Category Archives: Technology

NEWS RELEASE

SIMCOE COUNTY DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

************************* Students in Grades 4 to 12 from schools across Simcoe County will showcase their skills at the annual Simcoe County Regional Science and Technology Fair. This fair will feature the best exhibits from participating schools.

The event on Apr.7 and 8 is an exhibition of students innovations, experiments and studies. The Fair takes place at Bear Creek Secondary School, located at 100 Red Oak Dr. in Barrie.

The event schedule is as follows:

Fri. Apr.7 4:30 - 6 p.m.: registration and set-up 6:30 - 9 p.m.: divisional judging

Sat. Apr.8 9 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.: special award judging 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.: public viewing 12 - 1 p.m.: lunch break 1 - 2 p.m.: science presentation 2:30 - 4 p.m.: awards

Students, teachers, parents and the general public are invited to attend this event to learn more about science and technology in Simcoe County District School Board schools.

The top exhibits from this fair will represent Simcoe County at the Canada Wide Science Fair held May 14 to 20 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Information: http://www.simcoecountyrstf.ca

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Students to showcase their skills at Science and Technology Fair - BarrieToday

Hope, fear and inspiration

In 2012, Kurt Workman was a full-time chemical engineering major at Brigham Young University. Kurts aunt had just had twins, prematurely, so he and his wife were lending a helping hand whenever they could. They saw firsthand the constant worry Kurts aunt shouldered. They wanted to start a family of their own soon, but Kurt knew that with his wifes congenital heart defects, they could face similar challenges and plenty of their own sleepless nights. In addition, Kurts cousin had previously lost a baby to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).

Around the same time, Kurt was exposed to a clinically proven technology used by hospitals called pulse oximetry through a friend who worked as a nurse at University of Utah Medical Center. A pulse oximeter is the clip-on device hospitals often put on a patients finger, which uses wavelengths of light to measure both heart rate and oxygen levels in the blood.

That was all the inspiration Kurt needed for the genesis of Owlet and its breakthrough product: the Smart Sock, a health monitor for newborns to wear at home, designed to notify parents if heart rate and oxygen levels fall outside preset zones, helping give anxious parents peace of mind. A coincidental run-in with fellow BYU student and electrical engineering major Zack Bomsta, himself a new dad, helped solidify the trajectory these budding entrepreneurs would take.

Together, Kurt and Zack, with their other co-founders, developed their idea, competing in and winning several competitions at BYU, including Student Innovator of the Year. With more recognition came more press and attention, including that of Avnet account manager Dianne Suggett. This is the story of how Avnet helped guide them and their idea to market.

The Owlet Smart Sock first went on sale in October 2015 on Owlets website. Today, its available on the shelves of Buy Buy Baby, with plans to be in other big-box retailers and appear internationally later this year. The journey from idea to high-volume production took three years of blood, sweat, tears and, ironically, some sleepless nights.

Trent Foster, an Avnet FAE (field application engineer), worked with Owlet during its early days in the product design phase.

They had office space above a Chinese restaurant. We would meet on the roof. You could smell the food cooking and the roof was tilted, like it might cave in at any minute. We spent hours sitting at a lopsided plastic picnic table, drawing out circuits on notepads.

Today, Owlet co-founder Zack is the companys CTO (chief technology officer). He remembers those days well.

People gave us a million reasons why we couldnt get the Smart Sock to market. Luckily, we were nave enough to ignore them. I dont think any of us could fully grasp the design challenges of what we were trying to do when we set out. Not only were we trying to create an IoT device, which, in its own right, is hard, but we were trying to create a device using clinically proven technology. On top of that, it was a wearable that had to stay on a babys foot, which can quadruple in size in the first year.

In our journey, new barriers seemed to pop up overnight. We had to find creative ways to overcome them and Avnet has been involved since the early days in helping us do that.

One of those barriers came about a year into development. The Owlet team had assumed that the sensor module on the babys foot could send data straight to a smartphone through Bluetooth. But further testing uncovered range constraints and communication reliability issues.

With delivery dates promised to early backers rapidly approaching, the team realized they needed a dedicated Base Station a go-between that communicated with both the sensor and the smartphone. With that realization came major implications.

Up until that point, we were planning on using the phone and all the conveniences that come with piggybacking off a smart device, and we no longer had those conveniences. So, late in the game, were rushing to figure out how were going to make this Wi-Fi-connected Base Station work. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of stress at that time, but this is where Avnet really came to bat for us, remembers Zack.

