June 2010

Google wants to patent technology used to 'snoop' Wi-Fi networks

Google's secret Wi-Fi snooping was powered by new sniffing technology that the company wants to patent, court documents filed June 2 allege.

A just-amended complaint in a class-action lawsuit first submitted two weeks ago claims that a patent Google submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in November 2008 shows that the search giant purposefully created technology to gather, analyze, and use data sent by users over their wireless networks. According to the modified complaint, Google's technology can collect the make and model of wireless routers, the street address of that router and even the "approximate location of the wireless AP [access point] within the user's residence or business." In its patent application , Google noted that multiple antennas could be mounted on vehicles, which would be able to obtain a more accurate estimate of the router's location based on a "stereo" effect.

Genachowski Pushes Mobile Broadband

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski says one way to help change the nation's status as a broadband laggard among industrialized nations is to deploy 4G wireless networks as quickly as possible.

During an on-stage interview June 2 at The Wall Street Journal's D8 tech conference, Chairman Genachowski acknowledged that Americans pay too much for broadband service that is slower than what exists in other advanced nations. Worst of all, a recent survey of 40 industrialized nations ranks the U.S. at the bottom in terms of the speed in which it is moving to improve the situation. "That's the canary in the coal mine," Genachowski told WSJ tech reporter Walt Mossberg. To help fix the problem, Genachowski said the nation had to continue to focus on deploying 4G wireless networks as quickly as possible. The U.S. was one of the first nations to start deploying the successor to today's 3G networks.

Sunstein: E-dockets should be better

Members of the public attempting to find the same proposed regulation docket on various federal websites can't always do so due to lack of a consistent naming conventions and search criteria, according to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein.

"Currently, agencies do not always use consistent naming conventions and search criteria. The resulting inconsistency imposes an unnecessary burden on members of the public when they are attempting to review regulatory content," Sunstein says in a White House memo dated May 28. As a result, the federal government will adopt within the next six months a common data taxonomy and protocols for document types, Sunstein adds. Agencies should immediately attempt to make electronic dockets on Regulations DOTgov consistent with paper-based dockets, uploading supporting material in a machine-readable format, Sunstein orders in the memo.

The State of Online Video

Seven in ten adult Internet users (69%) have used the Internet to watch or download video. That represents 52% of all adults in the United States. Moreover, video creation has now become a notable feature of online life. One in seven adult Internet users (14%) have uploaded a video to the Internet.

Driven by the popularity of online video among 18-29 year-olds, there have been dramatic increases since 2007 in the number of American adults watching:

Comedy or humorous videos, rising in viewership from 31% of adult Internet users in 2007 to 50% of adult Internet users in the current survey
Educational videos, rising in viewership from 22% to 38% of adult Internet users
Movies or TV show videos, rising in viewership from 16% to 32% of adult Internet users
Political videos, rising in viewership from 15% to 30% of adult Internet users

Google's Campaign Toolkit Will Make It Even Easier for Politicians to Annoy You Online

Are you running for political office and not sure how to engage your constituents? Google has just launched a set of campaign tools to help you connect to that special voter in your life.

The toolkit is mostly a compendium of tricks, such as Google Moderator, Apps, News, and AdWords--the most significant of these, it has to be said, is AdWords, given that online advertising is expected to rise by 73% in this year's mid-term elections. Just how much of that spending will Google trouser? It's YouTube, however, where Google has been the most creative. The You Choose 2010 toolkit is split up into two sections: Campaign Tools and Paid Campaign Tools. The former offers up a YouTube Politician Channel, the aforementioned Moderator, and Insight, which shows you how well your videos are doing as well as who's watching them. What Google is not offering, however, is advice on improving the content of political videos.

Making Community Health Information as Useful as Weather Data

The chief technology office of Health and Human Services, Todd Park, is fond of using the National Ocean and Oceanographic Association (NOAA) as a metaphor for the innovation that may be unlocked through releasing public data.

NOAA data underpins Weather.com and nearly every commercial meteorological service in the United States. Park has been working closely with other government officials and the technology community to put community healthcare data into a parallel role as a catalyst for innovation. In other words, HHS is creating a framework for government to act as a platform through the Community Health Data Initiative. "The idea to make our community data as useful to the world as weather data or other types of data is to other parts of American life," said Park yesterday at a media briefing. "The real magic is that HHS put data out there on March 11 and the world responded. Innovators responded -- from Google to Microsoft to startups -- and have built amazing apps that HHS could never have built itself. That's built amazing value for citizens."

Society Confidential: Kwame vs. Newshounds

On May 25, when Judge David Groner brought the hammer down on former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick , his dishonor turned to WDIV-TV reporter Kevin Dietz and mouthed a withering, "Thanks." It was, after all, Dietz who traveled to swanky Southlake, Texas, last year and documented the luxury lifestyle that quashed Kilpatrick's claim that he could only afford $6 a month in restitution to the city of Detroit.

Today there are fewer newshounds being funded to investigate such doings. Investigative reporter Steve Wilson, who tussled with Kilpatrick bodyguards and revealed a 2007 family vacation paid for by the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, is no longer on WXYZ-TV's payroll. Wilson is trying to launch a nonprofit center for investigative journalism. He sees it as the future for i-team work, and he'll take part in the June 3-6 Journalism That Matters "Create or Die" conference at Wayne State, confabbing with folks from J-Lab, the Knight Foundation and other brain trusts on how to make money doing journalism for the web.

Without more funds, URTV will close in September

Unless additional funding is received, public-access channel URTV -- now known as the WNC Media Center -- will cease operation in September of this year, according to a notice sent last week to the city of Asheville and Buncombe County. Both city and county officials claim that URTV is receiving funding as it always has. "This letter is to inform you that with the current level of funding, WNC Community Media Center cannot operate beyond September, 2010," the May 24 memo reads. "The entire access community greatly appreciates your support in the past and looks forward to working with you through the difficult transition period to State franchising."

DC Public Library Cuts Staff as Static Budget Inadequate for Growth

The District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) faces an essentially static budget in fiscal year 2011, so to open seven new libraries and add staff, and to accommodate other increasing costs, the library will have a net loss of about 25 full time employee positions.

Beginning this week, the library laid off 40 people (23.5 FTE), including part-time librarians, education technicians, library aides, security officers, and trainers. The Youth Outreach Program, among others, has been canceled. Another 18.4 FTE vacant positions have been eliminated. Meanwhile, DCPL, which has embarked on an ambitious new building program, plans to open seven new libraries next year, and will add 17 FTE positions. Library hours, which have been reduced twice in the past three years, will remain constant. The book budget, which was cut nearly in half last year, will remain at the diminished level.

Rushford city hall-library plan in line for federal stimulus dollars

The Department of Agriculture designated $250,000 in grant money and $2.2 million in loans last week for a combined city hall-library building in downtown Rushford. The award is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Benton

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