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From a review of Susan Landau's Surveillance or Security?: To catch up with the new technologies of malfeasance, FBI director Robert Mueller traveled to Silicon Valley last November to persuade technology companies to build "backdoors" into their products. If Mueller’s wish were granted, the FBI would gain undetected real-time access to suspects’ Skype calls, Facebook chats, and other online communications­and in "clear text," the industry lingo for unencrypted data. Backdoors, in other words, would make the Internet -- and especially its burgeoning social media sector -- "wiretappable." This is one of the cyber threats I talked about last week: insecurities...

A key moment in the dueling Obama-House Republican visit to Silicon Valley Monday was when the wealthy, retired-early Google exec told President Obama to raise his taxes. Yes, you read that right. “I don’t have a job, but that’s because I’ve been lucky enough to live in Silicon Valley for a while and work for a small startup down the street here that did quite well. So I’m unemployed by choice. My question is would you please raise my taxes? “I would like very much to have the country to continue to invest in things like Pell Grants and infrastructure...

President Obama has Twittered, Googled and Facebooked millions of American voters at his town hall meetings in collaboration with those companies, and this week he will visit another Bay Area technology firm to push his jobs message. Obama's stop Monday in Mountain View to star at a town hall at the headquarters of social networking site LinkedIn is the first of two tech-related events planned by the White House. On Wednesday, Obama will participate with Yahoo in what's billed as "the first-ever Hispanic-focused online roundtable" at the White House. The public LinkedIn event comes at the close of Obama's two-day...

Reporting from Washington— Silicon Valley, the politically liberal technology hub, is an unlikely incubator of conservative Christian activism. But a group of its venture capitalists is backing an ambitious project that seeks to affect the 2012 election by registering 5 million new conservative Christians to vote.

President Barack Obama will visit the Bay Area Thursday to meet with high tech business leaders -- a session that will stress jobs, innovation, green tech and education themes, White House sources tell the Chronicle. So far, no information on where the meeting will be held -- or whether any part of it will be public -- but here's what we know from a White House official: the session is "a part of our ongoing dialogue with the business community on how we can work together to win the future, strengthen our economy, support entrepreneurship, and get the American people...

Silicon Valley, once synonymous with productivity-enhancing innovation, is now looking to make money on feel-good government handouts. California officials acknowledged last Thursday that the state faces $20 billion deficits every year from now to 2016. At the same time, California's state Treasurer entered bond markets to sell some $14 billion in "revenue anticipation notes" over the next two weeks. Worst of all, economic sanity lost out in what may have been the most important election on Nov. 2—and, no, I'm not talking about the gubernatorial or senate races. This was the California referendum to repeal Assembly Bill 32, the so-called...

Dreaming of success? Then study failure - because "oops" is the mantra of champions. That was the take-away from FailCon 2010, which brought almost 500 entrepreneurs to San Francisco's Hotel Kabuki to share and compare lessons from the school of hard knocks. "Rather than simply aspire to success, we want to share the actionable steps that can help you avoid failure," said organizer Cass Phillipps, who created the event last year. The daylong show, for which attendees paid from $50 in advance to $330 at the door, combined large panels where noted entrepreneurs discussed their philosophies of failure and smaller...

An interesting paradox in the technology world is that there is both a shortage and a surplus of engineers in the United States. Talk to those working at any Silicon Valley company, and they will tell you how hard it is to find qualified talent. But listen to the heart-wrenching stories of unemployed engineers, and you will realize that there are tens of thousands who can’t get jobs. What gives? The harsh reality is that in the tech world, companies prefer to hire young, inexperienced, engineers.And engineering is an “up or out� profession: you either move up the ladder or...

In another step forward towards the Islamification of America, a Santa Clara Mosque has been given the OK to put up a sign of Islamic dominance, in a 64 Ft minaret. The Muslim Community Association runs the Mosque, and it sure would have been nice if the people of the community, would have taken the time to gather some back round information on them. From the MCA “constitution”… Whereas we, the Muslims of the San Francisco Bay area, recognize Islam as a total way of life and have pledged to endeavor practicing it as such, we do hereby adopt and...

As my mother lay dying, 4th of July fireworks were exploding beyond her hospital window. That seemed appropriate, as hers was a quintessential American life, the likes of which, in our very different world, we are unlikely to ever see again.

