Technology

Following is a comment of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Protests in Egypt and Global Internet Freedom: "I join President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton in voicing strong support for the fundamental right of freedom of expression and assembly for the Egyptian people, and in urging the Egyptian Government not to block access to internet communications, including online social media. As the situation in Egypt continues to unfold, I urge all parties to refrain from using violence. The internet - a product of American innovation - is a vital tool for communicating and sharing information and for ensuring the rights and basic freedoms of people everywhere. A free and open internet is essential to ensuring the universal rights of the people of Egypt, and of all peoples, to freedom of expression, confidence in the rule of law, and government that is transparent and accountable to the citizens." Full release

Overstock.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) (short cut: O.CO) today applauded the decision by a Federal Court in Colorado enjoining the enforcement of Colorado's new "internet tax notice" law. The controversial law, enacted in 2010, required out-of-state retailers to publish to Colorado purchasers a notice telling them of their obligation to pay Colorado "use" taxes on their purchases. The law also required retailers to report these transactions to the Colorado Department of Revenue at year's end, and to tell Colorado purchases at year's end of their obligations to pay and that the retailers were providing purchase information to the Colorado tax authorities. Full release

For the first time ever, the SPIEF website, www.forumspb.com, streamed a live broadcast from Davos, Switzerland, of a Plenary Session featuring Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and a special session organized by the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and the World Economic Forum, which included Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev addressed the participants of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the opening plenary of its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on 26 January 2011. President Medvedev's address focused on those issues that are reshaping and redefining the global community. It also highlighted how Russia is responding to these challenges - with a special emphasis on the importance of cooperation with international partners. Full release

Independent eye tracking research reveals that while advertisers benefit from the top three paid positions on both Google and Microsoft's Bing, Google attracts more visual attention to these links than Bing. This research follows an initial study conducted just days after Bing was launched in 2009. User Centric, Inc., a user research and design firm based in Chicago, captured participants' eye movements using eye tracking technology during informational and transactional searches to compare the amount and distribution of attention on Bing and Google search result pages. Full release

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA), a civic-minded nonprofit focused on building an appreciation for and participation in digital culture, has launched Gray Area’s Seaquence - an online "social artwork" experiment that allows anyone to explore and build an ecosystem of musical lifeforms while simultaneously making a donation to support the burgeoning digital arts community. Gray Area's Seaquence is a browser-based sequencer - a device designed to play back musical notation - that allows donors to create music-making "seaquences" through individual compositions. Each "seaquence" is given a unique visual and musical DNA (affecting "waveform, octave, scale, melody, envelope, and volume," as this demo explains), and is then added to a constellation view that serves as a global "donor wall." Full release

Apps42, Ltd. announces the release of CongressVotes 112, the 2.0 version of its Government Transparency Series. CongressVotes is designed as the go-to resource for involved citizens as well as legislators, legislative staff, and lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Updated throughout the day, this feature-rich app combines lawmakers, all legislation, and voting records with title keyword searches for the 112th U.S. Congress. Apps42 has also just released CongressVotes 111, a free app which provides a historical perspective to the 111th Congress. It's a great way to test drive the shared features of the current CongressVotes 112 app. Full release

International leaders attending the World Economic Forum in snow-covered Davos, Switzerland, are embracing the new perspective of the Global Adaptation Institute (www.globalai.org) that puts "adaptation" at the center of world climate policy. Institute CEO, Dr. Juan Jose Daboub, former Managing Director of the World Bank, speaking to journalists at the conference said: "Some of the world's most prominent private sector leaders have told me privately - and all conversations at Davos are private - that they are 'stunned' by the speed with which a change is taking place on the climate issue, toward adaptation, and they are rushing to re-examine how their businesses will approach climate change, both in terms of corporate social responsibility efforts and as a bottom-line, profit and loss factor for their enterprises. At the Institute, we predicted the new reality, then we saw it unfolding on the ground at the Cancun summit: that adaptation to climate change was about to shift to center stage." Full release

