Nuttin Logs » Government

This is just wrong….

Nitin G — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:31:51 +0000

I suspect the middle picture will haunt you…forever. Dunno who the artist is but kudos!

(click on the image to enlarge)

Digital TV conversion officially delayed…not!

Nitin G — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:00:48 +0000

There was quite a bit of back and forth on the DTV conversion with one side of the camp (Obama administration) saying that the conversion should be delayed and the other camp saying, hell no. Today, it became official as the US House of Reps rejected the bill that was requesting the delay. The Obama administration was requesting that the conversion from analog to digital tv broadcasting be delayed by 4 months (at least). Those of you who still get their TV via rabbit-ears need to get going on this one now….chop chop!

The delay was requested due to the fact that the government fund that was created to help pay consumers to make the switch has run out of money. As of this writing, about a million or so coupon requests for reimbursement are sitting on the desks of the agency responsible for the refunds. The number is expected to grow to about 5 million. The extension would have given the government more time to replenish the fund and hence make the transition smoother for analog watchers.

Question is, who are these analog watchers and how many of them are out there? A quick Google search reveals that about 300,000 of them live in NY City alone! I expect the number to be in the millions nation wide. So, with the new TV seasons starting for almost every popular show out there and with the possibility that mid-season, most of these shows might see a potential huge dip in their viewership, there’s no wonder that the extension idea was at hand (also can be read as advertisers are potentially pulling back their $$).

Did the lobbyists push for the delay? I think so…

update (2/4/2009): The conversion was officially delayed by Congress.

Presidental shoe toss!

Nitin G — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:52:00 +0000

Wonder what they end up charging him with…..

Accessing your government on the move

Nitin G — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:10:00 +0000

Image by baratunde via Flickr Two interesting things happened with the site change.gov:

It became available as an app on the iPhone. This makes the hugely popular Obama transition site available to mobile users. In case you did not notice, most users in newer markets are introduced to the Internet not via a laptop but via their phones.

The first installment of the Obama promise of a transparent government is being delivered via the Internet. It will be a standard for all elections going forward.

Change.gov has opened up it’s content with the creative commons license. This delivers on the Obama campaigns promise to allow the citizenry to participate. A creative commons license on the content allows others to build upon it and to legally share it.

A new way of doing things or just the ‘same ol’ remasked? We’ll just have to wait and see…