By Kelly Faircloth 2/22 1:59pm

Schmidt Happens

Mr. Schmidt, laying some knowledge on us. (Screencap)

After Eric Schmidt’s North Korean Jaunt, Foreigners Get 3G But Locals Still Out of Luck

Hard on the heels of Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s jaunt to North Korea, the World’s Most Isolated Country™ is letting a bit of Internet breeze in. The AP reports that foreigners in the country will soon have access to 3G connections, meaning they’ll now be able to fact-check anything their government-assigned tour guides tell them. Be warned, however, that your surroundings are probably bugged six ways to Sunday.  Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 2/20 2:00pm

Metro Tech

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Eric Schmidt Told Chuck Schumer That Google Gets More Productivity Per Worker In NYC Than Mountain View

Senator Chuck Schumer dropped an interesting factoid this morning at a breakfast co-hosted by The Association for a Better New York and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association. Mr. Schumer was there to discuss recently authorized recovery funding for Hurricane Sandy, but offered some remarks on the state of New York’s tech industry.

During the Q&A period, Dawn Barber, cofounder of the New York Tech Meetup, asked Mr. Schumer what he thought of the role of the technology community would play in the city’s future. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 2/13 10:00am

Political Animals

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Every Tech Tangent President Obama Went Down During Last Night’s SOTU

Despite Anonymous’ worst intentions, the State of the Union went off without a hitch last night–save for reducing the state of political discourse to water gulping memes. Every generation gets the joyless Twitter account it deserves, we suppose.

President Obama has relied heavily on technological innovation to get him reelected, and is fond of citing the industry as a potential source of economic growth. But this is the first SOTU where tech got real air time at the podium. Chances are that will only increase.

Here’s hoping, next time around, the tech bubble won’t be invoked in the same grim paragraph as the housing market. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 2/04 1:15pm

Political Animals

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The State Department Sidles Up to Silicon Valley

On her way out of the public sector last Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran through a spate of last-minute initiatives, including the Alliance for an Affordable Internet, which seeks to expand Internet access in developing countries where a mere 25 percent of the population (on average) is online.

Although the public-private partnership between the State Department, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Intel, and the World Wide Web Foundation “barely got a mention” at the podium, it warrants closer examination, argues Bloomberg Businessweek. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 1/21 9:40am

Schmidt Happens

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Sorry Eric Schmidt, but Your Daughter Is Our New Favorite North Korean Delegate

Don’t get us wrong, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt. Your trip to North Korea has been a blast–the highlight of our year, really. Remember that time those Kim Il-sung University students pretended they were allowed to google things just to impress you?! Or what about former Governor Bill Richardson’s superfluous but omnipresent cravat?

But now that you’re free from the Supreme Leader’s distortion field, we have to say your tight-lipped travelogue pales in comparison to the candid, snark-laced account offered up by your daughter Sophie Schmidt. Read More

By Patrick Clark 1/10 8:22am

Linkages

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Booting Up: When Google’s Eric Schmidt Discovers North Korea is Isolated Edition

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt urged North Korean leaders to open Internet access to its citizens, or doom them to a state of virtual isolation. Which, if we understand Mr. Schmidt correctly, he thinks will be far more insidious than the actual isolation North Koreans are currently experiencing. [AP]

North Korea’s official Twitter account only follows three, and only three, other accounts. One belongs to Jimmy Dushku, a 25-year-old investor who’s been to almost 60 Coldplay concerts and counts The Fast and the Furious as his favorite movie. What? [Mother Jones]

They’re not saying how they know, exactly, but U.S. officials are convinced that the cyberattacks on the consumer-facing websites of American banks are the work of the Iranian government. [NYT]

Soon you will buy prepaid iPhones at Walmart. Sounds like another season of The Wire is in order. [PRNewswire]

Not to put a timetable on anything, but Digg figures its content discovery app  is about one percent done. Which is as fine a time as any to talk about monetization. [Digg]

By Jessica Roy 1/08 2:25pm

Schmidt Happens

(Photo: Asian Correspondent)

North Korean Students Pretend They’re Allowed to Use Google to Impress Eric Schmidt

Google chairman Eric Schmidt continued his romp around North Korea today, escorted by the polka-dot-loving Bill Richardson. CBS News reports that the duo visited Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, which is outfitted with a computer lab connected to the country’s intranet, a closed system where users can receive only state-sponsored news. Some students, however, have applied for and won the privilege to connect to the web for research purposes. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 1/03 3:45pm

Schmidt Happens

Mr. Schmidt, laying some knowledge on us. (Screencap)

The Feds Are All, ‘Really, Eric?’ With Mr. Schmidt’s Mission to North Korea

Sometime soon, Google chairman and unfiltered man-about-town Eric Schmidt is due to set out for North Korea in the company of former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

However, it seems the U.S. State Department is not particularly keen on this trip. In fact, it sounds like America’s highest-ranking diplomats are downright pissed that Messrs. Schmidt and Richardson have seen fit to embark on their own private mission to Pyongyang. Read More