Indicative of the growing movement toward digital textbooks, Florida has approved the Discovery Education Science Elementary Techbook for Florida for classroom use. Florida joins Indiana, Louisiana and Oregon in adopting Discovery Education's digital science service as the core instructional resource for elementary science instruction. These approvals, through state textbook adoption processes, empower educators with dynamic digital resources that meet the evolving learning styles of today's students. Supporting the creation of 21st Century learning environments, the Discovery Education Techbook leverages children's natural interest in technology to ignite a love of science. Full release

Astronaut and former NASA Langley Research Center engineer Leland Melvin will celebrate Black History Month at Hampton's Virginia Air & Space Center, Feb. 12, along with two other athletes, members of an historic air squadron and a robot. Melvin, a Lynchburg native and University of Richmond graduate who started his career as a wide receiver in the National Football League, is currently NASA's Associate Administrator for Education. Joining him will be major league and Old Dominion University baseball legend and Hampton native Wayne Gomes; former York County resident and Virginia Tech and pro football player Bryan Randall; World War II pilots from the Tidewater Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen; and Sprockit the Robot. Full release

WhatsWhat.me (Beta) -- a safe, secure, "kids-only" social network for "tweens" ages 7-13 -- launches today using patent-pending facial recognition technology, moderation and kid-friendly features to teach kids positive online behavior, Internet safety and related life skills (www.whatswhat.me). Compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), WhatsWhat.me (Beta) provides an age-appropriate, "no-bullying allowed" community that requires parental permission to join. WhatsWhat.me (Beta) members can create profiles, interact with friends, join groups, play games, earn points and win prizes, in a fun kids' social network that focuses on building skills while fostering appropriate online behavior. For parents, WhatsWhat.me (Beta) offers its online Parent Resource Center providing expert advice, news, Internet safety tips and information on cybersafety for children (www.whatswhat.me/parents). Full release

Sungevity, the nation's fastest growing provider of residential solar installations, today announced the launch of Sungevity.org as an innovative way to help schools and non-profit organizations raise money while getting more homeowners to put solar on their rooftops. Organizations can raise $1000 by bringing Sungevity new solar customers. For every customer that a participating non-profit or school sends Sungevity's way, the company donates $500 to the school or non-profit and gives the customer a $500 American Express gift card (or the organization can opt to collect the full $1000). "Our online solar leasing system is designed to make it simple for homeowners to go solar," said Danny Kennedy, Sungevity Founder. "Like our dot.com site, the .org program now makes it easy for non-profits and schools to raise funds while getting their local communities to go solar." Full release

An astounding 200 billion gallons of water withdrawn from America's water supply each day … annual costs to society from premature deaths due to power plant pollution so high that they are up to four times the price of all electricity produced in the U.S. ... and four metric tons of high-level radioactive wastes for every terawatt of electricity produced by nuclear reactors, even though there is no long-term storage solution in place. These are just some of the little understood and largely "hidden" water, health and other costs from U.S. coal and nuclear electricity production detailed in a new analysis released today by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI) think tank. The Synapse report for CSI also outlines the considerable health impacts of the nation's current reliance on coal and nuclear power. Full release

Saint-Gobain, the world's largest building products manufacturer, has been selected to join the U.S. Department of Energy's U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center for Building Energy Efficiency (CERC BEE). This CERC, one of three in the U.S., is dedicated to advancing energy-efficiency in buildings in the U.S. and China. The CERC BEE features a consortium led by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory and industry research partners, such as Saint-Gobain. In its role as an industrial research partner of the CERC BEE, Saint-Gobain will work collaboratively with CERC BEE research labs, share the company's expertise in building science, provide technical support, offer access to the company's research facilities, and supply materials, equipment and more. Full release

