Earlier this week, NASA launched three smartphone satellites, called “PhoneSats”, into orbit. They rode into space aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia. They were sent into orbit as a part of test to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics of a working, low-cost satellite, and it certainly can. The three PhoneStats, which may end up being the lowest-cost satellites ever flown into space, have been transmitting signals and sending photos down to earth. Several…

Defamation. Freedom of speech. Honesty and transparency versus lies and coverups. These and other gray matters are all in play in a $750,000 lawsuit filed by a Virginia contractor against a former customer who left a scathing review on review sites Yelp and Angie’s List. If it gets settled in court, the ramifications will be felt by both the review industry as well as millions of small businesses around the country. If Christopher Dietz, owner of Dietz Development LLC, wins the lawsuit, many consumers will become fearful of posting reviews that call out businesses. If Jane Perez, the woman who…