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Inside the third-annual White House Science Fair
The White House West Wing, as ever, is very busy. It's nearly time for White House Press Secretary Jay Carney's daily press briefing, which today (April 22nd) will reveal that the Boston bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, won't be tried as an "enemy combatant." Just upstairs, the atmosphere is thankfully less intense. In the East Room and surrounding chambers, over 100 students -- STEM-based competition winners from 40 different states -- are making their best efforts to remain chipper while explaining projects they've no doubt discussed dozens (if not hundreds) of times before. Later this afternoon, President Barack Obama will address the dozens of attendees -- accomplished students and educators, as well as folks like Bill Nye ("The Science Guy"), Levar Burton (of Reading Rainbow fame) and Kathryn D. Sullivan (the first American woman to walk in space). He'll characterize the students' projects as "really cool," and he'll call out some lucky winners by name while speaking to the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States. Today is the culmination of years of work for many attendees, and it's an important day for the current administration as well. The White House Science Fair is an annual highlight of its "Educate to Innovate" initiative -- the Obama administration-led program that directs both public and private funds to a variety of programs, all aimed at bolstering STEM education in the US. It's a long-term, ambitious plan, and one that the White House is re-dedicating itself to in its proposed fiscal year 2014 budget: a planned reorganization coupled with $265 million, "redirected from within the Department [of Education] and from other agencies." Beyond the occasional PR bump that events like the White House Science Fair bring, the Educate to Innovate initiative is largely one that won't reap dividends for some time. In 20 years, however, it may be the most important component of Obama's legacy.%Gallery-187214%
President Obama to nominate Tom Wheeler as FCC Chairman tomorrow
As Julius Genachowski winds down his five-year term as Chairman of the FCC, rumors of his successor are in full swing. Now, Engadget has confirmed with a White House official that President Obama will nominate industry veteran, Tom Wheeler, for the position, in an announcement that will come tomorrow. According to Wheeler's profile on his personal blog, he currently identifies himself as a venture capitalist and sits on the boards of Roundbox, UpdateLogic, Twisted Pair Solutions, EarthLink and TNS. Wheeler's history in the cable and wireless industry spans decades. He served as president of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) from 1979 to 1984, and later took the helm of the CTIA as its president and CEO from 1992 until 2003. According to Politico, Wheeler shares close ties with the Obama administration, and is said to have raised hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars for the President's two bids at the White House. Pending confirmation, Mignon Clyburn, will serve as interim chairman until a new leader is appointed.
President Obama recognizes Apple during State of the Union address
During tonight's State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama gave a specific shout out to Apple, and indirectly to CEO Tim Cook, who is attending the speech. The President cited Apple's plans to bring production of one of its Mac product lines back to the U.S. Cook was previously announced as one of Michelle Obama's guests for the State of the Union address. Follow this link to see the spot in the speech where Obama recognizes Apple. It's also embedded below at the 24:10 mark.
Google to host second Presidential Google+ Hangout on February 14th (video)
It's not quite as traditional as baseball and apple pie, but you've got to start somewhere. Following last year's success, Google is once again hosting a Presidential Google+ chat days after the State of the Union address, on February 14th at 4:50PM Eastern. The Fireside Hangout will see President Obama answer the most voted-for questions from Americans live, with a seasoned panel joining him for the discussion. It's arguably one of our better chances at getting answers about policies that we wouldn't get from a formal speech -- as such, those who can put aside nostalgia for old-fashioned Fireside Chats will likely get their fill at the source link.
President Obama signs Video Privacy Protection bill, now Netflix can share to Facebook
Netflix has been lobbying hard for changes to a law that it believed barred it from sharing the videos users watch on social media services, and now the law has changed. After H.R. 6671 passed through Congress last year without objection, President Barack Obama signed it into law today. As it previously existed, the Video Privacy Protection Act would have required users to approve sharing of each title watched in writing. The amendment removes that restriction, and should see the Facebook features already on Netflix internationally available in the US, soon. Hit the source link to read the bill itself, whether you're increasingly wary of the reach of social media, or an Open Graph addict.
