With an eye to expanding its reach into mobile services, HP has announced it will acquire Aruba Networks, which provides networking equipment, software and services for IT departments and end-users. The $3 billion transaction is expected to close later this year. HP said combining its wired switching portfolio with Aruba's mobility software and WLAN hardware will create a "potent combination"...

Spacewalking astronauts successfully completed a three-day cable job outside the International Space Station on Sunday, routing several-hundred feet of power and data lines for new crew capsules commissioned by NASA. It was the third spacewalk in just over a week for Americans Terry Virts and Butch Wilmore, and the quickest succession of spacewalks since NASA's former shuttle days. The...

With smart gadgets already flooding the market and thousands more expected in coming years, the Internet of Things is emerging amid a regulatory wilderness. The breakneck pace of this technology has far outpaced the legal system's ability to keep up with it, many experts contend. Because of legal loopholes, consumers often lack any right to control how long their data is kept, who it is shared...

Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia will lead a trial of an enhanced method of tracking aircraft over remote oceans to allow planes to be more easily found should they vanish like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australia's transport minister said Sunday. The announcement comes one week ahead of the anniversary of the disappearance of Flight 370, which vanished last year during a flight from Kuala...

The first peek at a major study of how Americans smoke suggests many use combinations of products, and often e-cigarettes are part of the mix. It's a preliminary finding, but it highlights some key questions as health officials assess electronic cigarettes. "Are e-cigarettes a step toward a cigarette smoker getting off of cigarettes? Or are e-cigarettes a crutch so they can get nicotine in...

Apple just sent out invitations for a March 9 event that many predict will see the technology giant debut the Apple Watch, or at least offer some strategic news. With a "Spring Forward" tagline, it's not hard to guess that the Apple Watch is at the center of the event. Apple Watch will let you communicate from your wrist by sending and receiving messages and answering calls to your iPhone. With...

Ana Redmond launched into a technology career for an exciting challenge and a chance to change the world. She was well-equipped to succeed too: An ambitious math and science wiz, she could code faster, with fewer errors, than anyone she knew. In 2011, after 15 years, she left before achieving a management position. Garann Means became a programmer for similar reasons. After 13 years, she...

In the afterglow of the Federal Communications Commission's decision favoring Net Neutrality, supporters are having to face some tough issues that lie ahead. The order prohibits broadband providers from blocking, slowing or selling faster delivery of content flowing through their networks. By approving the regulations, the FCC granted the longstanding wishes of public-interest advocates,...

Forget the Tesla Model S P85D's jaw-dropping zero-to-60 mph time of 3.2 seconds, though that's as fast as a Porsche 911 Turbo. It's the face-distorting zero-to-30-mph blast that truly sets the car apart. The P85D isn't entirely new. It's a faster version of the electric automaker's Model S sedan that first appeared in 2012. In addition to the original electric motor powering the rear wheels,...

It's been dubbed both a "pause" and a "faux pause," and it's ignited debate among climate scientists and their critics. After a period of rapid global warming throughout most of the 20th century, the pace of global temperature rise has slowed greatly over the last 10 to 15 years. This unexpected slowdown has raised questions about the accuracy of climate change forecasts, and sent scientists...

Drink up, coffee lovers: Neurologists say a healthy appetite for coffee may reduce your risk of developing multiple sclerosis. We're not talking a cup or two of joe in the morning. Even a triple espresso might not be enough to register a difference. In a new study, researchers found that Americans who downed at least four cups of coffee per day were one-third less likely to develop multiple...

Facebook users who don't fit any of the 58 gender identity options offered by the social media giant are now being given a rather big 59th option: fill in the blank. "Now, if you do not identify with the pre-populated list of gender identities, you are able to add your own," said a Facebook announcement published online Thursday morning and shared in advance with The Associated Press....

Nickelodeon is creating brand-new content and resurrecting old shows for a mobile subscription service aimed at preschoolers. The $6-a-month service called Noggin will have new games and activities alongside archives of shows no longer on any of Nickelodeon's TV channels. That includes videos of characters Moose and Zee teaching letters, shapes and other pre-kindergarten skills. And on the...

Just 3-1/2 days after Google announced a ban on the public sharing of sexually explicit content on its Blogger Web site, the tech giant has reversed course, saying it will instead step up enforcement of its existing policy prohibiting commercial porn. Earlier this week, Google had announced that as of March 23, users of Blogger.com (which is owned by Google) would no longer be able to share...

The theme for the 2015 Mobile World Congress event, which runs March 2 - 5 in Barcelona, is "The Edge of Innovation." Expected to draw more than 85,000 mobile industry professionals, the annual conference and exhibition is adding several new features and events this year. Among the new additions are an expanded program bringing together startup entrepreneurs and investors, a "Connected Women...

Travel Web sites beware: Google is muscling in on your territory. The technology giant announced an update to its Google Flights service that lets users search for flights by price and date. The new Google service is expected to compete with the likes of Orbitz, Expedia (which recently acquired Travelocity) and Kayak, bringing the Internet behemoth into yet another marketplace. The new Google...

Swift on the heels of a Texas jury ordering Apple to pay $532.9 million to a patent troll, the Swedish multinational tech giant Ericsson is also lodging complaints about patent infringement against the Mac- and iPhone-maker. On Thursday, Ericsson filed two complaints against Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission and seven lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of...

New York financial regulators are considering tougher cybersecurity requirements for banks to mandate more complex computer sign-ins and certifications from the contractors of their cyberdefenses, the state's top regulator said Wednesday. They already are revamping regular examinations of banks and insurance companies by adding targeted assessments of barriers against hackers, Department of...

From the ground in this extreme northern part of Antarctica, spectacularly white and blinding ice seems to extend forever. What can't be seen is the battle raging underfoot to re-shape Earth. Water is eating away at the Antarctic ice, melting it where it hits the oceans. As the ice sheets slowly thaw, water pours into the sea -- 130 billion tons of ice (118 billion metric tons) per year for the...

Britons may have discovered a taste for bread thousands of years earlier than previously thought, thanks to trade with more advanced neighbors on the European continent. That's the conclusion scientists have drawn after discovering that samples from a now-submerged prehistoric camp in southern England contained traces of ancient wheat DNA. The findings, published Thursday in the journal...

There's no way to diagnose a stroke before it happens, but researchers say they've identified a clue to help doctors predict who's at risk -- the amount of sleep they get at night. Older adults who said they slept more than eight hours were 46% more likely to suffer strokes in the next decade than adults who slept for six to eight hours, according to an analysis published Wednesday in the...

The mysterious function of eyelashes has been revealed at last -- thanks to science. After measuring the dimensions of nearly two dozen mammal eyes, performing a series of wind tunnel experiments and engaging in some complex fluid dynamic modeling, researchers determined that most mammal eyelashes are one-third the length of their eyes -- just the right length to minimize the flow of air over the...

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has snapped even clearer views of Ceres, but its surface just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. A strange bright spot on the dwarf planet now appears to have a companion spot shining right next to it. Bright spots are often thought to have icy origins, though a Dawn project member has said that the readings from Ceres don't appear consistent with pure water ice....

Facebook paid $1.3 million to 321 hackers worldwide last year who helped spot security flaws in the social network's software. "Every year we are surprised by what we learn from the security community, and 2014 was no exception," Collin Greene, Facebook's security engineer, wrote in a blog post Wednesday morning. Started in 2011, Facebook's "bug bounty" program awards money to people who...