Techno-politics

While the U.S. may not be quite ready to formally decide constitutional issues à la Iceland (Overcoming a Meltdown with Social Media), it is becoming apparent that social media plays an ever increasing role in shaping U.S. policy, governmental agendas, and even the outcomes of elections. This week, in preparation for the Supreme Court review Continue Reading →

Google may be getting Glass’s fashion situation under control by partnering with Warby Parker, but Glass’s potential to be dangerously distracting still seems like a problem. And where there’s a problem, West Virginian legislators know to step in with preemptive regulation. Apparently. Inspired by a CNET review of Glass, Gary G. Howell, a member of Continue Reading →

Technology is changing how we do everything, from connecting with friends to investigating our family history. While most of these changes are for the better, the reality is that many of these new technologies expose us to serious privacy risks, especially as legislation has struggled to keep up. Yet both here in the U.S. and Continue Reading →

The politically delayed confirmation of Chuck Hagel to become the Secretary of Defense could well be a pivot point, and an essential one, for the future of the Department.  It is time for this most important arm of the government to become more aligned with 21st Century realities. Much of the thinking in the United Continue Reading →

Seemingly dozens of startups exist which try to make sense of Twitter sentiment, and Twitter itself has been trying hard to portray its sentiment data as an accurate reflection of public opinion. However, Pew Research Center — among the gold standards of public research polling — says it might be all for naught. Pew compared Continue Reading →

After a petition to the U.S. Federal government to review cellphone unlocking legislation gained more than 114,000 online signatures, the White House was required to officially respond. On Monday it did, citing consumer support for legal cellphone unlocks. The petition, started by Sina Khanifar, was filed in response to a Jan. 26 date that put Continue Reading →

Iceland is a very small country with a big “brand” influence in a state of recovery, discovery and evolution. “Few countries blew up more spectacularly than Iceland in the 2008 financial crisis. The local stock market plunged 90 percent; unemployment rose ninefold; inflation shot to more than 18 percent; the country’s biggest banks all failed. Continue Reading →

Dozens of major U.S. companies have come out in support of marriage equality, including Apple, Facebook, eBay, and Intel. In legal briefings submitted to help overturn California’s ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which made same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the companies argue that “recognizing the rights of same-sex couples to marry is more than a constitutional issue. It Continue Reading →

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 Continue Reading →

While the President gave his State of the Union address on Tuesday, earlier in the day he signed an executive order intended to improve the network security of “critical infrastructure.” As noted by The Hill, the order charges the National Institute of Standards and Technology with the task of creating a framework of best practices Continue Reading →