Chinese Hackers Behind “Obama Refuses To Be President” Malware

January 19, 2009

Malware that attempts to lure victims with the message that “Barack Obama has refused to be a President” seems to have come from China, according to security experts.

“The attack appears have originated from China, as all (the) domains (of infected Web sites) have been bought to a Chinese company with a long record of malware attacks,” said the security firm PandaLabs.

At least 40 sites host the malware

At least 40 sites host the malware

The malware has shown up on at least 40 sites. When visitors try to read the article, a dialog box asks them to download a file with infected software. The software turns a computer into a zombie that can be controlled by cyber criminals and used to launch future attacks.

Obama has been the focus of previous malware attacks. He will be shown in as the nation’s 44th president on Tuesday.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

New FCC Chairman Will Have Ambitious Marching Orders On Broadband

January 13, 2009

Julius Genachowski, expected to be the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will have ambitious marching orders on broadband.

Julius Genachowski is expected to be the next FCC chairman

Julius Genachowski is expected to be the next FCC chairman

Reports surface yesterday (including on TechPulse 360) that Genachowski, a Harvard classmate of President-elect Barack Obama, would replace current Chairman Kevin Martin. An official announcement hasn’t yet come.

But should he assume the role, building out America’s broadband network will be one key task facing the new FCC chief. Obama has made improving the nation’s lagging broadband network a central campaign promise.

While any broadband plan from the administration is expected to include tax breaks for telecommunications companies, here is a statement from Obama’s Web site that offers insight into how he plans to undertake the initiative:

“Barack Obama believes that America should lead the world in broadband penetration and Internet access. As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband Internet access. Obama and (VP Joesph) Biden believe we can get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.”

Genachowski, 46, served as chief counsel for former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and as an executive at Interenet company IAC/InterActive. He is currently as a venture capitalist at Rock Creek Ventures.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Obama Classmate Genachowski Expected To Head FCC, Report Says

January 12, 2009

Julius Genachowski, a Havard law school classmate of President-elect Barack Obama, is expected to be the next head of the Federal Communications Commission, according to a published report.

Julius Genachowski served under former FCC Chair Reed Hundt

Julius Genachowski served under former FCC Chair Reed Hundt

CedMagazine.com reported the pick online, citing sources close to the administration. Genachowski had previously been identified as a leading candidate to replace current Chairman Kevin Martin.

He presently serves as a venture capitalist Rock Creek Ventures and was chief counsel to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. He also spent eight years as an executive at Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Genachowski led the development of Obama’s technology and innovation agenda.

Obama has said he wants to promote universal broadband for all Americans and is a proponent of net neutrality, under which content is required to flow unhindered across the networks operated by telecommunications and cable companies.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Under Obama, U.S. Could Pass Germany As Largest Solar Market

November 12, 2008

With the green-energy initiatives envisioned by President-elect Barack Obama, demand for solar energy in the U.S. could pass that of Germany within a few years, according to Gartner.

Demand for solar energy depends a great deal on government subsidies and policies because it costs more than energy from fossil fuels, such as coal.

Obamas plan includes $150 billion in research spending

Obama's plan includes $150 billion in research spending

The 30 percent investment tax credit for solar projects passed by Congress last month as part of the financial bailout package is a key step in developing America’s vast potential for solar.

Additional catalysts in Obama’s New Energy for America plan include:

*A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that requires 10 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. to come from renewable sources by 2012;
*A $150 billion investment in the research and deployment of clean-energy technology over 10 years;
*Five year tax credits to encourage renewable energy production;
*A cap-and-trade system to encourage business to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Congress is likely to pass the RPS in 2009 giving a strong boost to solar demand, said James Hines, a research director. Other provisions might have to wait for the economy to recover, he said.

Nevertheless, “the U.S. could overtake Germany as the largest photovoltaic market within a few years,” Hines said.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

New Urgency Needed To Tackle Global Warming, Al Gore Urges

November 7, 2008
$400 billion smart electric grid needed, Gore says

$400 billion smart electric grid needed, Gore says

America and the world are not moving rapidly enough to combat the potentially catastrophic impact of global warming, former Vice President Al Gore warned Friday.

“I feel as though I’ve failed,” he told the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Gore’s widely acclaimed film “An Inconvenient Truth” raised awareness of the climate menace and its threat to disrupt life on earth and raise sea levels.

But “there is not yet anything close to a sense of urgency,” he said.

This may change in January with the swearing in of President elect Barack Obama, and Gore urged Obama to create a 10-year nationwide goal of adopting renewable energy, much as President John Kennedy inspired the nation with the goal of going to the moon.

But the challenge is daunting, Gore said. In five years, the North Pole ice cap could melt entirely during the summer months, hastening the earth’s absorption of warming solar rays.

“This is an apocalyptic signal from the planet itself,” he said. “We are now poised to completely disrupt (the climate) and in the process disrupt the basis for human civilization.”

Gore said the nation needs to build infrastructure to transport energy from the deserts in the southwest, where large solar farms will most likely be located.

It also needs a “smart gird” for the more efficient distribution of electricity, which could cost $400 billion over 10 years, but which will pay for itself in 3.5 years.

“We are at or near the peak of global oil production” just as demand in India and China grows, he said.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Obama’s Election Historic For Another Reason; Internet Inspired Social Activism Soared, Al Gore Says

November 7, 2008
Internet social activism taking off, Al Gore says

Internet social activism taking off, Al Gore says

This Tuesday’s presidential election was historic for the powerful role the Internet and Web 2.0 played in inspiring Barack Obama supporters, former Vice President Al Gore said Friday.