IT employment continued its pattern of month-over-month growth by adding 3500 jobs in December‚representing the 13th consecutive monthly increase. According to a monthly index of IT jobs developed and published by TechServe Alliance, a collaboration of IT services firms, clients, consultants and suppliers, in December, IT employment stood at 3,911,900 jobs; reflecting incremental growth of 0.1 percent. Along with December's positive news were upward revisions of both October's and November's IT employment numbers. On a year-over-year basis, IT employment was up 2.6 percent, approximately 100,000 jobs, compared to only a 0.9 percent increase in total non-farm employment. Full release

A new tool to evaluate the quality of Wikipedia articles is now available. "With http://www.Wiki-Watch.org, everybody can check the reliability of information within Wikipedia", says Professor Wolfgang Stock, one of the founders of Wiki-Watch, based at the European University 'Viadrina' in Frankfurt, Germany. "For the millions of people who look things up in Wikipedia, we offer a closer look into this fascinating system, how well the articles are edited and by whom. We are offering this service because we are great fans of Wikipedia and want to contribute to further improvement." Full release

The 13th annual National Freedom of Information Day Conference will be held Wednesday, March 16, at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Hosted each year by the First Amendment Center, the conference brings together open records advocates, government officials, judges, lawyers, librarians, journalists, educators and others to discuss timely issues related to transparency in government and public access to official records. The program is conducted in partnership with the American Library Association, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, OMB Watch, OpenTheGovernment.org, and The National Security Archive at George Washington University; and in cooperation with the annual "Sunshine Week" initiative sponsored by the American Society of News Editors. Full release

www.t3motion.com -- T3 Motion, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TMMM) -- T3 Motion's CEO announced today that the T3 Series' electric, clean-energy vehicle has saved customers over $9 million and reduced CO2 emissions by 12,000 tons since hitting the market in 2007. The T3 Series is currently in use by major police agencies, security companies, college campus safety departments, airport security companies, USPS, and military agencies in 17 countries and is the single most efficient way to transport individuals. Known as an agile, rapid-response vehicle with the ability to turn on a dime, the T3 is an effective force-multiplier, providing a unique omni-presence for patrol officers. Full release

Life-saving AMBER Alerts are now available to the millions of people on the social networking service Facebook. Effective today, Facebook users are able to sign up to receive AMBER Alert bulletins for their state which will be sent to them through the Facebook "News Feed" feature. A total of 53 new AMBER Alert Pages have been created, one for each state, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Facebook users will also be able to share the AMBER Alerts with their friends. There are more than half a billion users of Facebook. The new Facebook AMBER Alert pages represent an important expansion of the national AMBER Alert program. Full release

Every month hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting computer users are faced by the inconveniences, complications and data loss that can come with Trojan horses, worms and email viruses. But before you can protect yourself—and your system—against them, you must first understand what they are. To help users avoid becoming victims of a computer virus, information is key. So keep your eyes peeled for news stories about emerging threats and make sure you know how these viruses are making their way to machines across the country and around the world. In addition, you can follow these computer and online security tips to create a safer computing environment at work and at home. Full release

The latest Earth-observing satellite developed by NASA, called Glory, arrived Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for a Feb. 23 launch. Glory was transported by truck from Orbital Sciences Corporation's satellite design, production and testing facility in Dulles, Va. Glory is NASA's next Earth-observing research mission that will improve our understanding of how the sun and airborne particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate. It will join the Afternoon Constellation or "A-train" of polar-orbiting satellites, a group that includes the Aqua and Aura satellites. Full release

Verizon Wireless and Apple® today announced that the iPhone® 4 will be available on the Verizon Wireless network beginning on Thursday, February 10. Qualified Verizon Wireless customers will be given the exclusive opportunity to pre-order iPhone 4 online on February 3, ahead of general availability. iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple's stunning Retina™ display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and FaceTime®, which makes video calling a reality. iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless will also include new Personal Hotspot capabilities allowing customers to use iPhone 4 to connect up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices. Full release

