Roy Mark

The numbers aren’t adding up for the Highway Loss Data Institute. Comparing insurance claims for crash damage in four U.S. jurisdictions before and after bans on driving and using handheld phones, researchers found no reduction in crashes after the bans.“HLDI researchers calculated monthly collision claims … for vehicles up to three years old during the […]

The Obama administration has axed NASA plans to return to the moon by 2020. The president’s 2011 budget, to be released Feb. 1, includes no funding for the Constellation program, the controversial Bush-era plan to establish a lunar outpost for future space exploration.Instead, the administration proposes to keep NASA focused on extending the life of […]

Hospital data centers may not be ready for the demand that more patients and digital information will create, according to a survey of hospital IT executives at small and midsize hospitals in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China, France and Germany conducted by HIMSS Analytics on behalf of Dell.The Healthcare Enterprise Survey showed that […]

Using Mayo Clinic analytics technology with collaboration from IBM’s Medical Imaging Informatics Innovation Center has proven a 95 percent accuracy rate in detecting aneurysms, compared with 70 percent for manual interpretation. The project has examined more than 15 million images from thousands of patients since the project began in early July. Traditionally, a patient suspected […]

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 […]