Democrat Obama, of course, became the first black man elected president of the United States, breaking long-held racial barriers to the nation’s highest office.

But it is unlikely he would have defeated Republican John McCain without the collaborative nature of social networking and Web 2.0 sites – a groundbreaking revelation in its own right.

“The social activism made possible by these new tools is just beginning to take off,” Gore told the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. “The Internet comes in and democratizes information again, and it’s so thrilling.”

Perhaps the Internet’s greatest accomplishment was to counter the “deadening influence of television,” where the distribution of information is left to a handful of large networks, he said. Web 2.0, in contrast, lets people interact on social networks and to create their own content or video, which they post on sites such as YouTube.

“Not that many years off television sinks into the digital and becomes part of it,” Gore predicted.

Web 2.0 needs to spread

Web 2.0 needs to spread

It is time for the political power of Web 2.0 to be unleashed for causes other than campaigns, he added, singling out the fight against global warming.

“We need to move past that as fast as possible to a time when all those features are taken for granted,” he said, and use to “raise the consciousness of the planet.”

And we could rename it “World 2.0,” he suggested.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Al Gore’s Advice To President Elect Barack Obama: Create A JFK Moon-Walk Goal For Renewable Energy

November 7, 2008
Young people need to be inspired, Al Gore says

Young people need to be inspired, Al Gore says

President Barack Obama should set a 10-year national goal of weaning the U.S. off fossil fuels and onto renewable sources of electricity, former Presidential candidate Al Gore said Friday.

“We can do that,” Gore said during an appearance at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

When President John Kennedy decided an American should walk on the moon in a decade, many thought such a rapid timeframe would be impossible to keep. But it inspired people and the flight was made.

Young people and other who were inspired by the Obama campaign want a purpose, Gore said. Battling global warming would be a noble one.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Social Networks And Web 2.0 Will Make Barack Obama The First ‘Network’ President; New Era Of Politics On The Way

November 7, 2008
The Internet will change government next, Joe Trippi says

The Internet will change government next, Joe Trippi says

Consider this: visitors to YouTube watched 14.5 million hours of video President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign put on the site during his race for the White House.

Buying that amount of airtime would have cost $47 million, said Joe Trippi, a political consultant who worked on the Howard Dean campaign.

Consider this as well: imagine if President Obama were to put up a Web site, ‘MyWhiteHouse.com,’ and harness the energy of 10 to 20 million supporters to help pass his agenda.

Congressional opponents ought to watch out, regardless of how much money they raised from lobbyists and industry, Trippi said Friday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

A new era of politics is on the way.

“I think we’re about to see the first ‘network’ president” and the potential for new powers to come to the White House, Trippi said. The Internet “is going to change a lot more than presidential campaigns. It’s going to change government.”

Social networking and Web 2.0 stand to remake politics in the same way they turned the Internet into a vibrant interactive environment for reshaping work and play.

Without the Internet, Obama would not be president, said Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington. When the McCain campaign tried to falsely brand Obama as a terrorist or Muslim, it was bloggers and people on the Internet who kept throwing the truth back in its face.

This was “the greatest success of the ’08 race,” Huffington said.

Obama would not have won without Net, Arrianna Huffington says

Obama would not have won without Net, Arrianna Huffington says

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he is now obsessed with the social networking site Facebook. Not long ago, he said he didn’t know what social networks were, now he is attracting online friends as fast as he can.

“I want someone who’s a fanatic, a fan,” he said at the summit. “It’s an extraordinary tool.”

But it comes with a downside. Politicians have to be always on and realize that in the age of instant YouTube videos there are no ore off-the-record comments. Voters are going to see them with all their foibles.

“We’re in a reality TV series, 24-by-7,” says Newsom.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

John Doerr’s Advice To A New President: Double The Number Of Engineering Graduates And Appoint Bill Joy As Federal CTO

November 5, 2008
Green energy is challenge of our generation

Green energy is challenge of our generation

President elect Barack Obama would do well to appoint Sun Microsystems co-founder and Kleiner Perkins partner Bill Joy as his chief technology officer, fellow partner John Doerr said Wednesday.
The new president also needs to focus on three key technology challenges, according to Doerr: fuel innovation in clean energy, invest in basic technology research and encourage more students to pursue science and engineering careers.

Green energy is the “challenge of our generation,” Doerr said at the Web 2.0 Summit. At the same time, Obama should set the goal of doubling to 60,000 the number of students who graduate each year with engineering degrees, he said.

Obama promised last year to anoint a CTO if elected president.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Obama Or McCain? Voters Who Use The Internet Pay Closer Attention To The Election (And Republicans Are More Likely To Use Search Engines)

October 29, 2008

 

Voters following the election online pay closer attention

Voters following the election online pay closer attention

Republicans, it turns out, are more likely than Democrats to use online search engines to find video content on the presidential candidates.

 

Democrats, in turn, are more likely to use news sites and social networks. 

Both, however, are far more engaged in the contest than voters who don’t view video online, according to a Cisco Systems sponsored study of online habits and voting interest.

Sixty-two percent of people viewing online video report following the election closely while 37 percent of the non-online video users do.

Here are some other findings from the study:

Overall, 62 percent of people surveyed said they regularly use the Internet for information and coverage of the 2008 elections – a source surpassed only by television (82 percent);

Nearly 30 percent of voters said they viewed online video of the election and 75 percent of them said it helped them follow news and events more closely.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

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