Roy Mark

NASA turned on the countdown clock June 10 for the space shuttle Endeavour’s scheduled June 13 launch to the International Space Station. The 16-day mission is the first of the final eight NASA missions to complete the ISS build-out by the end of next year.NASA officials said the weather prediction for the 7:17 a.m. EDT […]

With NASA in a state of flux as the Obama administration studies the space agency’s future goals, a congressional subcommittee has slashed NASA’s 2010 budget for manned space flight by 16 percent. The proposed bill provides an overall increase of $421 million for NASA but slashes the manned space flight budget by $670 million.The White […]

Change may finally be coming to U.S. technology policy. U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, announced June 9 that his Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a confirmation hearing June 16 for Julius Genachowski, President Obama’s selection to serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.Obama nominated the 46-year-old Genachowski Jan. 13 to head the […]

From California to Connecticut states are conjuring up laws that would impact the Internet in more bad ways than good, according to the advocacy group NetChoice. To highlight what it considers bad laws in the making, NetChoice created Internet Advocates Watchlist For Ugly Laws, or iAWFUL, and June 9 issued its first top 10 list. […]

In March 2008, the Federal Communications Commission raked in a record $19.6 billion in an auction to sell off the analog spectrum occupied by television broadcasters. The idea was for television stations to abandon the space by Feb. 17, 2009, to clear the way for the auction winners to begin delivering advanced wireless services such […]

With a special panel reviewing the future of NASA’s manned space flight program, the space agency has established a Website for public input into the review ordered by President Obama May 5. NASA said the site will facilitate comments, questions and suggestions from the public during the 90-day review.NASA’s Review of U.S. Human Space Flight […]

With the space shuttle Atlantis barely back from its successful mission to repair and update the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA June 3 cleared the space shuttle Endeavour for a June 13 launch to the International Space Station. The launch marks NASA’s final push to complete the build-out of the ISS by the end of next […]

The Federal Trade Commission won an injunction June 4 that shuts down what the agency calls a “rogue” ISP that the FTC says recruits, knowingly hosts and actively participates in the distribution of spam, child pornography and other harmful electronic content.In the FTC complaint (PDF) filed in Northern California, the FTC claims Pricewert, which does […]

St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa is not amused about an impersonator using his name on Twitter, the microblogging social networking service. After the impersonator made several off-color comments about two Cardinals players who died recently, La Russa sued Twitter over “significant emotional distress [and] damage to reputation.”More specifically, La Russa is suing Twitter […]

Although Google’s director of global public policy, Andrew McLaughlin, has not-at least officially-been nominated for anything by President Obama, two public policy groups are already upset over McLaughlin’s reported pending jump from Google to being Obama’s deputy CTO.According to published reports, McLaughlin is set to accept the White House position. Google confirms that McLaughlin is […]

President Obama’s FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is slowly-very slowly-taking shape. Obama June 2 nominated Republican Robert McDowell to serve another term on the FCC, leaving the normally five-person independent regulatory agency that is at the nexus of most Internet-related issues still shorthanded.Obama has already nominated Julius Genachowski as the next FCC chairman and Mignon L. […]

With an eye to the largest federal agencies, Google introduced its most powerful search appliance June 2, touting the Google Search Appliance 6.0’s ability to stack and connect multiple search appliances for limitless linking. According to Google, GSA 6.0’s dynamic scalability allows the largest government agencies and enterprises to search billions of documents with options […]