Adam Hudson on Wednesday, Apr. 17th
David Petraeus may be out of the military and Central Intelligence Agency but he’s found a new role elsewhere — in the game “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.” Well, his likeness, that is. Set in the year 2025, the first-person shooter features Petraeus as the Secretary of Defense serving under a female President resembling Hillary Clinton. Gamers first see Petraeus on board an aircraft carrier named the “USS Barack Obama” greeting an apprehended terrorist in an orange jumpsuit. While Petraeus was uninvolved in the game’s production, his “Call of Duty” cameo reveals the symbiotic relationship between video games and U.S. militarism.
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A version of this story aired on APM’s Marketplace.
Silicon Valley may be the financial center of the tech industry, but lately San Francisco is earning a reputation as the heart and soul of it. Tech workers who don’t want to live in the Valley’s sprawling suburbs have migrated northward. And hundreds of tech-related businesses have set up shop in San Francisco too. But the culture of tech that’s taking hold in the city hasn’t come without controversy. (more…)
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The average salary for tech professionals in Silicon Valley in 2012 was down three percent, to $101,278, from a year earlier.
The WSJ reporting the numbers from job listings site Dice.com, which surveyed more than 15,000 tech workers across the country about their salaries. About a thousand of those were employees in the Valley.
The site reported that increased hiring of lower wage tech workers (like quality assurance ‘specialists’) that are supporting the work of higher-paid engineers are bringing down the average.
Meanwhile, tech salaries rose five percent nationwide, to $85,619.
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It’s already been shown in a 2003 study published by the National Bearu of Economic Research that having a “black” name will affect whether or not you get a call back when applying for a job. But now it appears that bias may also appear when a person’s name is searched on Google.
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President Obama’s address today focused on broad immigration reform, but his platform on legal immigration was shaped by Silicon Valley notables who’ve focused on the status of foreign-born tech workers and entrepreneurs. (more…)
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In a promo for NewsHour’s Daily Download segment, PBS published this video of our friend Hari Sreenivasan talking with Harper Reed, who was the CTO of President Obama’s campaign.
Reed says post-campaign, he’s considering starting a software company that will, cryptically, “make businesses move faster.” He also discusses some of the changes — fairly minor, as he points out — that a company can make to more seamlessly incorporate their tech teams and avoid stereotypical old-school vs. techie cultural clashes. (more…)
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National Computer Science Education Week is an opportune time for the National Science Foundation to decry the dearth and quality of computer science education in public schools.
That’s pretty much what Jan Cuny does in this 360 Science podcast. As the NSF’s program coordinator for computer education and broadening education, she says only 19 percent of public school students take a “real” computer science course — one that teaches computation and its role in problem solving. (more…)
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Peter M. Gunn on Monday, Dec. 3rd
There are times when you look around and wonder if the United States isn’t responsible for all the world’s problems. The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) that goes from today through December 14 in Dubai is an example of one of those times.
The story of the development of the Internet is one of the great triumphs of the spirit of humanity. Originally developed as a Defense Department research project to facilitate communication inside itself, the scientists responsible saw the power of what they had created, decided that it should be for the people, and specifically structured it so as to not allow one centralized body to control it. This is the part of the story we all agree on. The rest, not so much, and now, America is threatening to take its Internet and go home if it doesn’t get its way. (more…)
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Adam Hudson on Monday, Oct. 29th
The expansion of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia is rarely discussed in mainstream forums, but breaking this silence are two important reports from prestigious universities that shed light on the underreported human suffering and dangerous implications of the drone program. (more…)
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Henry Havoc, a single parent from San Antonio, TX, is all about principles: “Sticking to a balanced budget, sticking to the truth, no unjust wars — that’s why I’m here.”
“Here,” is the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida in Tampa, waiting for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul to arrive to speak at a rally days before the RNC.
Havoc carries around an American flag with words Sharpied on top of the stars and stripes that read:
“My country is sick, we need a doctor for a president”
They’re lyrics from his song “My Country Is Sic,” which Havoc dedicated to Ron Paul.
Havoc says even if Ron Paul isn’t destined for the candidacy, he still plans to “vote Ron Paul.
Both (Obama and Romney) are supported by Goldman Sachs,” Havoc said. “They both want more wars. That’s not cool, man.”
Henry Havoc’s song is pretty cool. It’s got a Southern hip hop bounce, and lyrics that make Ron Paul sound like one of the characters in The Expendables.
Listen to it HERE.
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