Wash Post Technology

FCC's national broadband plan  16 Mar 2010
Post technology policy writer Cecilia Kang will answer questions about the FCC's plan to bring high-speed Internet to the entire country.


Arthroscopic surgery revolutionizes approach to repairing damaged joints  15 Mar 2010
Olie Kolzig knows all about pushing the body to its limits: During a 19-year hockey career, most of it as a goalie for the Washington Capitals, he dislocated his right kneecap twice and damaged his hip, elbow, shoulder and finger -- and required a total of nine surgeries.


FCC plan would greatly expand broadband Internet connections  15 Mar 2010
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday its long-awaited plan to bring broadband Internet connections to every home and business in the United States, part of an ambitious, multibillion-dollar attempt to create a new digital infrastructure for the nation's economy.


SemaConnect trying to fill a niche in the electric-car era  14 Mar 2010
Annapolis-based entrepreneur Mahi Reddy is hoping to take advantage of what he perceives will be a big missing piece in the approaching era of the electric car.


Value Added: Commercial musician tuned in to needs of Washington region  14 Mar 2010
You've probably never heard of Todd Hahn, but you might have heard his music.


Embryonic stem cell research stalled despite Obama's try at lifting restrictions  14 Mar 2010
One year after President Obama announced he was lifting his predecessor's controversial restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, some scientists are complaining that so far the new policy is -- ironically -- more of a burden than a boon to their work.


Cost of Internet fraud on steep rise  14 Mar 2010
LOS ANGELES -- U.S. citizens reported losing more than $550 million in 2009 in Internet fraud, falling prey to a variety of increasingly sophisticated scams, according to a report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center .

Featured Advertiser  13 Mar 2010

U.S. is falling behind in being digitally literate  13 Mar 2010
The Internet has transformed America with its power to generate innovation and opportunity and by its ability to connect, inform and entertain us like no technology in history.


Pros and cons to Facebook's fast-growing role in digital photography  13 Mar 2010
The glossy print, it seems, is losing its sheen. According to estimates from IDC, 42 billion photos will be printed worldwide, both commercially and personally, in 2013. That's a third fewer than the 63 billion printed in 2008. Meanwhile about 124 billion photos are on pace to be shared through s...


Do laptops belong in the classroom?  13 Mar 2010
I am a student in David Cole's class at Georgetown Law, which was featured in the March 9 front-page article "Web of diversions evicts laptops from lecture halls."


Tax-preparation software from TurboTax and H&R Block have drawbacks, benefits  13 Mar 2010
Tax-preparation programs are an unnecessary evil. We don't need special software to pay other bills, but our elected representatives' perpetual tinkering with the tax code makes paying for our share of government so mind-numbingly complex that most of us must outsource the math. It's alarming and...

China holds firm against Google, says firm must obey its laws  12 Mar 2010
BEIJING -- China's top Internet regulator warned Google on Friday that it must obey Chinese laws or "pay the consequences," in the bluntest official reaction yet to Google's threat to pull out of China unless the government stops censoring the Internet.

Pre-orders brisk for Apple's new iPad  12 Mar 2010
Neither recession nor gadget overload shall slow the mania surrounding the introduction of Apple's iPad mobile computer.


Cable firms seek FCC help in fee disputes  9 Mar 2010
Several major cable companies and a public interest group asked the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to intervene in disputes over transmission fees to prevent broadcasters from withholding signals from subscribers.


Security gaps exploited in grade scandal remain, may be difficult to close  9 Mar 2010
Montgomery County school officials have not yet closed gaps in their computer system that allowed students at a high-performing Potomac high school to change dozens of grades using a device that can be bought from Amazon.com for $69. And other school systems, including Fairfax County, remain just...


Iran blocking foreign, domestic Web sites to curb anti-government activists  9 Mar 2010
TEHRAN -- The bearded blogger stood before an effigy of an Islamic warrior towering over the letters "WWW."


Samsung, Panasonic start selling 3-D TVs this week  9 Mar 2010
Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week. This inaugurates what all TV makers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room.


Toyota demo counters claim of electronic acceleration glitch  8 Mar 2010
Embattled Japanese auto giant Toyota launched a broad counter-attack on Monday aimed at refuting research that suggests electronics may be at the heart of runaway acceleration problems that have led the automaker to recall more than 6 million vehicles.

