BarackObama -- Engadget

BarackObama posts

US government lays out cash for wall-based, in-home 'smart meters'

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2009 at 4:47PM

Google has its PowerMeter, Microsoft has its Hohm and Obama has his "smart meters." Got it? Good. Around two years after UK taxpayers began footing the bill for in-home energy monitors, it seems as if America's current administration is looking to follow suit. While visiting the now-open solar facility in Arcadia, Florida today, the Pres announced that $3.4 billion in cash that the US doesn't actually have has just been set aside for a number of things, namely an intelligent power grid and a whole bundle of smart power meters. Aside from boring apparatuses like new digital transformers and grid sensors (both of which are designed to modernize the nation's "dilapidated" electric network), 18 million smart meters and 1 million "other in-home devices" will be installed in select abodes. The idea here is to give individuals a better way to monitor their electricity usage, with the eventual goal set at 40 million installed meters over the next few years. Great idea, guys -- or you know, you could just advise people to turn stuff off when they aren't using it, or not use energy they can't afford. Just sayin'.

Walt Disney World unveils incredibly scary, robotic version of President Obama

by Laura June posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 9:04AM

Now, we've never been to this "Hall of Presidents" at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida (our parents instead taking us to real, disused dungeons and battlefields for family entertainment), but we're thinking about heading down there today -- not because the newest animatronic addition -- President Barack Obama -- has just been unveiled, but because his likeness is so... unlike him, so incredibly, terrifyingly creepy (and yet still impressive all the same). Yes, we'll pop all of our closest friends' children into the van and take a fantastic voyage down to the southern tip of our great nation just to see their reactions to this horrifying robotic educational presentation. What better way to celebrate our nation's independence? Come to think of it... maybe our parents weren't so bad after all. Videos of Obamatron and of the President himself recording audio for it after the break.

Continue reading Walt Disney World unveils incredibly scary, robotic version of President Obama

White House, Pentagon announce plans for new cybersecurity positions

by Donald Melanson posted May 29th 2009 at 3:51PM

It's just been a few short months since a proposed bill called for the creation of a National Cybersecurity Advisor, but it looks like there's now not one but two new positions in the offing, with both the Pentagon and President Obama himself announcing plans for some newly elevated offices charged with keeping the nation's networks secure. While a specific "Cybersecurity Czar" hasn't yet been named, the White House position will apparently be a member of both the National Security Council and National Economic Council and, in addition to coordinating U.S. response in the event of a major attack, the office will also be tasked with protecting privacy and civil liberties. Details on the new Pentagon office, on the other hand, are expectedly even less specific although, according to The New York Times, it'll be a military command that will work to coordinate efforts now scattered across the four armed services, and will apparently serve as complement to the civilian office in the White House.

Read - Reuters, "Obama to name White House cybersecurity czar"
Read - The New York Times, "Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars"

[Thanks, Ryan]

Crapgadget: No wonder the economy sucks edition

by Darren Murph posted Apr 27th 2009 at 1:08AM

While we here at Engadget are doing everything in our power to get this philosophical "economy" back "on track," it's items like these that aren't doing anything to help. No innovation. No stimulating capabilities. No utility at all, really. Just a webcam that scans business cards, an MP3 player shaped like a cow and a flash drive that's absolutely not certified for circulation by the Democratic National Committee. Though, we must say that they're all tailor made for Crapgadget, which is (just barely) good enough for us -- drop your vote for the lamest below!

Read - CowCow MP3 player
Read - 4-Port Soccer Ball USB Hub
Read - MSI StarCam Flip Webcam
Read - USB Bird Fan
Read - Bling Bling USB Card Reader
Read - Obama Flash Drive

National Broadband Plan to bring high-speed access to all Americans... ideally

by Darren Murph posted Apr 9th 2009 at 10:11AM

Hey, what do you know? All those meetings over the proposed National Broadband Plan has amounted to something: a "yeah, we should probably hit this up." Today, the FCC has kicked off an immensely ambitious project to bring "high-speed internet access to every corner of the United States." $7.2 billion of the economic stimulus package has already been allocated for the task, but it'll be ages before anything becomes of this. For starters, the FCC is asking for input from consumers, businesses, etc, yet it doesn't require a response until February of 2010. Meanwhile, nations like South Korea, Japan and Australia are all looking to implement similar rollouts, albeit with much higher speeds. You see, the FCC currently defines "broadband" as 786Kpbs, which obviously isn't anywhere near median rates in some of the aforementioned countries. Pardon our skepticism in this becoming a reality, but at least we'll be extra elated if our rock-bottom expectations are met.

