Jon Van

It's an all too familiar happening--the phone rings, and when you pick it up, nobody's there. Time was when such calls probably were wrong numbers, or teenagers amusing themselves, but...

The dangers of cell phone use while driving is a serious question, but only the iceberg's tip in a mobile information age when drivers have access to an array of...

The look and feel of just about every gadget imaginable could be changed by technology supplied by a pair of Chicago-area companies that are promoting a major switch switch. It's...

Many cell phone users who would like to try a different service don't switch because they hate the idea of getting a new phone number. This anti-consumer aspect of the...

A relatively young Chicago telecommunications firm has agreed to buy the optical fiber assets of Sphera Optical Networks Inc., Edison, N.J., which has filed for bankruptcy. The acquisition by Universal...

Roger Schank is a pioneer in using computers as teaching tools, and his latest venture has reached an interesting conclusion: The best way to cut costs is to reduce automation...

Increased cholera outbreaks in Bangladesh, it turns out, are correlated with the periodic rising water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, the weather pattern called El Nino. After reading a scientific...

It's not exactly a house made of gingerbread, but a company based in Princeton, Ill., has devised its own construction material made from food--a spray of foam insulation manufactured from...

The Federal government's latest attempt to reduce unwanted phone solicitations could have a negative effect, however tiny, on Ameritech's bottom line. The Federal Trade Commission has proposed several telemarketing control...

Doing business on the Internet has become a bonanza for Philip Cable and his firm, American Science & Surplus, based in Skokie. From retail stores and a mail-order operation, Cable...