Technology companies (and their execs) can be a lot like politicians -- multi-billion-dollar figureheads squabbling over inane issues and trying to one-up each other every step of the way.

Take, for instance, a new product launched by Microsoft at the Politics Online Conference in Washington D.C.

The new TownHall software lets politicians host a website for posing questions to constituents and letting them vote on those topics. Users can create accounts and submit their own questions.

Washington's newest toy is almost identical to a one-year-old tool offered by Google, called Moderator. President Obama, you might remember, used the application to crowd-source questions for his online town hall meetings.

Microsoft's TownHall appears slightly more difficult to setup than Moderator, but politicians don't need to worry about it. That's on the shoulders of the IT fella down the hall in the closet-sized office stacked with computer equipment.

The mudslinging between Microsoft and Google is nothing new. Google made Docs to compete with Office's Word and Excel. Microsoft made Bing to take on Google's search engine.

But here we see Microsoft going head-to-head with Google in even the most niche sectors. Who's got your vote?

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Credit: Robert Sorbo / AFP / Getty Images

Way to suck up, Montana, Nebraska and the Dakotas.

Those four Northern states are the only ones that have broken into the 40% range of census participation as of Friday.

The government has put together an interactive map that shows how responsive the people in each state and county are with returning their census forms. National participation is at 29%, with the April 1 deadline less than a week away.

The Census Bureau is using a new criteria for measurement this year. Called "mail participation rate," it only counts the forms filled out and returned from households where people actually live. Previously, "mail response rate" would also factor in unoccupied houses.

Drilling down to the county level, we can see that Mariposa County, at 41%, is the sole goody two shoes in California, making the rest of us look bad. Why don't you go do some homework, Mariposa County?

It's a little embarrassing how much entertainment we're getting out of this map. Now, all we need is a ticker to track all of the questionable expenses people try to write off their taxes.

-- Mark Milian

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Some politicians have shown concern and a disregard for online broadcast tools like Twitter.

The concern comes from examples of mismanagement by some, and the disregard comes from the common misconception that the only thing Twitter is good for is telling people what you had for breakfast.

In a panel this weekend at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, an annual congregation of Internet entrepreneurs and enthusiasts, an official for the General Services Administration addressed the question.

"Yes, the government should tweet," said Bev Godwin, the GSA's director of new media and citizen engagement. Granted, if it didn't, she'd probably be out of a job.

Godwin pointed to the benefits of Twitter for rallying support and donations for disasters -- for example, the recent Haiti earthquake.

The GSA also highlights the benefit of having official and trusted channels. The administration created a link shortener -- akin to TinyURL or Bit.ly -- called GoUSA.gov that can only be utilized by the government. Godwin says 800 officials are currently using the service.

However, neither the @WhiteHouse nor @PressSec Robert Gibbs is using GoUSA.gov.

-- Mark Milian, reporting from Austin

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Photo: Bev Godwin, right. Credit: Mark Milian / Los Angeles Times

An anxious minority of U.S. Internet users are divorcing themselves from Google. When one company can watch what we're searching for, who we're e-mailing, what we're reading and where we're going on a daily basis -- well, that's just too much information for one company to have, according to some people.

Vivek Kundra, Obama's chief information officer, is not in that crowd.

Kundra, who is managing the $79 billion the White House set aside to spend on technology, told Bloomberg that he's looking to cut costs incurred by expensive, government-owned data centers.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Kundra said this week. “It costs a fortune, it’s duplicative and it’s an energy hog.”

Companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon already have huge numbers of servers dedicated to their  products and storing user data. Perhaps the government could use some of those services. Last week, Kundra met with each of those companies.

Kundra didn't say which company the feds might go with, but he did point out that Google and Microsoft recently opened programs for government. Last year, Los Angeles set up 30,000 city employees with Google's e-mail system.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: Vivek Kundra. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

As if the constant headlines about high unemployment rates and phone calls from siblings about jobless nephews weren't enough, Google has stepped in to provide some neat graphs and tables showing the wretchedness of our economy.

Google's new tool is called Public Data Explorer. Google is targeting students, journalists and politicians with the project, the company writes on the product page. But really, anyone can peek in and see some steep line graphs titled U.S. Unemployment Rate.

The graph embedded at the top of this post, which can also be seen in full-page form on Google's site, lets you click the play button and watch as unemployment expands and constricts over time (and eventually explodes, within the last two years).

