links for 2009-01-30

The U.S. Chamber said foreign companies employ 5 million workers in the U.S. and the business group worries about such trade restrictions mirroring what happened in the 1930s, when the U.S. hiked tariffs during the Great Depression and global trade dipped by 50 percent.

Hewlett-Packard’s new facility in the Rio Rancho City Center is a 218,000-square-foot, three-story office building which will house the company’s New Mexico operations. HP will initially employee 1,350 with the ability to expand within the building. The design of the facility incorporates many attractive features and amenities for employees, and will be an integral part of City Center.

There are the copy-protection issues around CableCard, mandated by content owners who are terrified of piracy. There's Apple’s lack of interest (at least, so far) in creating a CableCard-ready Mac. There are access issues with the new DisplayPort connection.

The only thing better than setting up red light cameras and watching the cash flow in is doing so without collecting the required data to prove that the cameras are useful and accurate. Right? Okay, maybe not so much. This is, however, the situation unfolding in Denver, Colorado, where a local newspaper's detective work has revealed that the contractor hired by the city to manage the cameras has failed to submit contractually-required documentation. What's more, the city wasn't even asking for it.

Telecom gear maker Nortel (NT), which filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks ago, is finally putting an end to one of its big wireless bets. Toronto-based Nortel (NT) is killing off its mobile WiMax business, ending a joint venture with Israel's Alvarion.

WiMax, a super-fast mobile Internet technology, hasn't taken off the way some of its backers had hoped, as many telcos — like AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and T-Mobile (DT) in the U.S. — opt for a competing technology called LTE.