Roy Mark

The Department of Energy announced June 25 the agency is ready to solicit applications for $3.9 billion in grants to support efforts to modernize the electric grid. The money is part of the Recovery Act funds approved by Congress earlier this year.Approximately $3.3 billion is earmarked for the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program and $615 […]

Officials of the Obama administration urged China June 24 to revoke a rule set to take effect July 1 that would mandate all computers produced and sold in China pre-install a widely criticized Internet filtering program called Green Dam. China claims the filtering software is needed to allow Chinese citizens to surf the Internet protected […]

Comcast and Time Warner’s plan to make Time Warner’s content available for free over the Internet exclusively to Comcast cable subscribers was attacked by consumer groups June 24 as anti-competitive, anti-consumer and a threat to the open Internet. The trial service-known as TV Everywhere-is an attempt by content providers and cable companies to monetize streaming […]

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully entered orbit around the moon June 23, four days after launching from Cape Canaveral along with its companion vehicle, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. A series of four engine burns over the next four days will put the LRO into its commissioning phase orbit.The primary objective of the […]

The Federal Communications Commission plans to open an anti-competitive review into exclusive deals between wireless carriers and cell phone manufacturers such as AT&T‘s arrangement with Apple to carry the Apple iPhone. Unlike traditional wire-line services, which are required by law to allow consumers to connect the legal devices of their choice to carriers’ networks, the […]

Not many presidential nominees come with the public record of David J. Kappos, President Obama’s pick to serve as the next director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But Kappos, currently serving as IBM‘s vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property law, is a familiar face for Washington lawmakers. If confirmed, as […]

The Top 10 Worst Internet Proposed Laws in the U.S. by Roy Mark NEW JERSEY: Social Networking Police New Jersey Social Networking Bill (A 3757) imposes penalties on social networking Websites for failure to investigate and report a user’s complaint of sexually offensive and harassing communications. This creates new legal liabilities for any Website on […]

After more than a decade’s absence, NASA made its first steps back to the moon June 18, launching two lunar spacecrafts atop an Atlas V rocket. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft are unmanned scouts designed to lay the first groundwork for NASA’s proposed 2020 return of astronauts to […]

Grassroots and consumer groups continued their pressure against exclusive deals between wireless carriers and cell phone manufacturers June 17 with a major assist from U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). While Free Press launched a FreeMyPhone campaign calling on lawmakers to open up wireless networks and promote consumer choice, Kerry held a hearing questioning wireless-carrier practices. […]

Bedeviled by the same hydrogen gas leak that postponed the space shuttle Endeavour’s June 13 launch, NASA June 17 again scratched the 16-day mission to the International Space Station. The mission was officially called off at 1:55 a.m. EDT and rescheduled for July 11 at 7:39 p.m. EDT. A hydrogen gas leak also delayed the […]

With mobile phones now outnumbering traditional land-line telephones, IBM said June 17 it plans to invest $100 million over the next five years in research relating to advanced mobile services for businesses and consumers. IBM said its objective is to bring simple, easy-to-use services to the millions of people who have bypassed using the personal […]

Despite the recession, U.S. residential broadband penetration jumped significantly last year, according to the latest data from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. April’s 63 percent level of high-speed home connections represents a 15 percent increase from a year ago.That’s the good news.Over the last year, according to Pew’s numbers released June […]