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Streaming video provider Hulu may be moving to a subscription model. That's according to a report in the Los Angeles Times and a host of online rumors. The plan, which reportedly would be rolled out at about US$10 per month, would cover episodes of television shows older than the last five -- an archive charge, essentially. ...

Up to now, devices designed to measure and enhance signals routed through brain circuitry have been hampered by the complexities of the folded surface of brain tissue. However, scientists have announced the development of a brain implant that conforms so closely to the brain's surface, it "essentially melts into place," according to a study published in Nature Materials...

Legislation dubbed the "Truth in Caller ID Act" passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill aims to prevent misrepresentation of the called-from number on voice calls through any channel. ...

In the midst of a dispute with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over control of the airwaves, a group of broadcast companies announced a joint venture to develop a national mobile content service -- that is, "mobile TV." ...

Now that rumors of Palm putting itself up for sale are being substantiated left and right, speculation turns to suitors. Which companies would most enliven the smartphone market by purchasing the company that nearly single-handedly developed the PDA space lo those many years ago? ...

Comcast's federal circuit court victory over the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week appears to have thrown a wide range of federal-level Internet plans into question. Only three weeks ago, the FCC announced its National Broadband Plan, with ambitious initiatives aimed at making high-speed Internet access available to all Americans, including those living in rural areas or managing on low incomes. However, the FCC may not have a say over much of what happens on the big Internet pipelines built by commercial ventures...

In one of its biggest blunders ever, Google whipped up a storm of customer privacy complaints earlier this year when it launched its social networking service, Buzz. After making a series of changes to the profile set-up procedure during ensuing weeks, Google now is asking all of the earliest Buzz users to revisit their settings and confirm them. ...

Climate change, peak oil, and precarious food systems seem finally to have entered the realm of relatively mainstream discourse. Corporate employees now routinely discuss their gardening plans and dreams of a hobby farm over lunch. Photographs of whole foods guru Michael Pollan grace the covers of popular news magazines. This time around, though, urban and rural homesteaders are learning about backyard chickens and succession planting not from tattered photocopies of Mother Earth News but from organizations whose business is reaching and serving this growing niche...

The United States is the world leader in nanotechnology research, but it may lose that position if it doesn't step up its efforts. That's according to a report issued Thursday by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Better coordination of research efforts and a more concerted effort to get important findings into the commercial marketplace are among the recommendations made by the panel of 21 experts...

There is now proof that a Nobel Prize-winning technology can deliver targeted therapy directly to cancer tumor cells, say a team of California Institute of Technology researchers led by Mark Davis, who published their findings in Nature. Their clinical trial showed that a specialized polymer nanoparticle injected into patients' bloodstreams did indeed carry a genetic off-switch message to cancer cells, rendering their proteins unable to replicate...

If the U.S. comes under cyberattack, how much authority should the president have to shut down the Internet? That's at the core of the debate over different versions of the cybersecurity legislation currently in circulation in Washington ...

Companies of all sizes now routinely field the question, "What are your sustainability practices?" What's more, the people asking that question are increasingly organizing through the use of social networks large and small. Bloggers like Sharon Astyk of Casaubon's Book, for example, have thousands of regular readers and a series of books in print. Colin Beavan of No Impact Man even had a documentary made about him last year...

The Federal Communications Commission is set to deliver a much-anticipated report to the U.S. Congress on Thursday. Among other things, "The National Broadband Plan" proposes to have an additional 100 million households connected to high-speed Internet service within the next 10 years ...

While television remains the most popular consumer device for viewing video content, it's fast falling before the march of alternatives, according to a report released Thursday by Deloitte. ...

This story was originally published on June 30, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series.You're the manager of a Hilton Garden Inn, and it's the height of family vacation season. The lobby is abuzz with kids toting skateboards and moms pushing strollers; your front desk agents are overloaded with check-ins. In the middle of all this, a harried business traveler calls to the front desk for extra towels. Quick, what do you do?...

What a difference a few years make. Back when Al Gore ran for president in 2000, experts and laypeople alike engaged in lively debates about whether climate change was real or imagined. Two elections later -- after a mammoth public education effort by that same Al Gore -- most people believe that the globe is indeed warming up. The problem remains what to do about it...

A week -- even a day -- can make a world of difference in a presidential election. Witness the fact that nearly right up to the minute the still-unfolding Wall Street crisis came to a boil, the issue getting the most play in campaign speeches was oil prices. There was even a fair amount of speculation that one of John McCain's primary motives for placing Sarah Palin second on his ticket was her geographic proximity to the Alaskan oil fields and her support of the effort to allow further exploration of them...

The leading edge of online corporate outreach once was the executive blog. Carefully crafted messages on a range of topics, closely vetted by PR firms, were posted every few weeks, calculated to appear spontaneous and thoughtful. Not surprisingly, many companies learned that customers didn't find those missives authentic, and they moved toward more dialogue-based tools...

A recent advertising campaign has eBay exhorting consumers to "Shop Victoriously," and, it's true, winning an online auction can be fun. My recent score -- vintage hand carders to process wool for spinning, won for a mere US$15 -- was a hoot. I got solid tools for an obscure craft at less than one-third the price they cost new. ...

Heading the company with perhaps the most recognized acronym in the information security field and following in the footsteps of lightning-rod figure Phil Zimmerman must have both its charms and its challenges. PGP President and CEO Phil Dunkelberger, however, ranges far and wide in his reflections on how data -- and keeping it safe -- affects our lives and our thinking...