The International Spy Museum on Friday unveiled a new exhibit showing how a team of cyber spies, terrorists or other criminals, armed with weapons no more sophisticated than common laptops, can turn power lines into battle lines. The Homeland Security Department's top cybersecurity official, Philip Reitinger, and former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell were on hand to help launch the exhibit. Read more about their remarks in CongressDaily's PM Edition and learn more about SPY here.
Santa stopped by Washington on Wednesday to help launch Microsoft's "A Salute to Our Troops" program. St. Nick had a sack full of goodies and was accompanied by the world famous Radio City Rockettes (beats the heck out of elves) who will put on a free show for 8,200 troops and their families Dec. 20. Pictured: Microsoft Vice President Curt Kolcun, Santa and the Rockettes. For more on Microsoft's initiative click here.
Meanwhile, National Journal's Under the Influence blog reports that after 10 years at Microsoft, Ginny Terzano is leaving to join Dewey Square Group, where she will be principle and head up communications. She replaces Kiki McLean who left in June to take a job at Porter Novelli. Read more here.
Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly shows a House Energy and Commerce Committee staffer how to adjust privacy settings for her profile on the popular social networking Web site. Kelly, who is also a Democratic candidate for California attorney general, was in Washington testifying before a joint hearing on Internet privacy held by the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition.
One of the most eagerly anticipated announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show this week was the unveiling of smart phone manufacturer Palm's new operating system. The company is scrambling to compete with Apple's iPhone and the Blackberry. The high-tech firm touted its new handheld device called "Pre" at a swanky, dimly lit lounge tucked away in a corner of the bustling Las Vegas Convention Center. The invitation-only space featured demos of the product, a DJ, a coffee bar, specialty cocktails and light fare.
The Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday hosted a panel that I would have definitely covered had I not been moderating the line up of tech and telecom policy superstars. "Washington Update: The Times They Are A Changin'" featured NetCoalition Executive Director Markham Erickson; Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute; Center for Democracy and Technology President Leslie Harris; Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn; and National Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr (not pictured). If you weren't there, you should have been. Panelists covered lots of ground -- including a discussion about what role President-elect Barack Obama's chief technology officer will play and how tech issues will fare in the 111th Congress.
Movie star Tom Hanks tries out some new high-tech glasses alongside Sony Corporation CEO Howard Stringer at the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday. The effervescent Hanks also poked fun at Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro''s on-stage pacing and somewhat monotone delivery during his State of the Industry speech. "What a wake-up, cup of coffee Gary is!" Hanks laughed.
Less than a year into the Library of Congress' pilot project to place its photographs on the popular image-sharing Web site Flickr, the photos have drawn more than 10 million views, 7,166 comments and more than 67,000 tags, according to a report from the team overseeing the initiative. Last January, the library uploaded a few thousand images (including "Letter for Santa Claus," shown at right) from its vast collections to see how "crowd-sourcing" might enhance the quality of the information the institution could provide about its historic holdings.
"The popularity and impact of the pilot have been remarkable," said Michelle Springer, project manager for digital initiatives in the Office of Strategic Initiatives. The site is averaging 500,000 views a month, she said, adding that Flickr members have marked 79 percent of the photos as "favorites." The report recommends that the library continue to participate in an area within Flickr called The Commons and explore other Web 2.0 communities.
"Increasing the ability to engage and connect with photos increases the sense of ownership and respect that people feel for these photos," the report states. "Lessons learned from this project provide guideposts to the type of experience that people would like to have with our collections." Since the project began, 16 additional institutions from the United States and other countries have begun sharing their photo archives and inviting the public to contribute information, the library said in a blog post.
Some images of Google's new office in Reston, Va. See related blog post here and additional photos after the jump.
Popular social networking destination MySpace teamed up with content swapping site Digg, Rock the Vote and the Impact Film Festival to host a late night party on Sunday at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis. Twin Cities rock band The Alarmists provided an energetic soundtrack for the event, which saluted the Screen Actors Guild. Stuart Townsend (best known to some as Charlize Theron's boyfriend), director of Impact's opening film "Battle In Seattle," was on hand to welcome guests. His docudrama chronicles the events surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in The Emerald City.
Fox News Channel's impressive set-up outside of Xcel Energy Center
(Photo Credit: trevorstone via Flickr)
The controversy over the Bush administration's electronic eavesdropping initiative, which played out on Capitol Hill for many months, is also a theme for some protesters at the Democratic National Convention.
Google "voting booths" offering a new tool that lets voters search for polling places by typing in an address. Functionality is only available for seven states so far but officials say the company is trying to acquire data for the rest.
Follow the link for more pics...
Continue reading Dispatch From Denver: Google Makes Its Mark.
Internet giant Google offers momentary rest and relaxation at the Democratic National Convention this week. (Photo Credit: leh4 via Flickr)
My colleague David Hatch snapped these photos when he arrived in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. The stage is set (literally) for a monumental political event -- with more bells, whistles and cutting edge technology than one can imagine.
(via neatorama)
I wonder what Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, would think of this innovative use of HTML… or Vint Cerf, "father of the Internet." According to Wikipedia: "An [HTML] element usually has a start label (e.g. <-label->) and an end label (e.g. <-/label->)." Hence, these protesters want to <-/war->.
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