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Tune in to watch President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg live at 1:45 PM ET
This afternoon, President Obama will meet with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a panel of other young entrepreneurs at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit on Stanford's campus in Palo Alto. While the discussion is scheduled to focus on business, Zuckerberg has recently been celebrating the power of live video to bring "more openness to the political process." Earlier this week, Facebook Live and its competitor Periscope proved invaluable for bringing a sit-in on the House floor to millions of people.
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.
Tech giants push Congress for K-12 computer science education
A coalition of tech industry heavy-hitters and scions of corporate America have joined forces with a bipartisan group of governors and educators to push Congress for federal funding that would give every K-12 student in the country the chance to learn how to code. The group, a partnership between the Computer Science Education Coalition and Code.org, is petitioning Congress for $250 million in federal funding for the effort.
Obama forms commission to bolster US cyber security
The sad state of US cyber security was laid bare when attackers stole the sensitive data of 21 million government employees from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last year. President Obama pledged $19 billion to fix the problem in February, and just unveiled a commission of private, public and academic experts to come up with a plan. Called the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, it will be co-chaired by former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano and Tom Donilon, the President's former national security adviser.
President Obama will guest host on Science Channel this week
Just because President Obama is months away from leaving office doesn't mean he's done promoting science education. The American leader is guest hosting Science Channel's Science Presents DNews every day this week (April 11th through 15th) -- yes, the head of the country will be delivering the latest happenings in biology, space and technology while you're settling down for the night. If you want to check it out, you can tune in at 9PM.
President Obama urges SXSW audience not to be 'absolutists' on encryption
South by Southwest managed to get a pretty good keynote speaker as it kicked things off today: President Obama. The president sat down with Evan Smith, editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, for a quick but wide-ranging interview loosely focused on civic engagement in the 21st century. He also spent about ten minutes discussing the ongoing battle between privacy and security as highlighted by the battle between the FBI and Apple. As a practiced politician, Obama avoided coming down too hard on any one side, and he said he wasn't able to discuss the ongoing FBI vs. Apple case at all. But by and large his message was that sacrificing some degree of privacy for the sake of our safety has served the country well for hundreds of years, and he expects we'll figure out a way to do so digitally as well.
President pledges $4 billion toward computer science in schools
The White House isn't just relying on legislation to make computer science education a priority in the US. President Obama has launched a Computer Science for All initiative that gives states $4 billion in funding to expand computer science in K-12 schools through a mix of better course materials, partnerships and teacher training. The move also sends another $100 million directly to school districts, unlocks $135 million in funding from government organizations and gets further cooperation from both local governments as well as tech leaders.
Electric car sales fell short of the President's goals
In 2008, President Obama set the lofty goal of putting 1 million plug-in cars on US streets by 2015. So, how did the country do? Not well at all, if you ask Reuters. It understands that only 400,000 electric cars are on American roads despite numerous incentives, including that well-known $7,500 tax credit. In fact, EV sales fell 6 percent in 2015 -- not exactly the sign of a burgeoning industry. There were 384,000 hybrids sold last year, but their sales dropped by 15 percent.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: The Detroit Auto Show, SOTU and more!
The North American International Auto Show kicked off this week in Detroit, and we hit the floor to bring you seven of the best green cars, including a hot hydrogen sedan and the world's first electric minivan. The Obama administration heralded the age of autonomous vehicles with a new plan to invest $4 billion in self-driving car technology. As usual, Tesla is ahead of the curve: This week Elon Musk announced that the automaker's first fully autonomous cars will hit streets by the year 2018. And Tesla also took honors as the Model S was declared the world's top-selling electric car of 2015.
President Obama is the White House's First Social Media Ninja
President Barack Obama will give his final State of the Union address tonight, kicking off the final 12 months of his time in the Oval Office. To mark the occasion, the president and his administration have jumped on board yet another social media platform, the rapidly growing Snapchat. If anything, it's more surprising that Obama wasn't already on Snapchat: The president has a presence on basically every social network of note, and his team is skilled at using them to campaign, communicate and entertain his millions of followers. With one year to go, we've pulled together a guide of Obama's vast social presence across the internet and some of the highlights from each platform.
Go behind the scenes of the State of the Union with Snapchat
The White House announced today that it had joined Snapchat ahead of tomorrow's State of the Union address, the last before President Obama leaves office. Snapchat is a social site where users' fleeting posts disappear after just a few seconds. It boasts over 100 million active users, most of which weren't even old enough to vote when he was elected -- that is, they're under 25. Users can follow the president's posts by adding WhiteHouse or scanning the snapcode below.
