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Trump at 2AM: The new Oval Office in virtual reality
Donald Trump stands before me with a grim look on his face, lightly leaning against the Oval Office's Resolute desk. Moonlight pours in through the office's rear windows as a phone quietly rings. It's 2am, and something has happened -- and a new President holds the weight of the world on his shoulders. I'm looking at this surreal, frozen scene through the lens of an HTC Vive. It's a free virtual reality experience called "Wide Awake," and it tells a simple, concise story: no matter who Donald Trump was before or what you may have thought of him, he's now the guy who answers the phone when shit hits the fan.
Obama pardons Stuxnet leak source James Cartwright
Chelsea Manning isn't the only source of online leaks to get a new lease on life. President Obama has pardoned General James Cartwright, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI when it investigated leaks that revealed details of Stuxnet, the US-backed malware that sabotaged Iran's nuclear program. He had denied slipping out classified details to two New York Times reporters (including book author David Sanger) in a 2012 interview with the Bureau, only to be caught out later on. He had been facing up to 5 years in prison and was due to be sentenced the same day as the pardon.
Obama talks social media and climate change in final address
During his farewell address President Obama tackled many different issues, from the importance of our democratic institutions and the lingering effects of racism. But he also took a few moments to briefly address the economic, environmental and technical challenges facing Americans of all stripes.
Obama's social archive is available for your perusal
Twitter and Facebook first appeared to the masses around 2006, and two years later, Barack Obama became president. As such, he was the first @POTUS to use social media, to the tune of more than 100 social media profiles and over 250,000 posts. To record all that for posterity, the White House collaborated with ArchiveSocial on the White House Social Media Archive. It's a searchable database of everything Obama and his administration posted on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram and Pinterest over two terms and eight years.
Trump is prepared to start a nuclear arms race
Yesterday president-elect Donald Trump tweeted, "the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." This is direct conflict with the policies of former presidents both republican and democrat. Both sides of the aisle have worked to dismantle the world's nuclear stockpile. In the 1980s president Reagan made it his mission to have a "world free of nuclear weapons." Today, Trump double downed on his tweet.
Trump adds CEOs of Tesla, Uber to his presidential policy forum
US President-elect Donald Trump has been crafting a Strategic and Policy Forum to ask business leaders for advice on economic decisions, but it has mostly drawn from conventional corporate heavyweights like General Motors, JPMorgan Chase and IBM. However, he's shaking things up a bit today: the future leader has announced that Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will join the Forum. Trump sees them as broadening the reach of his advisor group, adding "innovative and vibrant" companies that will help create jobs "from Silicon Valley to the heartland."
Engadget's Election Day liveblog
Engadget's editors will be watching the election results roll in all night. If you want to know what they're reading, where they're tracking the vote and what is capturing their attention on social media tune in here to the Engadget election liveblog. And, if you've got questions not answered by our guide to the candidates hit us up on Twitter and we'll do our best to answer them.
How the internet can help you vote tomorrow
Tomorrow is election day in the United States. More than a year of political maneuvering, partisan fundraising, polarizing debates and 24-hour election coverage comes to a close on Tuesday, November 8th. However, that's not where this wild ride ends. Tomorrow, US citizens and the electoral college will choose a new president to lead the country for the next four years, ushering in a new political era with any outcome -- whether Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. If you're an eligible voter and you want to be a part of this historic decision, there are plenty of digital tools designed to help you figure out where, when, how and why to vote.
Galaxy Note 7 recall becomes a presidential punchline
Samsung is having a tough time. The fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 is one the biggest blunders ever in tech and now President Obama is using it as a punchline.
Facebook would like you to endorse political candidates
You don't have to run a big media outlet to endorse a candidate this presidential election... or other elections, for that matter. Facebook has introduced an endorsement feature that lets you back a political candidate beyond tapping a "like" button, letting others know where you stand. Mercifully, though, you won't have to endure the wrath of less-than-sympathetic friends if you don't want to. While you can certainly make a public endorsement if you want to share your views with the world, you can limit the audience so that only your more open-minded (or like-minded) friends will see it.
Engadget's guide to the 2016 presidential candidates
In 2016 America will elect a new president -- and we're about to hit the most intense part of the campaign, with three debates coming up between now and election day. After eight years in office Barack Obama will move out of the White House and take a long overdue break from the stresses of running the country (or at least attempt to). But, before someone new sets up shop in the Oval Office, he or she will have to convince America that they deserve to be president. At Engadget we're firm believers in the power of an informed electorate, so to help you find the candidate right for you, here is a look at the contenders and where they stand on a swath of issues related to science and technology. We'll be updating this guide throughout the election season to reflect current polling numbers and new comments from the candidates regarding the issues. Click here to see all the candidates' report cards.
