• SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Last Update on July 03, 2009 03:54 EDT

IN THE NEWS: FEDS HELPING STATIONS LOST IN DIGITAL SWITCH

NEW YORK (AP) -- The federal government is lending a helping hand to some TV stations that have gotten lost in the digital shuffle. When the nation switched over to digital broadcasts last month, the stations went missing from many households in larger cities. The reason: they were being broadcast through UHF signals -- and now the VHF band is being used for digital broadcast. The UHF signals can be received easily through small, indoor antennas. But many antennas sold as "digital" actually receive only UHF signals. In some cases, the FCC has sent engineers to look into the problem and the agency has also given permission to some stations to increase the strength of their signals. Most of the affected stations are in large cities, like Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Dallas.

IN THE NEWS: FEDERAL JUDGE TOSSES MYSPACE CONVICTIONS

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge has tossed out the convictions of a Missouri woman for her role in a hoax on MySpace that led to a 13-year-old neighbor girl committing suicide. U.S. District Judge George Wu said he was acquitting Lori Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. But he says the ruling is tentative until he issues it in writing. The judge also noted that there was a judge who changed his mind after issuing such a ruling. Drew was convicted in November for her role in the hoax. But the judge says the woman basically was charged with violating the terms of service of the MySpace site. Wu says it would be unconstitutional if anyone who violated a site's TOS would be guilty of a misdemeanor.

ON THE WEB: CHARGES INCREASED AGAINST WOMAN IN CRAIGSLIST CASE

CYBERSPACE (AP) -- Prosecutors on New York's Long Island have added a child endangerment charge against a mother accused of posting a suggestive Craigslist ad to target a 9-year-old girl. Margery Tannenbaum is accused of posting an ad that said in part: "I need a little affection." Authorities say she gave those answering the ad the phone number for her daughter's rival. The bogus ad generated at least 22 harassing calls.

On the 'Net:

Craigslist site: http://www.craigslist.com