"SCHWARZENEGGER FLEXES MUSCLE FOR MOSCOW, WHILE OBAMA IGNORES WARNINGS FROM RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS" International News Analysis Today June 29, 2010 By Toby Westerman SNIPPET: "California governor, and former film superhero, Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to lead a trade mission to Russia and assist "in any way possible" Russia's drive to develop its own high tech "Silicon Valley." U.S. president Barack Obama has also promised his backing in facilitating the flow of U.S. technology to Russia. The eager participation of Schwarzenegger and Obama in exporting U.S. technological capabilities came during Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's three day visit (June 22-24) to the United...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-us-russia-business-summit Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 24, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at the U.S.-Russia Business Summit U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 3:08 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend and partner, President Medvedev, and I want to thank him again for his leadership, especially his vision for an innovative Russia that’s modernizing its economy, including deeper economic ties between our...

Dmitry Medvedev dining in San Francisco tonight Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is on a friendly visit to the Bay Area before flying across the country to meet with President Barack Obama, and he comes in peace. Which must be why he brought along the flagship of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, the nuclear-capable missile cruiser Varyag. Makes total sense. Medvedev will be dining with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State George Schultz Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he'll be visiting technology companies including Twitter, Apple, Google and Cisco Systems, in part to promote an "innovation center" modeled on Silicon...

Fiorina Has Scant Backing From Silicon Valley Ari Levy, Bloomberg News June 19, 2010 Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard Co., faces a wall of opposition from her Silicon Valley peers as she campaigns to win one of California's U.S. Senate seats. Her victory in the Republican primary earlier this month puts Fiorina up against Democrat incumbent Barbara Boxer, a senator since 1993. Boxer has the financial support of local executives, including Cisco Systems Inc.'s John Chambers, Oracle Corp.'s Larry Ellison, Netflix Inc.'s Reed Hastings, and John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Fiorina's inability to win the...

Santa Clara County posted its lowest unemployment rate in a year last month, but at 11 percent it remains stubbornly high and offers little consolation to the region's 100,600 unemployed. The county's May jobless rate was down from a revised 11.4 percent in April, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. The rate, which was 10.9 percent in May 2009, peaked at 12.1 percent in January. One area showing gains was computers and electronics manufacturing, which grew by 300 jobs in May over April in the metro region of Santa Clara and San Benito counties. "It's headed in the right...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-press-secretary-visit-president-medvedev-russian-federation-white-house Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 11, 2010 Statement by the Press Secretary on the Visit of President Medvedev of the Russian Federation to the White House President Obama is pleased to welcome President Dmitriy Medvedev of the Russian Federation to the United States on June 22-24. Over the last eighteen months, the United States and Russia have made significant strides in resetting relations between our two countries in ways that advance our mutual interests. Since first meeting...

Eric Demers can’t remember how many pseudo–Silicon Valleys he has seen around the world while traveling for Advanced Micro Devices. The globe’s second-largest microchip designer and producer (after Intel), AMD was created 40 years ago in the authentic Silicon Valley in California. Demers, the firm’s chief technology officer, has no intention of moving. Across the world, he points out, private and public attempts to create new Silicon Valleys have achieved only “pale copies” of the original. That original has remained the undisputed cradle of high-tech and communications innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed here; more recent giants...

Being a math geek has never been cooler, at least in Silicon Valley. As Bay Area technology companies ramp up hiring out of the recession, they are in hot pursuit of a particular kind of employee: those with experience in statistics and other data-manipulation techniques. Rather than looking for just plain-vanilla computer scientists, who typically don't have as deep a study of math and statistics, companies from Facebook Inc. to online advertising company AdMob Inc. say they need more workers with stronger backgrounds in statistics and a related field called machine learning, which involves writing algorithms that get smarter over...

When it comes to computer technology, thin is always in. It’s indisputable that the thinner, lighter, clearer, the better when dealing with the latest computer gadget. This keyboard is the epitome of the high standards expected of the technological version of the fashion industry. It’s based on image as well, that is, image recognition technology.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Silicon Valley's economy took a big hit during the global meltdown and could have trouble climbing out, according to a report released Wednesday. The 2010 Index of Silicon Valley said the region is entering a "new phase of uncertainty" where job losses, a shrinking foreign talent pool, a drop in investments and state legislative gridlock could put its standing as the center of technology at risk. ... "It's a report with a lot of bad news in it. Most years, Silicon Valley has all this good news. But this year, it's not entirely clear when the...

Silicon Valley is beset by the biggest office property glut since the dot-com bust, leaving the U.S. technology hub with empty high-rises and office parks that make it impossible for landlords to sustain average rents. More than 43 million square feet (4 million square meters) -- the equivalent of 15 Empire State Buildings -- stood vacant at the end of the third quarter, the most in almost five years, according to CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. San Jose, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto have 11 empty office buildings with about 3 million square feet of the best quality space. “There is...

