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How to follow the Obamas after they leave the White House
As President Obama prepares to leave the White House, his team must gather up not only his physical belongings, but the tweets, blog posts and other online content produced over the last eight years. Such a bevy of accounts and internet discourse is not simple to shift, so the White House has outlined exactly what will move where tomorrow. To keep up with the outgoing President, you'll need to follow @BarackObama on Twitter, facebook.com/BarackObama and instagram.com/BarackObama. First Lady Michelle Obama will take a similar position online, posting with the @MichelleObama handle on Twitter and Snapchat, facebook.com/MichelleObama and Instagram.com/MichelleObama.
Steve Jobs to meet with President Obama today
According to ABC News, President Obama's West Coast field trip is going to kick off in San Francisco with dinner. Not just any dinner, mind you. This happens to be dinner with the outgoing CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg (who built some sort of newfangled website) and our own Uncle Steve. According to the White House, they are meeting as part of an "ongoing dialogue with the business community on how we can work together to win the future, strengthen our economy, support entrepreneurship, and get the American people back to work." After dinner, there is no further published information on the official White House schedule, so I don't know who will get to put up their "The President Slept Here" sign. However, once he's wrapped things up in the Bay Area, it's been announced that Obama is spending Friday in my neck of the woods, visiting one of Intel's plants in Hillsboro, Oregon. He'll be there with Intel CEO Paul Otellini talking about Intel's investments in educational programs and manufacturing upgrades at their plants in Oregon and in Arizona. This is the second time the President has formally met with Jobs. Their first publicized get-together took place in October of 2010. [via AppleInsider]
White House, Pentagon announce plans for new cybersecurity positions
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]
President Obama offers iPod to the Queen of England
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."