An international robotics competition that develops the next generation of technology leaders kicks off this weekend. NASA, the largest sponsor of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and its centers across the nation will join local technology firms to launch the event at 10:30 a.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 8. The event at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester will air live on NASA Television. FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a long-standing challenge to inspire curiosity and create interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics among high school students. The event gives students the opportunity to design, build, test and compete a robot that can perform specific functions. Full release

As buzz for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) begins to take over Las Vegas, Polaroid today announced the program for its activities, announcements and appearances that will take place at the Polaroid booth during the show. From the visually stunning booth, to radical, never-before-seen new products, to in-booth, interactive creative sessions with leading artistic luminaries, all Polaroid CES activities deliver instant excitement, creativity and fun. "As we introduce a line of revolutionary new products, we're excited to give our old and new fans around the world multiple ways to connect with the Made In Polaroid movement here at CES," said Scott W. Hardy, President of Polaroid. "Our CES lineup reflects Polaroid's rich 73-year legacy as the innovator of instant photography and celebrates the global community that's supporting Polaroid's incredible cultural resurgence. Nothing can compare to the originality and relevance of the Polaroid instant experience. Our mission is to inject that Polaroid experience across the digital and physical worlds." Full release

The American Optometric Association (AOA), representing America's family eye doctors (optometrists), says 3D in movies, TV and even 3D on Nintendo's 3DS isn't necessarily bad for adults or children. In fact, optometrists, professional health care providers committed to children's vision and eye health, say 3D viewing may actually help uncover subtle disorders that, left uncorrected, often result in learning difficulties. In this context, it is not enough to have 20/20 visual acuity. Eye muscles must be coordinated well enough to experience single, clear and comfortable vision by maintaining alignment of both eyes. The brain must also match appropriate accommodative or focusing power with where the eyes are aimed. Often, subtle problems with these vision skills can lead to rapid fatigue of the eyes and loss of 3D viewing, but also loss of place when reading or copying, reduced reading comprehension, poor grades and increased frustration at school. Difficulties with appreciating 3D in movies, TV and Nintendo's 3DS, or discomfort when engaging in these activities may be an important sign of undetected vision disorders. Full release

What are the top security and privacy issues facing the healthcare industry in 2011? A panel of healthcare experts representing privacy, trends, technology, regulatory, data breach, and governance were asked to weigh in with their forecasts for 2011. These experts suggest that as health information exchanges take form, millions of patient records—soon to be available as digital files—will lead to potential unauthorized access, violation of new data breach laws and, more importantly, exposure to the threat of medical and financial identity theft. These predictions are supported by the recent Ponemon Institute's Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security, published November 2010, which found that data breaches of patient information cost the healthcare industry $6 billion annually; protecting patient data is a low priority for hospitals; and the healthcare industry lags behind the recently enacted HITECH laws. Full release

A new BBC World News America/Harris Poll finds that Americans are divided, with no consensus, as to how much freedom the media should have to publish confidential government documents. However, a sizable 69% to 18% of all adults agree that "publishing these documents could pose a security threat to the United States and therefore should be illegal." At the same time a 48% to 40% plurality believes that "the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment...gives organizations and individuals the right to post any information given to them." The public is clearly split on some of the key issues raised by the publication of government cables by WikiLeaks, and some people give somewhat contradictory responses depending on how the issue is presented. Full release

S&P Equity Research sees big developments for the Internet segment in 2011, including continuing challenges for Google, changes at Yahoo, a cloud offering from Apple, and excitement from China. "The coming year should also be another year of solid growth, with double-digit gains for U.S. Internet advertising and retail spending," observed Scott Kessler, Information Technology analyst at S&P Equity Research. Following are Mr. Kessler's predictions for the Internet industry for 2011: 1. We project that U.S. online advertising revenues and online retail spending will each rise 10% next year. Full release

