Obama administration

Now Is the (Larry) Summers of Our Silicon Valley VC: Economic Guru Joins Andreessen Horowitz as “Special Advisor”

Kara Swisher in News on June 29, 2011 at 3:00 pm PT

In an unusual appointment for the longtime public servant, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will join Silicon Valley venture powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz as a part-time “Special Advisor.” Summers got to know the firm with an assist from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who was a student of his when he was a professor at Harvard University.

Vivek Kundra On Pushing the Federal Government Cloudward

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on May 25, 2011 at 7:00 am PT

The CIO of the United States oversees the biggest IT budget on the planet. He has a plan to move 78 different government IT projects to cloud-based services and save at least $5 billion within one year. He shared his list with us, and we’re sharing it with you.

Video: Vivek Kundra, CIO Of United States, Talks IT Spending

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on March 17, 2011 at 4:11 am PT

What would you do with an $80 billion IT budget? That’s Vivek Kundra’s job. In a White House video, he talks about how the government reviewed its IT spending priorities in an attempt get projects running late and over budget under control.

FTC Evidently Unimpressed by Google’s “Facts About Google’s Acquisition of AdMob” Web Site

John Paczkowski in News on December 7, 2009 at 5:23 pm PT

When Google first announced its acquisition of mobile advertising outfit AdMob, the company said it didn’t anticipate regulatory concerns, but wouldn’t be surprised if there was some regulatory review. A reasonable stance given the Obama administration’s stated concerns about Google’s domineering presence in the market for Internet search advertising. Prescient, too, because, according to The Wall Street Journal, the Federal Trade Commission is indeed reviewing the $750 million acquisition.

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Exodus: Apple Leaves Chamber of Commerce Over Climate Spat

Keith Johnson, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 6, 2009 at 1:00 am PT

And then there were five–defections from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its climate-change policy, that is. Apple today resigned its membership in the Chamber “effective immediately.” That’s a harsher tone than the other departures–three utilities said they’d let their membership lapse at the end of the year, and Nike simply quite the Chamber’s board of directors.

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Federal Government Mulls Web 2.0

Jessica Hodgson, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on August 24, 2009 at 4:52 pm PT

The country’s technology chief said that he would push the government to embrace blogs, wikis and social networking sites to achieve both greater efficiency and transparency.

Wireless Industry Attorneys Stacking Up on NoDoz, Frozen Pizzas

John Paczkowski in News on August 21, 2009 at 7:30 am PT

Next week looks to be a painful one for big American wireless carriers. The Federal Communications Commission has announced its agenda for Thursday’s Open Commission meeting and it implies some long days ahead for wireless industry attorneys. Among the issues to be discussed: The state of competition in the wireless market, carrier handset vendor-exclusivity deals like those between Apple and AT&T, fee-setting and “truth in billing.”

U.S. Broadband Growth Slowest in Eight Years

John Paczkowski in News on August 18, 2009 at 4:30 am PT

The U.S. government broadband stimulus program couldn’t have come along at a better time. Leichtman Research Group said Monday that the country’s 19 largest cable and telephone providers added a net 634,000 broadband subscribers during the second quarter of 2009. That’s 29 percent fewer than were added in the same period a year ago and the lowest number of net additions of any quarter in the last eight years.

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Energy Bill in Limbo? Steven Chu Turns to Facebook.

Keith Johnson, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on July 21, 2009 at 11:42 am PT

The Obama administration really, really doesn’t want the fight over health care to steal attention from energy and climate legislation. Energy Secretary Steven Chu just launched a Facebook page to keep climate change front and center.

Mr. Newspaper Goes to Washington, Comes Back Without a Bailout

Peter Kafka in Media on April 22, 2009 at 4:46 am PT

The newspaper industry wants help from Washington. But it’s not going to get it anytime soon. That’s the takeaway from a Congressional hearing yesterday, where some industry executives pleaded their case–specifically, that they need a change in antitrust law to survive. But if they were thinking that the Obama administration would be receptive to that sort of thing, they got a swift rebuke.