Free Republic

Vimal Patel was studying for a master's in business administration in London when he saw an advertisement for work in the U.S. The ad offered a job in the tech industry, as well as sponsorship for the kind of work visa that allows foreign nationals to take professional-level jobs in the country. So Patel applied and paid his prospective employer, Cygate Software & Consulting, in Edison, N.J., thousands of dollars in up-front fees. But when Patel arrived, Cygate had no tech job for him. He ended up working at a gas station, and Cygate nevertheless took a chunk of his...

LOS ANGELES—In two separate cases, three men have been sentenced to federal prison for attempting to transport sensitive and advanced U.S. technology to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Two men were sentenced yesterday, and another man linked to one of the schemes was sentenced last week to five years in prison. William Chi-Wai Tsu, 61, a Beijing resident, was sentenced yesterday to 40 months imprisonment for his role in exporting high-tech integrated circuits with military applications to the PRC. In a separate case, Tah Wei Chao, 53, of Beijing, was sentenced yesterday to 20 months imprisonment after pleading guilty...

BANGALORE (Reuters) - At Microsoft's research center in a leafy lane in India's tech capital, a new generation of researchers are being groomed half a world away from the software giant's sprawling headquarters in Seattle. Complete with beanbags and coffee served in steel tumblers, the center is helping change the perception that India is no place for top-end research and development. Staffed with about 60 full-time researchers, many of them Indians with PhDs from top universities in the United States, the center is at the cutting edge of Microsoft's R&D. It covers seven areas of research including mobility and cryptography....

Note: The following text is a quote: 09 July 2009 EGYPT ARRESTS TERRORIST CELL OF 25 MEMBERS CAIRO, July 9 (Xinhua) The Egyptian authorities have arrested a terrorist cell of 25 members, 24 Egyptians and one Palestinian, for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Suez Canal, Egyptian Interior Ministry said in statement issued on Thursday. According to the statement, the members of the cell who believe in Jihad (Holy War) were located in Cairo, Alexandria and Daqahlia governorates and communicated through internet with other terrorist groups outside Egypt. The cell's members, mostly engineers, were developing high-tech and electronic devices...

I got up early, went down to very sketchy Sprint store and bought a Palm Pre on Saturday. I've been playing with it and testing it ever since and before I finish the full review I thought I'd share some data with you all.First, battery life: Phone Web Browsing (Cell Network) Web Browsing (WiFi) Talk Time Apple iPhone 3G 218 minutes 400 minutes 289 minutes Palm Pre 219 minutes 351 minutes 312 minutes T-Mobile G1 398 minutes (on Edge) 435 minutes 218 minutes (on Edge)  T-Mobile doesn't have any 3G coverage in NC yet so all of my tests for...

The technological and economical development of Scandinavia (including Finland) is today more groundbreking than anywhere else in the world. The investments being made in relation to population size is mind-boggling. Despite a mere population of 25 million inhabitants, the combined GDP of the Scandinavian countries today ridicules that of a Russia often viewed to be a "reborn" super power "on the go" (combined Scandinavian GDP is actually 125% that of of Russia - and the gap is widening!!) But, let's focus on telecommunications here; Five bidders have paid €226 million ($346 million) for fourth generation (4G), super-fast mobile telephony licences,...

After a short downturn, the tech economy is back on the upswing. Hi-tech careers are on the rebound and, with the right college education and on-the-job training, your future looks bright. Professionals with technical training or degrees from online technical schools will find prime-time opportunities to advance their careers. Some of the top job seekers poised to laugh all the way to the bank in this resurgent tech economy: IT specialists, database administrators, high-tech marketing pros, and digital designers. We'll take a closer look at these individual careers by type, but first the good news numbers that are putting smiles...

