Cellphone giants to federal regulators: We can hear you now.

That appeared to be the message from AT&T and Verizon Wireless on Tuesday when the telecom giants announced separately that they would open their networks more widely to popular, and potentially rival, phone services. The twin policy decrees came as the Federal Communications Commission gets ready to take up rules that would prevent carriers from picking and choosing what services can access the Internet. Read More

Ten Technologies That Made News In 2009 And Warrant Watching In 2010

A first-of-its kind inhalable measles vaccine for developing countries, where the disease remains a scourge. A "nanogenerator" that could recharge iPods and other electronic devices with a shake. And for Fido and Fluffy, a long-awaited once-a-month pill for both ticks and fleas.

It's list season, the time to prepare inventories of what stood out in 2009 and what holds promise for the year ahead. Those three advances are among more than 250 research advances publicized in 2009 by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Office of Public Affairs. With 154,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society. The advances were selected from among 34,000 scientific reports published during 2009 in ACS's 34 peer-reviewed journals, and 18,000 technical papers presented at ACS's two National Meetings. If you use any of these discoveries in articles, please credit the journal or the American Chemical Society. Here is a sampler:

From Medical News Today

While operating room fires can occur in a variety of clinical settings, it is the use of lasers and electrosurgical devices that are most likely to cause them. Those are the findings in new research presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in San Diego, CA.  Read More

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced Friday that it had more than $500 million in new and renewed contracts from the federal government.

The Overland Park company also said it has made "multiple" federal contract modifications that are "expected to help fuel double-digit growth in 2010.

Among Sprint's federal government wireless contracts in 2009:

-- Department of the Navy. Up to $20 million for wireless data and voice services with the Navy and Marine Corps.

--National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A $10 million agreement to provide wireless voice and broadband services.

-- Postal Service. Up to $480 million over eight years for wireless and data services.

President Obama signed an executive order on October 5 that sets sustainability goals for federal agencies and focuses on making improvements in their environmental, energy, and economic performance. The Executive Order requires federal agencies to set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2020 within 90 days. It also requires federal agencies to increase their energy efficiency, reduce the petroleum consumption of their fleets, conserve water, reduce waste, support sustainable communities, and leverage their federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies. The new Executive Order makes reducing greenhouse gas emissions a priority for the federal government, which occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates more than 600,000 vehicles, employs more than 1.8 million civilians, and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services.  Read More

SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. and European regulators have cleared the long-discussed Internet search partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., enabling the rivals to form a tag team as they try to mount a more serious challenge to Google Inc.

The government approvals announced Thursday anointed an alliance that Microsoft and Yahoo proposed nearly seven months ago after years of flirtation and often contentious negotiations.  Read More

December 7, 2009
Source: Clean Edge News

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) recently announced that it has contracted with Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. to purchase and operate a major wind generating plant to be built in Southern California to serve the utility's electric customers.

The proposed Manzana Wind Project, with a power capacity of up to 246 megawatts, would be the first wind project owned by PG&E. It follows a proposal by the utility in February, 2009 to develop and own 250 MW of solar photovoltaic power.   Read More

The Manzana project would reportedly be located on about 7,000 acres in the Tehachapi region of Eastern Kern County, a site with favorable wind resources. If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the project could begin producing power by December 2011.

The U.S. communications market will reach $406 billion in 2014 as mobile data revenue climbs to $94 billion, surpassing fixed voice (PSTN + VoIP) during the forecast period, according to the latest report from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network.

Communications Markets in the United States offers a precise profile of the country's converged telecommunications, media, and technology sectors based on proprietary data from our research in the U.S. market. The 29-page report provides detailed competitive analysis of both the fixed and mobile sectors, tracks the market shares of technologies and services, and monitors the introduction and spread of new technologies such as WiMax, IPTV, and VoIP.

The U.S. communications market, including traditional pay-TV, generated $359 billion in service revenue in 2008 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.5 percent from year-end 2009 to year-end 2014, reaching $406 billion in 2014, according to Dan Locke, Senior Analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report.

"Most of the growth will be attributed to mobile data and IP networks," Locke said in a statement. "Mobile data is already larger than fixed broadband and it will surpass fixed voice (PSTN + VoIP) in 2011, climbing from $36 billion in 2008 to $94 billion in 2014."  LINK

Follow this link for the results of Test and Measurement Magazines 2009 salary survey!