Every day, rival nations, criminal syndicates and maybe even terrorists probe for weaknesses in our most critical computer networks, seeking to steal data, money, and identities. Even more dangerous is their potential to plant malicious code in industrial control systems that would allow them to seize control of a region’s electric grid, crash stock markets, or contaminate water supply with the touch of a key from a world away.

It feels like we’re back to the days before September 11, 2001. The system is blinking red. Yet, we are failing to connect the dots–again.

In a letter last year to Senate leadership, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Defense Secretary William Perry, along with six of our nation’s premier security experts, spanning Democratic and Republican Administrations, issued a stark warning: “[The] constant barrage of cyber assaults has inflicted severe damage to our national and economic security, as well as to the privacy of individual citizens. The threat is only going to get worse. Inaction is not an acceptable option.”

We agree it is time to take action. To counter these threats, we have introduced the comprehensive, bipartisan Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (PDF). Our bill has several key provisions.

First, it ensures that the systems that control our most critical infrastructure are secured. These are the systems that if breached or manipulated could reasonably lead to mass casualties, evacuations of major population centers, the collapse of financial markets, or degradation of our national security. A competing bill recently introduced in the Senate contains no provisions whatsoever to protect critical infrastructure. That is a major omission.

After identifying these precise systems, the Department of Homeland Security would then work with private-sector owners of these vital systems to develop cybersecurity performance requirements based on risk assessments of those particular industries. Covered entities must meet these performance requirements for specific systems and assets, not for their entire company.

Owners would have the flexibility to meet those performance requirements with whatever cybersecurity measures they choose as long as it achieves the required level of security. DHS will not be picking technological winners and losers, and there is nothing in this bill that would stifle innovation. Leading global information companies have even stated that that this legislation “includes a number of tools that will enhance the nation’s cybersecurity, without interfering with the innovation and development processes of the American IT industry.”

And if a company already has security levels that meet the requirements, it will be exempt, and entities already adequately regulated will receive waivers.

Data sharing between feds, private sector
This bill also establishes mechanisms for information sharing between the private sector and the federal government – and among private sector companies. This is important — computer security experts need to be able to compare notes in order to protect us against the ever-evolving threat. But the bill also creates security measures and oversight to protect privacy and preserve civil liberties.

We have worked hard to address the concerns of privacy and civil liberties advocates and believe our approach offers some of the strongest protections of any proposal being discussed in Congress.

Besides securing critical infrastructure, this bill does several other important things: It provides for a cybersecurity research and development program to further strengthen our computer defenses; improves the security of the federal government’s computer networks by moving to a system of continuous monitoring and “red-teaming” exercises to test for vulnerabilities, and strengthens the federal cybersecurity workforce by making sure we can offer competitive salaries to recruit and retain some of the best minds in the business.

This bipartisan bill has been at least three years in the making, with some 20 hearings held across seven different Senate committees, including at least 13 in our committees: the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, and the Select Intelligence Committee. Homeland Security and Commerce each passed comprehensive cybersecurity bills in the last Congress. We have reached out to industry, academics, and civil liberties, privacy, and security experts for advice. Hundreds of changes have been made to this bill as a result of their input.

There is a myth that earlier versions of this bill contains a “kill switch” that would allow the president to seize control of the Internet. There is nothing remotely like that in this bill.

There is also nothing in this bill that touches on the balance between intellectual property protections and free speech that inflamed public opinion over the proposed “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or the “Protect IP Act.” This legislation will not regulate the design or architecture of the Internet. This bill is focused on protecting our most critical infrastructure systems and assets–those that keep the water flowing, the power on, and the trains running.

September 11 reinforced the need to stay one step ahead of those who would do us harm. Now we must apply those lessons to cybersecurity. If we fail to act, we only increase the likelihood that we will have to cope with the aftermath of a massive cyber attack.”

Why ask a bunch of “nerds” what the right thing to do is?

Republicans can tout it as a (short-term) win for their platform. After a year though, we’ll see if people vote with their wallets or their bibles. An important element of this experiment would be to apply the unused funds toward the deficit, such that the Medicare/Medicaid/Food Stamps/Unemployment/Social Security checks that people would get would be irretrievably gone. Thus, you include deficit magnitude in the conversation (otherwise, there would be the option to let people have the money after a year similar to how federal employees get paid for a government shutdown after it’s over.)

And if people really don’t like entitlements, there’s good reason based on that sentiment to cut them all together and reduce everyone’s taxes. Similarly, if the blue states wish to have state-based entitlements, that’s their prerogative.  However, given that people — such as the Republicans who benefit from federal funds — like their money, I doubt it will come to that point. Rather, I think we might skip over several generations of slow liberalization on entitlements to eventually approach the European safety net. We won’t be Scandinavia but it’ll be better than what we have now.