There are some other cute graphs to check out, such as this one showing the 2008 collapse of U.S. retail sales. Google does a good job at making devastating statistics look really fancy.

-- Mark Milian

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Graphic credit: Google

Thanks to the Presidential Records Act, the White House must preserve records of the ubiquitous stupidity of the Internet's populace.

When the legislation was passed in 1978, someone would have to take the steps to write a letter (on paper, no less!), address an envelope, lick it, slap a stamp on and drop it in a mailbox.

Now, any idiot with a computer, smart phone or  local library can log onto Twitter or Facebook and direct rants at the federal government.

And boy, do they ever!

Twitter profiles for the White House and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs have public messages addressed to them constantly flying around the Web. As the bios on those pages note, the tweets "are subject to the PRA and may be archived."

We dug through some of the recent tweets that could eternally live on in federal records of the history of the United States of America.

Here are some of the dumbest (and funniest) ones out there:

Isaac Cervantes writes:

@whitehouse O, my headache is waning, thanking to you great leader....

Tim Teague asks:

@whitehouse can I come visit?  (Click Continue to open next page)

The things Kansas will do for fast Internet access.

In a shameless bout of consumerism, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten has renamed the Kansas town "Google" for the month of March. The campaign is part of Topeka's -- err, Google's? -- bid for Google to roll out its ultra-fast fiber-optic broadband Internet in the town of Google.

Sigh. This is getting confusing.

Just take a load off and dust off your recording of "On the Atchison, Topeka  Google and the Santa Fe." (Editors' note: We made him put this in. Young guy doesn't get Judy Garland jokes. But go to the jump to hear Judy sing the catchy song.)

The politics of this ordeal is even more absurd than the headline. Bunten told reporters after....

Women have served dutifully and valiantly on U.S. naval surface warships for the last 17 years.

But now the Navy has decided to take gender-mixing to a new underwater low -- assigning women to submarines for the first time.

Subs, as you might imagine, have somewhat confined quarters and have remained one of the dwindling number of assignments excluded to females, who are able to have separate living quarters on surface ships.

According to ABC News, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus thinks women on subs "is a great idea and the right thing to do."

It takes about 18 months to train a sub officer, so women won't be shipping out there anytime soon. But in 18 years or so, the Navy figures, an American sub could have a female commander. Meanwhile, the service will start small, assigning only female officers to submarines at first -- and only in pairs, of course.

Now that the Navy has made its command military decision to broaden seaborne career opportunities for females, land-based Congress, which itself has woefully few career women, has 30 days -- no, make that 28 now -- to interfere. After all, cramming 118 young male sailors in a long metal tube driven by nuclear fission armed with warheads that could end humanity and submerging all that in 400 feet of deep ocean for 90 straight days with two women, what could possibly go wrong there? They're professionals first.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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In between episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants" and Jonas Brothers records, the Obama administration's federal government is hoping the young ones hop on their Internet-connected iPods or netbooks, and surf to USA.gov.

To promote the website directory, USA.gov is offering $2,500 to whomever submits the most creative and entertaining video about how USA.gov has benefited them.

The site contains sections tailored to specific ages and demographics -- kids, teens, parents, seniors etc. Those pages are broken down into specific topics.

Teens can learn about bad-weather driving techniques, how to calculate their school grade-point average and bicycle safety. Hot topics in the "kids" category include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Almosaurus. So, that's what kids are talking about on the playgrounds these days.

USA.gov is much like the curated Yahoo Web directory of the early days of the Internet. In other words, it's not the most cutting-edge idea.

David McClure, associate administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Community, recorded the video (embedded above), which asks others to record their own videos. Dressed in a suit and tie and sporting a mild hint of enthusiasm, he asks that before recording your 30- to 90-second video, you "take a look around" the site. Probably a good place to start.

“We’re capitalizing on the YouTube generation’s propensity for sharing and creativity to engage the public in a fun and unique way," McClure said in a statement. He goes onto say that "thousands of people" go to the site daily but doesn't mention how many thousands.

The contest was announced Monday, but it hasn't exactly blown up to Jonas-like proportions. Less than 400 people had watched McClure's video by Monday afternoon, and only six people joined the YouTube group to express interest in maybe submitting a video some day, who knows, perhaps.