(AP) CAMBRIDGE -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers made a 60-watt light bulb glow by sending it energy wirelessly -- from a device 7 feet away -- potentially heralding a future in which cell phones and other gadgets get their juice without having to be plugged in. The breakthrough, disclosed Thursday in Science Express, the online publication of the journal Science, is being called "WiTricity" by the scientists. The concept of sending power wirelessly isn't new, but it has been dismissed as inefficient because the electromagnetic energy generated by the charging device radiates in all directions. One advance was announced...

The Tech Dragon Stumbles China's upstarts are finding life in the big leagues tougher than they reckoned by Bruce Einhorn In recent years, the world has watched with a mixture of fascination and trepidation as Chinese technology companies making everything from semiconductors to cell phones have pushed their way onto the global stage. Investors have piled in, hoping to reap the rewards that would flow from betting on an Intel (INTC) or Dell (DELL) in the making. Potential rivals, meanwhile, have feared that the Chinese, like the Japanese and Koreans before them, might elbow their way into prominence worldwide. From...

In Pictures: Robot menagerie An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer. The South Korean government has identified robotics as a key economic driver and is pumping millions of dollars into research. "The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to...

Virgin Lobster Fails to Spawn By Bill Ray Published Friday 19th January 2007 07:02 GMT Virgin mobile has sold "considerably less" than 10,000 of their mobile-TV-enabled Lobster handsets, despite Pamela Anderson’s advertising and cutting the price to below a hundred quid, according to The Guardian. Virgin won't confirm the figures, but it's clear that sales are disappointing. This should not come as any surprise: the Lobster was never an attractive handset, and in a business largely driven by owning the coolest-looking handset it was always going to be a hard sell. How this reflects on the viability of mobile video...

By James Kilner MOSCOW (Reuters) - A shortage of information technology graduates from Western universities is leading companies to call on developing countries to meet research demand, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Tuesday. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia's internationally renowned education system became a cheap talent pool for the West. Now dozens of Russian language Web sites offer computer programming jobs in the United States, alongside visa support and language training. "Worldwide, a lot of the developed countries are not graduating as many IT students as they were in the past, which is kind of ironic...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 -- The same global positioning technology that helps fighter and bomber pilots deliver smart bombs with pinpoint accuracy now allows bundles dropped from cargo planes to steer themselves to drop zones. A new GPS-guided “Screamer” bundle from the Joint Precision Air Drop System falls out the back of a C-130 Hercules over Afghanistan Aug. 26. The drop was made from 17,500 feet above mean sea level and was the first joint Air Force-Army operational drop of JPADS in the Central Command area of responsibility. Four bundles were dropped from the Alaska Air National Guard C-130....

See for example this thread first. Some high-tech CEO's complain the SEC's causing them pain But despite all they say-- (you can go thank Ken Lay) we don't care much if "they can explain."

A new technique allowing virtual dissections of half-billion-year-old fossil embryos is producing the first three-dimensional images of the dawn of life. It reveals a universe of detail impossible using previous methods, and researchers said it was pushing back the frontiers of science much as the scanning electron microscope did half a century ago. [SNIP] In contrast to those methods, synchroton-radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy, or SRXTM, leaves the tiny fossils untouched but gives graphic details of their structure.

U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., has co-sponsored a bill offered by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that seeks to promote employer access to skilled employees. The Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership Bill expands the number of visas allowed for high-tech workers educated in the United States who are employed as part of the H1-B visa program. "I want the United States to be the world capital of innovation. And to achieve that goal, we must adapt, innovate and compete by allowing them to attract highly skilled individuals so that they can become fully productive citizens," said Allen. Currently, the number of...

