Tech Daily Dose

Who's That Gal? Trude Feldman At High-Tech Lunch

Longtime White House reporter Trude Feldman, who is best known in Washington circles for the fact that no one really knew for whom she worked or where her work appeared, turned up at the Computer and Communications Industry Association's annual Washington Caucus at the Willard Hotel on Tuesday -- just in time for lunch (where she pulled up a chair beside Mike McKeehan, Verizon's director of Internet policy).

A recent Fishbowl DC blog post noted the frail but forthright Feldman has frequently been cited in White House transcripts as being associated with "Trans Services" but her last association was with the World Tribune Company. Over the years, the tenacious scribe has interviewed every U.S. president since Lyndon B. Johnson, according to her bio on WorldTribune.com.

Perhaps Feldman now has a penchant for tech policy. She was also spotted at the Consumer Electronics Association's Digital Patriots Dinner last month, which honored Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Tom Davis.

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Boucher Skips High-Tech Talk

Rep. Rick Boucher, one of the Computer and Communications Industry Association's best friends on Capitol Hill, skipped his scheduled keynote at the trade group's annual Washington Caucus on Tuesday. Sources told Tech Daily Dose that the Virginia Democrat confirmed his attendance Monday night but CCIA President Ed Black announced right before his scheduled timeslot that Boucher had called in sick.

The prominent member of the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Subcommittee is the sponsor of a bill introduced last February that would amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by changing some provisions that ban the use of technologies aimed at defeating IP protections. CCIA was one of the proposal's biggest industry backers in the 110th Congress and in prior sessions.

Boucher has been rumored to be a front-runner for the top spot at the IP subcommittee in the 111th Congress, when its current chairman Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., is expected to take the helm at the House Foreign Affairs Committee. CCIA and its high-profile Silicon Valley member companies watch the panel closely and routinely weigh in on its actions.

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U.S. Competitiveness: 'It's The Economy, Stupid'

Thought leaders on the topics of U.S. competitiveness and the science, math, engineering, technology workforce seemed to be pretty firm believers in a "tough love" strategy for preserving America's front-runner status in the global economy on Tuesday. A chorus of speakers at a National Academies symposium said the United States must do better in funding, training and supporting students who pursue those fields.

National Academy of Engineering President Charles Vest said stakeholders must ask themselves: "How can we garner the national will to take the essential step of funding the America Competes Act?" "The time for action is now," he warned, saying America faces numerous challenges and "the enemy I fear most is complacency." "If we ignore the obvious task at hand while others beat us at our own game, our children and grandchildren will pay the price," he said.

Lockheed Martin Chairman Emeritus Norm Augustine said the "cruel outcome" of the widely cited 2006 report on U.S. competitiveness that he and others authored called "Rising Above The Gathering Storm," was that other countries have been faster to implement its recommendations than his own. The paper "motivated others while we did very little." Meanwhile, businesses have found a solution to challenge they face -- moving factories and labs abroad. "That’s not a solution that anyone in American industry likes," Augustine said.

Continue reading "U.S. Competitiveness: 'It's The Economy, Stupid'" »

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Sally Ride: Americans Struggle With Science, Technology

Former astronaut Sally Ride, who in 1983 became the first American woman in outer space, was a panelist at a morning session at the National Academies' U.S. competitiveness convocation on Tuesday. She kicked off the day, alongside Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Georgia Institute of Technology President Wayne Clough, by quoting late astronomer Carl Sagan: "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."

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Crowd Gathers For U.S. Competitiveness Summit

(Photo Credit: Andrew Noyes)

Three years after the National Academies' landmark report on U.S. competitiveness -- titled "Rising Above The Gathering Storm" -- was released, leaders from government, business and the education community convened Tuesday to debate how much progress has been made since in bolstering math and science education and strengthening the nation's research enterprise. Read more in CongressDaily's PM edition.

