Secrecy and trust: Why the NSA leaks feel like ‘The X-Files’

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As I try to sort out how I feel about the secret programs that have allowed the National Security Agency to collect phone call data and online communication for years, I keep coming back to two things. One is “The X-Files.” I watched it with the lights out every Sunday as a teen and drank… Read More…

Amazon’s huge $600M cloud contract with CIA now up in the air

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Back in March, it appeared Amazon had hit a home run with a $600 million cloud computing deal with the CIA. Now, though, the Seattle online giant could be left with nothing. IBM, a company with longstanding partnerships with government agencies, protested the contract and now the CIA is reviewing a recommendation by the Government… Read More…

Microsoft wants government to provide more transparency for security requests

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Microsoft is now joining fellow tech giants Google and Facebook in asking the U.S. government for more transparency in regard to government requests for national security information. Microsoft issued this statement a short while ago, noting that it would like to provide more information than what showed up in the company’s 2012 Law Enforcement Request Report published last March…. Read More…

This chart shows what’s royally messed up in the U.S. patent system

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It’s been a huge week for patents — starting with This American Life’s follow-up on Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures and followed on Tuesday with President Barack Obama announcing plans to try to curb the activities of patent trolls. As part of Obama’s 5-point plan, the National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers released a… Read More…

Watch out, Intellectual Ventures? President Obama says enough with patent shenanigans

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Now, this could get rather interesting. President Barack Obama is expected to announce measures on Tuesday that could curb the practices of patent holding firms, reports The Wall Street Journal. The president’s foray into the debate over so-called patent trolls could have profound implications in the Seattle tech industry as Bellevue-based Intellectual Ventures is known… Read More…

Seattle’s former chief geek: City needs a chief innovation officer

Mayor Mike McGinn discusses the Pioneer Square broadband project with City of Seattle CTO Bill Schrier

Crosscut is continuing their wonderful series by asking leaders in the Seattle community what they’d do if they were mayor. Today’s edition features a former political insider: Bill Schrier. Schrier, the former CTO for the City of Seattle, stepped down last April after more than 30 years of service to the city. So, what does he… Read More…

Tesla exec on potential North Carolina sales ban: ‘It’s an inconvenience’

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Tesla isn’t going to let a little legislation slow it down. The electric car maker, whose stock has soared 145 percent so far this year and now boasts a market value of nearly $10 billion, hit a speed bump last week after the Senate Commerce Committee in North Carolina unanimously approved a plan that would… Read More…

Mayor McGinn on guns, jobs and upgrading Seattle PD’s IT

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Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn appeared on KUOW 94.9 FM this morning, discussing a wide range of issues related to the city’s police department, transportation initiatives, guns and, of course, the prospects of the city getting a NBA (and NHL) franchise. And while he only briefly touched on the city’s new startup initiative, he did mention… Read More…

Hey, civic hackers: Here’s your chance to build apps to help solve government challenges

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The City of Seattle has a plethora of open data available and now they want your help in utilizing the information for apps and visualizations that help solve government-related challenges. As part of the National Day of Civic Hacking, the City is partnering with Code for Seattle for a one-day hackathon on June 1 at City Hall. Hackers… Read More…

Bill Clinton (officially) joins Twitter, gets shout out from Bill Gates and Colbert

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Former president Bill Clinton has joined Twitter — and this time the ex-commander-in-chief is doing so without the help of comedian Stephen Colbert. You may recall that Colbert helped Clinton send his first Tweet on air a few months ago under the unofficial account @PrezBillyJeff. “What if you tweet and nobody tweets back?” Clinton said on… Read More…

Vancouver, B.C. looking to spend $30M in digital push

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Cities throughout the world are trying to capture more tech talent, and our neighbors to the north are no different. Vancouver B.C. is planning a big push to bolster online government services, boost free Wi-Fi and strengthen its entire technology ecosystem, using efforts from Chicago, New York and other cities as a model. According to… Read More…

How big data will transform politics, education and just about everything else

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Big data requires big thinkers. And some of Seattle’s top minds — from University of Washington computer scientist Oren Etzioni to Context Relevant CEO Stephen Purpura to Amazon.com’s Charlie Bell — turned out this week as Madrona Venture Group hosted a round table discussion on the topic with authors Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier. Madrona’s Matt McIlwain,… Read More…

7 questions about the Seattle Police Department’s high tech surveillance program

Photo via Flickr User GreatBeyond

Rapid advances in technology are making all kinds of high-tech snooping easier and cheaper. As a result, the Seattle Police department and other local law enforcement agencies will soon be capable of sophisticated surveillance. The kind that allows them to track people suspected of criminal activity, and also record and analyze the everyday activities of… Read More…

City of Seattle green lights study for new high-tech traffic signals

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Sick and tired of being stuck in nasty Seattle traffic gridlock? Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn feels your pain, and today he announced that the city’s transportation department has inked a deal with transportation firm Transpo to conduct a study to implement a new adaptive traffic signal system in Seattle. That means traffic signals could intelligently respond to… Read More…

Seattle rolling out ‘Predictive Policing’ software to anticipate where crime happens

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The Seattle Police Department is hoping to keep the city safe by using data that better predicts where crime may happen. Mayor Mike McGinn announced today that on Sunday the city rolled out a “Predictive Policing” software in the East and Southwest Precincts. The software inputs historical crime data from 2008 into an algorithm that predicts where and… Read More…

Ed Lazowska: The iPad wouldn’t be here without federal research dollars

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University of Washington computer science professor Ed Lazowska is known for his strong opinions. And he got to share some of those Thursday, testifying before the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Science Education. Lazowska’s main point: Federal research dollars play a critical role in helping to spark innovation. Lazowska was making… Read More…

Spellcheck on steroids: City of Seattle implementing WordRake editing software

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When writing, it’s sometimes easy to be wordy and use unnecessary phrases. A Seattle startup is out to fix that problem with a click of a button. WordRake is a software that scans documents and suggests edits for more clear and concise statements. The City of Seattle announced today that it has implemented WordRake to help several departments… Read More…

Calling all geeks: City of Seattle wants volunteers for technology advisory board

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Here’s your chance to help guide the City of Seattle’s strategies and investments in technology and telecommunications. The City is looking for volunteers to join the Citizens’ Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB). The ten-member board and its committees discuss and advise the Mayor and City Council on a multitude of issues, including broadband deployment and adoption, mobile… Read More…

What blizzard? New emergency alert system for mobile phones misses mark

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When the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Cascades on Sunday afternoon, a lot of Seattle-area smartphone owners received an alert that was long on drama and short on details. The alerts came in various shapes and forms but were confusing to people who looked out the window and saw rain and… Read More…

Meet the winners of the state’s first-ever app challenge

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It was the mobile-app version of the Oscars last night at City Hall, as the awards for the first-ever Evergreen Apps Challenge were handed out to local developers. With Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Governor Chris Gregoire (via video) all on hand, more than $75,000 in prize money was split between… Read More…