Washington, DC (April 19, 2006) – AeA, the nation’s largest trade association representing all segments of the high-tech industry, today released its ninth annual Cyberstates report detailing national and state trends in high-tech employment, wages, exports, and other key economic factors. The report, Cyberstates 2006: A Complete State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry, covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Virginia's high-tech industry employment grew by 9,100 net jobs, to 253,300 in 2004, the most current state data available. A significant part of this job growth occurred in Virginia’s largest technology sector, computer systems design and...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.The National Association of Manufacturers Is Spinning the News on the High-Tech Trade Deficit So Fast It's Getting Dizzy "Advanced tech exports haven't even recovered to their level of five years ago," Vargo continued....He said he will urge the Commerce Department to begin a prompt analysis of what he called 'our advanced technology export problem.'" —National Association of Manufacturers Vice President Frank Vargo, February 10, 2006 "The good news is that this January's exports of advanced technology goods grew 21 percent over last year and actually brought this particular year-to-year deficit down."...

WASHINGTON - After a series of reports warning of the growing economic threat from China and India, ``competitiveness'' has become the latest catch-word of Silicon Valley's high-tech industry. President Bush elevated the issue for the nation Tuesday, announcing a decadelong ``American Competitiveness Initiative'' that would pour $136 billion into scientific research and the promotion of math and science education. --snip-- High-tech leaders praised the proposal Tuesday night. ``I was heartened by the amount of time he spent talking about competitiveness,'' said Carl Guardino, head of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. ``To hear him focus on math and science, especially in...

Indeed, China's ability to hold on to the labor-intensive segments of the global marketplace as it climbs the technology ladder is one of the unique features of the country's ascent -- and a remarkable source of resilience for its economy. It's also a factor in the country's $100 billion-plus trade surplus with the rest of the world and double that figure with the U.S.

Digital’s venerable VMS just keeps going and going and going.... 01/09/2006 By Keith Parent and Beth Bumbarger MASS HIGH TECH : JOURNAL OF NEW ENGLAND TECHNOLOGY New Englanders old enough to have worked in the region’s computer industry in the halcyon days of the mid-to-late 1980s participated in one of the great entrepreneurial periods of our nation’s history. Those were the days of the Massachusetts Miracle, when technology titans such as Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), Wang Laboratories, Data General and Prime Computer Inc. employed tens of thousands of high-tech professionals in what then Gov. Michael Dukakis described in a famous...

Bay Area technology companies will get a crack this week at enticing some of the brightest from MIT, something that used to be much easier for Silicon Valley. More than 70 business students from MIT's Sloan School of Management will tour nearly 40 companies, including Apple Computer, Salesforce.com, Google and Hewlett-Packard as part of an annual meeting. For the students, it's a chance to kick the tires on the technology sector. Some have plenty of other options, including a career in consulting, working for influential and high-paying firms, such as Bain or McKinsey, said Paul Denning, spokesman for the Sloan...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate-passed measure to add more visas for foreign workers in high-tech and specialty fields was dropped from a budget bill that passed the House early Monday, disappointing high-tech and manufacturing firms in search of skilled workers. The Senate plan would have allowed 30,000 more of the popular H1-B visas each year, and increased fees for those visas to help trim the budget deficit. Congress capped the six-year H-1B visas at 65,000 per year in 2004, and that cap has already been reached for the 2006 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Senate language also would...

When Silicon Valley executives complain about soaring wages for computer engineers, they often blame a single company for their plight: Google Inc. The Mountain View search engine, they say, has pushed up salaries with its deep pockets and huge appetite for technology workers. "It's driven up software engineering wages by 50 percent in the past couple years," Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, the online DVD rental firm in Los Gatos, said recently at a conference for the technology industry's lobbying group. Bill Cobb, who oversees North American operations for San Jose's eBay, chimed in from across the table, saying,...

China trumped the United States in 2004 as the world’s leading exporter of high-tech goods like laptop computers, mobile phones and digital cameras, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Monday. Official data from the Paris-based OECD highlighted how fast the country, still Communist Party-controlled, has emerged as an economic power that the United States and other long-industrialized countries can no longer ignore. China exported $180 billion worth of ICT (information and communication technology) goods in 2004, compared with U.S. exports of $149 billion, the OECD, a free-market organization whose 30-country membership does not include China, said.

