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Blog Category: Video

Secretary Locke to Host White House Asian American and Pacific Islander Web Chat

Secretary Locke, AAPI Executive Director Kiran Ahuja and White House aide with laptop computer. Click for larger image. (Courtesy of the White House)

Image: White House video

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke hosted a live Web chat today to discuss important issues affecting the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Locke is co-chair of The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and was joined by Executive Director Kiran Ahuja for the Web chat. President Barack Obama proclaimed May 2010, as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The video will be available on www.whitehouse.gov/video. (Presidential proclamation)

Commerce's NOAA Tracks Ash from Iceland Volcano

Image of video screen. Click to go to video clip.

Credit: NOAA/EUMESTAT/NASA

The eruption of a volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier of Iceland on Wednesday, April 14, sent ripple effects around the globe as it halted international flights to and from Northern Europe. Airborne volcanic ash posed a threat to jet engines, and to prevent disaster, air traffic controllers grounded planes. From the earliest moments of the eruption, a global network of Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers began monitoring the ash plume and the appropriate centers issued advisories about flow of the ash through the atmosphere. There are nine such centers, each responsible for a defined geographic region. (More) (Video clip) (Image of ash cloud)

Secretary Locke Attends President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) Meeting, Livestream from White House Toda

White House meeting

Image: White House video

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke will join Vice President Joe Biden, Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg, White House officials and PERAB members at the exports-focused meeting hosted by President Barack Obama. The meeting will address a range of economic issues, including job creation, financial reform and the President’s proposal to double the number of exports over the next five years. (On-demand video)

50th Anniversary of the Satellite that "Forever Changed Weather Forecasting"

One of the first satellite images. Click for a full version.

Fifty years ago today, the world’s first weather satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and opened a new and exciting dimension in weather forecasting. Top leaders from Commerce’s NOAA and NASA hailed the milestone as an example of their agencies’ strong partnership and commitment to flying the best satellites today and beyond. The first image from the satellite, known as TIROS-1, was a fuzzy picture of thick bands and clusters of clouds over the United States. An image captured a few days later revealed a typhoon about 1,000 miles east of Australia. TIROS-1, a polar-orbiting satellite, weighed 270 pounds and carried two cameras and two video recorders. (More)

Secretary Locke Appears on "The Daily Show," Discusses 2010 Census

Locke and Stewart shown during interview. Click for larger image of screenshot.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke appeared on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” and discussed the 2010 Census now underway. In the interview, Locke noted that the census is completely confidential. Information provided to the Census Bureau is protected by law from being shared with other federal, state and local agencies. Even the provisions of the Patriot Act do not override census privacy protections. He also noted that for every one percent increase in the number of people who mail back their census forms, taxpayers save about $85 million. (Video clip part 1, part 2)

Secretary Locke Participates in White House Web Chat to Discuss National Export Initiative

Video clip of Web chat.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke took questions from the public on exports, the economy and the President’s National Export Initiative online at Whitehouse.gov/live today. Questions came from the discussion itself, but members of the public were also encouraged to submit their questions ahead of time via Twitter by sending a message to @SecLocke or emailing open[at]doc[dot]gov. Locke also announced an unprecedented schedule of upcoming international trade missions. (Web chat) (Trade missions release) (List of trade missions—PDF) (NEI Executive order)

Secretary Locke Unveils Details of the National Export Initiative

Locke gesturing with hands from podium. Click for larger image.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke unveiled details of President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) today. During last week’s State of the Union speech, the president announced a goal of doubling exports over the next five years to support two million jobs in America. Locke detailed how the Export Initiative will help the country reach that goal—providing more funding, more focus and more cabinet-level coordination to grow U.S. exports. The NEI represents the first time the United States will have a government-wide export-promotion strategy with focused attention from the president and his Cabinet. (More) (Remarks) (C-SPAN video, 1:00 p.m. EST)

Secretary Locke Reports on Commerce Department's 2009 Successes, 2010 Plans

Image capture of Locke and video player. Click to go to Cabinet reports page for video links.

In a new video collage on the White House Web site, Secretary Gary Locke reports back to the American people on everything the U.S. Department of Commerce has accomplished in the first year of the Obama administration and its goals for the year ahead. “Like the President,” Secretary Locke notes, in 2010, “we will be working every day to ensure that every American who wants a job can get one.” The collage also features video of all of the other Cabinet Heads discussing the success and futures of their own departments and agencies. (Video Cabinet agency reports)

Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship Now Accepting Nominations for Delegates

Image of video screen. Click to go to entrepreneurship Web site.

In his June “A New Beginning” speech in Cairo, President Obama announced that the U.S. will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship to identify how we can deepen ties between those focused on advancing entrepreneurship in Muslim communities around the world. Today, the Commerce Department’s new Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship begins accepting nominations for delegates to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship on its website, http://www.entrepreneurship.gov/summit. (More)

New Computer Security Guide Can Help Safeguard Small Businesses

Image of video player. Click to watch a new NIST video explaining the reasons why small businesses should be concerned about safeguarding the information on their computers.

Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a guide to help small businesses and organizations understand how to provide basic security for their information, systems and networks. Small Business Information Security: The Fundamentals,by Richard Kissel, teaches computer security to groups of small business owners ranging from tow truck operators to managers of hospitals, small manufacturers and nonprofit organizations. The 20-page guide uses simple, clear language to walk small business owners through the steps necessary to secure their computer systems and data. (More) (Video page) (Guide)

Secretary Locke Joins President Obama for Health Insurance Reform Rally in Maryland

Screen capture image of White House video showing Obama with students and faculty behind him.

