Roy Mark

Cable company Charter Communications — bankrolled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s largest investment since leaving Microsoft in 1983 — said Feb. 12 it plans to file for bankruptcy in an effort to reduce the nation’s fourth-largest cable operator’s heavy debt load by as much as $8 billion. In the process, Charter left its common stockholders […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico-the United States’ primary nuclear weapons testing lab-is under fire again for lax security practices following the theft of three computers from the home of a Los Alamos employee. In the last 12 months, 13 computers have been stolen or lost and the lab reports that 67 other […]

It was a nice holiday season for Research In Motion and its new BlackBerry Storm. The Canadian cell phone maker scored a company record number of activations, and with strong sales continuing in the post-holiday period, RIM is now forecasting fourth-quarter net subscriber account additions to be more than 20 percent higher than the 2.9 […]

The U.S. Senate has put the kibosh on a government initiative requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to use an Internet-based electronic verification system to confirm that prospective employees are legally eligible to work.In the latest chapter of the saga, the Senate Feb. 9 eliminated the E-Verify provisions the House put in its version of the […]

Just a day after President Obama ordered a comprehensive review of the government’s cyber-security systems, the Federal Aviation Administration reported Feb. 10 that hackers illegally accessed an agency computer and stole employee personal identity information. The FAA said in a statement that the hacked server was not connected to the operation of the air traffic […]

President Obama ordered his National Security and Homeland Security advisors Feb. 9 to conduct an immediate review of the U.S. government’s cyber-security plans, programs, and activities. Heading the 60-day review will be Melissa Hathaway, who served as the cyber-security coordinator executive under Mike McConnell, former President Bush’s Director of National Intelligence.Hathaway was also named a […]

Almost 64 percent of the world’s mobile traffic will be video within the next five years, according to Cisco’s latest VNI (Visual Networking Index) Mobile Forecast for 2008-2013 released Feb. 10. The key driver of the mobile traffic will be laptops, netbooks and smartphones connecting to the network. Overall, Cisco predicts global mobile traffic will […]

When all else fails, spin out a conspiracy theory. That seemed to be the strategy of Republicans Feb. 4 as they unsuccessfully fought to keep the digital television switch “hard deadline” of Feb. 17 from moving to June 12. Late in the debate, after the Republicans had all objections to moving the deadline swatted down […]

Geeks.com agreed Feb. 5 to settle with the Federal Trade Commission charges stemming from a 2007 data breach at the online retailer of computer goods and other consumer electronics. During the breach, hackers accessed the sensitive information of hundreds of customers. According to the FTC, Geeks.com routinely stored in unencrypted text on its corporate computer […]

President Obama announced an Economic Recovery Advisory Board Feb. 6 that includes renowned technology venture capitalist John Doerr and Oracle President Charles Phillips. The 16-member panel, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, will provide the president with economic advice.“I created this board to enlist voices to come from beyond the Washington echo chamber, […]

Tech trade groups are breathing a little easier Feb. 5 after the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to moderate the “Buy American” provisions of the now $900 billion stimulus package. Under a Senate amendment to the bill passed Feb. 4, stimulus funding should be “applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international […]

The difference between Apple’s iPhone and its iPod Touch used to be a pretty bright line: One is a telephone and the other is not. That difference, though, is starting to fade as voice over IP providers begin to develop applications that allow iTouch users to utilize their Wi-Fi connections to turn the device into […]