Good Morning Tech

Congrats to TOM MERRITT, who launched a daily tech news podcast on LEO LAPORTE’s podcast network Tuesday night, discussing everything from dark fiber to net neutrality to privacy. 

PATRICK RUFFINI, the GOP online strategist with a massive Twitter following who heads the D.C. firm Engage, was on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday at 10 p.m. (h/t FamousDC.) Watch it here http://twt.tl/PNQhlI3. 

MUST-KNOW NEWS

SPEAKER PELOSI EXPRESSES STRONG SUPPORT FOR NET NEUTRALITY: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proclaimed herself a “big net neutrality advocate” and said there are only dim prospects for bills that would threaten that policy, writes firedoglake. On a conference call with lefty bloggers late yesterday, Pelosi said those who support such legislation have low hopes: “I don’t know how many options they have unless they choose to work with Republicans, but it’s not going to be a Democratic initiative.” Pelosi also expressed support for the Democratic Federal Communications Commission’s controversial plan to boost regulations over Internet service providers, calling reclassification a “priority” for Democrats.

AT&T REINING IN DATA USAGE: The carrier will offer two new data plans, AP reports, one at $25 per month and 2 gigabytes of data per month, “which AT&T says will be enough for 98 percent of its smart phone customers. Additional gigabytes will cost $10 each. A second plan will cost $15 per month for 200 megabytes of data, which AT&T says is enough for 65 percent of its smart phone customers.” The article points out that in the bandwidth-constrained mobile world, the concept of a data cap is more acceptable than for home broadband use. “Time Warner Cable Inc. was forced to back away from trials of data caps last year after consumer protests and threats of legislative action,” the AP notes. Slashdot looks at the company’s changes as a “bait and switch” because the company is getting rid of its unlimited $30 per month data plan for the iPad in favor of 2 GB plan at $25 per month.

DISNEY TAKES TICKET SALES TO FACEBOOK WITH TOY STORY 3: The media company has created the first-ever app to sell movie tickets on the social networking site, allowing users to urge their friends to buy the same tickets, the New York Times reports. Disney Tickets Together, the application, could be transformative, the paper says; the notion seems to be that social networking will could throw big momentum behind the ticket sales of popular movies. “The whole idea is that no friend gets left behind,” senior vice president and general manager of DigiSynd Oliver Luckett told the Times. DigiSynd is a Disney subsidiary that manages the entertainment giant’s social networking presence.

SAID

“It seems like the darlings of tech have in the last five weeks been seen in a little bit more of a black cloud.” — Tech reporter Becky Worley on Facebook’s privacy saga, Google’s accidental Wi-Fi data collection and Apple’s spat with Adobe (Tech News Today podcast).

NUMBER PUNCH

35,000 QUITTERS: Quit Facebook Day, an effort on Monday to push back against the social networking site’s privacy policies, drummed up less than 35,000 quitters — or less than .009 percent of the site’s users, according to the WSJ.

SCHEDULED

…7:30 a.m. onward. Federal Trade Commission conference on “Privacy Online, Reviewing the COPPA Rule.” 601 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.

…12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The Innovation Economy. Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos will appear at the Center for American Progress to discuss the role of innovation as a principal driver of economic growth and job creation. 1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor, Washington, D.C.

…6 a.m. onward. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has a media day for reporters Wednesday to learn about a new NASA climate simulation center, an integrated set of supercomputing, visualization and data interaction technologies that will enhance agency capabilities in weather and climate prediction research. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Md.

FOR THE WATERCOOLER

NYMag.com launched a mobile app yesterday for Android — without launching an iPhone or BlackBerry app. “PS: No, there isn’t an nymag.com app for iPhone or BlackBerry yet. Sorry,” said the magazine’s blog.