The White House recently hosted a “Stakeholder Meeting with Physicians” as part of a healthcare policy debate.  What made this debate different was that the debate was broadcasted on Facebook allowing the social network users to contribute to the discussion in a chat room format.

CNN did this with Facebook on Inauguration Day back in January as well.  The White House called this initiative citizen involvement.  ”An aide from the White House Office of Health Reform will also be keeping track of the chat and letting the participants in the meeting know what people are talking about,” stated The White House Blog.

The White House stated that there will be similar events like this broadcasted on Facebook in the future as well.  Giving users the ability to be heard empowers them.

[via Mashable]

The Motorola i856 with a simple keypad, 2.2″ display, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities, microSD, and PTT support has been cleared through the FCC.  Now it is going to make its way to the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Motorola’s proprietary two-way radio system service.  After that Boost Mobile customers will be able to start purchasing the phone for their network.

[via BGR/FCC]

Jammie Thomas of Minnesota was found liable for 24 acts of copyright infringement with damages worth $1.92 million.  Jammie had a new trial and a new lawyer after she was unable to pay her previous lawyer.  The copyright material belonged to four major record labels.

Kiwi Camara was Thomas’ lawyer in the case and he was angry when he found out there was an $80,000 per song damage awarded to the labels.  He believed that $750 per song was more reasonable.  Thomas was shocked by the verdict but believed the jury did their job.

“I’m not going to hold it against them.” added Thomas but said that the recording industry probably won’t end up getting the money.  ”Good luck trying to get it from me… it’s like squeezing blood from a turnip.”

However RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth said that the recording industry was willing to settle on the case.  A proposed settlement has not yet been made.  Camara and Harvard professor Charles Nesson still plan on filing a class-action lawsuit against the RIAA.

[via Ars Technica]

Apparently there is a way to enable tethering by modifying the code on the iPhone OS 3.0.  If you are going to pursue this, I can only say it is at your own risk and I do not claim responsibility for what happens after.  Read this whole post before getting started as there are two ways to get er’ done.

CrunchGear has a tutorial of how it works:
1. Download the carrier update from here.
2. Type this into the terminal:
- defaults write com.apple.iTunes
- carrier-testing -bool TRUE

After that start up iTunes and click the Restore button.  Select the ipcc file in the disk image.  After the restoration is complete, there will be an Internet Tethering option under the network section.

Another way to turn on tethering is by going to the link: http://help.benm.at/help.php on the phone browser.  The steps on that website tell you how to set up and download tethering abilities through the phone.

[via CrunchGear]

I Love Rewards is an online employee rewards and recognition website that offers sales incentives.  Some of their clients include Marriott, Bell, ConAgra, and Microsoft.  The company has announced $1.6 million in extended Series B funding from Ontario Venture Capital Fund.

The $1.8 million is an addition to the earlier Series B round in May by GrandBanks Capital, JLA Ventures, and Laurence Capital.  The total Series B round of funding was $7.7 million including the extended round.  Between the Series A and Series B rounds, I Love Reward has raised $13.6 million.

I Love Rewards has grown about 187% in gross billings and a 253% growht in their customer base.

[via TopNews.us]

Laptop Magazine has just tested and reviewed the Toshiba mini NB205 netbook and it turns out that it “breaks the mold.”  One of the reasons why the NB205 gets credit is because there is only so many things that a manufacturing company can do with a 10″ to make it stand out.

The specs of the Mini NB205 include an Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, Windows XP Home, and 8.5 hour battery life.  The price is about $399.  The lid of the notebook is available in Royal Blue, Posh Pink, and Frost White.  The rest of the finish is in silver.  Later on Toshiba will offer a $349 price for a Black Onyx color.

Another way that the Mini NB205 stands out is because of the metal island keyboard.  This is a pretty similar structure to how Apple has their keyboard setup on MacBooks and iMac keyboards.

[via LaptopMag/Engadget]

LG has announced a new phone called the Aigen LG-GM730 phone earlier this week, powered by Windows Mobile.  The S-Class 3D user interface will be built on top of the WinMo 6.1 operating system to make the phone more user-friendly.  The Aigen also features a 3″ WQVGA touchscreen display, aGPS, FM radio tuner, WiFi, 5 megapixel camera, and auto-focus.  The phone is 11.9 mm thick.  The phone is available in black, chrome, and pink colors.  The phone is available in Korea as of right now, but price hasn’t been announced yet.

[via BoyGeniusReport]

Last year Peter Hoekstra tweeted about his missions in Iraq and even said he’d do it again.  This time Hoekstra has gotten more attention by comparing Twitter’s activity in Iran to when the Republicans had used Twitter to show their spite against Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the decision to adjourn Congress.

“Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House,” stated Hoekstra on Twitter.  After making that odd comparison comment, lots of people chimed in to make fun of Hoekstra.  Below is a list of some of the witty disses that were made.  C’mon Hoekstra, you’re embarrassing some of us in Michigan with the random comparisons.

- ArjunJaikumar: “@petehoekstra i spilled some lukewarm coffee on myself just now, which is somewhat analogous to being boiled in oil.”
- luckbfern @petehoekstra I stand in solidarity with the oppressed rich white men of Repub Party in the House. #GOPfail Allah Akbar!
- chrisbaskind @petehoekstra My neighbor stopped me to talk today. Now I know what it is like to be questioned by the Basij!
- netw3rk @petehoekstra Someone walked in on me while I was in the bathroom. Reminded me of Pearl Harbor.
- MattOrtega Walked out onto Constitution Ave in D.C. and was almost hit by a taxi. Reminded me of Tienanmen Square.
- TahirDuckett @petehoekstra ran through the sprinklers this morning, claimed solidarity with victims of Hurricane Katrina
- tharodge @petehoekstra maybe now is a good time to reconsider whether you are ready for national politics?

To be fair I’ll clarify what Hoekstra meant in his tweet.  His office said that he wasn’t comparing the two situations literally, but intended to talk about the benefits of technology.  Given all the witty disses that were made, I’d highly recommend to everyone that has lots of followers, Think Before You Tweet!

[via TalkingPointsMemo]