Wayne Rash

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 has been the source of both controversy and consternation since it became law 15 years ago. Because of the DMCA, it became illegal to defeat the encryption on a DVD you purchased so you could watch a movie on your Linux computer. It became illegal to make a […]

Apple’s price/earnings ratio dropped to 10 while I was on the phone with financial advisor Mark Miller of Wells Fargo Advisors on Jan. 25. Microsoft’s P/E ratio was at 15 at the same time. So why should you care? Unless you’re an Apple investor, the company’s P/E ratio in and of itself doesn’t matter that […]

Once again, AT&T is trying to acquire another cell company, but unlike the ill-fated T-Mobile deal, this time AT&T will probably be able to pull it off. Chances are that you remember when Verizon Wireless bought Alltel a few years ago as a way to expand coverage. But 105 of those Alltel markets had to […]

From the viewpoint of the wireless carriers that cover Washington, DC, the good news is that about 800,000 people are expected to be on the National Mall and lining the parade route when President Obama is inaugurated for his second term and then travels to the White House afterwards. That’s about a million people fewer […]

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team reports that a U.S.-based power generating facility was shut down after a contract employee introduced malware into the turbine control systems and into engineering workstations. The contractor routinely used his USB drive to perform updates on control systems as well as workstations in the power plant. US-CERT, which is […]

The iPhone is no longer cool. Moms, dads and even grandparents are using Apple’s flagship product. Worst of all, teachers are using iPhones. To people in their late teens and early 20s who are the drivers of much of technology adoption, this is an anathema. According to a story in Forbes, Tina Wells, CEO of […]

The idea of a faster, higher-capacity WiFi sounds great, doesn’t it? But right now the best you can do, realistically, in public places is to access 802.11n WiFi and hope for the best. Unfortunately, in busy sites such as airports, trade shows or even in offices with a lot of wireless traffic, that may not […]

Dish Network offered a premium purchase price for the part of Clearwire not already owned by Sprint in a last-minute effort to disrupt the carrier’s purchase of wireless spectrum it must obtain to stay competitive with AT&T and Verizon. But why is Clearwire suddenly so attractive to Dish? Dish Network has thrown up a potential […]

The Consumer Electronics Show, which opened its doors on Jan. 8 but started hyping products days before that, is missing some notable players. Apple and Microsoft chose not to attend. Google isn’t showing Android and Amazon isn’t there with Kindles. But that doesn’t make CES less important to your enterprise. In fact, it’s just the […]

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Google to abide by its promises to offer reasonable licensing terms for “standard-essential” technology in the mobile industry under fair and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Patents are considered standard-essential when the technology they cover are incorporated into products in such a way that adherence to an industry standard requires use […]