Image courtesy White House Web site video

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke joined President Barack Obama at the University of Maryland for a rally on health insurance reform. Locke described how health insurance reform will impact American businesses, the economy, and ultimately the job market students will enter after graduation. President Obama discussed what’s at stake for the American people in this debate, why we need health insurance reform and why we need to act now. The president’s plan has two goals: to bring stability and security to Americans who have insurance today, and affordable coverage to those who don’t. (More event coverage) (Presidential remarks)

Secretary Locke Joins Virginia First Lady Holton and Richmond Mayor Jones to Promote Department of Education Initiative

Students and officials watch President's broadcast speech. Click for larger image.

As children across America went back to school today, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, joined by First Lady of Virginia, Anne Holton and Mayor Dwight C. Jones, visited the Linwood Holton Elementary School in Richmond, Va., to participate in “We Are What We Learn,” a U.S. Department of Education initiative launched to challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning. Locke, Holton and Jones joined students to watch a live broadcast of President Obama’s national education address. (Video of President’s Address) (Remarks)

Secretary Locke Talks Health Insurance Reform with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's "Closing Bell"

Image of video screenshot. Click for interview.

CNBC Video

Secretary Gary Locke appeared on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” to talk about why health insurance reform is critical for American businesses. Continuing the discussion from his op-ed in The Wall Street Journal last week, Locke stressed that the status quo will prevent companies from growing, result in more Americans losing their health coverage and cripple the U.S. economy in the long term. Rising health care costs have put U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage and contributed to flat wages, as more and more revenues are going toward the cost of health care. Reform is critical and will result in greater efficiency and smarter delivery of care, Locke said. (Video)

Secretaries Locke, Napolitano and Sebelius Announce Flu Season Guidance for Business and Employers

Cabinet secretaries on stage anouncing guidelines. Click for video of press conference.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius held a joint news conference to announce new federal guidelines to help employers and businesses prepare for and respond to the upcoming flu season. The event is part of the federal government’s continuing efforts to prepare Americans for an influenza season that will include the H1N1 flu. Rear Admiral Stephen Redd from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Labor Deputy Secretary Seth Harris will also be on hand to answer questions. (More on Guidance) (Press Conference Video)

NOAA Reports GOES-14 Spacecraft Shows First Image

The spacecraft is transported to the launch site on large truck beds. Click for larger image.

NASA Photo

NOAA’s newest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) took its first full-disc visible image on July 27 at 2 p.m. EDT. GOES-14 joins three other operational NOAA GOES spacecraft that help the agency’s forecasters track life-threatening weather and solar activity that can impact the satellite-based electronics and communications industry. The satellites continuously provide observations of 60 percent of the Earth including the continental U.S., providing weather monitoring and forecast operations as well as a continuous and reliable stream of environmental information and severe weather Warnings. (More Photos and NASA Video of Launch)

NIST's LIDAR May Offer Peerless Precision in Remote Measurements

Image of Earth, Mars, the Moon and  and the sun. Click for video.

By combining the best of two different distance measurement approaches with a super-accurate technology called an optical frequency comb, researchers at Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a laser ranging system that can pinpoint multiple objects with nanometer precision over distances up to 100 kilometers. The novel LIDAR (“light detection and ranging”) system could have applications from precision manufacturing lines on Earth to maintaining networks of satellites in perfect formation, creating a giant space-based platform to search for new planets. (More) (Video)

Nanosoccer Robots Ready to Compete in Upcoming RoboCup Games

YouTube video clip of nanosoccer. Click to view 2008 video.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be serving up “soccer under glass”—the glass of a microscope lens—when nanosoccer makes its second appearance at the RoboCup games at the international competition in Graz, Austria, from June 29 to July 5, 2009. Nanosoccer is a Lilliputian event where computer-driven “nanobots” the size of dust mites challenge one another on fields no bigger than a grain of rice. Viewed under a microscope, the nanobots are operated by remote control and move in response to changing magnetic fields or electrical signals transmitted across the microsized arena. (More)

Secretary Locke Kicks Off President Obama's 'United We Serve' Initiative with Visit to Homeless Shelter

Secretary Locke is shown reading to children with Rep. Harry Mitchell. Photo courtesy Tracy Hayes. Click for larger image.

Photo courtesy Tracy Hayes, A New Leaf

In an effort to inspire Americans to serve their communities, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited a homeless shelter in Mesa, Ariz. as part of the President’s summer service initiative, ‘United We Serve,’ focusing on four key areas: energy and the environment, health care, education and community renewal. Locke joined other senior officials in the Obama administration, including fellow Cabinet members and the First Lady, who participated in service projects on Monday in communities across the country. Locke is shown with Ariz. Rep. Harry E. Mitchell, reading to children at the shelter. The initiative will continue through the National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11th. (President Obama’s Video on ‘United We Serve’)

One Day Until DTV Transition

On the eve of an historic technological transition to digital television, the focus for the two federal agencies managing the switch is on helping Americans who are at risk of losing their TV signals. The digital TV (DTV) transition began over two decades ago as engineers set an ambitious technological goal: moving broadcast television into the digital age. Efficient digital technology would provide consumers with a better picture and sound and more channels, while at the same time clearing valuable airwaves to meet the explosive demand for advanced wireless services, including first-responder radio. (More) (6-10 C-SPAN White House video and Transcript)