Roy Mark

Multiple launch postponements have plagued the latest space shuttle Discovery mission, but the eight-man spacecraft finally got underway March 15 for a 14-day assignment to the ISS (International Space Station). Now, though, traffic reports indicated Discovery may have to reroute in order to avoid orbiting space debris.According to NASA, a breakaway piece of a Russian […]

AT&T is scrambling to meet coverage demands created by the thousands of Apple 3G iPhone-touting conferees at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. As the crowds began descending on Austin for the March 13-22 festival of music, interactive applications and independent film, iPhone users have found coverage spotty to nonexistent.AT&T called the […]

After just one week on the job, President Obama’s new chief technology officer, Vivek Kundra, has taken a leave of absence in the wake of a federal graft and corruption investigation at the District of Columbia’s office of the chief information officer. Kundra, who served as DC’s Chief Information Officer before resigning from his DC […]

Round up the usual suspects. Reporters Without Borders March 12 issued its “Enemies of the Internet” list which examines Internet censorship and other threats to online free expression in 22 countries. We’re not talking network management issues here but, rather, the imprisonment of cyber dissidents, online news and information censorship and government-sponsored efforts to scramble […]

With March Madness looming, CBSSports.com released March 12 an on-demand application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that provides live streaming video and audio of every game of the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The app also includes tournament brackets updated in real-time with up-to-the minute scores, and the ability to click directly […]

When all else fails, turn to Apple’s wildly popular iPhone and iPod Touch. Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Kamarzin said March 12 the financially strapped satcaster will introduce a streaming application for the iPhone and iPod Touch by next quarter.Speaking at a teleconference to review Sirius XM Radio’s dreary financial performance, Kamarzin said, “By streaming […]

Officials from India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies, or NASSCOM, an IT outsourcing trade group, worked Capitol Hill this week, lobbying lawmakers and the White House about its “extreme concern” over H-1B visa reform legislation that will soon be introduced in Congress. “Last year, many changes were being proposed for H-1B use, including […]

The FBI conducted two raids early March 12 focused on the District of Columbia’s chief technology office. One raid, which is still ongoing, hit the D.C. CTO office while a related raid descended on the home of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp. President and CEO Sushil Bansal.Both Bansal and D.C. CTO employee Yusuf Acar were arrested […]

NASA officials scratched the scheduled March 11 launch of the space shuttle Discovery after detecting a leaky gaseous hydrogen (GH2) vent line. Scheduled for a 9:20 p.m. EDT blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA scrubbed the launch at 2:37 p.m.The vent line is at the intertank region of the external tank and […]

Verizon Business will provide network and data services at U.S. Department of Defense installations around the world under a new contract awarded by Defense Information Systems Agency. The March 11 announcement said the 10-year contract is valued at $2.5 billion. Verizon Business previously had provided the network services under the preceding DISA contract. Under the […]

In a packed U.S. Department of Commerce meeting room, three federal agencies March 10 shed the first light on how the government plans to proceed with dispensing $7.2 billion for the building of broadband networks to unserved and underserved parts of the country. The money is part of the economic stimulus act recently approved by […]

Congress resumed its long-running patent reform debate March 10 with the usual intractable foes lining up for and against the primary sticking point in legislation introduced March 3: damages. High-tech companies want the damages formula in patent infringement lawsuits gutted; traditional manufacturing and pharmaceutical firms like it just the way it is.Bills introduced in both […]