The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia leaves in place the Federal Communications Commission “program access” rules, which are intended to ensure that cable companies cannot withhold highly desirable programming that they own from competitors.
The rules require Comcast Corp., for instance, to make channels that it owns - including E! Entertainment, Versus and the Golf Channel - available to rivals such as DirecTV Inc., Dish Network Corp., AT&T Inc.s U-Verse video service and Verizons FiOS video service.
The decision was a setback for Cablevision Systems Corp. and Comcast, which were challenging the FCCs decision to [...]

The upgrades will allow VeriSigns machines to handle up to 4 quadrillion requests per day from computers trying to reach those sites. Thats a thousand times more lookups than the 4 trillion per day that the company can currently handle.
Ken Silva, the companys chief technology officer, said Thursday that the latest changes are needed to keep up with ballooning Internet traffic and with spikes in usage caused by major news events and computer attacks.
Traffic volume is expected to soar along with the expansion of technologies such as Internet-connected televisions, navigation systems and video streaming.
VeriSign is in two big businesses that [...]

China, Iran and Tunisia, which are on the groups “Enemies of the Internet” list, got more sophisticated at censorship and overcoming dissidents attempts to communicate online, said Reporters Without Borders Washington director, Clothilde Le Coz.
Meanwhile, Turkey and Russia found themselves on the groups “Under Surveillance” list of nations in danger of making the main enemies list.
Although Zimbabwe and Yemen dropped from the surveillance list, that was primarily because the Internet isnt used much in either country, rather than because of changes by the governments, Le Coz said.
Reporters Without Borders issued the third annual report ahead of Fridays World Day Against [...]

Instead, the company is in danger of going the way of its 1990s Palm Pilot, making it the latest innovator to learn that great technology and an accomplished leader dont guarantee success.
Several analysts say Palm Inc. might not remain an independent phone maker for more than a year or two. It just could be too late to stop the momentum enjoyed by Apple Inc.s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.s BlackBerrys - not to mention a growing crop of phones running Google Inc.s Android software.
Palm spokesman Derick Mains said the company had no comment.
Consumers have gravitated toward smart phones for [...]

Parents would be able to use the system to help block access to porn sites, though because its use would be voluntary, the “.xxx” suffix wouldnt keep such content entirely away from minors. Religious and other anti-porn groups worry that “.xxx” would legitimize porn sites, and the proposal has already been rejected three times since 2000.
But the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the allocation of Internet addresses globally, may revive ICM Registry LLCs bid yet again as ICANN meets this week in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Last month, responding to complaints from ICM, an outside panel [...]

Wireless Ink Corp., which runs the Winksite service, claims that Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz are infringing a patent issued in October. In a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan, the company is seeking cash compensation and a court order to prevent further use of its invention.
The patent is related to ways of offering content that is accessible by mobile devices, Wireless Ink lawyer Jeremy Pitcock said in an interview. The closely held software maker develops Web sites that can be made available over [...]

“It is a deal that is fair to our customers and in line with our other programming agreements,” Cablevision Systems Corp. spokesman Charles Schueler said in a phone interview with The Associated Press after the signal had been restored. He declined to disclose details of the deal.
Rebecca Campbell, president and general manager of WABC-TV, said the two sides had “reached an agreement in principle.”
“Given this movement, were pleased to announce that ABC7 will return to Cablevision households while we work to complete our negotiations,” she said in a statement.
A stalemate in the dispute had led ABCs parent company, the Walt [...]

Time Warner Cable Inc., the biggest pay-television provider in New York City, is pitching phone companies including AT&T and Verizon Wireless on a service that uses its underground cables to carry mobile calls and Web downloads — easing the congestion spurred by data-hungry users of smartphones like the iPhone.
The service, known in the industry as wireless backhaul, has become Time Warner Cables fastest-growing business after revenue tripled last year, said Craig Collins, senior vice president of business services. Across the cable industry, sales from wireless carriers [...]

The Federal Communications Commission will include a proposal to revamp the Universal Service Fund as part of a national broadband plan due to Congress on March 17. Although the proposal itself has been expected for months, Fridays announcement offered the first solid details.
The FCC said it envisions transforming the Universal Service program over the next decade to pay for high-speed Internet access instead of the traditional voice services that it currently finances. The proposal would create a Connect America fund inside the Universal Service program to subsidize broadband, and a Mobility Fund to expand the reach of so-called 3G, or [...]

The feature unveiled Thursday expands upon speech-recognition technology that YouTube began using to make captions available on a limited number of videos late last year.
YouTubes audience will be able to request captions at the press of a button. Video producers will also be able to download the automated captions and improve upon them.
For now, YouTubes captioning tool will only work on videos with English audio, although there are plans to include more languages. The English audio, however, can be translated into 50 different languages.
YouTube, owned by Google, is the Webs most popular video site. [...]