WASHINGTON — U.S. high-tech industry executives met earlier this week with Vice President Dick Cheney to lobby for more U.S. support for basic science research, sources said Friday (Dec. 16). The meeting came as two U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation this week designed to boost U.S. innovation. The National Innovation Act of 2005 introduced Wednesday by Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) seeks to increase investment in basic research, improve science and technology talent and develop a robust innovation infrastructure. The proposal would also create a President's Council on Innovation to "develop a comprehensive agenda to promote innovation in...

NORFOLK, Va., Oct. 5, 2005 – High-speed vessel Swift, homeported at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Norfolk, Va., played a major role in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Swift was pierside at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas, when the crew learned they were needed to deliver fresh food to federal, state and local agencies assisting with the relief efforts. “You can only eat MRE’s (meals ready to eat) for so long,” said Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Pournelle, Swift’s executive officer. " You can build all the high tech ships in the world, but unless you have the crew that’s capable and willing to...

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Hardly a day passes without news of U.S. troops being killed or wounded in Iraq, often from car bombs, roadside explosives and similar methods. ADVERTISEMENT Halfway around the world, Bill Dunn, a Kansas State University nuclear engineering professor, works on ways to detect such explosives at a safe distance. Since November, he has been applying technology about neutron and gamma ray radiation to detect improvised explosive devices, or IEDs in military jargon. Dunn isn't seeking just scholarly satisfaction for proving some abstract theory. "Everybody knows somebody affected by this war. Every single day somebody is being killed...

SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY A Poker Game For Samsung's Chips Austin and Albany are playing a high-stakes hand -- with a $3.5 billion plant on the table It's like a high-stakes game of Texas Hold 'Em. On one side of the poker table are the guns from Austin, Tex.; on the other the sharks from Albany, N.Y. The stakes are huge: The two sides are squaring off over a new, $3.5 billion Samsung semiconductor plant, which will come with about 900 high-paying jobs and a secure spot in the high-tech industry's future. Never mind that Korea's Samsung hasn't even...

IT SOUNDS like the stuff of science fiction, but the Japanese Government is quietly throwing huge financial and technical weight into the development of three-dimensional, virtual reality television. If the Communications Ministry succeeds in its ambitions, sports fans throughout the nation will be able to enjoy the 2018 World Cup final as if they were on the pitch itself, surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of the real action. The ministry, fondly pretending that the final will feature Japan and Brazil, has even drawn up artist’s impressions of how fans will be celebrating goals in their living rooms...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. QUEENSLAND'S Bond University has axed its information technology faculty in a move reflecting a massive downturn in demand for computing courses at universities around Australia. Applications for IT courses have fallen by almost 50per cent in some states. The Gold Coast-based university has announced its IT faculty will merge with the faculty of business, which may lead to some academic staff being retrenched. Bond is pitching the decision as creating a "super-faculty" that is "in line with Bond's cutting-edge IT education". In a written statement, Bond said the move would not...

A group of legislators on both sides of the Washington aisle vowed on Tuesday to create a national plan for dealing with an alarming byproduct of the country's voracious appetite for electronics--mountains of potentially toxic waste. To that end, four lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives have formed the Congressional E-Waste Working Group. The group intends to build broad political support for a national law to reduce high-tech garbage--a cause that has been largely ignored in Washington. Leading the group's charge are Representatives Mike Thompson, a California Democrat; Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican; Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from...

Digitization is THE primary catalyst for offshoring. It is one of the biggest game changing developments in the 21st Century, just as the Industrial Revolution, the Automobile, electricity and others were in other centuries. This is where it all begins!Mark my words! If you think the Internet was a game changing development in the late 90's, digitization combined with the Internet is going to shake up many many people's lives as never before seen in this century.If you have missed the previous 4 installments, here they are:1. Preface 2. The Spread of Computing 3. The Spread of Knowledge 4. The...

