ReadWriteWeb

President Obama visited Intel in Hillsboro, Oregon today to discuss education and technology (and this ReadWriteWeb writer attended her first Presidential media event.)

Education has been the key theme as the President has travelled the country this week, following the release of his 2012 budget on Monday. The proposed budget calls for a $2 billion increase in education spending -- $77.4 billion total, including $90 million to create ARPA-ED, an education technology agency modeled on DARPA, the Defense Department research agency responsible for, among other things, ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.

The U.S. government is finally catching on to the growing trend that - surprise, surprise - people like to use their mobile devices to access the Internet. The only problem is, of course that America's mobile infrastructure is years behind that of other regions around the world, while rapid device innovation is quickly crowding the available spectrum. Today, President Barack Obama issued a presidential memorandum aimed at addressing this issue - making more spectrum available for government and commercial use.

Excitement about the government's use of Web 2.0 technology has swept Washington, DC. One of President Obama's first acts in office was to issue a directive calling for a more transparent, collaborative, and participatory government. Websites like USA.gov have launched new Web 2.0 features, such as RSS news services. And the President got to keep his precious BlackBerry.