Kids, you have until April 2 to embarrass yourself in a public, online forum. And if you're the only one who submits a video, those are pretty good odds at winning the $2,500.

-- Mark Milian

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President Obama is looking for a replacement to stand in as his Internet persona.

The Democratic National Committee has posted a job ad seeking a "social networks manager," as the Wall Street Journal points out. The person will cover online social media duties including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

The Journal writes:

Mia Cambronero, who currently holds the job, “will be stepping down from my infamous role as ‘Barack Obama’s twitterer,’” she said in an email message posted to a listserv. “We’re looking for someone who is available to start immediately.

”The new hire will work closely with the rest of the new media department to execute grassroots campaigns to advance the President’s agenda for change," the listing says. Among the qualifications sought: “Ready to work hard; this isn’t a 9-5 sort of job.”

As the DNC begins to look torward the 2012 election, it seems social media will again play a role in campaigning.

Though, we are surprised they're still paying attention to Rupert Murdoch's MySpace, which is like sooo 2005.

Obama plans to continue passing off the tweeting duties to someone else, despite drawing criticism in November when he said, "I have never used Twitter." Still haven't developed any dexterity in those thumbs, huh?

We expect the new job candidate will need to strictly adhere to the high standards of the current Twitter profile. Such as this one from October when the president received the Nobel Peace Prize: "Humbled." Or this one: "Happy New Year!"

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: Associated Press

The music and movie industries seem to have blown through every option in the playbook in their fights against illegal downloads.

Now, they're finally getting some help from the U.S. government in the form of a task force for intellectual property crime, the Justice Department said on Friday.

The announcement was vague, but this watchdog group will work with the newly created intellectual property enforcement coordinator as well as international organizations to fight copyright infringement. President George W. Bush appointed the first IP czar in October 2008.

"This task force will allow us to identify and implement a multifaceted strategy with our federal, state and international partners to effectively combat this type of crime," Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement.

The Recording Industry Assn. of America and Motion Picture Assn. of America -- the trade associations representing the interests of the record and film industries, respectively -- have tried in the past going after the software makers that facilitate piracy.

The organizations have also sued individuals accused of downloading illegally -- who, ironically, may be among their best customers. They've even attempted to sue a grandmother for downloading Snoop Dogg tracks.

Despite all of these efforts, piracy remains rampant. Although the Justice Department didn't directly point to the struggles facing music and movies, they are perhaps hit the hardest by digital theft and stand to benefit most from federal intervention.

"The rise in intellectual property crime in the United States and abroad threatens not only our public safety but also our economic well-being," Holder said in the statement.

By that, Holder probably isn't talking about the few dollars that college kids save from not having to buy a CD, but rather the Hollywood jobs potentially on the chopping block.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: Bram Cohen is the creator of Bittorrent, one of the most popular computer-transfer protocols for pirated content. Credit: Associated Press

A week ago, Rick Boucher's seat as a Virginia House representative was very much in question. He may be losing popularity among a section of his constituents.

But the Democratic representative won some definite points on Thursday with a large tech-savvy crowd.

In Thursday's congressional hearing for the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger, Boucher revived an issue that infuriated a vocal sect of Internet TV consumers.

Boucher rather astutely asked the NBC Universal chief executive why his Hulu website had blocked a service called Boxee from accessing its content last year.

NBC's Jeff Zucker fumbled over the question, creating more doubts than answers. But technology commentators and observers went into a tizzy over this politician who was plugged-in enough to know what's worth asking.

Boxee is a media center program that runs on most computers and can be connected to a television set. Its nearly one-million early technology adopters use it to access various free television shows, music and movies on the Web -- including those offered by online television portal Hulu.

Boucher may be losing popularity among the heavy coal-producing constituents in his Virginia region thanks to his vote for cap-and-trade legislation last year. So much so that Boucher, who's faced with running for his 15th term this year, felt compelled to address the doubt head on.

"I am planning to seek reelection. I have given no consideration to retiring," Boucher wrote in a statement. "While I never make political announcements this early in the year, due to the press inquiries we are receiving, it is time to remove any doubt anyone has about my intentions."

He might consider pulling a Ron Paul. There's probably enough geeks in Virginia to make a grass-roots, Web-fueled campaign worthwhile.

-- Mark Milian

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Image: Rep. Rick Boucher. Captured from CSPAN video