Wayne Rash

Research In Motion Chairman and co-CEO Jim Balsillie will step down as chairman of the Canadian maker of the popular BlackBerry device. The resignation comes in the wake of reports that the company misstated $250 million in stock options. Balsillie will stay on as co-CEO of RIM. According to a statement released by the company […]

WASHINGTON—The Technical Guidelines Development Committee, a committee appointed by the Election Assistance Commission to study security issues involving electronic voting, voted on Dec. 5 to recommend a move to software independence in voting machines used in the United States. Software independence means that election results can be determined independently of whether voting machines have software […]

There’s a 16 percent chance your wireless 911 call won’t go through. And if it does go through, there’s one chance in eight that the 911 center will know where you are. It gets worse. According to a study released Dec. 4 by Consumer Reports, a magazine published by Consumers Union, your chances are nearly […]

WASHINGTON—Both major U.S. political parties entered into a new era in the way they use the information they collect on voters throughout the United States. Using new levels of sophistication in how they collect, clean and manipulate the information in their massive databases, the parties are able to predict with reasonable accuracy how individual voters […]

Imagine an upgrade that calls for untrained people with inadequate leadership to roll out a critical new technology under crushing deadlines. Then they must perform the upgrade under intense public scrutiny and cut the already-short timeline for completion in half while fostering ever-growing expectations for the project’s impact. The truth is, you don’t even need […]

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the little-known agency that controls how national elections are held in the United States, is enlisting the help of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in making sure electronic voting machines meet federal standards. According to EAC Voting Systems Certification Director Brian Hancock, all voting machines to be used […]

The Beceem MS120 Mobile WiMax chip set has proven its ability to work with a variety of commercial base station vendors in a formal test, called a “plugfest,” at Bechtel Labs in Frederick, Md. In a test that ended Oct. 1, the Beceem reference design worked with vendors including Alcatel, Alvarion, Motorola and Navini. The […]

To John Graves, wireless communications is a lot more than Verizon Wireless’ catchy “Can You Hear Me Now?” tag line. It’s about emergency responders hearing one another when it counts. Graves, program director for the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, is one of the people trying to […]

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs is reporting that an office computer reported stolen from a Unisys Corp. office in Virginia has been recovered, and a Washington, D.C., resident has been arrested in the case. According to a VA spokesperson, the arrest took place Sept. 13. Arrested in the […]

T-Mobile to Launch New BlackBerry T-Mobile USA will be the first wireless carrier to release the new BlackBerry Pearl. According to the announcement on Sept. 7 from T-Mobile, the new BlackBerry is “Ultra-Sleek.” Take a look at the photo we asked for and you can judge for yourself what this means in the world of […]

It has taken a year, but the federal government appears poised to appoint an overseer for U.S. cyber-security. Vallee Bunting, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, in Washington, said officials there are whittling down the list of candidates. Once the department decides on the best candidate, that person will be appointed by the […]

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security will be naming a new Assistant Secretary for Cyber and Telecommunications in the very near future, a DHS spokesperson has told eWEEK. According to Vallee Bunting, a spokesperson for Preparedness Directorate of the DHS, the department is close to the final stages of the hiring process, and should have a […]