on the current route, e.g. one can choose to view the last 5 positions, 100 positions (any number) etc. for a particular vehicle. The map will then display the current location of the vehicle (which will be constantly updated) together with specified number of previous positions selected.
• The map has various ‘zoom’ levels which allows one to view a smaller area of the map in greater detail. On zooming into areas of the map, landmarks and
• There is an option to turn the ‘Pan’ feature On and Off. When the ‘Pan’ feature is On, the map is updated to keep the vehicle in view. When the Pan feature is Off, the user can view other parts of the map, regardless of whether the vehicle being tracked is on the screen or not. The user may choose to turn the Pan feature Off to view the previous route history, or to view another vehicle.