As the team was frantically trying to identify the right Wi-Fi chip set, Avnet introduced them to another start-up that happened to be developing just the module Owlet needed.

At that time, we didnt have any cash to throw at buying inventory and Avnet was able to step up and help us get the inventory and work out the logistics with both the chip-set developer and their contract manufacturer, so that we could get those parts delivered to us. Avnet was the glue that held all of it together, said Zack.

Kurt, now the CEO of Owlet, sums up Avnets critical role as a Sherpa of sorts.

Avnet recognized that we had a huge mountain we wanted to climb. And they said were going toguideyou guys and figure out whatever it is that you need to get up this mountain, said Kurt.

Their Avnet FAE Trent said, Their goal was to make a difference in the world. Thats what they wanted to do. Seeing them do that thats the most rewarding part, for me and everyone else at Avnet."

Added Zack, A mentor once told me, If you knew what it was going to take at the start, you wouldnt start. And I think thats true. But the reality is the journey has been awesome and making a real difference in the world is totally worth it.

Dianne, the account manager who made the first contact between Avnet and Owlet, brings an Owlet Smart Sock to every baby shower she goes to. Adds Dianne, Im just thrilledwe all are. To have played a role in their success.

Avnets services and solutions span the entire product lifecycle, from product and solution design to supply chain services. How can we help you Reach Further?

1 Owlet customer satisfaction survey results

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BrandPost: The Small Technology Giving Big Peace of Mind - PCWorld

Maryland added 1,335 technology industry jobs in 2016, bringing the total number of people employed by a technology company in the state to 182,539.

Across all sectors, about 183,300 workers had a technology occupation in Maryland last year, according to Cyberstates 2017, an annual report on the national technology workforce by technology association CompTIA.

The report defines a technology industry job as any position at a technology company. Technology occupation jobs are those focused on a technology function in any sector. About half of the technology industry jobs in Maryland are in technology occupations, which shows that technology companies support a large number of jobs in other roles, such as administration and marketing.

"The Cyberstates data affirms the strength and vitality of Maryland's tech industry, and attests to its essential standing in the economy," said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO CompTIA, in a statement. "Technology enables innovation and generates growth for companies, regardless of their size, locale or markets served."

Maryland ranked 16th among the 50 states for technology industry employment and eighth for average technology wages.

Workers in the state's technology industry earned an average of $107,200, 87 percent more than the average state wage of $57,400, according to the report.

The technology industry accounts for about 7 percent of Maryland's workforce, the report said.

The report is based on analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, among other sources.

sarah.gantz@baltsun.com

twitter.com/sarahgantz

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Maryland added 1335 technology industry jobs in 2016 - Baltimore Sun

Associated Press Published 11:23 a.m. ET April 3, 2017 | Updated 6 hours ago

A man walks out from a ladybird shaped public toilet in Beijing, China.(Photo: Ng Han Guan, AP)

BEIJING Fed up with the theft of toilet paper from public bathrooms, tourist authorities in Chinas capital have begun using facial recognition technology to limit how much paper a person can take.

The unusual move part of a toilet revolution is another step in Chinas vast upgrading of public facilities.

Bathrooms at tourist sites, notorious for their primitive conditions and nasty odors, are a special focus of the campaign, a response to a vast expansion in domestic travel and demands for better-quality facilities from a more affluent public.

Today in China, people are highly enthusiastic about tourism, and we have entered a new era of public tourism, said Zhan Dongmei, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy. The expectation of the public for the toilet is becoming higher.

At Beijings 600-year-old Temple of Heaven, administrators recognized the need to stock the public bathrooms with toilet paper, a requirement for obtaining a top rating from the National Tourism Authority. But they needed a means of preventing patrons from stripping them bare for personal use hence the introduction of new technology that dispenses a2-footsection of paper every nine minutes following a face scan.

People take away the paper mostly because they are worried they cant find any when they want to use it the next time. But if we can provide it in every toilet, most people will not do it anymore, Zhan said.

Launched two years ago, the revolution calls for at least 34,000 new public bathrooms to be constructed in Beijing and 23,000 renovated by the end of this year. Authorities are also encouraging the installation of Western-style sit-down commodes rather than the more common squat toilets. Around $3.6 billionhas already been spent on the program, according to the National Tourism Administration.

A worker hands out a toilet paper while changing the roll for a facial recognition toilet paper dispenser at the Temple of Heaven park in Beijing, China.(Photo: Ng Han Guan, AP)

The ultimate target, Zhan said, is to have a sufficient amount of toilets which are clean and odorless and free to use.