"Where u at." Those three words made up the last text message Mariah West read before her car crashed into a bridge, ending her life. Approaching one of the most dangerous days on the road - New Year's Eve - AT&T* today announced the release of a powerful new documentary featuring stories from individuals, including Mariah's parents, whose lives have been altered by texting while driving. The 10-minute piece will be distributed nationwide to schools, safety organizations, government agencies and more as part of AT&T's "It Can Wait" campaign. Each of the eight individuals included in the full-length reel volunteered their stories to help AT&T educate wireless customers - particularly youth - on the risks of tapping away on their cell phones in the car. The documentary can be viewed online at no charge on AT&T's "It Can Wait" website and on AT&T's YouTube page. Full release

A study fielded by Horowitz earlier this year suggested that although Black and Hispanic homes under-index for broadband, they are driving new broadband growth. In Horowitz's new study, multicultural consumers with broadband also lead the way in ownership of video-enabled handheld devices: 84% of Asian and 83% of Hispanic and Black broadband users can access video on a handheld, compared to 74% of Whites. With growing access to alternative platforms and more robust content on them, the study finds multicultural consumers are generally more involved in multiplatform TV than Whites. Almost half (48%) of Asian, 46% of Hispanic, and 35% of both Black and White broadband users watch TV content online; 16% of Asian, 22% of Hispanic, 19% of Black, and 15% of White broadband users watch TV content on a handheld (weekly data). Despite heavy usage of multiplatform TV, the traditional set still dominates. Full release

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it has started commercial operation of eco-friendly full-size electric buses on the Mt. Namsan circular routes as of December 21. It is the first time in the world that electronic buses have been put into commercial operations. SMG has worked on the project to develop full-sized electric buses with local technology over the last one and a half years, since it signed an agreement with Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hankuk Fiber for the development of electric buses in September 2009. Electric bus services will not only improve air conditions in the city but also lead the technology of large-sized electric vehicles in the global electric car market, the City said. Full release

Safe and Secure TV Channel, LLC (Pinksheets: SSTC), the premier internet broadband television network devoted exclusively to homeland security and emergency preparedness, is continuing to expand its content offerings for 2011 with a schedule that includes the full range of the military's official Pentagon Channel, which provides news and original programming for the 2.6 million members of the US Armed Services, as well as the hundreds of thousands of employees of the Department of Defense. The Pentagon Channel operates round-the-clock, delivering thousands of hours of military and defense-related content annually, including front line coverage of US military theaters around the world, coverage of senior defense and government leaders, and other features. Full release

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) today released the following statement on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) vote to implement a new regulatory framework to preserve open internet principles: "The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) note the significant achievement in the FCC's passing of a new Open Internet Order. Upon initial review, the FCC's regulatory plan to preserve the open Internet will allow for decision makers and key internet players to refocus efforts to ensure better broadband access, adoption, and affordability in our communities. As two national organizations representing the interests of African American women, we understand the life-changing tools offered by broadband Internet." Full release

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) today announced that the more than 350 bloggers participating in its social purpose Internet campaign, the GIVE HEALTH Clean Water Blogivation, have reached the company’s goal of providing 100,000 days of clean drinking water to people in developing countries. The innovative program invited bloggers from around the world to give space on their blogs for a special widget through which readers clicked to donate water. For every user’s click and subsequent share on Facebook or Twitter, P&G provided a day of clean drinking water (2 liters) to a person in a developing country through the company’s not-for-profit Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW). Full release

Riki Ellison, Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org, has analyzed the recent statement by President Obama regarding his support of missile defense to the leadership of the United States Senate. Ellison is one of the top lay experts in the field of missile defense in the world. His comments are outlined below: On Saturday, December 18th, President Barack Obama wrote a letter focused on his support of missile defense to the leadership of the United States Senate, Senator Harry Reid and Senator Mitch McConnell. The letter by the President of the United States of America is the strongest statement in support of missile defense during his time in office and maybe one of the strongest ever by a President of the United States. Full release

