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The Obamas are leaving Spotify for Audible
Barack and Michelle Obama are heading to Audible.
The Obamas are reportedly leaving Spotify (updated)
They're looking for a deal that would allow them to distribute shows to multiple platforms at once.
President Obama and Bruce Springsteen debut podcast on Spotify
President Obama and Bruce Springsteen launch a podcast exclusive on Spotify.
Crypto scammers hack Elon Musk, Biden, Obama, and Kanye on Twitter
It's not clear how they accessed the accounts.
Supreme Court rejects Trump's attempt to end DACA
The US Supreme Court rejected Trump's attempt to dissolve DACA, immigrant protections supported by tech CEOs.
Senate: Obama Admin. wasn't prepared to handle Russian interference
Today, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report (PDF) detailing the Obama administration's response to Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. The report says the Obama administration was not well-prepared to handle the unprecedented election interference and that the administration suffered from "paralysis of analysis."
Spotify’s podcast power play
By February, 2019 was already a huge year for Spotify. As part of its earnings announcement, the company revealed that it had finally made a profit -- a benchmark that seemed somewhat unattainable given the service's expensive operating costs. In that same news drop, Spotify also proclaimed it was ready to become a power player in the world of podcasts. It spent big, locked down exclusive shows and introduced several new features for users. And the effort won't end as 2019 comes to a close.
EPA pushes national fuel economy standard in face off with California
The Trump administration has announced plans to create a national vehicle emissions standard. The new "One National Program Rule" would allow the federal government to set uniform fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards. The move, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is the latest in the Trump administration's feud with California.
Russia reportedly breached encrypted FBI comms in 2010
When the Obama administration kicked out Russian operatives and seized compounds, it might have been for more than their meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Unnamed officials talking to Yahoo News say that some of those diplomats were involved in a counterintelligence strategy that breached FBI communications starting in 2010. Reportedly, the Russians had "dramatically improved" their decryption of some secure comms technology, including the radios used by mobile surveillance teams and the push-to-talk cellphones used as backups. The Russians could track and intercept the chats between agents, though it's not clear if that was possible in real-time.
EPA will roll back rules on methane emissions
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce plans to roll back regulations on methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change. The Trump Administration is seeking to do away with Obama-era requirements, which mandated that the oil and gas industry install technology to monitor and limit natural gas leaks from infrastructure like wells, tanks and pipelines, The Wall Street Journal reports. The change could also block proposed rules that would have required the EPA to set emissions regulations on thousands of pre-existing wells and industry sites.
The Obamas' production company unveils its first Netflix projects
The production company from President and Mrs. Obama, Higher Ground, has unveiled its first lineup of Netflix shows roughly a year after forging a deal with the streaming giant. The initial seven-show catalog will take "several years" to arrive, but is unsurprisingly an optimistic mix of shows that exemplify "resilience, determination, and hope" and focus on "transcending divides to bring us together." Not that they're all squeaky-clean -- some of them explore difficult subjects.
For Twitter, 'sorry' seems to be the easiest word
Two weeks before Cesar Sayoc was arrested for mailing 13 pipe bombs (and counting) to various Democratic politicians and supporters, including President Barack Obama, he was threatening people on Twitter who opposed his nationalist, pro-Trump views. In a tweet to political analyst Rochelle Ritchie on October 11th, which he sent from one of two Twitter accounts that have since been suspended, he said she should hug her "loved ones real close every time" she left home. "So you like [to] make threats. We Unconquered Seminole Tribe will answer your threats. We have nice silent Air boat ride for you here on our land Everglades Swamp. We will see u 4 sure," he added. Ritchie reported the tweet, only to be told by Twitter that it did not violate its terms of service.
Even automakers don’t want Trump’s emissions rollback
The Trump administration unveiled its proposal to weaken Obama-era fuel efficiency standards, and it's as bad as you would expect.
Netflix inks multi-year production agreement with the Obamas
As previously rumored, the 44th President and First Lady are getting into the entertainment business. According to an announcement by Netflix Monday morning, "President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: ‘We need smart networks, not dumb pipes’
After cancelling his CES 2018 appearance in January, reportedly due to death threats, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today attended a panel at MWC 2018 in Barcelona. During the event, titled "The Future of the Industry: Transatlantic Digital Policy and Regulation," Pai discussed his plans for 5G connectivity and, of course, his decision to repeal net neutrality in the US. He said that, despite public perception on the moves he's made since taking over the FCC as part of President Trump's administration, the internet will remain open and free and that "no one gets a pass." The "no one" he mentions is likely a reference to the idea that certain companies, particularly network carriers like Verizon, will get special treatment after net neutrality ends on April 23rd.
Obama-era plans to ‘zap’ Russian trolls collapsed under Trump
Before departing office, Barack Obama ordered US spy agencies to plan operations to combat Russian cyberthreats, according to the The Washington Post. But, more than a year into Trump's tenure, his administration remains reluctant to pursue those counter-measures, claims the report.
EPA plans to repeal Obama-era Clean Power Plan
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Scott Pruitt, announced today he would sign a proposed rule that would withdraw the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan (CPP). "Here's the president's message: The war on coal is over," Pruitt said today during a speech given in Hazard, Kentucky.
Obama Foundation taps social media to fight online echo chambers
Participating in social media these days, especially around contentious political issues, can be an exercise in frustration. Facebook fights its own echo chamber with features like Topics to Follow as much as it can, but it's going to take much more than smart algorithms to learn how to listen to each other. President Obama, our most tech-savvy president, is stepping into the fray, using his post-presidential foundation to encourage us to become better digital citizens.
James Comey will testify before a Senate committee on June 8th
James Comey continues to be a lightning rod for controversy at the national level. After a long year of Clinton email server investigations and the FBI's conclusion that the Russians allegedly hacked the 2016 election, James Comey is finally getting to tell his own story. According to Bloomberg, the recently fired FBI Director will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8th in both an open and a subsequent closed session. The investigation will cover both the possible election tampering as well as Comey's own dismissal by President Trump.
Former Obama staffers want to build progressive political tools
There's been plenty of talk, recently, about how right-wing candidates have harnessed technology's darkest arts to swing elections in their favor. Now, it appears that folks on the other side of the aisle have, belatedly, woken up to the need to push their politics into the digital world. Recode is lifting the lid on one such attempt, in the form of Higher Ground Labs, a startup incubator and fund designed to push progressive politics.
