Cody Taylor

patentpundit writes “Word has started to circulate that President Barack Obama may be close to appointing John W. Thompson, the outgoing chief executive of network security firm Symantec Corp., to be the next Secretary of Commerce. According to the LA Times, over the last several days Thompson has spoken on the telephone and met with key senators, and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a member of the commerce committee that would hold confirmation hearings for any appointed Secretary of Commerce, is “extremely supportive and hopeful he’ll be the nominee.” The appointment of Thompson to head the Department of Commerce would be an exceptionally interesting choice given that only days ago President Obama asked Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to lead his open source charge and conduct a study and report back regarding the feasibility of the US government forgoing proprietary software and moving toward open source software solutions.”

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Uncrewed aerial vehicles are “revolutionary” technology that America must invest more in. Not the military’s view, but that of President Obama in a statement on his defence priorities. But a technology designed to make UAVs history is already showing promise – aerospace firm Boeing reports that their prototype truck-mounted laser shot down a UAV.

Michael Morris, the CEO of American Electric Power, said in regards to President Obama’s goal of doubling renewable energy in three years that Obama’s target is too ambitious. Interestingly enough, American Electric Power Co. is the largest U.S. producer of electricity from coal. Let’s examine California to see what is possible in clean energy:

Maestro writes “There must be many parents (and soon-to-be parents) here at Slashdot. What are your thoughts on umbilical cord blood banking? This seems like a major question for our newborn; the question is almost as stressful for us as naming the baby. Given Obama’s stance on stem cells, the topic is timely. My understanding is that while the current uses for cord blood are limited, the sky’s the limit for the future of stem cell therapies. But with the initial cost over 00, and ongoing yearly fees, is it worth it?”

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The Senate voted to confirm Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama’s pick for treasury secretary, Monday evening, after delaying a vote because Geithner failed to pay some of his federal taxes in 2001.

Barack Obama will do his first formal interview as president with an Arabic cable TV network. The interview is set to air at 11pm EST, it reports. Al Arabiya is a 24-hour Arabic news channel based in Dubai that broadcasts across five continents, according to its website. A 2003 BBC report said it was one of the top-rated pan-Arab network.

The new US envoy to the UN says Barack Obama’s administration would make Iran’s nuclear programme a diplomatic priority and pursue “vigorous diplomacy”.

ABC News has learned that Monday officials of the Obama administration called Citigroup about the company’s new million corporate jet and told execs to “fix it.”

Barack Obama’s inauguration was the formal point at which the reigning ideology in Washington changed from “conservative” to “liberal.” We use those terms without apology, as they are used in American political discourse.

mattnyc99 writes “This next week marks the anniversary of three sad days in NASA’s history: three astronauts died in a capsule fire testing for Apollo 1 exactly 42 years ago today, then the Challenger went down 23 years ago tomorrow, followed by the Columbia disaster six years ago this Super Bowl Sunday. Amidst all this sadness, though, too many average Americans take our space program for granted. Amidst reconsiderations of NASA priorities from the Obama camp as the Shuttle nears retirement, then, the brilliant writer Chris Jones offers a great first-hand account in the new issue of Esquire — an impassioned argument against the impending end of our manned space program. In which camp do you fall: mourner or rocketeer?”

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