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Radio Survey Shows New Platforms Are Growing

Just under 40 percent of time consumers spend listening to "radio" is via delivery modes other than terrestrial AM and FM broadcasts, according to a study released Monday at the Radio and Internet Newsletter's annual gathering in Las Vegas. That could be an indicator of the increasing prominence of satellite radio, cable radio, Internet-only webcasts, podcasts, and online simulcasts of AM/FM content.

The study, sponsored by Solutions Media Group, Web radio innovator Ando Media and RAIN, indicated all of online streaming (Internet-only webcasters plus AM/FM streams) accounts for 16 percent of total radio listening (split evenly between the two). Satellite radio and cable each account for 11 percent. Since the study was conducted online and was based on self-reporting, take it with a grain of salt.

RAIN's Kurt Hansen said the results were "certainly a bit more ‘ahead of the curve’" than a typical poll of the general population. Read more about the study and the summit here.

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NAB Show Draws High-Profile Speakers

Actor-screenwriter-director-producer Tim Robbins will deliver the opening keynote at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual convention in Las Vegas next Monday. Robbins will speak about the changing face of entertainment and how new distribution and content creation opportunities impact Hollywood, according to the trade group.

Other notables include Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, executive producers of ABC's "Lost;" DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg; DreamWorks Chairman Roger Enrico; Hewlett-Packard's Todd Bradley; and Jason Kilar, CEO of Web-based video service Hulu. Last year's show drew more than 100,000 attendees and more than 1,600 exhibitors.

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Congressional Hopeful Slams Web Gatekeepers

In Monday's CongressDaily PM edition: Maryland Democrat Donna Edwards [pictured above, left] took a hard line today against communications giants such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications potentially blocking or degrading competing content carried over their broadband networks. "I want to be able to decide for myself whether something [offered online] is useful or appropriate [even] if that means everything under the sun has to come my way for me to sort through it," she told the Freedom to Connect conference. Read the story here. Also pictured: Micah Sifry and Alec Ross.

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Special Report: Women Who Tech

Former Technology Daily assistant editor Theresa Poulson, who is now with nationaljournal.com, took part in a unique conversation about women and the high-tech industry on Monday. Here is her generous dispatch, written exclusively for Tech Daily Dose.
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Online media pioneer Arianna Huffington gave fellow tech-savvy females advice Monday on how to grow their social capital, or, as she put it, on "expanding your own tribe," at the Women Who Tech telesummit -- a series of phone and Web panel discussions aimed at bringing together women using technology in the non-profit and political worlds.

When launching The Huffington Post, she said she reached out to 500 friends, asking them to be the first bloggers at the news and commentary site. The online publishing product grew from there and has expanded to include 1,800 contributors.

Huffington said she was able to build a vast social network organically throughout her life by doing work that she is passionate about. "The heart of it is your original drive to make your life more purposeful: The key is to find joy in your purpose," she said.

She also noted that relationships with networking contacts are personal as well as professional, and that the time shared cooking quiche in the kitchen of MoveOn.org cofounder and fellow panelist Joan Blades works in tandem with their professional relationship.

Panelists took part in some female bonding, commiserating over the barriers women face in the workplace. "In the world of technology, there is this much lower representation of women and that's something that we'll hopefully be able to shift dramatically," said Blades, who is also a cofounder of Momsrising.org, a group that advocates a more "family-friendly America."

Continue reading "Special Report: Women Who Tech" »

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Crawford: Life Is Short, Think Big

Internet visionary and law professor Susan Crawford had a simple message for attendees of an annual assembly of grassroots Internet enthusiasts on Monday: "Life is short. We might as well tackle some big questions while we're here." She told the Freedom to Connect summit in Silver Spring, Md. that "ideals have to be joined to will" because "an ideal by itself doesn't change the world."

That belief is evidenced by Crawford's creation of One Web Day, an Earth Day-inspired occasion observed yearly on Sept. 22 since 2006 with the purpose of globalizing "a constituency who cares about the future of the Internet," she said. During her speech, Crawford called for Web users to become "a countervailing force" that can change the Internet for the better.

