March 2009

Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps

The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government. WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges that staffers did not foresee and technological problems they have yet to solve. Obama, for example, would like to send out mass e-mail updates on presidential initiatives, but the White House does not have the technology in place to do so. The same goes for text messaging, another campaign staple. Beyond the technological upgrades needed to enable text broadcasts, there are security and privacy rules to sort out involving the collection of cellphone numbers, according to Obama aides, who acknowledge being caught off guard by the strictures of government bureaucracy. Wherever this experiment leads, what's certain is that, in the same way Franklin D. Roosevelt harnessed the power of radio and John F. Kennedy leveraged the reach of television to directly communicate with the public, the BlackBerry-carrying Obama wants to use the Internet to redefine the relationship between the presidency and the people.

Analog switchoff goes unnoticed

[Commentary] When, in 1986, cell-phone makers and public safety agencies asked the Federal Communications Commission for a shot at using scores of idle TV channels, politically powerful TV stations quashed the idea. They hurriedly hatched a reason: extra frequencies had to be reserved for "advanced television." America, then reeling from Japan's emergence as a consumer electronics powerhouse, needed to develop its own cool video application and dominate the world. By the time the US made the switch to digital television just last month, "free TV" was already dead. One hundred million households now pay $600 or so per year to avoid it, subscribing to cable or satellite. Well over 90 per cent of TV viewing takes place in households opting out of broadcast delivery. And for a very small additional investment - no more than $3bn - every last rabbit-eared home in America could join them. Yet, the US is subsidizing off-air receivers; $1.5bn has been allotted for digital set-top converters (two $40 vouchers per family), and the Obama "stimulus" pumps in $650m more. This is not merely money down the drain. In extending life-support to DTV signals that hog hugely valuable frequencies, consumers lose hundreds of billions worth of wireless service. The bandwidth available to iPhones, Blackberrys and GPhones and other emerging technologies would double were TV air waves to accommodate mobile apps as requested in 1985.

[Thomas Hazlett is professor of law and economics at George Mason University. He formerly served as chief economist of the Federal Communications Commission.]

Copyright Holders Challenge Sites That Excerpt

Um, yikes. After I consult with counsel, let me tell you that, generally, publishing excerpts of copyrighted works, like this article, have been considered legal, and for years they have been welcomed by major media companies, which were happy to receive links and pass-along traffic from the swarm of Web sites that regurgitate their news and information. But some media executives are growing concerned that the increasingly popular curators of the Web that are taking large pieces of the original work — a practice sometimes called scraping — are shaving away potential readers and profiting from the content. With the Web's advertising engine stalling just as newspapers are under pressure, some publishers are second-guessing their liberal attitude toward free content. Copyright infringement lawsuits directed at bloggers and other online publishers seem to be on the rise. David Ardia, the director of the Citizen Media Law Project, said his colleagues kept track of 16 such suits in 2007. In 2004 and 2005, it monitored three such suits each year. And newspapers sometimes send cease-and-desist orders to sites that they believe have crossed the line.

California moves to hold onto Hollywood

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) is trying to stop film and television production from leaving the state. Billions are at stake, and not just for the upper echelons of the film industry - the actors, directors, producers. In the past few years, as the US has seen millions of jobs move offshore to other countries, California's multi-billion dollar film industry has been socked by major film production moving to states such as New Mexico, Louisiana, and Michigan as well as to Canada and Australia, all of which have offered tax incentives to lure film production. Losses from these moves have been estimated to reach about $10 billion per year. The state's refusal to play the subsidy game changed last week when Gov Schwarzenegger signed a budget bill that included $100 million a year in tax credits for the industry for so-called below-the-line spending, which are payments to crew members other than the main stars and filmmakers.

Mobile phone growth helps poorer states

Two thirds of the world's cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with the highest growth rate in Africa where a quarter of the population now has a mobile, a United Nations agency said on Friday. While just 1 in 50 Africans had a mobile in the year 2000, now 28 percent have a cellular subscription, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The world has more than three times more mobile cellular subscriptions than fixed telephone lines, and in some countries in Asia and Europe people have more than one contract each, pushing the mobile access rate above 100 percent. In its Measuring the Information Society report, the ITU said the Internet is far less accessible in poorer parts of the world, for instance in Africa where just 5 percent of the population now uses the Internet.

iPhones and PCs take fitness to heart

New technology turns the iPhone into a heart monitor and fitness tracking system. SM Heart Link, a so-called "wireless bridge," collects data from sensors -- such as heart rate chest straps and cycling sensors on bikes --and sends it to the iPhone for display and tracking. The iPhone can now double as a heart rate monitor and bike computer, tracking and storing workouts and even sending the data to medical assessment websites. This, of course, is not cheap. The applications are free, but the module costs $155.

Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now a Necessity

A growing number of companies are encouraging workers to work from home. Sure, employers have been doing this for years. But as the recession bites and companies look to save money on real estate costs, what was once a cushy perk is now deemed a business necessity. And that, along with a few choice enticements—voila!, a shiny new BlackBerry —is how companies are selling it to employees, whose emotions range from ecstasy to befuddlement.

Nonprofits brace for 2010 Armageddon

Nonprofits are seeing an alarming drop in funding and increased demand for help this year, setting the stage for a complete shakeup of the sector in 2010. Unlike recessions past, this one could permanently alter the nonprofit landscape, say nonprofit CEOs, forcing possible closures and mergers as the sector restructures to survive. Hardest hit will be the Bay Area, home to one of the highest concentrations of nonprofits in the nation. There are 25,000 nonprofits in the region; 7,000 in San Francisco alone. Among them are 10,000 charitable nonprofits with budgets above $25,000. Their combined budgets account for 14 percent of the Bay Area's gross national product - twice the national average. Many are teetering.

Springfield/Chicago videoconference
Tuesday, March 10
2-4 pm
http://illinoisbroadbanddeployment.pbwiki.com/Broadband-Technology-in-th...

Read more about Illinois Broadband Deployment Council

Kansas Gov Sebelius Accepts Offer as Health Secretary

Apparently, President Barack Obama asked Gov Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas) on Saturday to become his nominee for secretary of health and human services. Gov Sebelius accepted the president's offer and will be introduced by President Obama at the White House on Monday. She became one of then-Sen Obama's most valued allies when she endorsed him early in the presidential nomination battle. She has been discussed for a variety of positions, including vice president and other cabinet jobs. A two-term state insurance commissioner and second-term Democratic governor in a reliably Republican state, Gov Sebelius has a reputation for bipartisanship. Although her main assignment would be running a large and complicated department with 65,000 employees, a $700 billion budget and involvement in everything from food safety to bioterrorism, Ms. Sebelius, if confirmed by the Senate, would presumably also be a key figure in the battle to extend health care coverage to more than 40 million uninsured people.

Benton

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