politics

As election season heats up, politics are increasingly taking center stage in Facebook discussions -- and now that's going to step up even another notch. The social network and CNN launched their "I'm Voting" app today.

Announced last month, the app lets users commit to voting while endorsing specific candidates and issues. The commitments are displayed on users' timelines, news feeds, and real-time tickers. This way (for better or for worse) users can show all of their friends who they are voting for and how they feel about certain issues -- like immigration, health care, and … Read more

Google's efforts to gain influence in Washington is sending money to some politicians who may make Internet civil liberty advocates cringe.

According to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission, Google's PAC (Google Inc. NetPAC), as of July 2012, the search giant has made almost half a million dollars in campaign contributions.

That's no chump change compared to other tech powerhouses. Microsoft's PAC doled out $24,000 in July, bringing its total campaign contributions for the year to $565,500. Yahoo's total campaign contributions for the year amount to $36,500. Oracle gave $174,… Read more

Every time there's supposedly big news on the campaign trail, I fear acid reflux.

What accusations will some fine politician toss at another fine politician in order to sway my stomach -- and thereby my vote?

What ridiculous, illegitimate assertion will be barked by one politician that will spur an opponent to retweet, regurgitate, or resign?

I had always thought politics a grubby business, one in which the energy behind the lie is even more important than the lie itself.

And yet, some esteemed figures believe that the level of political discourse has been brought even lower by technology.… Read more

Downing Street, the office and home of the British Prime Minister, has cleared the way for Google to map the famous road at street level. Users of Google Maps can now see the powerhouse of British politics on Street View.

With the Olympics in full swing and as an already packed London continues to swell, the Downing Street gates will remain tightly shut, barring anyone from entering the historic roadway. But anyone with a mobile phone, laptop, tablet or otherwise can check out David Cameron's front door. You don't even need a security pass; you can virtually just … Read more

The majority of Americans are very much against the practice of tailored political ads, a specific market that is seeing tremendous growth as we get closer and closer to the 2012 election. In fact, most Americans dislike tailored political advertising so much they claim it decreases their chance of voting for a candidate they already support.

The new results come from a 20-minute questionnaire conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. The full findings based on the 1,503 respondents surveyed are in the 28-page document titled "Americans Roundly Reject … Read more

Next time you decide to share a link, a post, or a photo on Facebook, take a breath and reflect before hitting the publish button -- and read this doozy of a post by ZDNet's Ed Bott concerning a new feature on the social network that could unexpectedly affect your reputation.

Bott notes that Facebook automatically publishes posts from organizations you've "liked" under your name and puts them at the top of the News feed for friends. That's already sort of strange, even given how sharing is the lifeblood of the social network.

But as … Read more

I am not entirely convinced about life's alleged correlations.

Just as beautiful people can be entirely unsexy, so too those who shop at Ann Taylor can be very, very wonderful indeed.

Yet some highly intuitive brains are insisting that there is a clear and meaningful link between the music you hold on your iPod, iPhone, or Gramophone cabinet and the political views you hold in your head.

A blog post by Brian Whitman at The Echo Nest offers correlations so startling that I am concerned someone might accuse me of being a Republican for listening to Pink Floyd.

Yes, despite the fact that last year the son of Floyd lead David Gilmour was locked up for rioting against the U.K. government, if you listen to Dad's music you are likely a righty.

On the other hand, if Rihanna is your thing, then you are almost certainly of a more Democratic persuasion.

The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company and Whitman used the anonymized data built within the Nest's twigs in order to find alignments.… Read more

It's hard to keep quiet these days.

One suspects that even in the most silent religious orders, the monks and nuns have heard about Twitter and Facebook and wonder how it might change their lives.

Sometimes, though, Facebook and Twitter are the digital parchment for huge amounts of vile bile.

The latest example is that of Swiss right-wing politician, Alexander Mueller. Clearly feeling the need to make his feelings heard, he took to Twitter and declared that there should be a "Kristallnacht...this time for mosques."

Kristallnacht -- often referred to as "The Night of Broken … Read more

Ecuador is considering a political asylum request from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Reuters reported today.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters that the country is "studying and analyzing the request."

Assange faces extradition from the U.K. to Sweden over alleged sex crimes after Britain's Supreme Court ruled against his appeal late last month.

BNO News reported that Assange is seeking asylum due to the "abandonment" of his home country of Australia, according to a Google Translate version of a statement from Assange.