Obama Stresses Need for Computer Education in Google Plus Hangout
Shelly Palmer
In President Obama’s inaugural Fireside Hangout on Google+, he faced the public and answered a bevy of questions along a wide range of topics, including immigration, gun violence, and even technology. One of the five Americans selected to speak with the President happened to be Limor Fried, an entrepreneur and CEO of Adafruit, an electronics manufacturing and education company in New York City. What was interesting was the topic of her questions, specifically relating to entrepreneurship, patent reform, and computer programming in schools. Fried’s first question to President Obama centered around patents. As high-tech startups are an important “engine” of the American economy, she’s concerned that when companies become successful, the so-called software patent trolls will appear — that is, firms that collect patents for the sole purpose of litigation against companies that can’t afford patent defense because it’s too expensive.
