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China's supercomputers are the latest target in US trade war
The US and China have been locked in a race for the world's most powerful supercomputer. China was in the lead with its Sunway TaihuLight, which has a 93 petaflop capacity. But the US surpassed that last year, when it released the Summit, which can run at 200 petaflops -- or 200 quadrillion calculations per second. Now, the US is using export restrictions in an attempt to thwart China's supercomputing efforts.
Huawei says it's a 'victim of bullying by the US'
To no one's surprise, Huawei isn't reacting calmly to losing key suppliers in the wake of the US' trade restrictions. Representative Abraham Liu said the company was the "victim of the bullying by the US administration," and that this was an attack on the "liberal, rules-based order." He added that the company wasn't taking the loss of Android support lying down. Huawei was "working closely" with Google to see how it could "handle the situation," Liu said, noting that Google had no motivations to block the company beyond complying with US law.
US may soften ban on Huawei to help existing users
The Trump administration might ease its Huawei trade ban... if ever so slightly. A Commerce Department spokeswoman told Reuters in a statement that it might soon grant Huawei a temporary license to "prevent the interruption" of service for existing networks and gear. Numerous internet providers and wireless carriers in rural and other low-population areas (including eastern Oregon and Wyoming) still have Huawei equipment, and the Commerce Department's trade ban would leave them hanging in the event of a system failure.
US and Luxembourg sign 'space commerce' pact
The current US government relishes the thought of bringing business to space, and it's now eager to make deals with countries that share the same dreams. The US has signed a memorandum of understanding with Luxembourg in a bid to cooperate further on space exploration, research and, to no one's surprise, a "business-friendly regulatory framework." Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider didn't mince words when talking about the pact -- his country is eager to make asteroid mining a reality, and the US relationship could be an "important step forward" in making use of those resources.
US government lays out strategy to speed up rural broadband deployment
The US government has unveiled a strategy called the American Broadband Initiative (ABI), which aims to speed up broadband deployment and bring faster, reliable internet access to tens of millions of Americans who don't yet have it. More than federal 20 agencies are involved with the project, which follows President Donald Trump signing an order last month to promote rural broadband.
Stripe gave Twitter its 'Buy' button, and now it's working with Facebook
Remember when Twitter rolled out its way of buying stuff from within the mobile app? Well, it turns out the startup behind the micro-blogging firm's commerce function is powering Facebook's payment service, too. As Recode tells it, Stripe is the sole provider for the purchase-service and also helped with the auto-fill system for Zuckerberg's mobile payments last year. Apparently that deal ended up working out pretty well. When you impulse-buy a new watch via The Social Network, at least now you know who to blame.
Department of Commerce and NTIA suggest spectrum sharing for government and commercial services
In 2010 President Obama stated, in no uncertain terms, that our country's competitive edge and technological leadership were conditional on our ability to open up broad swaths of spectrum for commercial and governmental use. Two years later, we've made progress, but our wireless providers are still struggling to keep up as our demand for cellular broadband skyrockets -- even spectrum hog Verizon claims to be gasping for air. The Commerce Department and US National Telecommunications and Information Administration are suggesting a new approach to opening up the airwaves to carriers that doesn't involve the wholesale abandonment of radiowave real estate by its current residents. The NTIA thinks there is room for both federal agencies and companies in the 95MHz between 1755 and 1850MHz. This would open up the prime spectrum to commercial use, but would also save the time and money normally needed to relocate existing government services which, in this case, includes military communications and missile guidance systems. In typical bureaucratic fashion, more study will be needed before a formal recommendation can be made to the FCC. But, there's plenty more detail to be had in the meantime -- just check out the PR after the break and the full report at the source link.[Tower photo via Shutterstock]
White House gets behind online 'bill of rights,' companies to adopt 'do not track'
President Obama is throwing his weight behind a consumer bill of rights that includes protections against online companies in particular, and aims to safeguard customer privacy. While the plan doesn't come prepackaged with a new set of laws for companies to abide by, the Commerce Department is working to develop enforceable policies with help from the concerned parties. The bedrock of the new bill of rights is that consumers should have control over the kind of data companies collect and what they do with it. Internet firms would have to be transparent about what information is gathered and how it's used. There is also a call for limitations on the use of certain personal data. As part of the push a number of major players in the field, including Google, have agreed to include a "Do Not Track" button in their browsers and to honor the system -- the latter being a tiny detail that has made implementations of the feature ineffective until now. Hit up the source links for a few more details.
Obama administration moves forward with unique internet ID for Americans, Commerce Department to head system up
President Obama has signaled that he will give the United States Commerce Department the authority over a proposed national cybersecurity measure that would involve giving each American a unique online identity. Other candidates mentioned previously to head up the new system have included the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but the announcement that the Commerce Department will take the job should please groups that have raised concerns over security agencies doing double duty in police and intelligence work. So anyway, what about this unique ID we'll all be getting? Well, though details are still pretty scant, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, speaking at an event at the Stanford Institute, stressed that the new system would not be akin to a national ID card, or a government controlled system, but that it would enhance security and reduce the need for people to memorize dozens of passwords online. Sorry, Locke, sounds like a national ID system to us. Anyway, the Obama administration is currently drafting what it's dubbed the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which is expected at the Department of Commerce in a few months. We'll keep you posted if anything terrifying or cool happens. Update: For clarity's sake, we should note that the proposed unique ID system will be opt in only, not a mandatory program for all citizens.
White House reportedly pushing for new internet privacy laws, policy office
It's not official just yet, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Obama administration is about to make a major push for some new internet privacy laws, and for the creation of a new federal position to oversee the effort. According to the usual "people familiar with the situation," the Commerce Department is now drafting a report with a series of recommendations on the matter, which is expected to be released in the "coming weeks" -- although those same people also note that nothing is final, and things could still change. Assuming it does go through, however, a White House task force would then take the report and work on turning the recommendations into policy. As The Wall Street Journal notes, the new laws would be filing something of a significant gap, as the US doesn't currently have any comprehensive laws protecting consumers' internet privacy -- a fact fully evidenced by countries like Canada, Germany and the UK taking the lead in recent privacy battles with Google and Facebook.
White House gets involved in spectrum fight, says more is needed for competition's sake
The Fed's already been aggressively moving to get out ahead of this impending spectrum crisis that everyone seems to be predicting these days, but now the NTIA -- the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration -- is chiming in, and the sentiment pretty much echoes what's already been said by everyone else (besides the broadcast TV peeps, that is). The NTIA's coming at it from the angle that wired broadband alone won't be enough to support sufficient competition for rural internet access, something that the FCC has made a priority, and that digging up free airwaves is now "a primary tool for promoting broadband competition." They've got some headwind and plenty of bigwig opposition to make that a reality, but there's some hope for freeing up a few slivers of government-owned spectrum as well; at any rate, it's said an additional 300MHz is necessary to keep pace with demand over the next six years, so it'll take a small miracle to keep everyone out of a crunch.
Digital TV switch facing hurdle over...postage stamps?
We expected some potential issues concerning the analog TV shutoff next year, but even we (and apparently the Commerce Department) could not have predicted they'd run low on stamps necessary to send out $40 discount coupons for digital television converters. Apparently nearly 60% of the coupons sent out expired before they were actually used -- maybe people are waiting to see which digital converter to buy -- resulting in n unexpected number of new mailings. Funds from the unused coupons goes back to the program and will still be available for more requests, however the budgeted administrative funds to actually mail the things is limited, and may need to be expanded. According to Reuters, the NTIA should have a clearer picture after July 1, but this could cause some issues for those still waiting to request the discount.