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FTC Goes Phishin'

The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection will host a half-day roundtable discussion on phishing education on Tuesday. The examination of the practice of sending fraudulent e-mails or setting up fake Web sites to lure recipients into providing personal or financial information comes, appropriately enough, on April Fool's Day.

The event will provide an opportunity for experts from business, government, the tech sector, the advocacy community, academia, and the media to discuss new strategies for increasing awareness of the issue. The forum will begin with a guided discussion on the problem and current efforts to fight phishing attacks and educate consumers.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, introduced a bill recently to curb the practice by making phishing a deceptive practice under the FTC Act. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Get more information about the event here.

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Verizon Exec Stands Firm On Copyright Filtering

Verizon Chief Technology Officer Richard Lynch told the Tech Policy Summit on Thursday that his firm's philosophy on handling copyright issues reflects his belief that "we are not the enforcers of the Internet." "Our job is to deliver the bit streams that our customers either ask for or send," he said. His comments came as Comcast and BitTorrent ended a feud over whether the cable giant blocked customers from sharing content.

Despite reported attempts at filtering for pirated content by other broadband providers, Lynch said he was unsure whether Verizon could technically accomplish that even if he wanted to. He noted that his firm is collaborating with child safety advocates to blacklist Web sites that provide illegal child pornography. "That, we wholeheartedly believe, we can help out with," he said.

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TPS: Patent Chief Sees 50% Chance For Patent Bill

(Photo Credit: Andrew Feinberg/CapitolValley.net)

Legislation that would drastically alter the U.S. patent system has at least a 50 percent chance of passing in this Congress, Patent and Trademark Office Director Jon Dudas predicted Wednesday at the Tech Policy Summit. He told CongressDaily he is “much more optimistic because a very real conversation has begun.” The Commerce Department spoke out against some elements of the bill in a February letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, but “it is [the] will of the Bush administration to get this through,” he said. Read the full story in Thursday's CongressDaily PM edition.

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TPS: Getting To Know Loopt

On Wednesday evening over a glass of wine on the patio of Chateau Marmont, I got to know Loopt, a Silicon Valley startup whose social mapping tool allows friends to find one another using their GPS-equipped cellphones.

Loopt, which was founded by a Stanford University computer science major, is currently available on Boost Mobile and Sprint Nextel. Brian Knapp, the firm's vice president, said the application provides a novel answer to two popular questions: (1) "Where are you?" (2) "What are you doing?" The product, as described in its tagline, wants to be "your social compass."

Rachelle Chong, a former FCC commissioner who is now on the California Public Utilities Commission is part of the Loopt community. Chong, a self-described technology junkie, seemed intrigued by the tracking tool. Knapp, who is also the firm's chief privacy officer, prefers to call the offering "location sharing."

I’m a Sprint customer and Knapp sent me an invitation to try out the service as well. I'm not sure yet whether I'll opt-in. My location patterns would look something like this: "Office -> Capitol Hill -> Office -> Capitol Hill -> Office -> Capitol Hill -> Office." Not very interesting.

I would love to get members of Congress in on the game. That would be a lot easier than stalking them in hallways and in between hearings.

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TPS: European Commish Weighs Convergence

Viviane Reding said "digital conversion is here, it is real and it is a powerful driver of change." For the tech user, that means the availability of more services through devices that can be universal without "making all things alike." For regulators, the change "is about removing technological barriers, opening up technological platforms, and creating a larger space for innovation." "Convergence is to ICT (information and communication technologies) what globalization is to trade," she said. Policymakers need to be open and flexible while continuing to ensure that laws impacting converging sectors "compliment each other worldwide and provide legal certainty," Reding said.

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TPS: My 'Fireside Chat' With Rep. Berman

(Photo Credit: Andrew Feinberg/CapitolValley.net)

I had the pleasure of capping off the first day of the Tech Policy Summit in Los Angeles on Wednesday by conducting a "fireside chat" with Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Judiciary's Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. While the conversation lacked an actual hearth and blaze, I think we generated plenty of heat with the topics covered.

