White House front pages an invitation to comment

On Thursday, Learn About "The Googlization of Everything and Why It Matters"

This Thursday, editorial director Micah Sifry will dig in with Siva Vaidhyanathan, discussing his recent book, "The Googlization of Everything and Why It Matters," on a conference call that is free and open to attend. Some things have changed since the book first came out, including Facebook's continuing rise, Google's stumbles, and the battle over SOPA/PIPA, which shocked Washington and suggests new possibilities for carving out real protections for a free and open Internet. We'll talk about these issues, and explore the themes of Vaidhyanathan's ongoing work, which is all focused on how tech can foster a more democratic culture.

For more information or to register, click here.

Oh Hi, Machine-Readable Federal Budget Data

Tucked off to one side in the "supplemental materials" section of the White House's just-released federal budget is something called the Public Budget Database, a collection of data tables in machine-readable formats. An accompanying users' guide explains:

The data files provide sufficient detail to produce: (a) outlay totals by agency, subfunction, and Budget Enforcement Act category that are consistent with the totals presented in the 2013 Budget; (b) receipt totals by source, as shown in various published tables in the Budget; and (c) the deficit (on-budget, off-budget, and unified budget basis).

New Hampshire Legislature Passes Open-Source Software Bill

The New Hampshire state legislature recently passed a bill that makes open data and open source software included by default in the state's procurement process.

The bill, HB 418, requires government officials to consider open-source products when making new technology acquisitions and only purchase products that comply with open data standards. Last year, Nick Judd covered how the New Hampshire legislature changed with the addition of several “geeks” to the House of Representatives and the passage of this new legislation shows a growing culture of friendliness to the tech concept of “open” in the statehouse. It is currently on its way to the governor's desk for signing.

"Extraordinary Measures"

A Friday-afternoon hashtag has brought out the wild streak in many otherwise buttoned-down Twitter personas today: #FedValentines, Federal Reserved-themed missives delivered in advance of Valentine's Day next week, is making the round on Twitter. "I'm going to extraordinary measures to increase your stimulus," the verified account of the San Francisco Federal Reserve amorously intoned earlier today. GO

Barack Obama's "Story of Us," Told Through a Computer Screen

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the day Barack Obama first announced his candidacy for presidency of the United States, his campaign has released this video, which has some stylistic similarities to Google's unfailingly optimistic ad spots in the same way many videos in this election season so far have resembled action movie trailers. GO

Mittbucks.com Lets Voters Compare Their Paychecks With Romney's

What would it take for Mitt Romney to be able to relate to the average American's daily economic life? He'd have to pay $1,208.09 for a gallon of gas, according to Mittbucks.com, a web site recently created by Adam Rosenscruggs and his wife Danielle in Washington, D.C. The eye-popping figure results from an annual income that I plugged in ... GO

Germany Delays ACTA Ratification

It appears that the federal government in Germany will delay ratification of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a sweeping international treaty that includes provisions about intellectual property and online copyright infringement along with stifling the flow of counterfeit goods and pharmaceuticals, according to reports in Der Spiegel and elsewhere. The German government will not act on ACTA until European Parliament makes a move on the treaty, according to reports. GO

"Power Politics in the Age of Google"

TechPresident's editorial director, Micah Sifry, will be speaking this afternoon on a panel at Harvard University called "Power Politics in the Age of Google," alongside Susan Crawford, Nicco Mele, Elaine Kamarck and Alexis Ohanian. The panel will be moderated by Harvard Shorenstein Center Director Alex Jones, and will be live-streamed here. GO