Roy Mark

Despite the ongoing efforts of NASA engineers to free the stuck Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mired in a Martian sand trap, the space agency admitted Jan. 26 Spirit will no longer be a fully mobile robot. The space agency declared Spirit is now officially a stationary science platform with the initial assignment of surviving the […]

The International Trade Commission has decided to investigate Nokia’s complaint that Apple’s mobile phones, computers and portable music players infringe on Nokia patents. Nokia cites seven of its patents that it says are now being used by Apple to create key features in Apple products in the areas of user interface, camera, antenna and power […]

Wireless and broadband growth remained strong for Verizon in the fourth quarter, but the telecom giant still managed to post a net loss of $653 million. For the quarter, Verizon said it earned $27.1 billion in revenues, an almost 10 percent jump from the fourth quarter of 2008.Verizon blamed the fourth-quarter loss on consolidating Verizon’s […]

The Federal Communications Commission has expanded its investigation into the early termination fees wireless companies charge consumers who leave their contracts early. After initially targeting Verizon Wireless, the regulatory agency Jan. 26 sent letters to AT&T, Google, Sprint and T-Mobile asking how ETFs are charged and if consumers are adequately informed of the ETFs. This […]

Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee, has said his panel will keep a close watch to ensure compliance with the $2.5 billion merger deal Ticketmaster and Live Nation cut with the Department of Justice.The DOJ Jan. 25 said it “will require Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. to license its […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation banned texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses Jan. 26, effective immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data shows that drivers who send and […]

Ironic, isn’t it? Almost four years ago, Google was pilloried before Congress for doing business with China. The search giant had agreed to Chinese censorship requirements in return for being allowed to operate a local Chinese search engine, Google.cn. Google’s famous credo of “Do no evil” had seemingly dissolved into “Do no evil unless there’s […]

Call it the ultimate wireless connection. NASA announced Jan. 22 the ISS (International Space Station) received a software upgrade this week that allows astronauts personal access to the Internet. Called the Crew Support LAN, the system leverages existing communication links to and from the station and gives astronauts the ability to browse and use the […]

The Chinese government took little time rejecting U.S. Secretary of State’s Hillary Clinton’s Jan. 21 global call for an uncensored Internet free from cyber-attacks and intellectual property theft. China, in particular, Clinton said, should conduct a thorough investigation of the cyber-intrusions that led Google to threaten to close its operations in China.The speech came a […]

Faced with concerns over the growing demands for commercial spectrum, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet Jan. 21 approved legislation to create a comprehensive survey of the nation’s wireless airwaves and develop an inventory of each spectrum band. The inventory would include the identity of federal and non-federal users and the types […]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced Jan. 21 countries that use information technology to deny their citizens the free flow of information over the Internet and outlined what she called America’s five key freedoms of the Internet age that will inform U.S. foreign policy.In a major policy speech at Washington’s Newseum, Clinton said the United […]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to put forward Internet freedom as a major facet of U.S. foreign policy in a Jan. 21 major address at Washington’s Newseum. The 9:30 a.m. EST speech will also be streamed live at http://www.state.gov.According to State Department officials, no secretary of state has ever given a major policy speech […]