Amazon will stream the President's State of the Union speech
The President's State of the Union address has been viewable online for years, but you've had to visit either the White House's website or YouTube. That's not very convenient in an era when streaming services reach just about every device you know. And the government knows it, apparently: the Office of Digital Strategy has announced that President Obama's final State of the Union speech will stream on Amazon Instant Video (both live and on-demand) in addition to the usual sources. The goal is to bring video to where people watch, rather than make you hunt it down. If you want to tune on your Fire TV, you can.
President signs pro-asteroid mining bill into law
And just like that, American asteroid mining efforts are legal. President Obama has signed the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (CSLCA) into law following Congress' approval, letting companies keep whatever resources they collect beyond Earth. As you might imagine, hopeful mining outfits like Planetary Resources are relieved. While the odds weren't that high that the government would confiscate their minerals as soon as they landed, the Act removes any ambiguity.
The President finally has a Facebook page
For all of the White House's efforts to join the internet era, it's been awfully slow at giving the President a Facebook presence. It's not dragging its heels any longer, though: President Obama (and presumably, any future President) now has an official Facebook page. Besides giving the political leader a chance to explain agendas, it'll help you share your thoughts and chat with other concerned residents. The move was virtually necessary when over a billion people use Facebook every day, but it's hard to knock something that puts you in closer contact with your government. Let's just hope that the President has someone keeping a close eye on the comments -- if you think the politically-charged discussions in your own Facebook feed can get bad, you can imagine what it'd be like for a head of state.
Watch the White House's Astronomy Night live at 7:35PM ET
In 2009, the White House held an Astronomy Night to get students dreaming big and pursuing careers in science. Well, that event is back -- and this time, you can tune in. The White House will livestream parts of its second-ever Astronomy Night starting at 7:35PM ET, including President Obama's statements. It won't be the same as stargazing on the South Lawn, but it might inspire you (or your kids) to learn more about space. Importantly, the government is backing up this event with action. NASA is teaming with students and enthusiasts to find targets for the James Webb Space Telescope, and there are projects underway to foster math and science education beyond the classroom. [Image credit: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images]
The Intercept publishes massive leak on America's drone strike program
The Intercept published a huge trove of secret documents Thursday morning that extensively document the Obama administration's secretive and controversial drone-based assassination program. This program sought to kill high-value enemy targets throughout Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. These documents, obtained from an anonymous whistleblower, cover an enormous breadth of subjects. Documents on how the legal and logistical architectures behind the program were constructed, details on how people wind up on President Obama's "kill lists", revelations of startlingly regular intelligence flaws, internal analysis of collateral damage and the strategic limits of the program are only part of what's included in the cache. You can begin reading through the documents at The Intercept, we'll have a deeper analysis of this leak for you tomorrow. [Image Credit: The Washington Post/Getty Images]
Chicago's mayor wants every American high school grad to know how to code
Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff for the Obama administration and current mayor of Chicago, has called on the president to institute computer coding competency as a national requirement to graduate high school. "Just make it a requirement," Emanuel said during a recent Washington Post-sponsored policy event. "I am fine with Common Core. We adopted it in the city, one of the first cities to do it. I'm great. [But] you need this skill — national policy. Make it a high-school graduation requirement."
US, China have an 'understanding' to fight cyber economic espionage
Ahead of a state dinner in Washington D.C. attended by a number of notable tech CEOs (Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and Satya Nadella, to name a few), President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced an unprecedented agreement on the topic of hacking. After a number of recent hacks on commercial and government targets in the US were blamed on Chinese hackers it was expected the two might try to reach a deal, and according to Obama, they now have an understanding.
President Obama welcomes telepresence robots into the White House
If you can't greet the president in person, don't worry... as of now, you can send a robot in your stead. President Barack Obama has welcomed a telepresence robot into the White House for the first time, letting Disability Visibility Project founder Alice Wong attend a celebration and say hello to both Obama as well as Vice President Joe Biden. It's not going to replace a handshake and a photo op, but it beats staying at home. It certainly won't be shocking if you see more of these robotic stand-ins at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in the future -- they could help dignitaries show up at important events when traveling to Washington just isn't an option. [Image credit: Pete Souza, Instagram]
Russian hackers scooped up the President's unclassified email
Russian hackers may have had more success in breaching the White House network than first thought. New York Times sources understand that intruders who got into the White House's unclassified system managed to collect some of President Obama's email. They didn't compromise the account itself, and they didn't snap up the classified messages passing through the President's BlackBerry. However, these messages likely included some "highly sensitive" material, like policy discussions, schedules and staff changes -- the data could have been abused in the worst circumstances.
