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Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is floating proposed legislation that would drastically reform the way federal technology is purchased, including by granting agency chief information officers authority over their information technology budgets.
If approved, the draft legislation would be the most significant amendment to the federal technology landscape since the 1996 Clinger Cohen Act, which created agency CIOs, and the 2002 E-Government Act. The proposed legislation calls for the creation of a Commodity IT Acquisition Center tasked with overseeing large, governmentwide IT contracts. Agencies would be required to consult with the center regarding most acquisitions over $500 million and the center would “establish guidelines that, to the maximum extent possible, eliminate inconsistent practices among executive agencies and ensure uniformity and consistency in acquisition processes for commodity IT across the federal government.” Issa’s bill would also create agency-based Assisted Acquisition Centers of Excellence to develop expertise and best practices in particular technology purchasing categories. The agencies would use that expertise to aid other agencies including by sometimes purchasing technology for them, the legislation said. The bill also would put the power of legislation behind numerous initiatives already being pursued by federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel’s office, such as consolidating federal data centers, shifting more of the government’s technology footprint to more nimble cloud computing and cutting and consolidating duplicative federal websites.
Rep Issa Proposes Legislation to Reboot Federal IT
Google-owned Motorola Mobility is infringing a Microsoft patent related to text input, a lower regional court in Munich decided. The verdict will result in a sales ban on some phones and Motorola will also be liable for damages if an expected appeal is unsuccessful, the court said. For Microsoft, the verdict in Munich -- which is related to patent EP1040406, which describes a method for handling communication between a keyboard and an application -- is a victory in a series of infringement cases against Motorola in Germany. The injunction and sales ban haven't gone into effect since Motorola gets a chance to appeal the verdict, a spokeswoman at the court said.
Microsoft scores victory in German patent fight with Motorola
[Commentary] The basic facts are familiar: of a nation of 314 million Americans, 100 million of us lack high-speed access to the Internet. We're behind 15 other countries when it comes to that high-speed access; none of top city hubs for fast, affordable access are in the United States. Speeds are slow, prices are high, and a third of us are being left behind. Most people who make less than $20,000 a year don't have access; everyone who makes more than $75,000 a year does. Almost every part of life today, and every policy area you care about, depends on a reliable, affordable, high-speed connection. For everything from finding a job to accessing online classrooms, those without access are at a distinct disadvantage. And our country as a whole is at a disadvantage, as new developments that require working collaboratively with massive amounts of data will happen elsewhere. Why did this happen, and why do I care? It happened because of policy. We're being squeezed by a deregulated and enormously powerful industry that has no incentive to build a fast, affordable, level digital playing field for Americans.
Making Telecom Central Again: Our Economic Future Depends on High-Speed Internet For All
The results of a national media study revealed that adults who are motivated to seek out rewards rather than avoid threats are more likely to use mobile media platforms to access local and national news compared to adults who are more concerned with avoiding threats than seeking out rewards.
The difference is largest among smart phone users with 27% of reward seekers compared to 12% of threat avoiders who consider the smart phone to be a very important technology for accessing news. The results indicate that the desktop computer is still the dominant platform for accessing online news among all individuals. However, reward seekers are more inclined to include mobile media in the news consumption. Reward seekers are also significantly more likely to comment on, recommend and share online news stories than threat avoiders. Reward seekers tend to be aged 22-45 and are more likely to be male than female. The study was conducted by the Missouri School of Journalism, the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) and HCD Research in March among a national sample of 1,039 between the ages of 18-70 to determine their media use and reactions to various media images. The intent of the study was to obtain a deeper understanding of the psychological motives that drive media preferences and use to help news outlets and advertisers optimize content and delivery platforms for their target audiences.
Among the key findings:
- Receiving up-to-date, detailed information about natural disasters and crime is more important to threat avoiders than reward seekers, while receiving up-to-date information on sports is more important to reward seekers than threat avoiders.
- Online news must be designed and optimized by category in order to appeal to reward seekers versus threat avoiders.