At Happy Valley, the largest amusement park in Beijing, around 4 million annual visitors rely on 18 bathrooms, each of which is assigned one or two cleaners who must make their rounds every 10 minutes on busy days.

People come here to have fun, but if the toilets are disgusting, how can they have a good time here? said Vice General Manager Li Xiangyang. It is the least we should do to offer a clean and tidy environment for tourists to enjoy both the tour of the park and the experience of using our toilets.

Going a step further, the financial hub of Shanghai even opened its first gender-neutral public toilet in November in order to boost convenience and efficiency.

Women are stuck waiting in longer lines for stalls than men, and it is fair for men and women to wait in line together, Shanghai resident Zhu Jingyi said after using the facility.

Zhan said the toilet revolution is about 90%complete, but warned that it has yet to be won.

We cant accept the situation that a lot of investments have been made to build toilets and they turn out to be unsanitary and poorly managed, he said.

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Using technology, China ramps up toilet paper revolution - USA TODAY

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Tracking technology at Yosemite National Park is helping to preserve the black bear population.

Yosemite National Park and Yosemite Conservancy have tapped into technology to protect one the park's beloved animals.

Officials with the park and conservancy effort on Monday announced the unveiling of a website, coined KeepBearsWild.org, that tracks the location of the park's black bears and provides tips to people on how to prevent potentially dangerous encounters all in the effort to keep both bears and humans safe.

"People love to see bears, and protecting them is something we can all do," Yosemite Conservancy President Frank Dean said in a statement. "Theres a dual benefit here of helping park managers to learn even more about bear habits to protect them and raising awareness among visitors about what they can do to save bears."

Yosemite bear biologists use the tracking technology to keep a real-time eye on the bears and also prevent run-ins with hikers or campers. Delayed and interactive tracking data for some bears will be made available to the public for educational purposes, but real-time tracking data will not be shared in order to keep bears and humans safely separated. The delayed data will also be turned off during the months when the bears are in hibernation to prevent anyone from disrupting dens.

The number of bear-related incidents, such as vehicle collisions or close calls with humans, at Yosemite has been dwindling for nearly two decades. A total of 1,584 bear-related incidents were reported in 1998 compared to fewer than 100 back in 2016, according to officials.

The website's educational information, tips and fun facts is designed to hopefully help that number drop even more moving forward. Folks visiting Yosemite can keep bears alive by driving slowly, locking up their food and keeping a safe distance whenever they spot the four-legged creatures.

Published at 10:47 AM PDT on Apr 3, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

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Bear-Tracking Technology Designed to Preserve Yosemite's Iconic Animal - NBC Bay Area

The title Managing the Disruption for a day-long conference in Palm Beach with leaders from across the world is no accident. Experts at the conference warned that technology will soon destroy the working class as we know it.

Were now experiencing the greatest disruption, in my view, since the Great Depression, said Jeff Greene, founder of the Greene Institute which hosted the conference.

ABall State University study discovered, manufacturing grew by 18% in the U.S. over the last decade. But robots - not humans - filled 88% of those positions.

Give it 5, 10 years and youll see that technology will evolve to the point that it can do what human beings can do and well start losing our jobs, said Vivek Wadhwa, author of The Driver in the Driverless Car: How our technology choices will create the future

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist, Thomas Friedman, warned that we already live in a time when technological advancements outpace what our workforce can do.

He said that means workers will have to constantly learn new technologies in order to stay employed.

In 1992 Bill Clinton went in front of the DNC and said if you work hard and play by the rules you should be in the middle class, Friedman said. Good luck with that.

Technology might be crushing the American Dream.

Its not the Mexicans we have to worry about, Wadhwa said. Its the robots that are going to take our jobs away.

The technological disruption is already causing a shift in the workforce and a divide - the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.

Friedman said thats the fuel that helped spark the fire of President Trumps election.

I think Trump, Brexit are part of this breakdown of the party system, Friedman said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said there are two other key factors in this disruption: 9/11 and the economic depression of 2008.

The way you win in this era increasingly, from 2008 to 2016 is to exploit anger and fear.

Christie said the erosion of the middle class means voters are angrier and more fearful than ever before and more divided.

We want to operate under the golden rule, heres the dirty secret: you (the voter) wont let us, Christie said.

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World leaders at Palm Beach conference warn: Technology will cut middle class jobs - WPTV.com

C4ISR

The Navy is implementing enhanced interferometer-based technology that can covertly assess threats and jam enemy electronic systems as part of full production of Block 2 of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) for the AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare (EW) system.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems is conducting the final examination of options regarding the full-rate production of SEWIP Block 2 through a $98.484 million contract modification to the full-rate production procurement contract awarded last year.

