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Facebook Promoting U.K. Voter Registration, NASA Outlines Budget Repercussions

by Warren Riddle on April 9, 2010 at 11:35 AM



Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
  • U.S. politicians have increasingly turned to social networking to rally support and spread information. For the British government, though, Facebook isn't just a medium for political communication and discussion anymore, as it's being actively used to raise voter awareness. The social networking site has paired with England's Electoral Commission in order to promote voter registration for a May 6th election. [From: BBC]
  • NASA revealed specific information about the future of the space program yesterday, giving insight into the repercussions of proposed budget cuts. The 2011 budget has received criticism from some observers, particularly Fox News, which complained that the changes will place the future of "manned space flight in doubt." NASA, though, claims that future exploration will include both "humans and robots." Hey, Fox, remember those monkeys? Not placing lives in danger, animal or human, would seemingly -- and obviously -- represent the future of distant space exploration. [From: CNET]
  • China debuted the world's fastest bullet train just a few months ago. California was apparently so impressed by the technology that it has now drafted the Asian nation to help create the state's own high-speed locomotive system. California and General Electric would lease the technology from China, and, while the proposed trains wouldn't quite match the 235 mph top speed of China's engine, the Cali-express would conceivably reach an impressive 215 mph. [From: Popular Science]
  • The battery represents one of the few technological marvels that apparently doesn't adhere to Moore's Law of increased productivity and decreased size. Leave it to the brainiacs at MIT to apparently rectify that dilemma, as researchers from the University are claiming that they have devised a lightweight battery that could possess three times the power of current devices. [From: Wired]
  • Satirists, and sometimes even casual observers, love it when politicians demonstrate a complete lack of tech knowledge. A British government official reportedly joined the ranks of John McCain, George Bush and Joe Biden recently when he said he believed "IP address" to literally mean "Intellectual Property address." This particular politician, Stephen Timms, holds an incredibly troubling position; he ranks as the Minister for Digital Britain. [From: Boing Boing]

Tags: battery, britain, bullettrain, california, china, facebook, government, mit, morningxtra, nasa, politics, robots, socialnetworking, stephen timms, StephenTimms, top, uk, voting

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