Berman answered questions about patent reform; so-called "orphan works" copyright legislation; efforts to enhance U.S. intellectual property enforcement; a legislative proposal to eliminate an exemption granted to AM and FM radio stations, which allows them to broadcast music without paying royalties; and a range of other issues that have kept him busy in the 110th Congress.

Since I was conducting the Q&A, I wasn't able to take notes on Berman's remarks. But, Andrew Feinberg at CapitolValley.net did a great job live-blogging the event. Here's his post.

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TPS: A *Very* Full Afternoon

Tech Policy Summit attendees had a full afternoon -- and plenty of opportunities to discuss hot-button topics in technology policy. Try as I might, I couldn't make it to everything I wanted to (because I still haven't found a way to clone myself and I'm operating on three hours of sleep).

Thank goodness there was plenty of caffeine and sugar sitting around to prolong the buzzzzzz.

Here's a quick rundown (*according to the most recent agenda):

Continue reading "TPS: A *Very* Full Afternoon" »

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TPS: HP Official Pitches 'Innovation Stimulus Plan'

(Photo Credit: Andrew Feinberg/CapitolValley.net)

Hewlett-Packard Labs Director Prith Banerjee (pictured above, far right) speaking at the Tech Policy Summit on Wednesday called on the federal government to advance an "innovation stimulus package" to help the nation stay competitive in the global marketplace. Read the full story in CongressDaily's PM edition.

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TPS: Patent Chief Touts Fast-Track Program

Patent and Trademark Office Director Jon Dudas made a hard sell on Wednesday for his agency's accelerated examination program during a keynote at the Tech Policy Summit in Los Angeles. While the United States moves patent applications quicker than most other nations, the PTO still has a massive backlog and the recently launched initiative can help, he said.

Dudas said the program promises a 12-month final decision on patentability if applicants abide by a number of guidelines. To qualify, they must file electronically; conduct a search of "prior art" and submit all prior art that is close to their invention; include only 20 claims; and agree to an interview with an examiner, among other prerequisites.

"In every case we've been able to do that exam within one year," Dudas said. In one instance, there was approval within 17 days for a technology that would have otherwise taken more than 20 months, he said. The percentage of applications approved through the program is almost double that of the traditional route. That's because applicants have their ducks in a row when the examiner sits down to review the materials, he said.

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TPS: A Slow Start For Qualcomm's Mobile TV Offering

(Photo Credit: Andrew Feinberg/CapitolValley.net)

The rollout of wireless technology leader Qualcomm's new broadcast endeavor known as MediaFLO is "going slower than we would have liked," the company's CEO Paul Jacobs told the Tech Policy Summit in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The mechanism streams TV content to cellular phones and other handheld devices.

Verizon Wireless is the only provider currently selling equipment and signing up subscribers for MediaFLO but AT&T has indicated it will launch the service soon, he said. Jacobs reasoned that Verizon hasn’t yet executed an advertising blitz because "they're waiting for us to build out our network completely." The February 2009 deadline for the digital TV transition will help Qualcomm launch the service nationwide, he said.

MediaFLO, which offers nine channels, is available in 50 markets. Major networks like CBS, FOX and NBC have signed on to provide content as have ESPN, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. "From the content-side, it's been great. This is a new opportunity to reach people more frequently throughout the day," Jacobs said. "It's not just TV, it's TV you can have with you all the time."

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The Week Ahead: Headed To Hollywood

I'm off to Los Angeles on Tuesday for the second annual Tech Policy Summit, which takes place Wednesday and Thursday at the Renaissance Hollywood hotel. I'll be conducting an on-stage Q&A with Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and covering a variety of keynotes and panel discussions.

The relatively small gathering, which was held in Silicon Valley last year, is a great place for learning and networking with industry insiders. The theme for the 2008 summit is "Markets in Transition: Collaborating to Drive Technology Innovation and Adoption," which guarantees plenty of dialogue about U.S. competitiveness and high-tech convergence.

