Roy Mark

Hoping to avoid the network neutrality woes of its cable rival Comcast, Cox Communications plans to begin Feb. 9 testing new bandwidth management practices designed to slow traffic that isn’t “time-sensitive” during periods of peak network usage.“During the occasional times the network is congested, this new technology automatically ensures that all time-sensitive Internet traffic-such as […]

The U.S. House is scheduled to vote Jan. 28 on an $825 billion stimulus package attaching network neutrality and open access strings for $6 billion in grants and loans to build out broadband networks in unserved and underserved areas of the country. If-as widely expected-the American Recovery and Reinvestment passes the House, it will represent […]

The good news: A new survey shows retailers are beefing up their wireless security. The bad news: The same survey shows 44 percent of the wireless devices used by retailers are sitting targets for data thieves, suffering from weak encryption, data leakage, misconfigured access points and outdated access point firmware.While that 44 percent number may […]

The U.S. House approved an $819 billion emergency stimulus bill Jan. 28 that pumps more than $40 billion into areas that have been on the technology sector’s wish list, including $6 billion for broadband build-outs and $20 billion for health IT initiatives. The legislation also includes $11 billion to modernize the United States’ electrical grid […]

House Republicans Jan. 28 managed to stave off another attempt to delay the digital television transition from the looming Feb. 17 deadline to June 12. Taking a brief break from their daylong debate over the stimulus package, lawmakers voted 258-168 to move the digital TV deadline by four months, but a two-thirds majority was required […]

The U.S. Senate voted Jan. 26 to delay the transition to digital television to June 12, setting in motion what is expected to be swift action by the U.S. House to endorse the same Senate legislation that that dumps the original Feb. 17 deadline for television stations to switch from analog to digital broadcasting.If, as […]

With President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus bill calling for at least $20 billion for a national health IT network, a new debate is emerging over an old health IT issue: privacy. Traditionally, privacy advocates have urged patient consent for virtually every transaction within a national IT network.But a new line of thought about the seemingly […]

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a frequent critic of the tech industry’s use of the H-1B visa system, didn’t wait long in the new session of Congress to bring up the subject again. As soon as Microsoft announced it was cutting 5,000 jobs, Grassley fired off a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wanting to […]

Democrats sent a strong signal Jan. 22 that network neutrality would play a starring role in the $6 billion broadband piece of the U.S. House’s overall $825 billion economic stimulus package. Inapproving $2.9 billion for network build-outs in rural and underserved areas, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce insisted that network neutrality and open […]

Lawmakers appeared Jan. 23 to be nearing a deal that would allow television stations to move forward with the digital television transition on a voluntary basis while moving the mandatory shutdown of analog broadcasting from Feb. 17 to June 12.Then President-elect Barack Obama told lawmakers Jan. 8 that Congress should delay the Feb. 17 transition […]

Having successfully turned back a hostile $1.50 per share hostile takeover bid from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, Certicom announced Jan. 23 it has accepted a $2.10 per share offer from VeriSign. The deal, valued at $73 million, represents a 40 percent premium over RIM’s offer of $53 million. Certicom said the transaction was subject […]

President Obama’s call for widespread broadband deployment won its first congressional victory Jan. 22 when the House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved rules for $2.8 billion in government funding for high-speed Internet networks in unserved and underserved areas.Recipients of the funding will be obligated to build or expand existing networks under open access and […]