One in five Americans has a criminal record, according to some estimates. And while punishment is usually temporary, those records can last forever. With an already stiff job climate, finding employment can be even tougher for those millions with unlawful pasts.

As a former prostitute searches for a job in today’s tough job climate, she is finding that job experience matters less to many employers than her three convictions.

In the world of business and tech, “mobile revolution” and “app economy” are the buzzwords of the moment. The meaning behind the hype: In a smartphone world, money will be made by those creating the programs that make smartphones smart: apps. For those who want to get in on the act, the good news is there are a record number of books, classes and websites to help you every step of the way. But the hype also clouds a very simple truth: It’s a lot easier to get started than it is to finish. Good luck.

Reporter Stan Alcorn caught up with the editor-in-chief of Wired, Chris Anderson, to discuss the DIY movement of tech-savvy tinkerers known as "makers." In his new book, Makers, Anderson argues that "making" is a revolution with the power to revive American manufacturing.

Some pay phones offer free Wi-Fi as part of New York City's experiment to breathe new life into its abandoned public phones. As the city plans to add more wireless-enabled kiosks, companies say advertising may pay for the Wi-Fi — and maybe even for free phone calls.

Florence Detlor is now 101 years old, and considering how much technology she’s seen come and go in her lifetime, we’d forgive her if she chose to opt out of things like email and social networking sites. But Florence, like many people over 65, embraces computer technology. Why is that?

At 101 years, Florence Detlor may be the oldest person on Facebook. She is part of a growing number of seniors whose Internet use has spiked since last fall. Now, for the first time, more than half of adults over 65 are online.

Meet UCLA Professor of Computer Science Deborah Estrin. She has the distinction of being first academic hire for the CornellNYC Tech school bound for Roosevelt Island.

“Open offices” — workplaces where even CEOs sit not behind closed doors but in large, sunlit rooms with their colleagues — aren’t just for start-ups anymore.

The parliamentary election in Greece on Sunday is being closely followed internationally for its implications on the European Union. But in some circles there’s a more personal reason: Americans are on the ballot.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said opportunities for middle-skilled workers are drying up faster in the New York area than elsewhere in the nation.

New York City has the nation’s fastest growing tech sector — and there are now more than 1,000 web-based technology start-ups in the city. But these signs of success are also harbingers of a problem: a snowballing demand for scarce engineers.

Cornell University won a bid to build a $2 billion graduate school in New York City earlier – but it didn’t do it alone. The Ivy League school partnered with an Israeli-based public research university — the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, sometimes called the MIT of Israel — to create the CornellNYC Tech campus and help fulfill the vision of fueling a start-up boom in the city.

Thom Mayne, the architect behind Cooper Union’s perforated metal building at 41 Cooper Square, has been selected to design the first academic building of the coming applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island.

The first ever digital newfronts — the Internet’s answer to TV’s upfronts, where new offerings are shown to advertisers — wrapped up at the Beacon Theater Wednesday night with Jay-Z performing "Empire State of Mind."

The federal agency that enforces employment discrimination laws voted Wednesday to make the first new guidance in more than 20 years on the use of criminal background checks in hiring decisions.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is marking another milestone in the Applied Sciences NYC initiative. He announced Monday that a second proposal for a high-tech campus will go forward in downtown Brooklyn.