U.S

The X-51A Waverider flew today, and it flew fast.

The scramjet engine in the experimental aircraft burned for a little over three minutes at around 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday in a test range over the Pacific Ocean, pushing the X-51A to the hypersonic speed of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. That was the top speed reached by the aircraft in its brief flight, according to Boeing and press reports citing U.S. Air Force officials. (Editors' note: A separate Air Force News Service report had initially cited a higher speed, but was amended to give … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice has begun asking questions about Apple's role in the recent scaling back of special music discounts and promotions at Amazon, according to two high level music industry sources.

The sources said investigators have begun speaking to a number of digital music retailers and top record labels about Apple's response to the "MP3 Daily Deal," an Amazon promotion that involved slashing prices on specific titles and pushing them heavily the day they were released. Amazon sometimes negotiated with the labels to get exclusive access to the music for a day, and … Read more

With Army Gen. Keith Alexander named as its first commander, U.S. Cyber Command has a challenging mission and Alexander a demanding job.

Receiving a promotion to four-star general, Alexander on Friday was officially given the reins of U.S. Cyber Command by Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a ceremony in Fort Meade, Md. That signaled the initial launch of the division, which won't be up to full capability until October 1.

The mission of U.S. Cyber Command, or CyberCom, is to synchronize the Defense Department's various networks and cyberspace operations to better defend them against the … Read more

Robert "Bob" Kerrey, a former U.S. Senator and governor from the state of Nebraska as well as a Vietnam war hero has agreed to steer the Motion Picture Association of America.

A high-level film industry source confirmed a report in the blog, The Wrap. According to The Wrap, which broke the news, all the parties have agreed in principle but have yet to sign a deal.

There's little technology focus in Kerrey's background but his resume is impressive nonetheless. He is a former unsuccessful candidate for U.S. President (1992) and during his Vietnam service … Read more

For the next five days, 100 college engineering students from universities across North America will be making last-minute preparations on their eco cars before the vehicles are judged.

This is the end of the second year of the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, hosted at the General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz. EcoCAR is a three-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and GM that challenges each team to re-engineer a GM-donated vehicle using a range of alternative technologies and integrating them together to make their own unique architecture.

"The students spent two years designing … Read more

Nicolas Chartier, who produced the Academy Award-winning film "The Hurt Locker," doesn't appear to be backing down from criticism he has received for his plan to sue those who illegally downloaded his movie.

In response to an e-mail he received from someone complaining about his litigation plans, Chartier called the person a "moron" and "stupid," and said "I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing, so maybe they can be taught the difference," according to a story in the blog Boing Boing.

So it'… Read more

For years now, film industry executives have giggled at the mention of the music industry's legal campaign against individuals who illegally downloaded music.

The movie folks have long quietly mocked the music industry's attempt to protect their copyrights by suing fans. To them, the strategy--abandoned by the recording sector over a year ago--was a fantastic public relations flub that the film industry largely avoided. Apparently, the producers of the critically acclaimed film "The Hurt Locker" didn't get that memo.

The Hollywood Reporter, a trade publication for the film and TV sectors, reported Wednesday that … Read more

In late April, U.S. Cellular took to its Facebook page to announce the upcoming availability of the HTC Desire and teased a second Android device that would soon be joining its lineup. Now, we've finally learned the identity of that mystery handset: the Samsung R880, aka Samsung Acclaim.

Actually, the Acclaim remains a bit of a mystery as the carrier only posted a few details about the smartphone. We know that it features a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and it will run Android 2.1. Images of the Acclaim were not posted, but … Read more

ALAMEDA, Calif--The U.S. Coast Guard entered one of its newest and most technologically advanced vessels into action during a ceremony here Friday, with the commissioning of the 418-foot National Security Cutter Waesche, a Legend-class vessel replacing antiquated ships from the 1960s.

Equipped with the state-of-the-art command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance (C4ISR) equipment, the abilities of the Waesche are part of an interoperability objective that will give the Coast Guard better collaborative interagency capabilities, improving operational readiness and enabling better fulfillment of new multimission roles more effectively.

See the full gallery of images from inside the Waesche here. … Read more