Video Vault, cult movie rental favorite, to close in April  8 Mar 2010
Another video rental store might have been content to boast a "Horror" section, but Alexandria's Video Vault always catered to far more specialized tastes.


Featured Advertiser  8 Mar 2010

Wide Web of diversions gets laptops evicted from lecture halls  8 Mar 2010
On a windy morning in downtown Washington, a hundred Georgetown Law students gathered in a hall for David Cole's lecture on democracy and coercion. The desks were cluttered with books, Thermoses and half-eaten muffins.

Second Life's virtual money can become real-life cash  7 Mar 2010
Dana Moore sells rain. He sells a lot of it, for about a buck per reusable storm.


Disney allows Cablevision to resume showing WABC-7 as revenue negotiations continue  7 Mar 2010
ABC returned to the televisions of Cablevision's 3 million New York area subscribers late Sunday, allowing viewers to catch most of the Academy Awards. But the companies didn't say whether they had ended their tense and bitter impasse over how much the cable operator should pay Walt Disney Co., t...


For scientists, Chile becomes the ideal lab for studying seismic activity  7 Mar 2010
TALCA, CHILE -- When an aftershock nearly as big as Haiti's earthquake jolted this city on Friday, those already reeling from last month's huge quake shuddered in fear. But Jeff Genrich, a 53-year-old earthquake scientist from California, lolled in bed.


ABC goes dark for New York Cablevision subscribers  7 Mar 2010
Cablevision and Walt Disney appear to be heading back to the negotiating table, hours before the Academy Awards broadcast begins and is missed by three million subscribers in the New York area.

At Play: Kickstarter is a Web site for the starving artist  6 Mar 2010
Baltimore-based director Matt Porterfield was overjoyed to find out that his latest film was accepted by the Berlin Film Festival. But there was one not-so-trivial problem: He didn't have any money to finish the editing and sound work.


Intuit could use some quick(en) fixes for its new Mac program  6 Mar 2010
About a week ago, Intuit announced that it had fulfilled one of its customers' oldest requests: It had shipped a new Mac version of its Quicken personal-finance program that didn't look and run like a 1998-vintage relic.


Help File: Don't press F1 on the Web in Windows XP; a shortcut to iTunes Plus upgrades  6 Mar 2010
Q: I heard what sounds like an urban legend -- that you shouldn't hit the F1 key if a Web site tells you to. Is that true?


Billionaire Bubble: Ten players in the local tech scene look back, a decade later, at the frenzied days of the Internet boom and its fateful bust  6 Mar 2010
Ten players from the local technology scene look back at the Internet boom and bust.

Va. broadband provider RCN accepts Boston equity firm's acquisition offer  5 Mar 2010
Herndon-based RCN announced Friday that it has agreed to be acquired by a private-equity investment firm in a transaction valued at $1.2 billion.


John Ahearn Jr.; Larry Weekley; Viola A. Myers  5 Mar 2010
John L. "Jack" Ahearn Jr., 85, a retired Naval Research Laboratory electrical engineer, died Feb. 25 at his home in Oxon Hill after an apparent heart attack.

Local broadband provider RCN to be bought by private firm  5 Mar 2010
Herndon-based RCN announced Friday that it has agreed to be acquired by a private equity investment firm.


Featured Advertiser  5 Mar 2010

Orbital Sciences to buy General Dynamics' satellite unit  4 Mar 2010
Dulles-based Orbital Sciences said Thursday that it will pay $55 million in cash to buy a satellite subsidiary of Falls Church-based General Dynamics.


FBI director warns of 'rapidly expanding' cyberterrorism threat  4 Mar 2010
SAN FRANCISCO -- FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III warned Thursday that the cyberterrorism threat is "real and . . . rapidly expanding."


La Plata's plans for free wireless Internet move forward  3 Mar 2010
La Plata and Charles County Public Library officials are expected to sign an agreement soon to put on the fast track plans to make free wireless Internet service available in many locations.


FCC Chairman Genachowski confident in authority over broadband, despite critics  2 Mar 2010
Internet service providers are stepping up their campaign to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from regulating them like telephone companies and questioning the limits of the agency's power over the Internet.