Of course, this is all conjecture … and a social scientist’s on the shelf experiment.

Red State Socialism

Computers are a low-margin commodity and HP hasn’t provided any impressive designs, performance gains, or prices relative to Dell, Lenovo, and other manufacturers. It also has no mobile strategy in phones or tablets now that WebOS has crashed and burned. It also hasn’t released its vision for IT/enterprise systems and servers or what it plans on doing to become more competitive against Apple and the design bandwagon everyone else is jumping on.

We’ll have to wait and see if they can make this profitable. Right now their money comes from linking to Groupon/LivingSocial and other deal sites that sell something from the venues recommended. There are no ads and there’s no mobile app. Personally, I’m a fan of this approach but unless they get moving, they’re probably going to run out of cash to make this sustainable. Also doesn’t help that they don’t have a sales team.

Anyway, call it typecasting or excess homogenizing but Loku’s basic premise and rational rings true. When I go to Dupont Circle in DC, I’m looking for something upscale; when I go to Adams Morgan, I’m looking for something … downscale; and when I go to Columbia Heights/green line, I’m looking for indie. I’m not sure how I’d classify Arlington but maybe Loku will learn to parse YouTube videos.

Philips LED Living Color

Same goes with LED bulbs, they’re significantly more efficient and last for decades (or over 5 years continuously) but are definitely more expensive than CF or incandescent light bulbs. Now that LEDs are brighter with a wider angle of illumination, they’re probably the future of lighting as we know it. Cool to the touch (no fire hazard) and with a high light quality, they are revolutionizing the home lighting landscape.

Ikea is selling the LED bulbs in Europe now for pretty cheap. A 400 lumen lamp (45 watts) sells for 10€ (less than $13) and 25 watt replacement bulbs sell for 7€ (less than $9). As far as efficiency, the 45 watt bulb consumes 8 watts. This also means that your appliances that have lower wattage limits can take higher watt-equivalent LEDs resulting in more/brighter light (e.g. putting in a 16 watt LED into a 45 watt appliance yields the brightness of a 90 watt bulb).In the U.S., Ikea stopped selling incandescents in January due to the legal mandate to phase them out. Its bulbs now are energy efficient halogens, CF, and several lamps that use LEDs.

As competition increases, prices will start to fall. Already Philips has cut the cost of it’s 60 watt equivalent bulbs by $15 to $25. In India, 60 watt equivalent bulbs are going for less than $15 whereas in the U.S. they go for $24.

Kindle Smartphone Mock Up

Here’s an interesting thought — will Amazon release a smartphone the way it has released a tablet?

In the grand scheme of things, Amazon’s Kindle and subsequent Kindle Fire will likely pay off well for the company. It makes sense to sell them with only a small profit margin, at-cost, or even at a loss because the content will make up the difference. Amazon is betting that people will have the same opinion as this guy I met at a party: “I used to download all sorts of [pirated] stuff like music and movies. Now that I got a Kindle, I’m trying to go legit, though.” With the Kindle Fire being $199, that has to be pretty close to a breaking even cost.

Amazon probably doesn’t want to focus on hardware or even the OS on these things. They’re simply a medium for people to access and buy things from Amazon. Case-in-point, the Fire only makes sense in comparison to a Nook Tablet only if you have a Prime account and don’t have Netflix. (The Prime Instant Streaming is available on the Fire but Netflix looks subpar (unlike on the Nook).) The Fire, however, is a great way to encourage users to consume additional digital media above and beyond books or magazines. Buying or renting anything from its movie and TV show library is a big part of it — this will compete with Apple’s iTunes Store as well as with Netflix current service (though I always imagined it would buy Netflix). It’s also got the Amazon MP3 Store which gives out free promotions for a song or album every few months and comes with Amazon’s Cloud Storage, which brings us to another important aspect. Device capacity is rather low so storing purchases on the cloud also becomes increasingly important.

The catch here is that the Fire does not come with an option for cellular/mobile broadband. I’ve always thought that was unnecessary but if you’re on the go all the time, there’s some merit to being the guy with the 64 GB iPod with your entire music collection on there … or having a data plan to access it. Given that a lot of tablets are used at home, Wi-Fi is ubiquitous. While traveling becomes trickier.

This is where the Amazon Phone comes in. Creating a customized user experience by way of a skinned Android OS and controlling content would offer Amazon another avenue to sell content to users. Consider if they integrated a top-notch bar code scanning app into a prominent place on the phone — any time you picked up any item in a store you could scan it and buy on Amazon for potentially cheaper (or through its Marketplace) or instantly download a movie/song to your Amazon Cloud. This brings brick-and-mortar stores one step closer to obsolescence.

Another interesting thought from the rumor mill: Amazon gives away a free Kindle/Fire/Smartphone to Prime users. Once you have the hardware, you’ll just be itching to get content … from Amazon.