SEWIP Block 2 is focused on upgrading the interferometry-enhanced electronic signaling system of receivers and antennas and integrating a new open combat system interface with the AN/SLQ-32 system.

SEWIP Block 2 utilizes an interferometer-based array and digital receiver technology. This greatly enhances the SEWIP Block 2 ability to detect and provide increased reporting accuracy against modern threat systems, said Lt. j.g. Seth Clarke, a spokesman for the Navy.

The interferometer-based technology layers multiple electromagnetic waves on top of each other in order to reveal the discrepancies between their frequencies, which can be used to calculate the difference in travel distances of the waves, according to the published experiments of MITs Department of Physics. Inconsistent travel distances are caused by the waves hitting some sort of physical or electromagnetic, path-changing obstacle, such as a target or threat.

The second aspect of the SEWIP Block 2 upgrades, the open combat system interface, is part of the larger Human Machine Interface improvements that focus on technology that bridges the gap between operator and interface by organizing and presenting information in a way that is compatible with the operators needs and skills. According to Navy statements, the open combat system, along with upgraded electronic signal transmission and reception hardware, will enhance the threat detection and identification accuracy of the AN/SLQ-32 system.

These upgrades have enhanced the warfighters capabilities with Improved Human Machine Interface and adjunct receivers for special signal intercepts. Upgraded Electronic Support (ES) antennas and ES processing has enabled the United States Navy to keep pace with the threat, explained Clarke.

Another part of SEWIP Block 2 is the integration of an advanced EW pod, known as the Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW) System, with the regular onboard AN/SLQ-32 EW system, according to a Defense Systems report earlier this year.

The Navy and the Department of Defense both report that the EA-18G Growler has traditionally been the only aircraft with EW capabilities, however Lockheed Martin is currently developing the AOEW pod system to be compatible on MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. Installation of the AOEW pod on the smaller helicopter would allow the regular AN/SLQ-32 EW system to obtain data from less accessible areas.

The pod gives you additional reach-back capability. You get a look well over the horizon that will be communicated back to the ship. Depending on what the solution is, you could actually decide to provide some type of response. You can see the adversary well before he can see anything in the fleet, said Joe Ottaviano, Director of Electronic Warfare at Lockheed Martin, earlier this year.

Block 2 is just one phase of the overall SEWIP, a development program for evolving the Navys legacy AN/SLQ-32(V) EW system through a series of Block upgrades.

Block 1 is the only one currently in full rate production phase and focuses on battlefield situational awareness. It introduces improved anti-ship missile defense, counter-targeting, and counter-surveillance technology, and according to the Navy published statements, these improvements come with the addition of improved control and display mechanisms and special signal receivers that provide both specific emitter and high gain/high sensitivity interception.

Block 2 is poised to enter full-rate production, and focuses on enhancing the threat detection and identification accuracy of the AN/SLQ-32 system.

According to a previous Defense Systems report, Block 3 includes adding electronic attack capabilities to all Navy ships, in a joint Lockheed and Raytheon effort. Block 3 will also implement Electronic attack (EA) technology, such as the ability of the system to detect electromagnetic activity without revealing its presence and to interfere with the enemys signals. The goal of this phase, according to the Navy, is primarily to standardize and universalize EA systems across Navy vessels in order to be able to counter threats as they arise in this area.

Future projections for Block 4 include implementing electro-optical and infrared capabilities. According to research conducted by BAE Systems, an industry leader in Electro-optic design, electro-optic capabilities can facilitate the use of long-range naval thermal imaging, infrared laser systems, and target detection.

The final exploration of options for full-rate production of SEWIP Block 2 is being funded through the Navys FY17 Procurement, and Shipbuilding and Conversion budgets, but will not expire at the end of this fiscal year. Work is expected to be complete by July 2019.

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Navy implements interferometer-based technology EW - Defense Systems

Crain's Detroit Business

Technology in Motion event planned at Cobo Center Crain's Detroit Business "No matter where the technology is invented, it is refined, tested and deployed within 100 miles of Detroit," said David Graff, a co-founder of Technology in Motion and a vice president at MSX International Inc. "It all happens right here, and no one ...

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Technology in Motion event planned at Cobo Center - Crain's Detroit Business

By Brian X. ChenThe New York Times

Smartphones have become the go-to tool for hailing a car and ordering delivery food. But summoning a dog walker? That could take some getting used to.