Is it wrong for an American to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas? Sounds like a crazy question, but it’s actually at the center of a lawsuit that’s on its way to court. Promila Awasthi is a US citizen, originally from India. She lives in Silicon Valley, and worked for software giant Infosys at its Fremont, Calif. office in 2008. When she was there, she claims, she was routinely teased by two of her supervisors for celebrating American holidays. “Why, as an Indian, should you be celebrating Thanksgiving?” she says she was asked. “You should not be doing that,” she was told.

I spent Columbus Day in Sunnyvale, fittingly, meeting with a roomful of new arrivals. Well, relatively new. They were Indians living in Silicon Valley. The event was organized by the Think India Foundation, a think-tank that seeks to solve problems which Indians face. When introducing the topic of skilled immigration, the discussion moderator, Sand Hill Group founder M.R. Rangaswami asked the obvious question. How many planned to return to India? I was shocked to see more than three-quarters of the audience raise their hands

The time is right for Silicon Valley -- style progressivism to woo independents into a political force under the Libertarian Party banner. Here's how. If the two-party system is ever going to be seriously challenged, this is the moment. The GOP, the stall-tactic party, is reeling. The Democratic administration is struggling to turn around the economy. And across the country, creative, engaged folks are increasingly feeling politically homeless. More Americans consider themselves independents (39%) than Democrats (33%) or Republicans (22%) -- and the gap is widening. Who will fill that void? Sarah Palin is rumored to be mulling the...

After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system. Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government. The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes...

Maybe we need to wake up. The other day I went to the Web site of Bell Labs, one of the country's premier research outfits. I clicked at random on a research project, Programmable Networks for Tomorrow. The scientists working on the project were Gisli Hjalmstysson, Nikos Anerousis, Pawan Goyal, K. K. Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Rexford, Kobus Van der Merwe, and Sneha Kumar Kasera. Clicking again at random, this time on the Information Visualization Research Group, the research team turned out to be John Ellson, Emden Gansner, John Mocenigo, Stephen North, Jeffery Korn, Eleftherios Koutsofios, Bin Wei, Shankar Krishnan, and Suresh...

Billionaire was trampled during August trip to SerengetiSilicon Valley billionaire Tom Siebel says he's recovering from broken ribs and legs after an elephant charged at him and a tour guide in the Serengeti a month ago. Siebel on Wednesday told the San Jose Mercury News that the animal plowed into the guide and then attacked him, breaking several ribs, goring him in the left leg and crushing the right leg. "It was all happening so fast." Siebel told the paper. "There was no place to hide, no place to run." The 55-year-old Siebel Systems software founder said the Aug. 1...

Former EBay CEO Meg Whitman -- who's been under fire for skipping political debates and reporters' questions -- won't be attending a September Silicon Valley Leadership Group forum billed as the first major gathering of California's 2010 gubernatorial candidates. The SVLG event, titled "Leadership California: Solutions from the Innovation Economy,"' will include the two Democratic candidates, former two term governor and current State Attorney General Jerry Brown, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. And there will be just two Republicans -- State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former Rep. Tom Campbell at Projections 2010, which will be held Sept. 16...

There's no economic doom and gloom for Silicon Valley tech workers, those who who still have their jobs, that is. The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the health of Silicon Valley shows tech workers doing better now than they were during the dotcom boom -- much better. "While the employment picture may sound a bit negative, the wage picture was much more sunny," said Amar Mann, regional economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, who co-authored the report titled "After the Dot-Com Bubble: Silicon Valley High-Tech Employment and wages in 2001 and 2008." The BLS,...

Detroit was the Silicon Valley of the 1920s – the booming home of a glamorous new industry, a place where huge fortunes were conjured in years, sometimes months. But while the creators of the computer industry have as yet bequeathed very little to the built environment, the automobile industry piled up around it an astounding American city, in astoundingly little time. The Detroit of 1910 was thriving Midwestern milling and shipping entrepot, a bigger Minneapolis. The Detroit of 1930 had rebuilt itself as grand metropolis of skyscrapers, mansions, movie palaces and frame cottages spreading northward beyond the line of sight,...

Silicon Valley's unemployment rate soared in June to a record 11.8 percent as the region was hit by a loss of 2,600 manufacturing jobs, at least half of them in the high tech industries that make up the region's core employment sector. The unemployment rate is the highest rate on record going back to 1990, the period for which comparable data is available, the state Employment Development Department said. It released the new employment data today. The jobless rate hasn't been as bad since 1949-1950, based on records that are not comparable, according to EDD labor market analyst Janice Shriver.

