The U.S. financial overhaul bill signed last Friday by House and Senate negotiators, has a provision that would highlight the use of ” conflict minerals ” by makers of computers, cell phones and other electronics. The Dodd-Frank bill will require companies to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission the nature and origin of some of the materials they use in creating their products. These minerals are used much in the same way “blood diamonds” were, by strong men and rebels to finance brutal wars and massacres. Sponsor Minerals affected by the bill include the following. + Tantalum: stores electricity in cell phones + Tungsten: creations vibrations in phones + Tin: circuit boards + Gold: used to coat wiring Of the countries involved in the sale of conflict materials, none has been so woefully affected as Congo , according to the anti-genocide group Enough . 5.4 million deaths, countless rapes and mutilations have been fueled by the country’s mineral resources over the past decade and a half. The groups fighting each other, primarily in the eastern part of the country, make $180 million off the four minerals listed above. Instead of fighting against this legislation, any of the major computer or cell phone manufacturers could come out against it. This would have few negatives in exchange for some titanic PR. Oh, and maybe fewer people would die too. We have a request for comments in to Steve Jobs. We will let you know if he responds. Photos from the Grassroots Reconciliation Group , devoted to helping ex-child soldiers. Discuss

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At 8pm ET tonight, President Obama plans to address the nation about the BP oil spill from the Oval Office. In addition, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs will also answer questions from YouTube users right after the president’s address. If you would like to submit your own questions, head over to the White House’s YouTube page . Just like during earlier events, the White House is using Google Moderator to collect these questions. YouTube users can then vote which questions they would like Gibbs to answer tonight. Sponsor You can ask questions by leaving a short text message on Google Moderator. You can also attach a YouTube video to your question. Given that YouTube and the White House only announced this event today, it definitely looks like this was a last-minute effort to get the public involved. Topics for the event include BP accountability, Gulf Region recovery, the cleanup plan and the environmental impact of the spill. Even though this event was only announced about an hour ago, questions are already streaming in at a rapid pace. Earlier this month, Google, in cooperation with the PBS Newshour , also enlisted the public’s help in collecting the best ideas for stopping the spill and cleaning of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Over 15,000 people submitted their ideas at that time and over 100,000 Google users voted on these ideas. Discuss

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The state legislature in the U.S. state of Louisiana has passed a law adding extra time for committing a crime with an online Map. Senate Bill No. 151 adds at least one year to the sentence of any criminal found guilty of using an “Internet, virtual, street-level map” like Google Maps with Street View to commit a crime. “‘Internet, virtual, street-level map’ means any map or image that contains the picture or pictures of homes, buildings, or people that are taken and dispensed, electronically, over the Internet or by a computer network, where the picture can be accessed by entering the address of the home, building, or person.” Sponsor Nola , a New Orleans-based online news site attached to the Times-Picayune, reports that a burglar is liable to get a lot less extra time than a terrorist. “Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, who handled Adley’s bill on the House floor, said that if the map is used in an act of terrorism, the legislation requires a judge to impose an additional minimum sentence of at least 10 years onto the terrorist act.” Worries about terrorist use of the Internet , including maps , has never been far from the headlines since the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The additional penalty, according to the bills wording, is to be served consecutively, not concurrently, with “the sentence imposed for the underlying offense.” Top photo by Byron Gosline Bottom photo by Ken Lund Discuss

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Two pieces of legislation of particular interest to the startup community continue to wind their way through Congress: Senator Lugar and Kerry’s Startup Visa Act and Senator Dodd’s Financial Reform bill. We’ve written about both here before. Sponsor Restoring American Financial Stability Act The Restoring American Financial Stability Act passed the US Senate on May 20 and now heads to conference committee to reconcile the differences between the House and the Senate versions. The investor and startup community have long been concerned about the contents of Senator Dodd’s financial reform bill, as it would erect several barriers to funding by changing the requirements for investor and business registration. In the final Senate version, some of the parts most troubling to investors and startups were removed from the bill, including the provision that would require 120-day waiting period for state regulators to review any investment deal. The new income and net worth requirements for angel investors are still in place, but these will not increase with inflation. The SEC will review accredited investors every four years. An amendment to the bill was accepted, expressly aimed to protect angel investment. Liddy Karter, chairman of the AngelCapital Association (ACA) said in a press release , the amendment “ensures that entrepreneurs will more easily be able to raise angel capital and more accredited investors can continue making the angel investments they love to make.” Startup Visa Act Senator Kerry and Lugar’s Startup Visa Act is also in committee. Introduced in February, the Startup Visa Act will help foreign-born entrepreneurs secure visas. The proposed legislation will change the current requirements that now says investors from other countries must have $1 million in capital in order to get a visa to start a business in the US. The Startup Visa Act, supported by a number of investors, includingEric Ries, Dave McClure, Shervin Pishevar, Brad Feld, Paul Kedrosky, Manu Kumar, & Fred Wilson, proposed that non-US born entrepreneurs could get a visa as long as they had funding from a US investor. Although the bill is in committee, Dave McClure did have an impromptu meeting with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, urging her support for the legislation. Her staff, reports McClure, will follow up. As research shows, young high-growth businesses generate a substantial number of new jobs, an argument that startups and investors will be sure to make as legislators debate the outcome of these two important bills. Discuss

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I am moderating a discussion about podcasting this morning at the Webvisions conference here in Portland. My interest in podcasting these days centers around how cloud computing is affecting the medium so I thought it would be fun to explore the issue with the podcasters assembled for the event. But, first, how about you? How is podcasting being affected by the advent of cloud computing? I will be asking questions from the online audience. To ask a question, please comment here or use he tag #wv2010. You may also direct questions to the Twitter account: @podcasthotel . Sponsor So, what are the factors in the cloud that affect podcasting? Here are a few top level views. Collaboration Services allow for deeper levels of collaboration on everything from commenting to the actual production of a show. Wikis, distributed social networks and even production tools provide a level of collaboration in the cloud that did not really exist back in the early days. For example, Garage Band has a number of Web counterparts such as Ohm Studio . Ohm is designed for music production but as Podcasting News points out, it can easily be used to develop podcasts, too. Storage The cloud provides a number of options for storing media. Cloud services can sync files, keeping them in the cloud at minimal cost. This serves as us one way to keep costs down. Amazon, for instance, offers, CloudFron t. From Amazon: Amazon CloudFront delivers your static and streaming content using a global network of edge locations. Requests for your objects are automatically routed to the nearest edge location, so content is delivered with the best possible performance. Amazon CloudFront works seamlessly with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) which durably stores the original, definitive versions of your files. Like other Amazon Web Services, there are no contracts or monthly commitments for using Amazon CloudFront – you pay only for as much or as little content as you actually deliver through the service. Dynamic Range As Josh Bancroft says, it’s the ability to use media anywhere, any time on any device. And that provides flexibility and a greater dynamic range of hardware capabilities. That means Josh can justify a 17-inch MacBook Pro he keep at his house but an access any media from his iPad or iPhone. Where before, in a device centric world he would have had to compromise on what gave him more portability. Podcasting is going through some interesting changes. The business is more viable and in part that is due to the lower costs and greater distribution that social networking provides. Discuss

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