washington

There's something both pop star Justin Bieber and smartphone maker BlackBerry have in common: they're both Canadian. Even more precisely, they're both from Southwestern Ontario, the part of Canada that thrusts southwards into the American Midwest. ... Now, a new report says that Bieber, who is from Stratford, Ontario, attempted to help promote the struggling Waterloo-based BlackBerry. However, BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion, or RIM) officials turned down the deal because they had concerns about Bieber's staying power. BlackBerry Dismisses Bieber, Bets On Keys The report comes from ... (view more)

Radio-frequency-identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. (Source: wikipedia.org ) Researchers at RSA Laboratories and the University ... of Washington recently released a report which studies the privacy and security vulnerabilities of the RFID tags embedded in the state of Washington's Enhanced Driver's License and Electronic U.S. Passport Cards. Electronic Product Code and RFID Electronic Product Code, or "EPC tags," are industry-standard RFID devices created as the ... (view more)

Google has hired more lobbyists to its staff in an effort to create a strong presence in Washington. "We're seeking to do public policy advocacy in a Googley way," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's director of public policy and government affairs. ... "We want our users to be part of the effort." (Source: imedinews.ge ) The sudden focus on lobbying strength is a vast change from two years ago. At that time, Google only had one staff lobbyist in Washington, Alan B. Davidson, who now heads Google's Washington office. But when Google co-founder Sergey Brin found it difficult to get meetings with ... (view more)