San Jose/Silicon Valley Tea Party San Jose/Silicon Valley, California Sunday, July 5, 2009 1pm -3 pm Valley Fair Mall/Santana Row Intersection of Winchester Blvd and Stevens Creek Blvd On Sunday, July 5, 2009, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, the San Jose Tea Party will hold a rally protesting Obama's Government run Healthcare initiative. The rally will be at the corner of Winchester Blvd. and Stevens Creek Blvd. (Santana Row and Valley Fair Mall). In the spirit of limited government and fiscal responsibility, the protest is designed to get the "Stop Government Run Healthcare" message out to folks traveling the busiest...

A decade ago, the path to a successful future seemed sure. Secure a foothold in the emerging information economy, and your city or region was destined to boom. That belief, as it turned out, was misguided. In the decade between 1997 and 2007, the information sector --which includes jobs in fields from media, publishing and broadcasting to computer programming, data processing, telecommunications and Internet publishing -- has barely created a single new net job, while some 16,000,000 were created in other fields. The biggest losses have been in the telecommunications sub-field, which has shed 400,000 jobs nationwide since its peak...

The next Silicon Valley? You're kidding, right? Google the phrase, and you'll find an archive of old stories with titles like "India likely to be the next Silicon Valley," "Could the next Silicon Valley be in a developing country?" "Is Vietnam the next Silicon Valley?" Or my favorite: "Could Silicon Valley be the next Detroit?" Long the preeminent high-tech center in North America and the world, Silicon Valley saw unrivaled success that has proved very tough to clone or import. The Valley has done a great job over the years of attracting and retaining global talent and local capital, and...

Stanford University computer science professor Rajeev Motwani has died at his Atherton, Calif., home, San Mateo County, Calif., officials said. He was 47. Motwani apparently drowned Friday in a backyard pool, the San Jose Mercury News reported Sunday. Friends told the newspaper Motwani, who could not swim, may have slipped and fallen into the pool. Motwani was a well-known and beloved figure in the Silicon Valley community of high-tech companies and workers, where he was described as a kindly academic who was never too busy to mentor Stanford graduate students and officers of start-up companies -- including one started by...

Open Space Authority to Return Assessment Funds San Jose, CA, May 29, 2009 – Property owners who have property within the jurisdiction of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority will soon be able to claim refunds of an assessment charged by the Authority on their real estate tax bills between 2002 and 2008. In 2001, the Authority approved a $20 annual assessment on single-family homes located within the Authority’s territory to help purchase and maintain open space and parkland. Higher amounts were charged for multi-family and commercial properties. The Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and...

Silicon Valley companies are bracing for a tough new phase of antitrust scrutiny, responding to signs of heavier enforcement by the Obama administration and continued pressure from abroad. A stricter stance against companies that dominate their sectors is likely to test government-relations strategies that technology giants adopted during the Bush administration. Google Inc., one of the most prominent companies under the watch of antitrust regulators, says its lobbyists and executives since March have met with about 40 groups, including lawmakers, regulators and advertising agencies, to argue that its business practices don't reduce competition. A Google spokesman said the effort is...

Technology in all of its forms - social networks, smartphones, the Web, instant messaging, on-line gaming - is a net loss for today’s young people. At least according to one group of Silicon Valley 8th graders. “It’s bad for us, but it sure is fun,” says Eric Bautista, 13, one of the students in Sister Jolene Schmitz’s junior high school class at Resurrection School in Sunnyvale, California. Admittedly, this informal survey offers, at best, only anecdotal evidence. Still, it is pretty shocking that a group of young teenagers, all of them technologically very astute, and living in the very heart...

"Thirteen fourth grade students from a Pittsburg elementary school were either sent home or called in sick Tuesday with flu-like symptoms, prompting the district to alert county health officials due to swine flu concerns, the superintendent said. "The students — one who had a relative from Mexico visiting — all attended the same class at Highlands Elementary School, 4141 Harbor St. No cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Contra Costa County, but health officials predict it will happen." http://www.mercurynews.com/twitter/ci_12248023?source=rss "A 16-year-old San Jose girl was diagnosed with Santa Clara County's first likely case of swine flu on Tuesday,...

LAST week's audacious $US7.4 billion ($10.2 billion) play by Oracle to acquire Sun Microsystems has drawn comparisons with General Motors' moves in the 1950s to consolidate the US car industry. Oracle has touted the bid as a game changer that will help establish it as the first company to sell software and hardware products end-to-end. Rivals are sceptical of the rhetoric and believe the real motive is to kill off Sun's competing software products, which they say has been a theme of Oracle's buying spree, which has reportedly cost $US34.5 billion since 2005. If approved, Oracle will acquire Sun's global...