VIENNA, Austria - Iran is quietly building a stockpile of thousands of high-tech small arms and other military equipment - from armor-piercing snipers' rifles to night-vision goggles - through legal weapons deals and a U.N. anti-drug program, according to an internal U.N. document, arms dealers and Western diplomats. The buying spree is raising Bush administration fears the arms could end up with militants in Iraq. Tehran also is seeking approval for a U.N.-funded satellite network that Iran says it needs to fight drug smugglers, stoking U.S. worries it could be used to spy on Americans in Iraq or Afghanistan -...

- The Jackson-Clinton metropolitan area in south central Mississippi is the largest single conglomeration of high-tech telecommunications and wireless companies in America, with more than 300 such firms calling the state capital region home. - Statewide, more than 10,000 Mississippians are employed in telecom jobs, as Mississippi has become a virtual "who's who" roll call of top firms in that sector: WorldCom, SkyTel, Tritel/SunCom, Air2Lan, WirelessOne and Telepak/Cellular South, just to name a few. - The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg is one of the top 10 graduate schools in the nation for polymer sciences and is home to...

Over 25000 jobs are open at various US high tech companies. While a lot of companies have outsourced, a cursory look at a lot of open jobs indicates most are high paying...

NEW DELHI: Bring those foreign scientists and engineers back! The plea from the US high-tech industry to the US government is simple: keep the bright Indians, Chinese and others coming into the US, because they hold the key to the US' economic and technological dominance. In a latest report, the AeA (formerly known as The American Electronics Association and now the biggest lobbying body for high-tech industry) said the US risked losing its competitive edge in science and technology for a number of reasons, but primarily because the tighter immigration policies post-9/11 were keeping away the ones that the US...

China is modernizing its military forces faster than anyone expected, escalating the potential danger to the island of Taiwan, to American forces and bases in Asia, and to the overall balance of power in the region. "China adheres to the military strategy of active defense and works to speed up the revolution of military affairs (RMA) with Chinese characteristics," says the white paper Beijing issued in December. It points to "leapfrog development" in high-tech weapons for its missile units, navy, and air force. Where many American and Asian analysts said before that China would be able to mount a credible...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Future explorers on the Moon and Mars could be outfitted in lightweight, high-tech spacesuits that offer far more flexibility than the bulky suits that have been used for spacewalks in the 1960s. Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) (MIT) on a Bio-Suit System that incorporates a suit designed to augment a person's biological skin by providing mechanical counter-pressure. The epidermis of such a second skin could be applied in spray-on fashion in the form of an organic, biodegradable layer. This coating would protect an astronaut conducting a spacewalk in...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Chandigarh, January 12: Programme director for development of ballistic missiles sees a bright future for Indian missile programme. India is charting a favourable course in the field of developing missile and missile systems in the country. According to Padmashree Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, India could perhaps be looking at exporting missiles. ``Exporting missiles could be a possibility. These missiles will be the ones that could be used in local warfare,'' said Dr Saraswat, who is currently the programme director for the development of Ballistic Missile Defence Systems. These missiles, he explained,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. U.S. Wage Trends Change in median income for technology professionals, 2002-2003: -1.49 percent Last time this figure declined: 1972 Change in inflation-adjusted median income for technology professionals, 2002-2003: -3.68 percent Last time this figure declined: 1988 Source: "Incomes of Technical Professionals Decline, IEEE-USA Salary Survey Reveals," IEEE-USA, December 22, 2004

The United States’ trade deficit with China increased twenty-fold over the last 14 years, rising from $6.2 billion in 1989 to $124 billion in 2003. Moreover, it is expected to have increased by more than 20% in 2004 to over $150 billion. This deficit is impacting an ever-broadening segment of U.S. manufacturing, including advanced technology industries like semiconductors once thought immune to lower-wage Chinese competition...Dr. Scott summarized the report findings as follows: “The assumptions we built our trade relationship with China on have proven to be a house of cards. Everyone knew we would lose jobs in labor-intensive industries like...

Scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE) have designed a robot that does not require batteries or electricity to power itself. Instead, it generates energy by catching and eating houseflies. Dr Chris Melhuish and his Bristol-based team hope the robot, called EcoBot II, will one day be sent into zones too dangerous for humans, potentially proving invaluable in military, security and industrial areas. Melhuish, who is director of the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab at the UWE, told CNN that the EcoBot II was a result of a quest for an intelligent robot that could function without human...

One of the most common of all medical problems among adult Americans is gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), with approximately 1 in 4 people suffering from this clinical gastrointestinal problem. According to Dr. M.Brian Fennerty, Professor of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, GERD has an enormous impact on healthcare, with costs of drug therapy and surgical intervention of about 6 billion dollars annually. Of those 1 in 4 Americans with GERD, 10% also have Barrett's esophagus - so about 1 to 2% of the adult population has a pre-malignant condition putting them at risk for adenocarcinoma of the...

By Gene J. Koprowski UPI Technology News Published 11/12/2004 10:16 AM CHICAGO, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Large-scale wireless data networks are emerging as the latest high-tech economic development tool across the United States, appearing in major metro area downtowns and smaller suburban central business districts. This is a much larger phenomenon, experts told United Press International, than the appearance last year of "hot zones" for Wireless Fidelity networks that provided connectivity in coffee shops, hotels or airports.Research by Tropos Networks, a provider of wireless networking technology in Silicon Valley, Calif., found there are about 48 municipalities with wireless broadband networks,...

By Gene J. Koprowski UPI Technology News Published 11/12/2004 10:16 AM CHICAGO, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Large-scale wireless data networks are emerging as the latest high-tech economic development tool across the United States, appearing in major metro area downtowns and smaller suburban central business districts. This is a much larger phenomenon, experts told United Press International, than the appearance last year of "hot zones" for Wireless Fidelity networks that provided connectivity in coffee shops, hotels or airports.Research by Tropos Networks, a provider of wireless networking technology in Silicon Valley, Calif., found there are about 48 municipalities with wireless broadband networks,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Milpitas-based semiconductor maker LSI Logic Corp. is firing 510 employees, saying it's been caught up in the "widespread semiconductor industry slowdown." The company (NYSE: LSI) says it posted a net loss of $282 million or 73 cents per diluted share on revenues of $380 million in its third quarter. Revenues were down 16 percent compared to the $450 million reported in the third quarter of 2003, and a 15 percent sequential decrease compared to the $448 million The biggest part of the net loss is an impairment charge from closing a...

Random firing and stray bullets create fear in some areasDALLAS - Celebrating a Dallas Cowboys touchdown, or just about any other event, by firing a few shots in the air is a time-honored tradition in some of this city's neighborhoods. To Dallas City Council member Elba Garcia, the random gunfire is a nagging, potentially deadly problem that she and other city officials want to fight with a novel, high-tech solution. "I don't know about gunfire on Sunday afternoons. It's the shots at 2 a.m. in my neighborhood that I'm concerned about," said Garcia, who lives in Oak Cliff, southwest of...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The $22-billion industry that supplies production equipment to chip makers appears to be bracing for layoffs as it heads into a long winter of slumping business, according to analysts. Analysts who have been briefed on cost-cutting preparations say the first round of layoffs could be announced as early as Wednesday, when Novellus Systems Inc. reports quarterly results. "We think they will be under pressure to reduce costs, and headcount reduction will probably be one of those," said Mark FitzGerald, an analyst with Banc of America Securities, speaking...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., a leading Chinese computer chip maker, plans to begin supplying chips using 90-nanometer technology to major clients such as Texas Instruments Inc. beginning next year, the companies said yesterday. The plan marks a breakthrough in China's acquisition of advanced technology. Beijing has long sought to nurture domestic semiconductor makers and reduce the country's once total dependence on imported chips for its own electronics industry. SMIC said yesterday it was in trial operations for 90-nanometer processing technology, a label that describes the average size of the minuscule chip...