Twitter will livestream the US Presidential debates
Twitter made it a point to livestream the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and it's keeping up that trend of political involvement now that it's debate season. The social network is partnering with Bloomberg to livestream both the US Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, which start on September 26th. Each stream will be available worldwide through the web (at debates.twitter.com, which isn't live yet) and Twitter's official apps, with Bloomberg providing commentary and analysis. We can't promise that the debates will be deep, insightful discussions that help you make an informed decision on election day, but you at least won't have to put down your phone to watch the political circus in action.
Facebook co-founder donates $20 million to elect Hillary Clinton
Mark Zuckerberg's other half, Dustin Moskovitz, has pledged to donate $20 million to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democratic efforts this election year. Moskovitz, a co-creator of Facebook and founder of Asana, outlines his intentions in a Medium post that criticizes Republican candidate Donald Trump and praises Clinton.
Reuters: White House to appoint first federal cyber security chief today (updated)
According to Reuters, the White House will appoint Retired Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill as the nation's first federal cyber security chief, a position tasked with dictating cybersecurity policy for the entire federal government. It's an announcement that's been a long time coming. After watching US networks suffer a series of embarrassing attacks last year, President Obama pledged to shore up federal cybersecruity efforts, creating a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity and announcing a Cybersecurity National Action Plan. The latter promised to create a Federal Chief Information Security Officer to help protect US systems from future threats. General Touhill, it seems, is our man.
Google tells you how to vote by state with a simple search
You're running out of excuses to not vote in this year's US presidential election. Google has rolled out a new, state-specific voting guide for anyone who searches "how to vote" or other related queries. Google breaks down the voting process in your state, complete with information on early voting, mail-in ballots, requirements and deadlines. There's also a drop-down menu that allows you to toggle among states.
BuzzFeed: Twitter secretly censored tweets during Obama Q&A (updated)
As part of a larger piece examining Twitter and its widescale user harassment problem, BuzzFeed News has reported that tweets were secretly filtered out and censored for President Obama in 2015. Ahead of a "town hall" question and answer session, Dick Costolo -- then Twitter CEO -- reportedly ordered staff to develop an algorithm that would strip out abusive language directed at the President. It was perfected, BuzzFeed claims, after analysing "thousands" of vulgar tweets. Citing anonymous sources, the site says a media partnerships team manually censored tweets, due to a belief that the algorithm wouldn't be up to scratch.
Google searches omitted key US presidential candidates (update: bug)
Google has been a rich, impartial resource for US election info so far, but it's apparently not perfect. NBC notes that certain searches for would-be Presidents (such as "presidential candidates" or "US president candidates") weren't turning up major candidates in the list of active campaigns, including Republican nominee Donald Trump and Libertarian pick Gary Johnson. Moreover, they still included Bernie Sanders -- odd when his party has nominated Hillary Clinton.
White House outlines how the US will respond to cyberattacks
The US government is understandably worried about cyberattacks as of late, and it's now setting some ground rules for how it responds to those digital intrusions. A newly approved Presidential Policy Directive details just how officials will coordinate responses to hacks and other "cyber incidents." including its basic principles, outlining procedures and creating mechanisms that link the actions that link government divisions. Provided everything goes according to plan, officials would not only learn to share responsibility and resources when fending off attacks, but better understand the risks associated with a given crisis.
President Obama got rid of his BlackBerry
President Obama has had to use a BlackBerry since the moment he took office. However, he's finally moving on with less than a year left in his term. The Commander-in-Chief tells Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon that he was given a new (and currently unnamed) smartphone this year to replace his increasingly rare BlackBerry. Not that there's much reason to celebrate. The President notes that his phone is so locked down "for security reasons" that he can't call, play music, send texts or take pictures. It's like one of those "play phones" you'd give to a 3-year-old, he says.
Put words in the President's mouth with 'Talk Obama To Me'
Anything sounds weighty when uttered by the President of the United States, which is why a new internet text-to-speech app called "Talk Obama to Me" is such fun. All you have to do is input whatever text you want to make the President himself read it back. According to developer and Stanford Linguistics PhD candidate Ed King, the program is a "video speech synthesizer that automatically chops up video of Barack Obama and puts it in order, so that he says whatever you want him to."