President Obama offers iPod to the Queen of England

by Joshua Topolsky posted Apr 1st 2009 at 2:44PM

No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. President Obama met today at Buckingham Palace with the Queen, and our forward thinking commander-in-chief brought along a little tech for gifting purposes. Obama presented Elizabeth II with an iPod containing video from her 2007 visit to the States. In return, the first family received what is apparently a standard present for visiting dignitaries to the Palace -- a silver-framed photo of the Queen and her husband. At a glance, it seems like Obama has a thing for gadgets (and related media); he recently handed off a set of DVDs featuring classic American films to Prime Minister Gordon Brown... who was unable to play them due to incorrect region encoding. Regardless, the Queen appears pleased with the music player, telling the President during their 25 minute tea that she "Finally has something to listen to [her] Pantera records on."

DVD region code blocks British Prime Minister from enjoying Obama's gift

by Darren Murph posted Mar 20th 2009 at 5:43AM

"Oh, bollocks." No, we can't definitively prove that Gordon Brown said that after witnessing a "Wrong Region" code when inserting a DVD given to him by Barack Obama, but we're sure something of the sort was uttered. You see, the ridiculous DVD region coding system recently prevented the British Prime Minister from viewing a set of 25 "American classics" on DVD, all of which were bestowed upon him by President Obama during a recent visit to Washington, D.C. We hate to bludgeon a dead mule, but seriously, when will the DRM madness end? Er, on second thought, maybe this is precisely what's necessary to keep those region-free player outlets in business, and thus, the economy strong.

[Via techdirt, image courtesy of AmericaLives]

DTV coupons begin flowing once more, waitlist should vanish in 3 weeks

by Darren Murph posted Mar 6th 2009 at 10:12AM

For all of you still waiting for a little governmental assistance in buying that DTV converter box that you should've purchased months ago (we kid... a little), we've excellent news. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is overseeing the program, has announced that it has finally begun to ship $40 vouchers towards the purchase of these very boxes once more. The waitlist has grown some 4.1 million deep since the subsidy program ran dry back in January, but the agency is hoping to have that cleared within three weeks. Of course, you better not procrastinate on your second chance -- who knows how quickly the $650 million it has left will last.

[Image courtesy of BreakItDownBlog]

Stimulus bill seeks plan to ensure all Americans have broadband access

by Darren Murph posted Feb 18th 2009 at 8:52AM

As we've seen in the decidedly botched digital TV transition, nothing involving government and technology is ever straightforward. With that in mind, let us present to you the most germane portion of the recently passed economic stimulus package with respect to gadgets and the overall nerd kingdom: $7.2 billion. That amount is what President Obama has set aside for "broadband grant and loan programs," though things get confusing right from the start. $4.7 billion will be distributed through a program run by the Commerce Department, while $2.5 billion is handed out by the Agriculture Department. In theory, at least, that latter chunk would go specifically to rural and underserved areas, but having one goal with two masters just seems like trouble waiting to happen. Oh, and then there's the mandate to the FCC that instructs it to create (within one year, mind you) a "national broadband plan to ensure that everyone in the US has broadband access." Granted, these aren't entirely unheard of -- Britain just did the same sort of thing a few weeks ago, and South Korea's already aiming at 1Gbps for all. We appreciate that the money's there, but only time will tell if leads to anything meaningful.

