politics

There seems to be a contingent out there that analyzes each of the globe's various political conflicts and attempts to figure out, through plenty of speculation and the occasional Wikipedia look-ups of far-flung sovereignties, which uprising will mark the first true "social media revolution."

A dictator toppled by Twitter or ousted through the efforts of a Facebook group? It's an enticing idea, particularly for those who are in the business of social media and have a personal stake of sorts in tallying each instance of social media's global value making headlines. Twitter punditry this week … Read more

Update at 5:05 p.m. PT: Twitter has confirmed that it has been blocked in Egypt. According to the @TwitterGlobalPR account: "We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8am PT today. It is impacting both Twitter.com & applications." Also: "We believe that the open exchange of info & views benefits societies & helps governments better connect w/ their people."

As fierce anti-government protests in the Egyptian capital of Cairo began to escalate, word broke out this morning that government forces had blocked access to Twitter's Web site. Twitter users throughout … Read more

When Mike Peterson jumped into a colleague's single turboprop Pilatus and flew over the remote Central California valley that he now hopes to turn into a solar plant, he saw sunshine, flat land that would require little grading, and two big transmission lines to tap into. "Wow," he remembers thinking at the time. "God made this to be a solar farm."

But when Kim Williams looks out at that same land from her lowslung ranch house, she sees an area rich with wildlife that is helping support her grass-fed chicken farm, her neighbor's cattle operations, and her peaceful way of life. She supports solar energy on a small scale--the electric fence around her chicken coop is powered by solar--but says when she learned about the solar plant she felt shock and disbelief. Now, she's suing to block it.

The push to create an alternative to carbon-based fuel has hit an unlikely snag: environmentalists. … Read more

A majority of American voters wants the FCC to keep its hands off the Internet.

At least, that was the finding of new survey results released this week by polling firm Rasmussen Reports.

Among the 1,000 "likely U.S. voters" questioned, only 21 percent said they'd be in favor of the Federal Communication Commission regulating the Internet. A majority 54 percent said they're opposed to government control of the Net, while 25 percent were left undecided.

Rasumussen conducted its survey on December 26, just a few days after the FCC unveiled new regulations that would … Read more

Just when you thought it was safe to enter an airplane, along comes some professor to tell you that it may not be quite so.

For it seems that, despite the entrance of body scanners and their piercing gaze on every last element of your junk (reference embedded for those who missed it), these machines might not be foolproof.

According to Fox News, two professors at the University of California, San Francisco--Leon Kaufman and Joseph W. Carlson--have released a learned document that suggests it might be depressingly simple to fool a body scanner.

"It is very likely that a … Read more

Few have neutral views about the actions of Anonymous, the group of hacktivists that has allegedly turned the Web sites of such large brands as PayPal and MasterCard into hobbling dodderers.

Many are fascinated by the idea that a very loose grouping of random individuals across the world can, in such a sprightly manner, disrupt the working of large organizations.

And yet the question arises as to how anonymous these folks really are.

Already, one 16-year-old Dutch hacktivist has already been arrested for his alleged part in money-moving disruptions.

And, speaking of Holland, the University of Twente there has just performed a piece of research … Read more

Twitter yesterday tried to put an end to rumors that it's blocking WikiLeaks-related terms from its list of trending topics--the most popular phrases appearing at a given time throughout the microblogging service.

The reason why terms like #wikileaks and #cablegate fell off Twitter's trending topics list, according to a post on the official company blog, is simply because not enough people are talking about them.

"Sometimes a topic doesn't break into the Trends list because its popularity isn't as widespread as people believe," the blog post explained. "And, sometimes, popular terms don't … Read more

Every leader enjoys moments of revelation.

In the case of Chinese Politburo Standing Committee member Li Changchun, it seems that his came the moment he googled himself and discovered that some people might not appreciate him as he would have wished.

A New York Times report intimates that WikiLeaks cables reveal that Li was rather taken aback that he could put his own name in that helpful Google search box and, within a mere breath-length, up would pop entries that were not uniformly supportive of his politics or being.

The cables reportedly go on to suggest that once Li further … Read more

Republican gains in the next Congress will likely curtail spending on green construction projects, but the sector promises to be a source of job growth for an economy that sorely needs it, advocates said on Tuesday.

"America needs 30 million jobs. Our mission ought to be to make those green jobs," David Foster, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of nine labor unions and four environmental groups, told the Greenbuild Expo in Chicago.

Foster predicted that Republican gains in the November 2 election mean there will be little government investment in green projects next year. But … Read more