The chairman of the House oversight committee wants more information from the Federal Communications Commission about how commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker got her new job lobbying for Comcast, The Wall Street Journal reported late last week. FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker FCC Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) sent a letter on May 18 asking FCC Chairman …

NEW YORK–The New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue turns 100 years old on Monday. As part of the centennial celebration, 500 people spent the night in the library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Friday finding clues as part of a scavenger hunt designed by game developer Jane McGonigal and collectively writing a 600-page book in a single night. And …

If you believe the person standing in the rain in Times Square in New York City wearing a doomsday T-shirt, clutching a Bible, and handing out fliers about the end of the world, then Judgment Day is Saturday. That’s tomorrow. Naturally, you’re wondering: What smartphone apps should I try before the rapture? Alright, I admit that may not be the …

Clearwire has signed a deal with wireless equipment supplier Ericsson to manage its 4G WiMax network in an effort to save on operating costs. Today, the company announced the new seven-year deal, which entails Ericsson managing Clearwire’s day-to-day network operations. As part of the deal, about 700 Clearwire employees will become Ericsson employees in the middle of 2011. Ericsson will …

Sprint Nextel may be considering a hosting deal that could help it and its close partner Clearwire deploy a 4G LTE network to compete with rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Earlier this week, the blog Fierce Wireless reported that Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse said at a JP Morgan conference in Boston that Sprint may consider striking hosting deals that would …

By the end of this year, users of Google Android smartphones should be able to sink their teeth into the next version of Android OS: Ice Cream Sandwich. But what does this upgrade really mean for smartphone users? I was at the Google I/O developer conference this week in San Francisco, where Google announced a brand new OS upgrade for …

One of the FCC commissioners who approved the Comcast/NBC Universal deal is leaving the commission to work for Comcast. Meredith Attwell Baker, one of two Republican commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission, announced today that she is leaving her government post when her term expires in June. Baker was appointed to the FCC by President Obama in July 2009. Baker’s …

Now playing: Watch this: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook 2:54 Editor’s note: This story was published before the event had taken place. We used Cover It Live to report live during the event itself. To see the text of that live blog, replay it in the Cover It Live module below. You can also watch CNET Reviews editor Donald Bell’s first …

Google announced its first Chrome-based notebooks at its Google I/O conference here. CNET/James Martin SAN FRANCISCO–Google announced its first commercial Chromebook laptops Wednesday at its annual Google I/O conference here. Samsung and Acer will each be offering Chromebook laptops starting June 15. The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version. Acer’s …

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, took the stage during the second day of the Google I/O developer conference to talk up new advancements in Google’s Chrome product line. CNET/James Martin SAN FRANCISCO–The second day of Google’s annual Google I/O developer conference was all about Chrome. Leading the charge on the news front was the announcement of the first …