Despite a campaign pledge, the administration has not produced a website to increase government transparency.

Hewlett-Packard announced Thursday that Léo Apotheker will become the company's next chief executive and president starting November 1.

Apotheker suceeds Mark Hurd at the helm of the world's largest computer manufacter after Hurd resigned last month over improprieties concerning his expense account and an HP contractor. He joined Oracle earlier this month as co-president, prompting a lawsuit and subsequent settlement with HP in which he waived any remaining compensation due to him as part of his severance agreement.

Apotheker spent more than 20 years at SAP, where he served as chief executive and helped it become a major force in the market for business software applications. The German software firm enjoyed 18 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in software revenue under his leadership between 2004 and 2009, according to a statement from HP.

“Léo is a strategic thinker with a passion for technology, wide-reaching global experience and proven operational discipline – exactly what we were looking for in a CEO,” said Robert Ryan, a member of HP's board of directors. “After more than two decades in the industry, he has a strong track record of driving technological innovation, building customer relationships and developing world-class teams.”

Oracle's hiring of Hurd has prompted speculation the two firms will butt heads as the industry's focus shifts from producing hardware to selling cloud-based storage and services. HP outbid rival Dell for the data storage firm 3PAR last month in order to gain a foothold in the high-end data storage market. Read more...

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.)'s bill would require carriers to notify customers when they are close to exceeding their monthly allotment of calls and messages.

Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), who is the ranking Republican on the House Oversight committee, surprised Twitter followers this week with a new avatar — and it's not just another campaign headshot.

The photo shows an MS Paint-style stick-figure wearing a policeman's cap and standing next to the Capitol Building (see photo below).

According to Oversight GOP spokesman Seamus Kraft, the character is Officer Terry Transparency of the Oversight Police.

A joke? Kraft explains.

"Terry was drawn up by the team here at Oversight Productions — for the video and other visuals, as well as for the boss' Twitter avatar," he wrote in an email. "Officer Transparency and his partner [shown in related videos], in their humorous and ironic way, have helped GOP Team Oversight fill the accountability gap between the oversight we were promised by Congressional Democrats and the lack of oversight going on today."

The office has produced two videos so far — "The Case of the Math-Challenged Treasury Secretary" and "The Case of the Schizo Strategy" — which play off classic noir detective films to show stick-figured "Transparency" and his partner, Joe Thursday, sleuthing for Issa, who they call their boss.

"Will you make my little twigs pay your bill?" Transparency, in pitchy falsetto, asks Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at one point.

"When a Mickey-Mouse voiced stick figure is holding the Obama administration more accountable to the American people than you [Congressional Democrats] are, it's a tough day at the office," Kraft said.

He added that Issa has "gotten some good feedback" following the avatar change, but that one blog wasn't so favorable.

"@DarrellIssa Seriously, we're all about creating Twitter photos with MS Paint but yours is ridiculous," tweeted HuffPostHill.

AT&T issued a statement on Thursday conceding that rules it has long worked to undermine would make acceptable public policy. 

Under a compromise brokered by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.), AT&T would have swallowed net-neutrality rules including some for wireless services. 

As a public position this appears to be more moderate than stances the company has taken before when it comes to rules for mobile operators. 

It is also more moderate than stances the wireless industry group CTIA has taken. CTIA has said no wireless net neutrality rules can be tolerated at all, and AT&T is a leading member of the group.

Even longtime net-neutrality advocate Google seemed to concede last month that it did not seem possible to extract a compromise on wireless rules from major Internet service providers. It proposed a net neutrality regulatory regime that almost entirely exempted wireless services. 

Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called the April court decision that found the FCC lacks the authority to impose net neutrality a "temporary setback" and said she is confident the Commission can develop rules that would preserve the open Internet.

Clyburn said the Court of Appeals decision in a case brought by Comcast may have cast doubt on the FCC's ability to regulate broadband Internet access, but she remains confident the Commission will be able to meet its goals of preserving the Web's current open framework and extending broadband access to all Americans.

"A recent court decision seems to have placed limits on the Commission’s power to implement some of these much needed initiatives, but perhaps it is the optimist in me. I just do not see this decision as a permanent setback," Clyburn said during a speech in Washington on Wednesday.

"Rather, we must think long and carefully about the policies that we seek to implement. With the Court’s decision in the Comcast case, our nation needs to work extra hard, to develop legally sound rules in order to preserve the open Internet," she said, adding that the Commission will continue to fight to preserve net neutrality on all platforms including cable, wire-line, wireless or anything else.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called on the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the agency more power to regulate Internet service providers. 

He has previously said that if Congress failed to address open Internet issues this month, the FCC should move. Congressional talks broke down on Wednesday.

“It is now time for FCC to reclassify broadband Internet access under Title II," he said. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s "‘Third Way’ proposal would ensure that the Internet retains the features that have made it the most successful communications and commercial medium in history."

Echoing statements by Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D. W.Va.), he said it is "clear that Congress is unlikely to legislate in this area this year."

With that in mind, Markey said, "the FCC should move forward to implement this vitally important proposal.”

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) urged the Federal Communications Commission to act immediately to increase its authority over Internet service providers.

The comments came on Thursday, a day after a compromise effort to resolve the issue broke down in the House. 

Dorgan said action is needed "now," and said his statement was a response to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's (Calif.) similar entreaty on Wednesday. He sees Waxman's statement as "welcome news."

Calling the country "woefully inequipped" to teach students about science and math, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) introduced a bill Wednesday that would create an office to oversee federal efforts in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

As a former science teacher and educator for over 30 years, Honda said America is lagging behind other developed nations in technical fields and needs better coordination among stakeholders to improve outcomes. His comments echo those from President Obama on Monday when he announced the White House will be attempting to recruit and train 10,000 new STEM teachers over the next two years.

"While our STEM workforce begins to retire, too few students are motivated and prepared to replace them. American students consistently display lower scores on most STEM-related assessments," Honda said in an editorial published by The Hill on Thursday. "This occurs because our current federal efforts in STEM education are neither coordinated, nor coherent, nor cooperative. Agencies involved in STEM education efforts are often unaware of what is being done or what has already been done."

Honda's bill would create an Office of STEM in the Department of Education at the assistant-secretary level in charge of coordinating all federal efforts to boost STEM education. It would also establish a voluntary consortium where states can collaborate to develop common standards for STEM in K-12 education. Finally, there will be a repository where educators can research the lastest innovations in STEM. Read more...