Scheduled speakers include Berman, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, Patent and Trademark Office Director Jon Dudas, BitTorrent President Ashwin Navin, Craigslist.org founder Craig Newmark, Hewlett-Packard Senior Vice President Prith Banerjee and many others.

Look for conference coverage in CongressDaily's PM edition, CongressDaily's TechCentral and on the Tech Daily Dose blog later this week.

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School Summit Explores 21st Century Tech

More than 1,000 educators from school districts across the country convened in Washington, D.C., last week for the Consortium for School Networking's annual conference. Attendees explored the role technology plays in providing U.S. students with the skills necessary for success in the 21st century.

"Every year the conference provides a forum for educators and thought leaders to trade anecdotes, share best practices, and come together in a truly collaborative fashion with one main purpose - to discuss how to strategically use technology to improve K-12 learning," CoSN Board Chair Sheryl Abshire said in a press release.

Conference topics ranged from "21st Century Learning: Embedding New Skills and Assessments" to "Unleashing the Transformational Power of One-to-One Computing in K-12." Other sessions examined trends in education technology like the influence of MySpace.com and advancing teaching and learning through Internet2.

CoSN also honored leaders in education during an awards ceremony. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., was among the winners. She received a nod for "Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in Public Service."

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Clippings: Bear Stearns Media Conference

Murdoch Won't battle Microsoft for Yahoo
San Jose Mercury News

One of Yahoo's potential white knights in its struggle to avoid being taken over by Microsoft just put his charger back in the stable. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch told a Bear Stearns conference in Palm Beach, Fla., today that he's not going to battle the Redmond software giant for Yahoo.

"It would be fun to beat Microsoft," he said. But "we're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft. They've got a lot more money than us." Murdoch's News Corp. has been touted as a possible savior of Yahoo and there were reports of discussions between the two companies. Apparently they went nowhere.

Read the full story

Comcast CFO Says Our High-Definition Service Is 'Great'
Dow Jones Newswires

Comcast Corp. Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis said Monday the company's high-definition offering is a "great service," but acknowledged that rival DirecTV, a satellite provider, has done a "better job" of marketing its HD channels.

Angelakis, speaking during a discussion at the annual Bear Stearns Media Conference in Palm Beach, Fla., said although Comcast is capable of adding more than 150 HD channels to its lineup, "not every HD channel deserves to be in HD, and there are lots of HD channels that aren't watched very much."

Read the full story

Continue reading "Clippings: Bear Stearns Media Conference" »

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Happening Now: SXSW Interactive Fest

Just in case you're a lot closer to Austin, Texas than, say, Capitol Hill, you should know that the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival is taking place as I type. The conference, part of the larger SXSW music extravaganza, is a leading event for emerging technologies and it's one high-tech pow-wow that I've never been able to attend.

Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg keynoted on Sunday; Frank Warren, founder of the PostSecret Project (an online collection of 200,000 personal, decorated anonymous postcards) was slated to speak Monday; and videogame designer Jane McGonigal takes the stage Tuesday. A lengthy list of panel sessions can be found here.

Capitol Valley (and oodles of other bloggers) are in Texas for the event. Read some coverage here and here. The 11th Annual SXSW Web Award Winners have also been announced. Congrats to the winners.

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Pundit: Congress Isn't Web 2.0, More Like Web 0.5

Oooo I nearly forgot to blog about my former editor Danny Glover's harsh remarks at Wednesday's Politics Online conference about congressional reluctance to embrace new technology platforms. His comments came at a session called "Open Source Government: Can Peer Production Create Better Public Policy?"

Glover, who now runs the Media Research Center's Eyeblast.tv (an online video site with a conservative twist), said only a handful of the 535 members of Congress are engaged online, he said. They're "behind the curve" with respect to blogs, podcasts and video, Glover said. "They are still very much in the early adopter phase," he said. "Everyone else is in the Web 2.0 phase. Congress is maybe Web 0.5."