In a decision that could force Silicon Valley's largest water provider to refund millions — or perhaps tens of millions — of dollars to its customers, a judge on Thursday ruled that one of the Santa Clara Valley Water District's primary fees is illegal. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy found that the district's "groundwater extraction fee" requires voter approval under Proposition 218, a state law passed in 1996.

Over the past 13 years, Sun Microsystems' Java language has become one of the computer industry's best known brands—and underappreciated assets. The tension wasn't lost on Sun's new owner, Oracle, which on Apr. 20 said it will purchase Silicon Valley pioneer Sun for $7.4 billion in cash. If Oracle has its way, Java will emerge not only as a strong revenue source but also a key component of plans to keep customers loyal for years to come. During a conference call with analysts Apr. 20, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison called Java "the single most important software asset we have ever...

Silicon Valley became famous as a great incubator of partnerships that helped develop companies like Apple, Cisco, eBay, Google, Intel and Sun Microsystems. But if President Barack Obama has his way, Silicon Valley will be hammered. Obama outlined a budget that would more than double federal taxes on general partners — the entrepreneurs who incur the risk of assembling and managing partnerships for startups, distressed companies, real estate projects and other ventures. A significant part of their compensation is what is termed "carried interest" — generally a 20 percent share of what's left over after a portfolio company has been...

Silicon Valley's jobless rate leapt more than a full point to a stunning 9.4 percent in January, the biggest jump since at least 1990. Sohn, economics professor at California State University-Channel Islands, said to expect more job losses: He predicts that the valley's jobless rate could easily top 10 percent this year. The increasing unemployment rate in the valley tracks a rising trend in the state and nation. The state unemployment rate for January was 10.1 percent, up from 8.7 percent in December; nationally, it was 7.6 percent, up from 7.2 percent, with nearly 600,000 jobs shed. At the San...

... What draws people to Silicon Valley is the freedom to go out, commit industrial revolution and make the future. Thus it was odd that Silicon Valley voted for the most statist-inclined presidential candidate since Franklin Roosevelt. Make no mistake: Silicon Valley fell in love with Barack Obama! His youth and cool, along with the Web superiority of his 2008 campaign, had Silicon Valley going ga-ga for Obama. In the eyes of Silicon Valley, Obama was like the Apple Macintosh; John McCain and the GOP were like Windows. But now comes the reckoning. Obama may be the coolest guy ever...

President Barack Obama's tax plan, which would boost income taxes on those earning $250,000 or more a year, would affect about twice the share of taxpayers in Santa Clara County as in the state and nation. That's because there are more people here who earn high incomes, and the plan would take more of their income in taxes while cutting back on one of the few deductions available to them - mortgage interest. "Long term, there is going be some pain involved" for these taxpayers, said Michael Gray, a San Jose certified public accountant. That income class includes about 43,000...

Apple Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs still expects to return from his medical leave at the end of June, according to an Apple director who responded to an investor at the company's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. The investor -- who was the only one to press for details on Jobs' health -- had asked when the board knew Jobs planned to step away from his daily duties. Apple director Arthur Levinson responded that since Jobs announced Jan. 14 that he needed to go on leave, "nothing has changed." Jobs, who turned 54 on Tuesday, was not at the meeting....

A tech guru from Facebook may jump into the Democratic race for state attorney general, joining potential candidates Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney, and Rocky Delgadillo, Los Angeles' city attorney. Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at the social networking site and former education adviser under ex-President Bill Clinton doesn't have traditional AG credentials like Harris and Delgadillo. But supporters say Kelly is well-versed in information technology, white-collar crime, identity theft and other Internet-related issues. His candidacy in next year's election has been a buzz in the Silicon Valley. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said "neither Chris nor Facebook are commenting...

TECHTONIC SHIFTS Daniel Lyons Published Jan 24, 2009 Silicon Valley’s Fork in the Road Unless we spend more on technology and science, companies like Apple, Could Silicon Valley become another Detroit? It's hard to imagine as you crawl along the traffic-choked lanes of Routes 101 and 280 between San Francisco and San Jose, past office parks and gleaming campuses still buzzing with energy despite the recent recession-related layoffs and cutbacks. Yet some who work here see trouble on the horizon. These include top executives at HP, who are ringing an alarm bell about what they see as a looming disaster,...

You think solar electrical generation is going to save you or the Planet? Think again. While it is true that photovoltaic solar panels do not pollute while they are producing electricity -- what about the manufacturing process? What happens when these panels reach the end of their projected lifecycle in twenty-five years? (This is, by the way, an optimistic view of their useful life.) Those questions are addressed in a study by the watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Green Power" is being hyped as the "Safe Solution." It is anything but safe -- when all factors are considered. Here...