I kind of agree. Is there a real concern (that the government won't tell us about) or are they simply spreading FUD?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57594556-94/huawei-to-u.s.-put-up-or-shut-up/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

Huawei to U.S.: 'Put up or shut up'

… William Plummer, the company's vice president of external affairs, demanded the two governments "shut up" if they are unable to produce any concrete evidence to back up ongoing claims that Huawei is spying on behalf of the Chinese government, according to a Sina news report Friday. He called the allegations discriminatory and defamatory.

Plummer was referring to a fresh round of comments from former CIA head Michael Hayden, alleging Huawei provided information to the Chinese government. In an interview with the Australian Financial Review newspaper published Thursday, Hayden said the telecom equipment maker shared "intimate and extensive knowledge" of foreign telecommunications systems it was involved with, according to a transcript on Bloomberg.

(Related) “...in order to counter Chinese spying.”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57594644-38/fisa-court-renews-authority-to-collect-phone-records/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

FISA court renews authority to collect phone records

A top-secret federal court has renewed the authority of the U.S. government to collect telephone records as part of its surveillance program. In other words: Let the federal spying keep on rolling.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday said that it had decided to declassify more information, including the renewal, of the surveillance program that was revealed last month by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. The renewal of the program occurs regularly but is normally not publicized.

Perhaps the Cencus Bureau could use a computer to finish their reports a bit faster?

http://www.bespacific.com/computer-and-internet-use-in-the-united-states-population-characteristics/

Computer and Internet Use in the United States: Population Characteristics

Computer and Internet Use in the United States: Population Characteristics – by Tom File, May 2013, Census Bureau

“In 2011, more Americans connected to the Internet than ever before, although differences continued to exist between those with use and those without. Just as with differences in use, variation in the ways that people were connecting online and the frequency of their use remained prevalent as well. This report provides household and individual level analysis of computer usage and Internet use. The findings are based on data collected in a July 2011 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), which includes questions about computer ownership, Internet use both inside and outside the home, and the additional devices that people use to go online. The U.S. Census Bureau has asked questions in the CPS about computer use since 1984 and Internet use since 1997 This narrative report is complemented by a detailed table package that allows users to explore the data in more detail.”

“Hey, it worked for us!”

http://www.bespacific.com/the-economic-value-of-a-law-degree/

The Economic Value of a Law Degree

The Economic Value of a Law Degree. Michael Simkovic,Seton Hall Law School; Harvard Law School, John M. Olin Center for Law and Economics; Frank McIntyre, Rutgers Business School Newark and New Brunswick. April 13, 2013. A powerpoint presentation version of this article is available.

“Legal academics and journalists have marshaled statistics purporting to show that enrolling in law school is irrational. We investigate the economic value of a law degree and find the opposite: given current tuition levels, the median and even 25th percentile annual earnings premiums justify enrollment. For most law school graduates, the net present value of a law degree typically exceeds its cost by hundreds of thousands of dollars. We improve upon previous studies by tracking lifetime earnings of a large sample of law degree holders. Previous studies focused on starting salaries, generic professional degree holders, or the subset of law degree holders who practice law. We also include unemployment and disability risk rather than assume continuous full time employment. After controlling for observable ability sorting, we find that a law degree is associated with a 60 percent median increase in monthly earnings and 50 percent increase in median hourly wages. The mean annual earnings premium of a law degree is approximately $53,300 in 2012 dollars. The law degree earnings premium is cyclical and recent years are within historic norms.

We estimate the mean pre-tax lifetime value of a law degree as approximately $1,000,000.”

Social Networking changes the world? (Only if people listen)

http://www.bespacific.com/the-digital-landscape-in-2013-and-its-impact-on-communities/

The Digital Landscape in 2013 and its Impact on Communities

Personal. Portable. Participatory. Pervasive. The Digital Landscape in 2013 and its Impact on Communities by Lee Rainie July 18, 2013 at Community Foundations, brought together by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

“Pew Internet Director Lee Rainie discussed the new media ecosystem with leaders of community foundations from Western states and several other locales. He will describe how three technology revolutions have made the media world personal, portable, participatory, and pervasive in people’s lives and how those changes have affected communities.”

My weekly entertainment...

Hack Education Weekly News

… Speaking at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit, Bill Gates said that MOOC providers should learn some lessons from the for-profit college sector in order to better support students’ success. “Because they are profit driven, the way they track students and see what’s going on” could be seen by MOOCs and public universities as a “best practice,” Gates argued, according to ECampusNews.

… Ed-tech blog and listicle champ Edudemic is launching a video lesson site, which according to its partner Education Dive, will be a “Khan Academy for real-world skills." http://modernlessons.com/

… Oakland city officials are moving forward with their plans to build a Domain Awareness Center, “a federally funded project to link surveillance cameras, license-plate readers, gunshot detectors, Twitter feeds, alarm notifications and other data into a unified ‘situational awareness’ tool for law enforcement.” Included in the project, data from the Oakland Unified School District.

… Northside ISD, a San Antonio school district, says it will no longer require students to carry IDs with RFID chips implanted in them. Last year, a student unsuccessfully sued the district over the tracking, claiming it violated her religious views. The chips were meant to track attendance, but the district now says that the program didn’t increase attendance enough to justify costs.