The Do Not Track Me function proposed in the Federal Trade Commission's recently released online privacy report must be extended to include smartphones, Consumer Watchdog said today in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article showing how applications for the iPhone and Android phones widely share personal data without the users' knowledge or consent. The Journal's investigation, which appeared in Saturday's edition, found an "intrusive effort by online-tracking companies to gather personal data about people in order to flesh out detailed dossiers on them." "Most consumers don't realize it, but the smartphone in the pocket has become a spy for advertising companies," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Advocate with the nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group, Consumer Watchdog. Full release

For your stories in preparation for the release of the first 2010 Census results tomorrow, please be sure to visit the U.S. Census Bureau's interactive map widget. This innovative tool allows you to track your state's population, and seats in the House of Representatives, throughout the past century. The widget offers a unique historical perspective on apportionment and the nation's changing population for your viewers. It can be embedded on your website and will be updated when the 2010 data is released on Tuesday, Dec. 21. For more information about the U.S. Census Bureau, please visit and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube (/uscensusbureau). Full release

For those too busy this holiday season to drive to their regular doctor for an expired prescription or stop by a walk-in clinic with a nagging cough, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) can help. Through Online Care Anywhere, a virtual clinic offered by Blue Cross, all Minnesotans now have immediate access to medical advice from local health care professionals, right at their fingertips - at onlinecareanywheremn.com. "Online Care Anywhere, which is open to everyone in Minnesota, is a perfect solution for people looking for medical advice and needing more convenience - especially on holidays when other clinics are closed," said Pamela Sedmak, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for Blue Cross. Full release

The European Commission has released a summary of the 9th eGovernment Benchmarking Report which measures public sector performance of 32 countries (27 EU member states plus Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey). The report measures six core indicators and through a ranking system, it shows the best performing countries that have implemented the most mature e-Government services. This year Malta was established as the European leader in e-Government after achieving 100% in five of the six core indicators measured. The first core indicator, 'Online sophistication', measures the extent to which eGovernment services allow for interaction and/or transaction between Government and citizens or businesses. The second indicator, 'Full online availability' measures to which extent the 20 basic services are available; Malta scored 100% in both. Full release

"The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) commends the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (Commission) for their extensive work that resulted in their report on the ethical and societal issues raised by synthetic biology and genomics. We believe that the Commission's report is comprehensive and that their recommendations are wise, warranted and restrained which will help to ensure that this young field of research will flourish in a positive manner. I and my team at the JCVI have been, since our earliest synthetic genomics experiments, focused on and concerned with the applications and advances in this research in tandem with the ethical and societal implications of our work. We have engaged in a dialogue since 1995 with a variety of public audiences including legislators, bioethicists, non-governmental groups, and the general public." Full release

GENTAG, Inc. and its partners have just demonstrated a new disposable wireless diagnostic test platform for consumer cell phones. The technology, based on immunoassays, can test for pregnancy, fertility, pathogens, AIDS, drugs, allergens and even certain types of cancers. "This technology breakthrough will enable much more rapid diagnoses for diseases and make diagnostics more accessible and affordable for more people worldwide," announced Dr. John Peeters, the founder of GENTAG. GENTAG started with well-established immunoassay technology and made it wireless and compatible with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which enables consumers to use their cell phones as diagnostic tools to instantly test for pathogens, allergens or common medical conditions at any time, no matter where they are. Full release

Just as sensitive government emails revealed by Wikileaks' Julian Assange has damaged foreign relations, prosecutors will be conducting sophisticated worldwide computer forensic examinations of his internal emails designed to find the smoking gun. "They're looking for any electronic communications that proves his intent to do harm and who else was involved," says Mark McLaughlin, President of Computer Forensics International. Today, nearly everyone communicates electronically through email or instant messaging. People use email as a conversational tool and will say things in messages they believe will be private. But they're not private to a computer forensics examiner who uses an elite suite of software to recover even deleted messages. Full release

Tomorrow, Nissan North America Inc. (NNA) will make history by bringing sustainable mobility to the mass market, with the world's first delivery of a Nissan LEAF all-electric vehicle. Olivier Chalouhi, a San Francisco Bay Area resident and the first person in the United States to place a Nissan LEAF order, will take delivery of his black Nissan LEAF SL at North Bay Nissan of Petaluma. The delivery will be followed by a press conference at San Francisco City Hall Plaza. This groundbreaking moment represents the first delivery of an affordable, mass-market, all-electric car since the first days of the automotive era. Full release

