JG's NEED FOR SPEED

Out of the shadow of the net neutrality battle (or are we?), our friends at the FCC have been busy. From promises of unleashing spectrum to expediting broadband deployment, the FCC seems to be charting an aggressive 2011 course. This follows on the heels of President Obama's State of the Union where he expressed the need for investment in innovation infrastructure.  In a speech this week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined the ways in which the FCC was going to work with all stakeholders to accelerate the extension of America's broadband infrastructure, including removing the proverbial "red tape" from tower siting and other permitting issues that have slowed fiber deployment in the US. According to the Chairman, we're lagging behind other countries in our speed and access: "Other countries are taking these infrastructure issues seriously. We can't let unnecessary barriers to broadband expansion keep us from leading the global economy. That would be like losing the Daytona 500, because we forgot to take off the emergency brake." Less red tape-more innovation-sounds good to us...

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Not often seen holding hands, the US Chamber and the AFL-CIO issued a joint statement in the end of January encouraging investment in innovation as a means to economic recovery in the US. "Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Tom Donohue, the Chamber's President and CEO.   The pair go on to encourage bipartisan action to spur continued economic recovery and job creation. Although the statement was short and sweet, we find it an encouraging lead in to the new year, and Valentine's Day....

A TECH TOUCHDOWN?

The Superbowl was all about tech this year-from the Tron themed, though sound challenged, Mr. Roboto-esqe halftime performance by the Black Eyed Peas, to SF-based Salesforce.com's multiple ads promoting Chatter-their cloud-based social media product, to record-setting TPS for a sporting event. What is TPS you ask? Do you really have to ask? Well, that would be Tweets Per Second and the prior record set at the World Cup (now that's real sport) was 3,283 TPS. This record was exceeded at the first touchdown and kept increasing with subsequent TDs throughout Superbowl XLV to reach an astounding 4,064 at game end. But the tech that was most needed was obvious before the kickoff-a good ol' fashioned teleprompter. It's the National Anthem, learn the lyrics....

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

Hawthorne-based SpaceX is giving all of you space-geeks (and you know who you are) hope that even with Nasa's space shuttle mission's facing economic extinction, space exploration isn't dead in the US. SpaceX apparently just landed a contract to deliver a payload to the moon for a Penn-based Astrobotic Technology. Pretty cool huh? SpaceX is yet another dream-come-reality for Elon Musk. 

It's officially 2011, and then some. Time to decide what issues we need to be following and advocating for on behalf of California's tech community. Got an issue you think people need to be paying attention to? Is there something some policy maker could do that would help the innovation economy grow in California?  Let us know.   

See you on the road,  

Erin   

Check out the picture from our visit with   Senator Barbara Boxer in December