Johanna Shelton, who recently joined Google after a decade on Capitol Hill, had a rosier view. She said lawmakers are becoming more tech-savvy and their Web sites are improving. "Members intuitively understand that they need to use new technologies to get their message out," she said.

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Pajamas Media Founder Unveils Ambitious Agenda

Pajamas Media CEO Roger Simon has some interesting ideas up his sleeve as his four-year-old blog aggregation service tries to capture online audiences in an increasingly crowded market. The mystery author-screenwriter-blogger gave me a sneak preview on Tuesday at the annual Politics Online conference in Washington.

His company's weekly political show, which airs Thursday evenings on XM Satellite Radio's POTUS '08 channel will soon be carried on YouTube thanks to a recently inked partnership deal with the content-sharing site. The video version of the program will feature interviews with players from the leading presidential camps plus an assortment of news and notes from the campaign trail, he said.

"We think the media company of the future is multidimensional," said Simon, who views his firm as the modern-day version of the Associated Press. Pajamas Media now has correspondents in 50 countries "and we don’t care whether they're bloggers or not." Those resources have helped Simon scoop traditional news outlets -- like when Benazir Bhutto was killed and he happened to have a scribe on the ground in Islamabad.

Pajamas Media is "definitely growing in page views on the main site and with our affiliates" and revenue is up as Simon pushes forward with syndication plans. The future, however, is uncertain (which is not uncommon in the turbulent online media space). "We're here for the next few years -- beyond that I don’t know," he told me.

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Politics Online: By The People, For The People

Planning for this year's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet conference, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, was truly community-driven -- perhaps to reflect the growing importance of people-power, both on- and offline.

This is the first Politics Online summit that was peer-produced, with many conference sessions created and voted on by the public, organizers said. It's also the first time that winners of the IPDI's Golden Dot Awards, which recognize excellence in online campaigning, were decided by the public (more than 3,000 ballots were cast).

The conference facility itself is also very people-friendly with a reasonably fast wireless connection, a Yahoo-sponsored smoothie bar and a Google-sponsored lounge offering candy to sugar fiends and granola for the healthier set.

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American Cable Association Revs Its Lobbying Engine

The American Cable Association sent its annual pre-conference swag bag to reporters this week and it's a fun one. In 2007, the trade group embraced a baseball theme but this year, the April 7-9 summit will be racing inspired. Goodies included a seat cushion, key chain, toy race car, soda/beer cozy, and tote bag.

The conference tagline is "Going the Distance to Connect Hometown America" and the program has cutesy phrases like: "Grab the wheel and fast track your policy concerns." While visiting Washington, ACA members will canvass Capitol Hill and "lift the hood" to reveal the secrets of lobbying success, according to the booklet.

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Shameless Plug: Personal Democracy Forum

Here's a shameless plug for the Personal Democracy Forum, a fantastic annual gathering of new media experts. This year, the conference is June 23-24 at Rose Hall, the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Confirmed speakers include Michael Arrington of TechCrunch; Esther Dyson of EDventure; Stanford University's Lawrence Lessig; Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall; Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.com and so many more. Watch the video above to sample the excitement.

Posted by Andrew at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Leibowitz Explores Facebook, Makes Friends

After covering high-tech policy issues for some time now, one thing I have realized is that when FTC Commissioner Jonathan Leibowitz gives a speech, you can always plan getting some useful information -- and a laugh or two.

During a luncheon keynote on Wednesday at the Congressional Internet Caucus' annual "State of the Net" summit, the former Senate staffer and Motion Picture Association of America executive, made some colorful observations about social networking sites.

"I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm new to social networking," he started off. "When I signed up for Facbeook, I wanted to understand the phenomenon better, but I'm having a lot of fun with it."

So far, Leibowitz said he has reconnected with an old high school friend and has received a "cyber heart" from his wife. He also discovered that his father is a member of the online community and when the younger Leibowitz tried to "friend" the elder, it took him two weeks to respond.