Dr. Richard Gross, professor of chemical and biological science at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly), has developed a method for producing a strong, highly ductile bioplastic using yeast and one of nature's simplest building blocks: fatty acids of plant oils. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Like all plastics, the new material is a polymer — a large molecule comprised of smaller, repeating units called monomers. In this case, the monomer itself is relatively new. The units are called omega-hydroxyfatty acids, and when strung together to form a polymer, they can produce a biologically friendly plastic. Until now, omega-hydroxyfatty acids were difficult and expensive to produce using traditional methods, prohibiting their widespread use. Full release

Today the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation released a policy paper aimed at federal support for public broadcasting, a subject of considerable debate in recent months, and the reforms necessary to obtain that support. This paper offers five broad strategies and 21 specific recommendations. Leaders and critics of public media and policymakers gathered to discuss the paper and move it to action. The paper, Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive, is authored by Barbara Cochran, the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Full release

World leaders are meeting in Cancun, Mexico for the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) between November 29 and December 10 to engage in global climate negotiations. To date, much of the focus in the climate negotiations has been on cleaning up the emissions problem after it has already occurred. This year Ericsson is actively engaging with stakeholders in Cancun to promote the use of ICT solutions, which can be transformative when helping to reduce or even avoid future CO2 emissions. Ericsson has been working with the Mexican government and industry peers for the past six months in order to bring forward this message to global leaders and climate negotiators in Cancun. Full release

Although the digital space is considered to be a great place to target and reach consumers, when adults were asked which type of ads do they tend to ignore or disregard the most, over six in ten say Internet ads (63%). Among those who ignore Internet ads, two in five say they ignore banner ads (43%) the most and one in five say they ignore search engine ads (20%) the most. Smaller percentages say they ignore television ads (14%), radio ads (7%) and newspaper ads (6%); just 9% of Americans say they don't ignore any of the listed types of ads. These are some of the findings of a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll, survey of 2,098 U.S. adults surveyed online between October 5 and 7, 2010 by Harris Interactive. While we know that certain advertising themes appeal to men and women differently, there is little difference in the ads that men and women say they tend to ignore the most. Full release

The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the FBI recently launched an online data tool www.ucrdatatool.gov to make it easier to research and analyze crime data. According to the FBI, "The [Uniform Crime Data (UCR)] Data Tool lets users perform queries on custom variables like year, agency, and type of offense. Until now, making comparisons of the [UCR] crime data required searching the annual reports and then manually crunching the numbers. The new tool aims to make it easier for users—including our law enforcement partners who supply the data—to make use of the raw numbers." Full release

NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth. Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components. "The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it." Full release

UM and Time Inc. partnered with EmSense, a leading company in the field of biometrics and neuroscience marketing, to measure the neurometric responses of 180 iPad owners, using a combination of EEG readings on emotion and cognition, plus eye tracking, surveys, and one-on-one interviews, to reveal emotional, cognitive, and visual responses to ads embedded in several Time Inc. publications. The results presented today represent just the tip of the iceberg, as more than 24 million data points were collected. This data is key in tailoring advertising to achieve a specific desired response in iPad users. Full release

FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director David Vladeck will discuss a soon-to-be-released FTC report on online privacy and establishing an online "Do Not Track Me" list at a conference convened by Consumer Watchdog Wednesday at the National Press Club. Vladeck will offer an 8:45 a.m. keynote speech about the FTC's much anticipated report, which is expected to be released in advance of Thursday hearing on "Do Not Track Me" legislation in the House of Representatives. At 1 p.m. , the Department of Commerce's Associate Administrator for National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Daniel Weitzner will speak. Commerce is also on the verge of releasing a report on online privacy protections. Full release

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