It’s election time. This year’s election is very different from any in the past. It’s not just what’s at stake. It’s the way that we’re presented with the information that’s truly changed. The cloud, for better or for worse, is powering this election. Do you think it’s better or worse now? Rackspace® — Election 2012: Powered By The Cloud [INFOGRAPHIC] * * * “Cloud” image courtesy of Shutterstock….

Intellectual property refers to creations made by the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized in law form. Under intellectual property laws, owners have rights to intangible assets such as literary, artistic and musical works; as well as inventions and discoveries. In the United States, Intellectual property accounts for 20% of U.S. GDP and nearly 40% of U.S. economic growth. So, what are we doing to protect these rights? SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) were created to help protect others. However, the cons of the bills would be an increase…

Today’s world in America is one dominated by the mobilization of technology. So it’s only fitting that even the Presidential election be looked at from a mobile standpoint. With 88 percent of registered voters owning some type of mobile phone and about half of that number owning a smartphone, keeping up with this years Presidential election can be done in various ways. Over 35% 0f the total U.S mobile audience has access to some form of social network on their phone. Over half those people either posted a comment about a candidate’s campaign or either read someone else’s post either on Twitter, Facebook or…

There’s a storm brewing. Several, actually. With Sandy and a handful of other storms converging over different parts of the United States in the next few days, it’s possible that there will be power outages and heavy rains across the country right before and even on election day on November 6th. It’s a long shot; the majority of the fiercest weather is expected to have passed by then. Still, it’s worth noting particularly when swing states such as Ohio are expected to be impacted by the storms as can be seen in the map above from the Star Journal. In fact a 2007 study at The Journal of Politics concluded,…

The Romney campaign announced today that those who download the “Mitt’s VP” app for iOS and Android will be the first to know who his choice is for running mate in the upcoming presidential election. The app will push the name of the GOP vice presidential nominee directly to mobile devices as soon as word comes out from Romney campaign headquarters. “The first official way to learn the name of the Republican vice presidential candidate is by using our new ‘Mitt’s VP’ app,” said Romney digital director Zac Moffatt in a statement. “Users of the app will be the first to get the news on the biggest…

Today is a different world when it comes to political campaigns. A decade or two ago given the same candidates of today with the same scenarios but a less-prevalent internet, Ron Paul would be in single-digits in the early primaries and Rick Perry (and possibly Herman Cain) would still be alive and well. Mitt Romney would have a commanding lead and Santorum would have placed 3rd or 4th in Iowa instead of winning it. The internet has completely changed the way that candidates get their message out. It has completely changed the virility of news and opinions. It has completely changed the impact of…

With Iowa deciding on their choice for GOP candidate tomorrow, Google’s timing is much better this election season to roll out their political news and trends trackers at Google Elections. In 2008, they had a similar offering but didn’t release it until just before the conventions. The Dashboard above is, according to Frederic Lardinois of Silicon Filter, “the most interesting aspect of the site.” It displays side-by-side comparisons of searches for each individual candidate over the last 7 days and allows users to expand the graphic to drill down to individual dates. The “On the Ground” view…

Most would admit that President Obama did a phenomenal job of working social media during his presidential campaign in 2008. Twitter and Facebook were all a good portion of his campaign even back then when social media was still in its infancy. It’s debatable whether it had an effect or not, but things are different for 2012. Social media will have an effect on next year’s election. Bank on it. How do the current GOP candidates stack up against each other on social media? Twitter can be a good indication of effort and focus as well as sentiment when it comes to political social media. Here, we’ll take…

Today wasn’t so incredibly different from any other day: I woke up, I ate breakfast, I checked my RSS feeds, I logged into Facebook, Facebook told me I should vote, Facebook told me some of my friends had already voted, and Facebook told me that over 2.2 million other Facebook users voted. Okay, so today is election day — Facebook is making that fact well known — but could Facebook be one of the most powerful motivators to get out and vote? Maybe! At the time of this writing, 2,202,404 people have already told Facebook that they have gone out and voted, and we can’t help but wonder how many of those 2.2…

It’s a big day for democracy, albeit all the way over in jolly old England. It’s time for the UK General election, and the world should be paying attention – we need to know the name of the guy who will have his lips pressed to the US President’s buttocks for the next four years. What’s new this time around is the way technology, particularly social media is being used to track and monitor up-to-the-minute news about the election. UK Facebook users should see an ‘I Voted’ button which will add an item to your profile to let people know how you voted. The Guardian newspaper has created a Twitter Mashup Map…