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United States Vice President Joe Biden did an interview with Meet The Press this morning where he talked about Julian Assange. In the interview, the Vice President compared Assange to a “high-tech terrorist.” Vice President Biden also said that the Justice Department is looking into how to prevent more documents from leaking on WikiLeaks. [BusinessInsider]

Joe Biden was visiting Israel and there was no way for The White House to stream a speech that he was giving at Tel Aviv University.  So he decided to use web streaming service called Justin.tv.  The reason why Joe Biden’s use of Justin.tv is interesting is because some users have live-streamed shows and events which led to potential copyright infringement cases.  In November 2008, police investigators had to investigate Justin.tv because a man committed suicide live on the service.  [TechDirt]

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Michigan earlier this week to announce over $1 billion in grants for companies developing batteries made for electric vehicles.  Michigan will get the largest portion of a $2.4 billion package in federal grants.  VP Joe Biden announced the grant at the NextEnergy facility in Detroit, Michigan.

The grant will be made through the U.S. Department of Energy out of a total $787 billion stimulus program that was approved by the Obama administration.  The stimulus grants will be split among about 50 projects across 25 states.  The biggest shares will be given to the state of Michigan and the state of Indiana.  About 11 Michigan manufacturing and research facilities itself will be receiving grants.

“We know that, even in the hardest times, against the toughest odds, we have never surrendered. We don’t give up,” said President Obama on a factory floor at an RV maker in northern Indiana.  “We don’t surrender our fates to chance. We have always endured. We have worked hard, and we have fought for our future.”

The big three automotive companies in Michigan will receive over $400 million to develop hybrid and electric vehicles along with batteries.  The following Michigan battery companies have been selected to receive about $850 million in grant money:
- A123 Systems in Romulus, MI
- LG Chem and Compact Power Inc. in Troy, MI
- KD Advanced Battery Manufacturing Group LLC
- Johnson-Controls-SAFT Advanced Power Solutions LLC
- Sakti3 in Ann Arbor, MI

All of the battery companies are expected to create 6,800 jobs within the next year to 18 months.  About 30,000 jobs can be created by 2020.

[via Crain's Detroit Business]