A growing number of startups offer apps and gadgets that help you take care of your pets. So-called pet tech yes, its a thing includes automatic treat dispensers, surveillance cameras embedded with laser pointers to remotely play with your pets and apps that connect you with a dog walker or sitter with the tap of a button.

Be warned: A majority of pet tech products are ineffective gimmicks that probably arent worth your money. I tested many and found only several to be occasionally useful: an app for hiring dog walkers, an app for boarding your pet at someones house, and a pet location tracker.

Unsurprisingly, pet tech is still a nascent market. In 2016, Americans spent $66.75 billion on pet products, according to the American Pet Products Association. While the biggest chunk was devoted to pet food, pet owners spent $14.75 billion on supplies including beds, collars, leashes, bowls and, among all that, pet tech accessories.

In the end, pet owners will probably agree that technology isnt an adequate substitute for human companionship. But some products are nice to have just in case you are pressed for time.

What follows are the products that did and did not make the cut after I tested them on my pet corgi, Max Fischer, and my cat, Cuddy.

The best pet tech

Of the many pet products I tested, a few stood out: Wag, an app for hiring a dog walker but only in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and New York DogVacay, which is billed as an Airbnb for dog boarding and which has many listings in Sarasota and Manatee counties; and Whistle, a tracker for monitoring your pets location.

DogVacay is an app that lets you board your dog at a persons home rather than a traditional boarding service. Hosts name their price and you can search for them based on their location and dates of availability. It took one try to find a host who could board Max for a day, and the overall experience was smooth. After booking and paying $60 for the boarding, I dropped Max off for his slumber party.

While testing Wag and DogVacay, I found the pet GPS tracker Whistle to be a useful tool for making sure dog walkers and sitters were actually doing their jobs. (Call me detail-oriented.)

The $80 GPS tracker fits snugly around a pets collar and communicates with a smartphone app that displays the pets location on a map. The gadget also logs the amount of time a pet is physically active, similar to a Fitbit. Using Whistle, I was delighted to see that my DogVacay hosts spent over two hours playing with Max in Buena Vista Park.

The Whistle website shows that the product works nationally and requires a cellular contract of $7 to $10 a month, depending on length of contract.

Subpar pet tech

Pet owners can immediately cross these items off the list: pet cams, automatic food dispensers and the app Rover.

The webcam I tested, Petcube, includes a Wi-Fi connection and a built-in laser pointer. When you view the live video feed of your pet through the app, just tap wherever you want the laser to land. Presumably your pet will chase the laser, so when you are procrastinating at work, you can remotely play with your furry companion.

Thats the theory, at least. Max and Cuddy are apparently daytime narcoleptics who couldnt care less about a laser. And, in the end, paying for the $200 Petcube will probably make you regret that you didnt buy a superior all-around webcam, like the $200 NestCam, which can be used as a full-time home security camera and a part-time pet camera.

A Petcube spokeswoman said the product was a high-quality camera and its laser pointer was a central feature that people use to play with their pets.

I also used a generic automatic pet food dispenser for about a year with Cuddy. Not only did the products motor eventually die, but the bowl was often full of food because my cat refused to eat her kibble unless I fed her myself. Even cats are social creatures, and they grow attached to the hand that feeds them.

Finally, Rover is similar to the dog-walker-summoning app Wag except rough to use. Rather than automatically matching you with a walker, Rover makes you browse through a directory of walkers, ask them whether they are available on a certain date and wait for a response. The experience is reminiscent of booking a first appointment with a primary care physician.

Rover has announced it would acquire DogVacay, combining the services and resources of the two apps. Lets hope that the merger results in a better overall product.

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Sniffing out the best pet-care technology - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

It took a mere seven days before Silicon Valley called off its truce with Donald Trump.

The first shot came in the form of a highly anticipated executive order, Trumps Jan. 27 directive prohibiting travelers and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries from coming to the United States. Trumps initial ban would eventually be overturned, but his political salvo drew a swift and sharp rebuke from a tech industry that relies on foreign workers and had been seething for months over his election.

Googles chief executive, Sundar Pichai, fretted in a note to staff about the painful cost of this executive order on our colleagues. Facebooks founder Mark Zuckerberg opined publicly that he was concerned. Apple CEO Tim Cook even said the iPhone maker wouldnt exist without immigration: Steve Jobs, he reminded, was an immigrant, too. Each of the companies sought to arm employees they believed to be at grave risk.

