policy

President Obama has called for an "all of the above" energy strategy, ranging from taxpayer funding for electric vehicles to more drilling for oil and natural gas. The goal is to get a greater contribution from domestic renewable-energy sources, such as the sun and wind, yet maintain cheap domestic energy from traditional fossil fuels.

"We're not going to be able to just drill our way out of the problem of high gas prices," Obama told a North Carolina crowd on March 7. "If we are going to control our energy future, then we've … Read more

On today's show, we talk to the guys from Chaotic Moon Studios, the ones building Kinect-controlled skateboards and shopping carts and more. They're moving into mind-controlled devices. No, really. Also, the problem with Google's new privacy policies: Web search! The iPad 3 rumor roundup, how to make the most of Google+, and Windows 8 vs. OS X Mountain Lion.

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Today is the big day. But not everyone is too excited about it.

Google has officially implemented its new, combined privacy policy. On the company's Privacy Policy page, Google describes everything from how it collects information across its many sites to what it does with all that information.

After announcing plans in January to implement a combined privacy policy that covers all of its many services, the search company said that it would make for a "beautifully simple, intuitive user experience."

"The main change is for users with Google Accounts. Our new Privacy Policy makes clear … Read more

A quick search on Tumblr looking for tags related to eating disorders can launch a user into a world of self-harm blogs with posts like "keep calm and stop eating," "mind over matter and I won't get fatter," and "my life changed forever when I choose not to eat."

However, as of next week, most likely none of these posts will show up on the microblogging service.

Tumblr announced today that it was planning to implement a new policy banning pro-self-harm blogs. In addition, it will show public service warnings when people search … Read more

Fifty years after rocketing into history as the first American in orbit, John Glenn sees America's manned space program at a perilous crossroad.

Thanks to political gridlock, an increasingly tight budget and uncertain congressional support, NASA is facing a best-case five- to six-year gap between the end of shuttle operations last year and the debut of new low-cost space taxis the Obama administration hopes will usher in a new era of commercial spaceflight.

In the meantime, U.S. astronauts have no choice but to hitch rides to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, relying on America's … Read more

Microsoft is pouncing on the recent bad press about Google in an attempt to win over more customers.

Frank Shaw, corporate VP for Microsoft's Corporate Communications group, boasted in a blog today that Microsoft offers people a safer choice than Google, which has been buffeted by worries over its new privacy policies. The company also plans a bigger ad campaign to exploit what it sees as Google's recent missteps.

Google's woes follow its move to alter its privacy policies to share user information across different products and services. The company has even been forced to justify its decision to Congress, … Read more

Google has responded to Congress, defending its decision to make a controversial change to its privacy policy.

In a 13-page letter (document) to several Congress members, Google explained its decision for changing its privacy policy, and answered a host of questions posed by the lawmakers after the search giant announced its plans.

"Last week we heard from members of Congress about Google's plans to update our privacy policies by consolidating them into a single document on March 1," Google director of public policy Pablo Chavez wrote today in a blog post accompanying the letter. "Protecting people'… Read more

Much has been made of Google's new privacy policy, which takes effect March 1. If you're concerned about Google misusing your personal information or sharing too much of it with advertisers and others, there are plenty of ways to thwart Web trackers.

But what exactly are you thwarting? You don't become anonymous when you block tracking cookies, Web beacons, and the other identifiers as you browse. Your ISP and the sites you visit still know a lot about you, courtesy of the identifying information served up automatically by your browser.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation offers the Panopticlick … Read more

On this week's Buzz Out Loud, Brian and Molly take Apple (and others) to task for unsafe and inhumane working conditions at consumer electronics factories in China. It's time for Apple and us, the consumers, to demand better. Plus, Google's privacy policy changes, Netflix's big bounce-back, and Computer Love. And meet Givit, the way to share private videos of your kids or, um, other things.

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