Roy Mark

Tell us something new, members of the House Committee on Science and Technology told Norman Augustine and his much ballyhooed review of the U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. Augustine, the former chairman of Lockheed Martin, was appointed by President Obama in May to chair the committee’s 90-day review of NASA’s future direction.The committee finished […]

Data breach notification rules for health entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act take effect Sept. 23. Under the rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, (PDF) health care providers and health plans will be required to notify individuals of a breach of their unsecured protected health information. Maybe.For […]

Cell Phone Radiation: The Five Best and Worst Devices Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said Sept. 14 the Senate plans to investigate the possible links between cell phone use and cancer. The World Health Organization and National Cancer Institute have said there is little clear evidence […]

Clearwire introduced Sept. 15 the launch of the company’s largest 4G WiMAX application test environment in the Silicon Valley. The developer network, which is a precursor to commercial service planned for the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010, will cover more than 20 square miles in Santa Clara, Mountain View and parts of downtown Palo […]

Congress is beginning to grumble over President Obama’s failure to appoint a cyber-security czar months after Obama promised he would do so. Obama issued his Cyberspace Policy Review on May 29 to great fanfare and pledged to name a cyber-czar, which he called a coordinator, to oversee the plan.Melissa Hathaway, who led the Obama administration’s […]

Rumors have resurfaced that Deutsche Telekom is interested in acquiring Sprint Nextel. According to a Sept. 13 story in London’s Daily Telegram, Deutsche Telekom, parent company of U.S. carrier T-Mobile, is preparing an offer worth more than $10 billion for Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. carrier behind AT&T and Verizon.The story of a possible merger […]

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers announced Sept. 14 that it has ratified the 802.11n-2009 WLAN standard. The new wireless standard is capable of higher speeds than the existing 802.11g standard, “while ensuring coexistence with legacy systems and security implementations,” IEEE said in a statement Sept. 11.Although wireless manufacturers have been making 802.11n products […]

The U.S. health IT market is set for disruptive change, predicts a report by Input released Sept. 10. The key drivers of the change will occur “as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and national health care legislation increase the need for innovative health care technology that also reduces costs,” according to Input’s statement. Compounding […]

NASA’s Hubble Is Back and the View Is Spectacular NGC 6302 What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour—fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes. Carina Nebula […]

NASA officials Sept. 11 scratched the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a landing site for the space shuttle Discovery and decided to target California’s Edwards Air Force Base for an 8:53 p.m. EDT landing. The same stormy East Coast weather that delayed Discovery’s scheduled Sept. 10 landing forced the change of landing sites.Throughout most […]

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski continues to bring “Gov 2.0” change to the agency known for its difficult-to-use Website. On Sept. 10, Genachowski posted his first video blog, and on Sept. 11 the FCC launched the crowdsourcing platform Ideascale.The FCC will also have a presence on social media sites Facebook and YouTube, which will […]

Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty Sept. 11 to hacking into the systems of major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen as a result of the hacking activity.Gonzalez also agreed to an order of restitution […]