"Lots of it is interesting from a sociological perspective," said the Democrat, who has been a commissioner since 2004. "A Republican who never spoke to me in real life friended me on Facebook and has been trying to get me to be a supporter of [House Minority Leader] John Boehner," he chuckled.

Later in his riff, Leibowitz mentioned that he befriended venture capitalist and Barack Obama campaign adviser Julius Genachowski (who was featured on a panel earlier in the day). "That's not a candidate endorsement," he said, explaining that both are sports enthusiasts and Genachowski "tends to school me on the basketball court."

I just "friended" Leibowitz. Let's see how long it takes him to respond.

Update: Six hours after my post, he "friended" me back. Nice work!

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Rep. Boucher Kicks Off Internet Caucus Conference

Congressional Internet Caucus co-founder Rep. Rick Boucher told a small crowd on Tuesday evening that the Web has come a long way since he and former Rep. Rick White started the group 12 years ago as a way to encourage fellow lawmakers and their staffers to embrace what was then a nascent medium.

The Virginia Democrat's remarks kicked off a reception preceding the organization's annual "State Of The Net" conference, which will draw Internet policy enthusiasts of all stripes to the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

"Little did we think that [Internet] issues would evolve to where they are today," Boucher told the invitation-only cocktail party. The ubiquity of the Web is exemplified in the diversity of the summit's panel discussion topics -- from energy efficiency to healthcare, he said.

"Back in 1996 we never dreamed that broadband would take place over wireless technology," Boucher said. Now, with an eye on the FCC's auction of spectrum in the 700-megahertz band and increased attention to vacant broadcast spectrum known as "white space," the possibilities are endless.

To keep pace with the changing landscape, the Internet caucus has expanded in interesting ways, he said. The group recently held its first foreign gathering of global Internet experts in London and plans are afoot to host similar events in the future.

While the evolution of the Web has raised new issues, some subjects have endured, Boucher noted. Questions about how to promote intellectual property rights "when copyrighted items traverse the net" was an issue then and remains a political hot-potato today, he said.

Continue reading "Rep. Boucher Kicks Off Internet Caucus Conference" »

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The Return Of Smell-O-Vision?

The ill-fated 1960s movie gimmick known as "Smell-O-Vision" (releasing odors during the projection of a film so the viewer can "smell" what's happening) might be revived in the wireless world -- or not.

In response to a question at the World Economic Forum panel on new frontiers in handheld innovation, Sony Corporation CEO Howard Stringer (jokingly?) said he was "prepared to think about" incorporating smell to make mobile computing a multi-sensory experience.

Stringer was part of a panel discussion on Friday (that also included FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker). They chatted about how the mobile phone is reshaping the consumer experience.

At the same session, Rep. Edward Markey, head of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, grilled China Mobile Communications Chairman Wang Jianzhou about the detailed information his company can collect from subscribers.

The Massachusetts Democrat said there is a "bone-chilling quality" to a company or country having access to the type of data that Wang said his firm was able to obtain. Markey asked if his corporation could "just start listening in on a device" -- an action prohibited by law in the U.S., unless permitted by a court order.

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Two Quickies From Davos

From the O'Reilly Radar:
During a World Economic Forum panel on "New Models of Leadership," political consultant David Gergen asked Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales if the principles of his popular online user-generated encyclopedia could be applied to the global warming problem. Wales replied that wikis could be helpful to assemble the knowledge of the world about possible solutions.

From TVNewser:
CNBC's "Squawk Box" aired a segment on Friday morning in which Maria Bartiromo interviews rock musician Bono, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Dell CEO Michael Dell. During the chat, the Dell and Microsoft execs announced their partnership with the Red campaign. Bono said $58 million has already been raised. Click here to watch the interview.

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Tech Talk In Davos: Le Meur, Scoble & Dyson

Video blogger Loic Le Meur is keeping tabs on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. In this clip, he talks with tech blogger Robert Scoble, digital media guru Esther Dyson and goes on CNN to discuss the massive international conference.