Digital TV transition delay bill fails to pass in House

by Darren Murph posted Jan 28th 2009 at 1:36PM

In an absolutely shocking move, the United States House of Representatives has failed to pass the digital TV transition delay bill that was all but certain to fly through just days ago. The bill needed two-thirds of the votes of the House under "special rules adopted for the vote," and reportedly, the vote was just 258 to 168 in favor of changing the date. As it stands, an estimated 6.5 million Americans are not yet prepared for the switch -- which is now back on track for February 17th -- and the money well for government-issued vouchers has ran dry. Honestly, we're elated to hear the news. The February date has been blasted from the rooftops for years now, and changing it this late in the game would wreak all kinds of havoc in the industry, not to mention instill even more confusion. Soon-to-be-vacated airwaves, we're ready for you.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Senate okays digital TV transition delay to June 12th

by Darren Murph posted Jan 26th 2009 at 8:05PM

We knew it was bound to happen, and sure enough, it's happening. For the millions of Americans still waiting for their $40 voucher before buying one of those newfangled DTV converter boxes, the US Senate has just given its stamp of approval on providing them a four month reprieve as it attempts to get its act together. Oddly, there's no mention of Congress looking for new sources of funding, though we are told that consumers holding expired coupons can now request new ones. We suspect more details will flow out on all of this soon, but for now, you can bank on the digital TV transition -- originally scheduled to go down on February 17th -- now occurring on June 12th. Until it changes again, of course.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Gigapan Imager used to craft 1,474 megapixel image of Obama's inauguration

by Darren Murph posted Jan 25th 2009 at 6:01PM

In theory, at least, we already knew that the Gigapan Imager was capable of some amazing things. This, friends, is proof. David Bergman strapped the device and his Canon G10 onto a rail at Barack Obama's inauguration and snapped 220 images. After giving his MacBook Pro 6.5 hours to compile a two gigabyte image, he hosted it up on his website for people to zoom around on. We'll caution you -- you can easy kill a few hours checking out faces and such if you end up visiting the read link, but it's totally worth it.

[Via Gadling]

NASA electric lunar rover struts its stuff for the President

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Jan 23rd 2009 at 10:54AM

For the Inaugural Parade, NASA astronauts greeted our new President in the style befitting such an august organization (and one that'll take all the funding they can get) by trotting out their Small Pressurized Rover. Hopefully by 2012 this thing will be spending less time cruising around Washington DC and more time on the lunar surface, where it can support two intrepid explorers for up to two weeks at a time. It sure looks cramped, but man, what a view! Check out some video of the thing in action -- in the nation's capital and in the wild -- after the break.

[Via Billionaire Boys Club]

Continue reading NASA electric lunar rover struts its stuff for the President

Digital TV transition postponement all but certain

by Darren Murph posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:59PM

We're actually having a hard time believing this ourselves, but word on the street has it that the Senate is "on the verge of passing a bill that would delay until June the date when TV stations must broadcast in all-digital format." Without Congressional action, all TV stations will switch off their analog signals on February 17th -- a date that has been blasted out to the general populace for years now. The issue is that millions of Americans are currently on a waiting list for one of those $40 vouchers, and evidently it'll take a few more months to get additional funding and clear the backlog. It's expected that the new switchover date will soon become June 12th, and you can find all the fine print just down there in the read link.

[Via TVWeek, thanks Vanbrothers]

Confirmed: Obama gets his BlackBerry, no Sectera Edge in sight

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 3:47PM

At Robert Gibbs' first press conference as President Obama's Press Secretary, the most important and heated debate of our time has been put to rest. According to Gibbs, Obama will be able to keep his BlackBerry, though only a limited number of senior staff and personal contacts will have access to his email address, and the data on the handheld will be subject to the Presidential Records Act. There was no mention of the NSA or the Sectera Edge, though he does mention some enhanced security. In Gibbs' words:

"The President has a BlackBerry through a compromise that allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends in a way that use will be limited and the security is enhanced to ensure his ability to communicate, but to do so effectively and to do so in a way that's protected."

Finally, a clear indication that for the first time in the 21st century, the President of the United States will act like it's the 21st century. You can watch it all go down in the video after the break -- just crank it to about 45:30. Now, on to this economic stuff we keep hearing about...

[Thanks, Vipul]

Continue reading Confirmed: Obama gets his BlackBerry, no Sectera Edge in sight