The groundswell of opposition quickly reached the aides at one of the White Houses little-known nerve centers, the Office of Science and Technology Policy. An advisory arm to the president, the office began compiling the statements steadily flowing out of Silicon Valley, hoping to show Trump and his tightly knit circle that the nations tech heavyweights had vehemently opposed the presidents most consequential decision to date.

The OSTP normally serves as a liaison between the science and tech communities and their government regulators in Washington. Under Trump, however, aides who tried to provide the new president with insight on immigration say they couldnt get their message through to the Oval Office.

One White House source, who described OSTP this week as disempowered, said they had no idea if anyone in the new presidents inner circle ever saw their work and, as a result, perhaps did not appreciate the tech backlash to come.

Ten weeks into his nascent administration, Trumps Office of Science and Technology Policy isnt much of an office at all. As Trump forges ahead with his controversial economic agenda, hes done so without the support of the White Houses army of engineers and researchers, who are best equipped to assess what his cuts mean for the future of the United States.

Theres still no leader at OSTP, a job that can double as the chief science adviser to the president. That means Trump currently has no immediate expert on hand whose entire remit is the future of the environment, the effects of climate change and the direction of research in key areas, like HIV and cancer cures. The other leadership jobs within OSTP overseeing issues like energy policy, innovation and more similarly remain unfilled. And the few who remained at OSTP werent consulted as Trump took his first steps in those fields, including the creation of the budget for 2018 that cut significant chunks from federal research agencies, according to eight current and former White House sources.

The office is a critical feature of any administration. Under President Barack Obama, OSTP boasted a chief technology officer who personally had about 20 aides focused on issues like net neutrality, artificial intelligence and self-driving cars. (That includes Megan Smith, who was married to and is now separated from Recode co-founder Kara Swisher. Smith was not interviewed for this story.) As of Friday, however, only one aide there remained: Michael Kratsios, an acolyte of Peter Thiel, who entered government with no tech experience. His closest complement in the West Wing? Reed Cordish, who similarly lacks a technical pedigree but does know Trumps daughter, Ivanka.

In Obamas White House, the OSTP spearheaded his administrations most far-fetched or future-focused initiatives, from studying the effects of artificial intelligence to facilitating the private sectors efforts to map brains and improve drinking water. It helped chart the governments course on research and development. And when crises arose including the resurgence of Ebola, which threatened in 2015 to encroach deep into the United States it was the hidden hand of the OSTP that sought to shape how the lumbering, sprawling U.S. bureaucracy focused its dollars in response.

Asked about those darkened offices and positions, a spokeswoman for Trump stressed Thursday he had candidates for OSTP in mind but didnt name anyone, or allow anyone at the White House to be interviewed for this story.

The office is staffed by scientists and engineers with years of experience, close working relationships throughout the Federal departments and agencies, and deep connections to the broader science and technology community, she said.

Its Trumps Washington, of course. He has flexibility to name candidates for the positions he chooses. And he campaigned on the notion that he would reduce the footprint of government, not expand it. But his tepid embrace of science and technology is all the more striking, given OSTPs roots as one of the only elements of the White House that Congress actually wrote into law. Lawmakers established the OSTP in the 1970s, after another Republican president, Richard Nixon, vehemently swore against tapping a science adviser. Turns out, Nixon didnt much like academics.

There are many policy issues that come up across the spectrum ... where technical expertise and connections to the tech community are important, said Ed Felten, a top academic at Princeton University who served under Obama as a deputy chief technology officer.

Thats why I asked Felten during an interview this month whether his former office and its quiet struggles should matter to Americans. If OSTP is not well staffed, he told me, it will be difficult to make policy well in the areas where science matters.

Trump does not use a computer. He thinks they have complicated lives very greatly, he said last December. (He might not be wrong.) Im not an email person, Trump remarked earlier in July, an admission that came amid his attacks on his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, for using private communications while leading the State Department.

When asked in 2015 about the threat of online extremism and its antagonists, like the Islamic State, then-candidate Trump said hed recruit Bill Gates to close that internet up. Trump, however, is a devout creature of the web, an unrivaled master of Twitter, whose colorful 140-character exclamations helped him win the highest office in the United States.

Some in liberal-leaning Silicon Valley consequently derided Trump in 2016 as a Luddite unfit for public office in an age when questions about self-driving cars and cancer cures no longer seem the distant stuff of science fiction. To the policy wonks of Washington, Trumps greatest sin wasnt just his abrogation of technology many of his voters shared his digital reluctance anyway. Rather, it was Trumps absent science or technology agenda and his missing complement of aides advising him on the issues.

