White House, The

President Barack Obama will sign into law the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, and in doing so, will achieve a rare trifecta: a win for American consumers, a win for wireless competition, and an example of democracy at its best -- bipartisan congressional action in direct response to a call to action from the American people.

As long as their phone is compatible and they have complied with their contracts, consumers will now be able to enjoy the freedom of taking their mobile service -- and a phone they already own -- to the carrier that best fits their needs.

[Zients is Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy]

The White House Rural Council announced a $10 billion dollar investment fund to promote rural economic development.

This fund will continue to grow the rural economy by increasing access to capital for rural infrastructure projects and speeding up the process of rural infrastructure improvements. The fund is immediately open for business and more investors can now add to the initial $10 billion in available capital.

The Department of Labor projects that there will be 1.4 million new information technology jobs by 2020, and there simply may not be enough adequate training programs to prepare Americans for these jobs.

Traditional workforce training programs are stepping up -- expanding their IT programs and working with industry to develop curricula that better prepare Americans for today’s jobs.

The Obama Administration is particularly committed to supporting a new accelerated model of intensive training, often called “coding bootcamps,” which has emerged in several cities around the country. Coding bootcamps teach participants with minimal to no IT backgrounds how to write computer code on an accelerated time frame (usually between 9 and 12 weeks) and regularly result in high paying jobs (frequently around $70,000).

[Overmann is Senior Advisor to the United States Chief Technology Officer, Aidinoff is Assistant Director for Policy in the Office of the Vice President]

To help job seekers, employers, and local policy makers better navigate labor market information, Vice President Joe Biden and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are issuing a call-to-action to improve the tools and services for Americans to more seamlessly access and navigate the job market.

So, on June 25, 2014, more than 65 public and private sector innovators came together at the White House for the 21st Century Jobs Data Jam, a day-long workshop convened by the Office of the Vice President, OSTP, and the Departments of Labor and Commerce.

During the morning session, Vice President Joe Biden joined the technology leaders, design and user experience experts, and leading policymakers to challenge them to think about these problem at person-by-person level: how do we help real people find real jobs.

[Overmann is Senior Advisor to the United States Chief Technology Officer, Aidinoff is Assistant Director for Policy in the Office of the Vice President]

Cybersecurity touches so much of our lives now that we need a rich and continuing dialogue that includes the broadest possible set of stakeholders. In an overall strategic context, I think that we need to continue to work on how we can flip the economics of cyberspace; specifically, how we can change our overall approach to cybersecurity to more directly address economic and human behavioral factors.

For example, we need to figure out how to use economic incentives to create a market for systems that are secure by default and that increase cost of conducting malicious activities in cyberspace. In the end, what makes cybersecurity hard is the non-technical aspects of it. As a result, cybersecurity requires a holistic approach that takes into account human behaviors and economics, as well as the technical factors.

[Daniel is the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator]

Building on the Administration's efforts responding to the driving demand for gigabit broadband networks, in 2012 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation supported the launch of the US Ignite initiative, a private/public partnership that is fostering transformation of the public sector by accelerating the development and deployment of next-generation applications.

An independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization, US Ignite is working closely with its partners to create an ecosystem of 60 applications and 200 test beds for next-generation applications that will have a profound impact on how Americans work, live, learn, and play. These applications capitalize on the potential for gigabit broadband networks to improve education and workforce development, advanced manufacturing, health, transportation, public safety, and clean energy.

As the Chief Geek at Fitnet, which was recently named Apple's best new mobile app for health and fitness, Bob Summers has developed and marketed consumer Internet applications since 1994. Summers developed iSpQ VideoChat, a desktop video conferencing software, to reach over 3.0 million users from 196 countries and territories, and continues to be passionate about creating compelling online video experiences.

The app combines unique fitness content, computer vision based biometric feedback, and social sharing. A global network of fitness trainers provide weekly video workouts (ex: yoga, Pilates, karate, kickboxing) delivered instantly to mobile and gigabit connected devices. Computer vision technology accurately tracks human motion relative to the trainer to provide real time feedback. Data from the algorithm is stored for goal progression, workout recommendations, analysis, and sharing.

[Maynard is Assistant Director for Telecommunications Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy]

With more than 14 million users and 21 million signatures, We the People, the White House's online petition platform, has proved more popular than we ever thought possible.

In the nearly three years since launch, we've heard from you on a huge range of topics, and issued more than 225 responses. But we're not stopping there. We've been working to make it easier to sign a petition and we're now proud to announce the next iteration of We the People.

Since launch, we've heard from users who wanted a simpler, more streamlined way to sign petitions without creating an account and logging in every time. This latest update makes that a reality.

[Mechaber is Deputy Director of Email and Petitions, White House Office of Digital Strategy]

Today the Internet mostly connects people to information. But what kinds of new products and services might be possible if it also connected people and public service agencies to vehicles, medical devices, climate sensors, traffic monitors, water systems, lighting, and more?

The White House hosted an event with SmartAmerica Challenge teams from across the country.

At the event, select teams demonstrated their projects and the value of the Internet of Things. As Assistant to the President for Science and Technology John Holdren noted at the event, the federal government has invested nearly $300 million in research related to the Internet of Things over past five years.

The Internet of Things holds tremendous potential to create jobs and grow new businesses. Next, our colleagues at NIST will host the SmartAmerica Expo at the Washington DC Convention Center.

The Expo will feature keynote remarks by senior government leaders including US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and General Services Administrator Dan Tangherlini, as well as live demonstrations by 24 SmartAmerica technical teams. The projects will showcase ways that the Internet of Things can improve transportation, emergency services, health care, security, energy conservation, and manufacturing.

On June 19, the Obama Administration will continue the conversation on big data as we co-host our fourth big data conference, this time with the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Massive Data Institute.

The conference, “Improving Government Performance in the Era of Big Data; Opportunities and Challenges for Federal Agencies,” will build on prior workshops at MIT, NYU, and Berkeley, and continue to engage both subject matter experts and the public in a national discussion about the future of data innovation and policy.

Drawing from the recent White House working group report, “Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values”, this event will focus on the opportunities and challenges posed by Federal agencies’ use of data, best practices for sharing data within and between agencies and other partners, and measures the government may use to ensure the protection of privacy and civil liberties in a big data environment.

[Wong is US Deputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy]

Here at the White House, we've been busy working to develop a Write API for We the People, our online petitions platform.

The API (which stands for Application Programming Interface) is a set of methods that will eventually allow people to sign White House petitions using new technologies, and on sites other than WhiteHouse.gov.

While We the People already has more than 14 million users, we want to open up the platform -- and make it even easier to petition the White House.