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Google Founders Speak In Davos

BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where he live-blogged a surprise session on Thursday featuring Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and the Google Foundation's Larry Brilliant. The event was moderated by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Some excerpts:

Larry Page talks about the renewable-power-cheaper-than-coal initiative. Buying a lot of electricity, Google knows that the cheapest came from coal. The cost of electricity as a percentage is going up, he says, and is approaching the cost of the computers themselves. So they want to get it cheaply and get it green.

Startups can work selling green energy at 10 cents per kilowatt hour because there is a demand for renewable energy, he says, but that does not bring real change. “Our primary goal is not to fix the world,” he says, but they do have the power to drive things forward, to get to three cents.

Sergey Brin says they are concentrating on three energy sources: solar-thermal, deep geothermal, and high-altitude wind; if he had to add one, it would be photovoltaic. He says that windmills are on a par with coal but are intermittent and they think it can be even cheaper by using high-altitude wind, through kites, which are cheaper to make that metal windmills.

Friedman asks whether they can succeed in this space without taking more of a political position. Brilliant says very few of the people fighting against the climate change movement are bad people: “the have children, they have grandchildren.” He says that the movement has not done a good enough job to communicate.

Read the full post here.

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A Very Webby World Economic Forum

(Courtesy World Economic Forum via Flickr)

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting kicked off in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday and technology is an integral part of the overarching discussion. See Technology Daily's PM Edition for all the details.

Several popular Web entities are covering the conference this year, including Jeff Jarvis of the BuzzMachine blog; progressive news site The Huffington Post; former Microsoft tech guru Robert Scoble who writes the Scobleizer blog; and TechCrunch.

You can keep tabs on what they're saying at www.davosconversation.org. BBC, CNN and others are also posting to the site.

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O'Connor Kelly Adjusts To GE, Gets Fridge Discount

When Nuala O’Connor Kelly joined General Electric as the conglomerate's privacy chief in October 2005, she knew there might be some perks. One of them, she told an American Bar Association conference on Friday, is getting a good deal on refrigerators -- and presumably other appliances manufactured by the multinational.

Her role, which she said is considerably less stressful than her previous post as the first Homeland Security Department chief privacy officer, has come with a steep learning curve. "We have so many divisions, I'm still trying to figure out what all of them do," O'Connor Kelly joked.

GE, which owns NBC (as well as businesses that manufacture electrical and lighting equipment, medical devices, aircraft jet engines and plastics), has "one of the biggest consumer databases in the world," she said. But don't worry, O'Connor Kelly is there to make sure that all the information GE collects about you stays safe and secure.

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CCTV: Not Just For The 7-Eleven Anymore

The Department of Homeland Security is hosting a two-day workshop on the privacy and civil liberties implications of closed-circuit television surveillance. Panel discussions involve perspectives from the technology, law enforcement, community, international, and legal and policy arenas. In an age of Web wonders, CCTV, which some think of as an old-school, convenient store security tool, gets lost in the shuffle. But as speakers on Monday noted, CCTV has come a long way in the digital age. Read more in Technology Daily's PM edition. The photo above was taken at the deli on-site at the conference. It just seemed appropriate.

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Calling All Tech Demonstrators…

The Congressional Internet Caucus wants your latest, greatest, coolest gadgets to display on Capitol Hill. The group has begun searching for innovators to set up demos at its 11th annual exhibition scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30.

The event kicks off the congressional session each year by showing off new and emerging technologies that illustrate the latest tech policy issues with interactive, hands-on demonstrations.

More than 600 lawmakers, staffers, reporters and government and private sector representatives are expected to attend. The exhibition will immediately follow a day of tech policy discussions at the caucus's annual State of the Net conference.

Last year's participating companies included Google, Kodak, Microsoft, MySpace, NBC-Universal and many more. Think you've got what it takes? Application materials are available here.

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