Roy Mark

NASA scrubbed the second launch attempt of the space shuttle Discovery Aug. 26 when a liquid hydrogen valve developed problems during tanking operations. An Aug. 25 launch was scratched when thunderstorms struck the Cape Canaveral area.The space agency tentatively rescheduled the launch for Aug. 28 at 12:22 a.m. with a second launch window at 11:59 […]

The average download Internet speed in the United States has increased by only 1.6 mbps (megabits per second) over the last year, according to a study released Aug. 25 by the CWA (Communications Workers of America). At that rate of speed increase, according to the CWA, it will take the United States 15 years to […]

NASA postponed the Aug. 25 launch of the space shuttle Discovery after a last-minute storm hit the Cape Canaveral area. The space agency rescheduled the launch for Aug. 25 at 1:10 a.m. EDT. Weather for tanking and launch is currently at 70 percent acceptable for the launch.NASA said current predictions call for three more launch […]

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reaffirmed his commitment to network neutrality Aug. 25. Genachowski helped craft then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s technology policy, which strongly supports network neutrality.“One thing I would say so that there is no confusion out there is that this FCC will support net neutrality and will enforce [its rules in the case of] […]

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice gave the green light Aug. 24 to Sprint Nextel’s proposed $483 million acquisition of Virgin Mobile USA. The agencies’ reviews of the deal, announced July 28, covered the antitrust aspects of the transaction.The merger still needs Federal Communications Commission approval since Virgin Mobile holds international spectrum […]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued new regulations requiring health care providers, health plans and other entities covered by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to notify individuals when their health information is breached. The breach notifications were part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed earlier […]

HP said Aug. 24 it landed a new Air Force contract to provide new HP Workstation and desktop PCs as part of its enterprise IT purchase program. The award is part of the Air Force’s DLS (desktop, laptop and servers) Quarterly Enterprise Buy (QEB). The QEB award will include the HP xw4600 Workstation, which combines […]

BlackBerry maker RIM (Research in Motion) acquired mobile Web browser developer Torch Mobile Aug. 24 for an undisclosed sum. Torch Mobile, based in Toronto, developed the Iris mobile browser using WebKit, the same open-source code that underlies many of today’s browers, including Apple’s iPhone, Palm’s Pre and Google’s Android phones. “Our team of developers will […]

Fueling of the space shuttle Discovery continued Aug. 24 with NASA predicting an 80 percent chance of good weather for a 1:36 a.m. Aug. 26 blastoff to the International Space Station. The launch marks the 128th mission in shuttle program history and the 30th shuttle visit to the ISS.Unlike previous missions, which have focused on […]

It started as a joke and will end up at the International Space Station. After comedian Stephen Colbert discovered NASA was soliciting names for Node 3 of the ISS in an online poll, the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” urged his viewers to ignore NASA’s suggestion of “Serenity” and suggested his own. Colbert […]

The great debate of August will be long remembered for the furor over health care reform. Over time, though, the summer of 2009 may well be better noted as when America got serious about converting to electronic medical records. As a part of the stimulus package President Obama signed into law in February, the White […]

As required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the stimulus package, the Federal Communications Commission has until February 2010 to develop a national broadband plan to be presented to Congress. With an emphasis on an open dialogue with all stakeholders through a series of public workshops, the FCC is busily compiling a public […]