NYC TV, the official television station of the City of New York, has gone online, with an “on demand” video channel. Clips can be e-mailed to others, or users can grab a link that calls up a video clip, like YouTube.

NYC TV is mostly a channel for promoting New York City, and features interviews, performances, short documentary clips and other features about New York City’s attractions, entertainment, food and cultural events.

The City of Austin has relaunched its Grants for Technology Opportunities (GTOPs) program, which provides small grants to Austin nonrofit organizations working on “digital divide” issues, such as education, serving senior citizens, technology access to low-income residents, workforce development, etc. Applications for the grants, and more information on the program, are available on the City’s GTOPs Web site.

The City’s Office of Telecommunications & Regulatory Affairs (TARA) is also looking for reviewers for the GTOPs program, people to be part of the selection committee that awards the grants. There is an application for that volunteer position on the same Web site, under “Application.“

The One Laptop Per Child foundation, the nonprofit organization managing the production and distribution of the computer formerly known as the “$100 laptop,“ has announced that it will be starting sales of the XO laptop, for $399, with one of the machines donated to a poor child for every sale. “For $399,“ says the Web announcement, “you will be purchasing two XO laptops—one that will be sent to empower a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to your child at home.“

The program begins on November 12 and will last only “for a brief window of time.“

According to The Washington Post, the Department of Homeland Security is capturing and storing detailed information on travelers, including what personal items travelers carry and even what books they have to read. The details of the Automated Targeting System, as it is called, were revealed by long-time civil liberties activist John Gilmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Gilmore acquired a copy of his file, which included a note from a Borders and Customs official that Gilmore was carrying a copy of a book titled Drugs and Your Rights. Gilmore said, “My first reaction was I kind of expected it. My second reaction was, that’s illegal.“ Gilmore argues that the program violates the federal Privacy Act, which bars the government from collecting information about Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

The Department of Homeland Security denied that they are “interested” in the reading habits of Americans. “We are completely uninterested in the latest Tom Clancy novel that the traveler may be reading,“ said a DHS spokesperson quoted in the article. But the spokesperson did say that federal officials are expected to document information of interest to national security.

The article mentions that this story was first reported in Wired News.

Communications Day, an Australian telecom news publication, is reporting that Google may be one of the partners in a proposed multi-terabit undersea cable that will cross the Pacific Ocean in 2009. Google refused to confirm the report.

The article says, “Google would get access to a fibre pair at build cost handing it a tremendous cost advantage over rivals such as MSN and Yahoo, and also potentially enabling it to peer with Asia ISPs behind their international gateways - considerably improving the affordability of Internet services across Asia Pacific.“

The new cable, which has already been confirmed by telecom firm Level 3, will be called Unity.

This is yet more suggestive evidence that Google is buying its way into telecom infrastructure, and probably to bypass the top-level Internet Service Provider backbones, such as AT&T’s.

Intel has been promoting a Web site about using Linux to save power, LessWatts.org.

The Web site says, “LessWatts is about creating a community around saving power on Linux, bringing developers, users, and sysadmins together to share software, optimizations, and tips and tricks.“

There are downloads available for Linux power management programs, tips for different kinds of platforms—servers, laptops and desktops—and ways to get involved in the Open Source power-saving community.

BusinessWeek features an article that looks at the 2008 Presidential candidates’ views on issues of importance to the technology industry, including R&D funding, patent reform, H1B visas for foreign workers, science and math education and national telecommunications policy. The article is focused on the issues important to Silicon Valley, primarily, because of the money and imprimatur of the technology industry. “There has never been this degree of attention paid by Presidential candidates to the Valley,“ says Gary Fazzino, vice president for government affairs of Palo Alto-based Hewlett Packard.

On telecom policy, the article notes that differences on “net neutrality” break along party lines, with Republicans opposing any regulation that would enforce net neutrality, and Democrats generally in favor of such regulation. Barack Obama is singled out in the article as a candidate who has focused on expanding broadband access as a tool of economic development and social equity.

The National Journal reports that the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, Deborah Platt Majoras, has asked Congress for more authority to regulate telecommunications companies, ending an exemption that is left over from the days of regulated monopolies. Majoras said, “the common carrier exemption is likely to frustrate the FTC’s ability to stop deceptive and unfair acts and practices and unfair methods of competition with respect to interconnected communications, information, entertainment and payment services.“

The National Journal noted that Majoras got a sympathetic hearing from Senate Commerce Interstate Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan, D-ND.

But in an article in PC Magazine, Senator Dorgan was reported to question the FTC’s “hands off” approach on the issue of “net neutrality.“ The FTC issued a report in June advising Congress to “proceed with caution” over net neutrality. Chris Murray, senior counsel with Consumer’s Union, testified before Senator Dorgan that uncovering Internet Service Providers’ discriminatory practices often has to rely on “sheer dumb luck,“ because it is difficult for consumers to document such practices. Majoras responded that “prioritization” of Internet data may be necessary to ensure new services such as video and Voice-over-IP. But Mark Cooper of Consumer’s Union countered that the large telecom companies simply want to gain an advantage in the marketplace over their competitors.

As expected, a presentation tool (like Microsoft’s PowerPoint) has now joined the suite of applications available through Google Apps, the free online applications that also include a word processor, calendar, spreadsheet, e-mail and photo gallery. Google’s blog says the presentations created using this tool “can be edited, shared, and published using the familiar Google Docs interface, with several collaborators working on a slide deck simultaneously, in real time. When it’s time to present, participants can simply click a link to follow along as the presenter takes the audience through the slideshow. Participants are connected through Google Talk and can chat about the presentation as they’re watching. Not wanting anyone to feel left out, we’ve made the presentation feature available in 25 languages; Google Apps customers can also access it as part of Google Docs.“

Google has prepared a YouTube video about how to use the presentation tool, which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA.