Wayne Rash

Samsung has introduced the 5.5 inch Galaxy Note II, the latest model in what is becoming perhaps the most diverse lineup of tablet models in the computer industry. The company already has 7- and 10-inch tablets and it’s got smartphones with screens in the 4+ inch range and smaller. And of course it’s got the […]

If the small tablet market has had any issues building sales, the reason may well be that no major player has proven it to be a large, sustainable market. With the introduction of the iPad Mini, that’s all changed. The nearly 8-inch tablet shows this is a real market, if only because Apple is now […]

Here’s the Series 9 Ultrabook 13-Inch Version The model I reviewed is the 13-inch version of the Samsung Series 9. There’s also a 15-inch version, which looks a lot like this, except it’s larger. Note that the touch surface is unadorned by any selection buttons. Default Screen Brightness Setting Falls Short Round one of the […]

Samsung bills its new Series 9 Ultrabook computer as being as good as any notebook computer out there, while also being visually stunning, blazingly fast and more useful. While it’s a very nice computer, Samsung made some compromises either to meet its physical design goals or to make it really thin, and those compromises may […]

Microsoft has begun taking preorders for its much-anticipated Surface RT tablet. The new device, which comes with a version of Windows 8 and a limited version of Microsoft Office 2013, will be available in some configurations on Oct. 26. However the most basic version, which come with 32GB of memory and no touch cover, has […]

Softbank, Japan’s third-largest mobile carrier, and Sprint Nextel, the third-largest U.S. carrier, have agreed to a complex partial acquisition that could funnel some desperately needed cash into debt-laden Sprint, while also giving Softbank a fresh opportunity for growth. Currently Japan’s wireless market has reached saturation, so growth opportunities at home for Softbank are limited. The […]

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking in New York to the Business Executives for National Security, used the forum to warn Iran to curb its attacks and to never even think about attacking the United States. “Don’t ever attack this country because you will not get away with it,” said Panetta in his speech delivered on […]

Civil liberties advocates who have filed thirty-three lawsuits against U.S. phone companies charging that they had allowed warrantless surveillance have had their day in federal court and have been brought up short yet again. The U.S Supreme Court declined to hear their case without comment. The case, Hepting et al vs. AT&T Corp et al, […]

The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Intelligence is recommending that U.S. companies not buy communications equipment from two major Chinese manufacturers, Huawei and ZTE, branding them long-term security risks. While most people know these companies as vendors of cell phones and wireless hotspots, they are major vendors of core infrastructure equipment including telephone […]

When executives from Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS announced on Oct. 3 that the U.S. arm of T-Mobile and MetroPCS would accomplish a complex merger in 2013, there was little if any of the usual gnashing of teeth by public interest groups worried about concentration of market power in the mobile carrier market. Instead, […]

I spent a year following presidential candidates around the U.S. in 1996 to learn how well politicians were using the Internet to get their messages across to voters. I also spent time with other campaigns at all levels of government and I got to know a wide variety of pressure groups from all segments of […]

Regional carrier nTelos, which serves Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and some portions of Central Virginia near Charlottesville and Richmond, started selling Apple’s iPhone 5 on Sept. 28, just a week after the three major U.S. carriers started selling it. But there are a couple of important differences: the nTelos iPhone 5 costs $50 dollars less than […]