Trumps apostasies may partly explain why he hasnt been able to fill the ranks of the OSTP unlike Obama, who in the early days of his 2008 campaign labored to pay homage to the Valley, complete with a visit to Google headquarters. Thats how Obama, mere days after his election, could pluck from a deep bench of experts for ideas and confidantes.

His first chief technology officer, Aneesh Chopra, had helped during the 2008 campaign. His first chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, had been a law school classmate as well as an innovation adviser and prolific fundraiser. And Obamas first director of the White Houses venerated nerd hub, Dr. John Holdren, helped Obama prep to enter the White House after Election Day.

But Trump entered the White House with no command of science and tech policy issues. He had only a loose web of ideas, a series of scattershot meetings and public statements from which Washington types struggled to derive meaning. A private huddle last summer with leaders in the anti-vaccine movement, for example, generated early fears that Trump might have shared their beliefs. (It remains unclear.) His comments on the campaign trail that climate change was a hoax appeared at the time to presage big cuts to science, energy and environment programs. (It happened.)

It wasnt until the summer that he began to count on the support of Thiel, the controversial, contrarian Valley venture capitalist who helped birth PayPal and still serves on Facebooks board of directors. But even Thiel, who visited the nations capital in October to discuss his rationale for supporting Trumps ascent, could only point to the GOP candidates propensity for political disruption as his greatest asset to the tech industry and the country at large not any actual positions on science and technology that Trump may have publicly or privately held.

He points even beyond the remaking of one party to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking and reckons with reality, Thiel instead told reporters gathered at the National Press Club.

In a blitz to recover lost ground, Trumps aides invited lobbying groups for companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google to private meetings in Washington beginning in 2016, steps from Capitol Hill, to solicit their thoughts on what he should tackle first, sources told me at the time. Privately, they had no idea who Trump would tap on science and technology or what he would do on the issues that mattered the most to their companies. After all, they had spent months preparing for a Clinton presidency anyway.

For his part, Thiel soon assumed a formal role with the team that helped Trump transition into government, becoming the only prominent member of the newly elected presidents organizing effort who had any knowledge of Silicon Valley, its issues and the myriad industries it touches. Thiel, of course, helped organize the so-called tech summit at Trump Tower last December, a bid to mend fences between Trump and the very companies he derided at times on the campaign trail. He and his aides also set about finding, recruiting and vetting candidates for some of the governments top tech gigs.

For all their work, though, the Trump administrations most resonant contribution might have come in the form of a gaffe from Trumps new secretary of the Treasury Department, Steve Mnuchin, who stunned Valley types and labor experts alike when he said in March that AI was more than 50 years on the horizon an issue, he continued, that was not even on our radar screen.

But what has Trump accomplished so far in tech policy? By the end of the month, Congress passed a measure that wiped online privacy rules from federal law. Unnamed White House aides in a formal, public statement issued Tuesday articulating the administrations views recommended Trump sign the bill.

Meanwhile, theres still no director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Under federal law, Trump has some flexibility in how he structures his own White House. He can decide, for example, to shed key positions in science, medicine and energy under OSTPs umbrella, as his priorities evolve. Many of the White House sources who spoke with me on the condition of background for this story said they believed he would do just that quietly kill many science jobs within his own administration. That has left its veterans unsettled. Cristin Dorgelo, the former chief of staff there under Obama, stressed in an interview this month she wishes the current administration keeps the same science focus as her former boss.

By the time Trump took the oath of office, roughly 50 staffers less than half of what it was under Obama remained at the White Houses technical nerve center. In the early days of the administration, some aides to the outgoing Obama White Houses chief technology officer, Smith, even offered to stick around until March. But the few who stayed quickly opted to leave, feeling flustered and distrusted by Trumps inner circle, which had spent months casting public doubt on the integrity of any government employees who served during the Obama administration.

The only remaining employee is one of Thiels deputies Kratsios, a former chief of staff at Thiel Capital.

A finance type by background, Kratsios had been toiling silently to aid Trump, who hadnt yet taken office, from the new presidents unofficial New York City hub at Trump Tower. He first surfaced at the White House in January without a formal title in hand, sources said, before becoming deputy chief technology officer.

Except, Kratsios has little or no direct knowledge of key issues like net neutrality, cyber security and artificial intelligence, multiple current and former aides said in interviews.

A politics graduate from Princeton, Kratsios appears to have at least some access to the decision makers in Trumps inner circle. (He knew and supported, for example, the effort to show Trump evidence that his immigration order had riled the tech set, sources say.) Sources described Kratsios positively as affable and helpful and motivated, and many believe his ambition and connections through Thiel in Silicon Valley will eventually serve Trump greatly.