- Reward seekers demonstrate a stronger preference for videos embedded with online news.
- Threat avoiders are more likely than reward seekers to perceive that detailed reporting instead of news briefs is more important for crime, natural disasters and politics.
National Media Study Reveals Need to Optimize Online News Content in Response to Consumers’ Motivational Tendencies
In many parts of the country, logging onto the Internet while at home is as easy as flipping on a light. But the convenience of in-home Internet access isn’t shared by everyone across the country. The Federal Communications Commission recently reported that roughly 19 million Americans don’t have Internet access at home, and 14.5 million of those people live in rural America. Households that lack options for high-speed broadband in their homes have a new option with the growth of 4G LTE networks.
HomeFusion Broadband uses wireless technology to bring high-speed Internet access into homes that may otherwise not have it. Through a home router, the service leverages the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network signal and provides connectivity to every day devices like laptops and gaming consoles, opening a world of possibilities by delivering home Internet speeds competitive with wireline high-speed Internet. As part of the Verizon LTE in Rural America program, companies are working together to accelerate the rollout and adoption of 4G LTE services in rural areas. With this direct, reliable high-speed connection to the online world, Americans in all parts of the country can enjoy the benefits that Internet connectivity offers. Searching for jobs, taking online classes, staying in touch with friends or running a small business from home all demonstrate the power and speed 4G LTE wireless offers. As Verizon Wireless 4G LTE continues to expand (its currently available in more than 371 markets), more Americans, especially those in remote areas, can connect online and experience the same opportunities non-rural America has come to know.
Connecting Rural America
If you search for Barack Obama on Google, you get the kind of search results you expect – links to Obama’s official website, his Wikipedia page, a link to The White House website, and more. If you search for Mitt Romney on Google, you also get the kind of search results you would expect – news about his latest PR gaffes, his official website, and so on. But a funny thing happens, though, if you search for Obama on Facebook. You don’t get search results for the sitting President. Instead, a sponsored search result for Romney shows up. A similar thing happens if you search for Vice President Biden – you get Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan. A search for Bill Clinton – who gave a monumental supporting speech for Obama at the DNC a few weeks ago – returns a sponsored search result Mitt Romney. It appears Romney’s camp is utilizing a new feature in Facebook that allows a Page on Facebook to pay money to show up as a “Sponsored” result in Facebook search if users search for specific terms (such as “Obama”). There’s not many rules to this form of advertising, and many brands take it for face value, hoping their own search terms earn them a place in that “Sponsored” slot when Facebook users search for their business or related topics. But is Romney’s sneaky campaign on Facebook indicating that his team might be a little more social media savvy than Obama’s?
Is Romney More Social Media Savvy Than Obama?
More than a quarter of UK journalists are unable to work without social media despite an increasing number of concerns about productivity, privacy and the future of journalism, according to the 2012 social journalist study results.
Other key findings from the research were:
- 39% of respondents said that social media has improved their productivity.
- The most popular social media among UK journalists is Twitter (80%)
- Those who agree social media enables them to be more engaged with their audience is down from 43% in 2011 to 27%.
- Age is the most important demographic influence on social media use.
- The media sector journalists work in has a more significant impact on their uses and views than other professional factors.
- Using Forrester Research Tecnographics segmentation model as a comparison, the study revealed that journalists' personal, non-work use of social media differs from those of the general population. Journalists are much more active general users and they a play a key role in the world of social media through content creation, networking and other active uses.
UK Journalists 'can't work without social media,' study shows
Unwired Panet, the wireless Internet technology company formerly called Openwave, has filed patent infringement complaints against both Apple and Google in federal court in Nevada. Openwave asserts that Apple infringes 10 of its patents, and that Google infringes 10 different patents. The patents cited in the case cover “smart mobile devices, cloud computing, digital content stores, push notification technologies and location-based services such as mapping and advertising,” the company says.
In the case against Apple, the complaint alleges infringement involving:
- Mobile devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and music players with the iOS operating system including iPhones, iPads and iPods.
