North Dakota

Lawmakers are moving to ban the use of computer laptops and other personal electronic devices in airline cockpits to prevent another incident like the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released their third annual state energy efficiency scorecard yesterday and the most energy efficient state was, no surprise, California, while Wyoming was ranked dead last.

Four members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation are expressing concern about exclusive deals between the nation's dominant wireless carriers and handset makers. On Monday they asked acting Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps to review the practice.

Currently, several wireless carriers hold exclusive arrangements with handset manufacturers to offer devices through their networks, noted Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

There is a lot of potential energy to be gathered from the high plains of the upper midwest United States. A look at the United States Department of Energy's 50-Meter Wind Resource Map shows much of the Dakotas and Nebraska to have desirable wind power resource potential.

AT&T Inc. said Friday it will buy the assets of Verizon Wireless in 79 mainly rural areas for $2.35 billion, a deal that will affect more than 1 million subscribers.

Verizon Wireless was forced to sell the service areas, which are spread over 18 states, to satisfy regulatory conditions of its purchase of Alltel Corp. The areas are mainly Alltel territories that overlap with Verizon's own coverage, but also some Verizon territories and areas covered by Rural Cellular, another carrier Verizon bought last year.

Given recent events, it's not hard to imagine that a significant number of Google employees got lost as children and are still traumatized. How else to explain the wave of location-based features flowing out of the software labs in Mountain View, Calif.?

Yellow fliers on vehicles in a parking lot. It's not your typical phishing scam, but cybercriminals are getting more creative in a down economy.

The fliers sit atop windshields and claim the vehicle is in violation of parking regulations. The fake pamphlet points the vehicle's owner to a Web site to get more information and pictures about the offense.

A lawmaker is bringing the issue of net neutrality back into the spotlight. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) plans to introduce a bill in January that would stop Internet service providers from blocking and managing certain Internet content.

The Justice Department on Thursday effectively gave Verizon Wireless the go-ahead to buy Alltel Corp. in a $28 billion deal that would create the nation's largest wireless carrier.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC, already has agreed to the government's condition that it sell assets in 22 states.

"We're pleased that the Department of Justice has granted approval," said Robin Nicol, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman. "It's another step in the right direction."