But many former White House aides and observers insisted they remain leaderless, with almost no connection to Trump a distance they felt most acutely as the president prepared his first budget.

After taking office, the president and his team raced to produce their plan for funding the government in 2018, a document that hoped to give life to the presidents campaign promises, including Trumps proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In planning it, White House officials borrowed heavily from the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation. For months, experts at the organization had quietly served on the teams advising Trump on how to staff his future government, and the presidents budget ultimately included many of the spending cuts that Heritage historically has championed. Among them: Almost $6 billion in cuts at the National Institutes of Health.

Previously, the Heritage Foundations political arm, Heritage Action, had railed against a bipartisan bill in Congress to grow NIH. (It became law anyway.) The 2018 budget also sought to eliminate research dollars at the Energy Department, a longtime target of conservative critics, on top of programs at NASA and the countrys weather hub, NOAA.

In doing so, however, Trump did not consult even a slimmed-down OSTP at all, multiple sources said. In other words, the cuts to NIH and the Energy Departments version of DARPA that Pentagon money hub that has spawned so many startups, like the Thiel-backed data giant, Palantir came about largely without the input of anyone familiar with those fields. Some policy aides only got to see the budget after it had been published online, multiple sources said.

Few science experts like it. Im very disappointed in the presidents first budget so far, said Kei Koizumi, who served as the Obama administrations research-and-development budget guru. He departed OSTP on Jan. 31.

Although I understand where its coming from, an overall desire to shrink domestic spending, its going to have devastating effects on the U.S science and engineering enterprise, which is such a source of economic competitiveness, and our ability to make progress on solving health care, security and natural resource challenges, he said.

Some have tried to find solace in the presidents other recent moves like the newly announced Office of American Innovation, led by Jared Kushner, and the appointment of Matt Lira, an innovation policy expert whos helped senior Republicans in the U.S. Congress on digital issues.

Lira has his knocks, but Democrats laud his expertise. The appointment of Matt Lira on the innovation side is an extremely positive sign that the president will build on the progress the Obama administration began on harnessing the power of the potential of the internet for the American economy, said Chopra, the first CTO under Obama, during an interview.

While the White House said it plans to consult with the Valleys best minds, however, their involvement might not be as regular as administration officials first suggested.

After the initial story about their participation appeared in the Washington Post, a spokeswoman for Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, named as one of Trumps tech confidantes, told Recode he doesn't have a formal role in the Trump Administration but offers his thoughts and ideas when they are sought on topics on which he can be helpful. Apple declined to comment.

Other senior leaders in the Trump administration also lack technical or policy expertise. That includes Reed Cordish, named the assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives.

Cordishs portfolio includes a mandate to rethink the way government spends money buying tech services and systems. But Cordish has never worked in that world. In fact, he arrived from the fields of real estate and hospitality, and met Trump through his father, who had hosted a fundraiser for the soon-to-be president. His father once asked Trumps daughter, Ivanka, to help set his son up on a date.

Already, the Trump administration is pivoting to its next major economic priority infrastructure reform and thats where the stakes could get higher for technology and science spending.

Publicly, Trump has promised to spend big on a package to upgrade the guts of the United States, like its roads and airports and bridges. Yet such a measure could also include major upgrades to U.S. cities, for example, to create smart roads for self-driving cars. It could feature critical investments in high-speed broadband internet to ensure better connectivity in the countrys hardest-to-reach rural areas. It could seek to put aside new dollars for advanced manufacturing, or help fund research in artificial intelligence. It could provide a big boost for the most audacious ideas, like moonshots to cure cancer, or inject new life into the fodder of contemporary tech-news fiction, like underground tunnels and magnet-powered hyperloops, as Elon Musk hypes so often. (At least he stays in touch with the Trump White House.)

An infrastructure bill could be big, in other words, not only in its cost but also in its ambition. But without experts in these far-reaching, future-focused fields, the Trump administration currently lacks the staff to advocate such ideas and figure out how to transform them into reality, many sources said. And the few who remain at OSTP already have struggled to break into Trumps inner circle, multiple White House sources said.

"I am worried any time science and technology expertise are not at the table when decisions are made," said Koizumi, the Obama budget veteran. "But I don't know what to do about that. I can't tell the administration to stop until you have people on board, because I also know decisions get made anyway because they have to get made even in the absence of scientific information [and] economic information."

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How Donald Trump crippled U.S. technology and science policy - Recode