- Mobile digital content systems, including the Apple App Store, Apple Apps and iTunes.
- Cloud messaging systems including Apple Push Notification Service and Siri.
- Map and location systems, including Apple Maps, Local Search, iAds, Safari web browser, Find My iPhone, Find My iPad, and Find My Friends.
The complaint against Google alleges infringement by a variety of services, including:
- Search and advertising systems, including Google Search, Google AdWords, Google+Local, Google Places and Google Mobile Ads.
- Mobile digital content systems, including Google Play, Google Apps, Bouncer, C2DM and GCM).
- Cloud messaging systems, including C2DM and GCM.
- Maps and location systems, including Android Location, Google Maps, Google Street View, Google Latitude, Google My Location, Google+, Google+Local and Google Places.
- Short-range radio communications systems, including Google Wallet, Google Offers and Google Mobile Ads.
- Mobile devices, including mobile phones and tablets with the Android operating system, including Motorola Mobility and Nexus mobile phones and tablets.
Unwired Planet Sues Apple, Google With Infringing 10 Patents Each
Sen Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) criticized the White House for suggesting that Google remove a controversial anti-Islam video from the its YouTube video-sharing site in response to violent protests in Egypt, Libya, and other predominantly Muslim countries.
“Google is a private company, and they’re going to take what actions they believe are appropriate where they conduct their business throughout the world,” Sen Ayotte said. “But in our country, we believe in free speech, even if the speech is offensive and that’s part of our First Amendment. And so for here, I don’t think it was appropriate for the White House to call on them to pull the video down.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that Google should be allowed to do what it wants and added that the government should not play a role in dictating such moves. It’s “different whether Google does it privately or whether the government would ban something. And I don’t like the government banning anything,” he said. “But I have no sympathy at all for people producing things that incite other countries not to like us, either.”
[Editor’s note: “We reached out to YouTube to call the video to their attention and ask them to review whether it violates their terms of use,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.]
Sen Ayotte Criticizes White House over Google Video Request White House Asks YouTube To ‘Review’ Anti-Muslim Movie (ABC News)
Six media innovation ventures that make it easier to access and use information on local communities, air quality, elections, demographics and more received a total of $2.22 million as winners of the Knight News Challenge: Data. The data challenge, one of three launched by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation this year, accelerates projects with funding and advice from Knight’s network of media innovators. For the data round, Knight Foundation sought ideas that make the large amounts of information produced each day available, understandable and actionable.
The winners are:
- Safecast: Creating a community of citizen and professional scientists to measure and share data on air quality in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities. The air quality effort is inspired by Safecast’s success in providing radiation data following Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster.
- LocalData: Providing a set of tools that communities can use to collect data on paper or via a smartphone app, then export or visualize the data via an easy-to-use dashboard. The city of Detroit has used the tools, created by Code for America fellows, to track urban blight.
- Open Elections: Creating the first freely available, comprehensive source of U.S. election results, allowing journalists and researchers to analyze trends that account for campaign spending, demographic changes, legislative track records and more. Senior developers from The Washington Post and The New York Times lead the project.
- New Tools for OpenStreetMap: Launching tools that make it easier for communities to contribute to OpenStreetMap, the community-mapping project used by millions via foursquare and Wikimedia and becoming a leading source for open, street-level data. DevelopmentSeed will create the tools.
- Pop Up Archive: Taking multimedia content – including audio, pictures and more – from the shelf to the Web, so that it can be searchable, reusable and shareable. Founded by University of California grad students and SoundCloud Fellows, the project beta tested by helping archive the collection of the independent, Peabody-winning production team the Kitchen Sisters.
- Census.IRE.org: Providing journalists and the public with a simpler way to access Census data, so they can spend less time managing the information and more time analyzing it and finding trends. The project is led by a senior developer from the Chicago Tribune in partnership with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).
Six ventures bring data to the public as winners of Knight News Challenge