Netflix wants users to be able to share viewing habits on Facebook, US Senate agrees
We knew Netflix was big, but big enough to change the law? Apparently so, as an amendment to the Video Privacy Protection Act backed by the streaming service has been cleared by the US Senate. If the alteration gets a final sign-off from Obama himself, it'll allow Netflix users to easily share their streaming activity on Facebook -- something already implemented in regions outside the US. The current law, which makes such sharing tricky, was passed in the late 80's after a judge saw his video rental history leaked to a newspaper. There wasn't anything embarrassing in this list, but the episode begat the Act which requires a person's legal consent every time there's a request to publish such data. Instead, Netflix is proposing a one-off authorization which streamlines the whole process. We imagine the president's signature is just a formality, in which case you'll soon know exactly how many times we've watched Step Up 2: The Streets.
Tim Cook makes shortlist for Time's Person of the Year
Time Magazine has posted its shortlist for the annual Person of the Year awards, and there's at least one familiar face on there for Apple fans: Apple CEO Tim Cook has made the cut. Along with Barack Obama, Bill and Hilary Clinton and Yahoo CEO (and former Google exec) Marissa Mayer, Cook is under final consideration for this year's award, which will reportedly be announced tomorrow. The internet doesn't quite believe Cook deserves it: Time's annual fan poll (which is always buried under by a mob of votes from social sites like 4Chan) already chose North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as its choice. But the fan poll is basically just a stunt these days. The final decision comes down to Time editors. Given everything that's happened this year, it's hard to believe that Time will eventually choose Cook as its Person, but then again, who knows? Cook has definitely shined in his role of filling the shoes of Steve Jobs, and Apple has never been more influential in the various fields of tech, business and the creative arts as it's been this past year. So maybe we will see Apple's new CEO crowned tomorrow. [via MacRumors]
President Obama meets with Tim Cook, others
President Barack Obama spoke with prominent business leaders over the weekend to discuss his plan to avert the financial crisis that is looming early next year. According to Reuters, the list of senior corporate leaders with which Obama spoke include JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, investor Warren Buffet and Apple CEO Tim Cook. "The president reached out to and spoke with each of these business leaders as a part of his continuing conversations and outreach on the need to find a balanced deficit-reduction solution that protects the middle class and continues to move our economy forward," said a White House official in a statement provided to Reuters. The president and Congress are in last-minute negotiations to avoid a so-called fiscal cliff that could send the US back into a recession in 2013. The fiscal cliff is the result of a $109 billion in spending cuts that go in effect on January 1, 2013 and an increase in individual income taxes as the Bush-era tax cuts expire.
Presidential flamewars, er, debates start tonight at 9PM ET on YouTube
Web video sites and civilized discourse have never been particularly compatible concepts, but that's not stopping YouTube from giving it a shot. Roughly a month ahead of the next US presidential election, YouTube be the host to the first of three presidential debates. You can tune into the first tonight at 9PM ET via the site's Elections Hub, courtesy of the folks at ABC news. Further debates can be streamed on the site on the 11th and 22nd at the same time, with then Vice Presidents getting their moment in the web video spotlight on the 11th. Click on the source link to tune in, but stay away from the comments if you're interested in retaining any faith in the political process, and or humankind.
President Obama's doing an AMA on Reddit today, invites the people to pose their digital questions
His competition from the GOP, Mitt Romney, already answered the people's questions on Yahoo! Answers, and now the Commander in Chief has decided to take on any and all internet queries too. The virtual Q&A with Obama is set to start at 4:30 ET today via an ask me anything session on Reddit, so head on over to the source link and see if your President will see fit to answer your questions -- be they about health care, net neutrality or even the Cubs non-existent playoff chances.
YouTube's Elections Hub is a one-stop channel for the latest US political happenings
In case you haven't noticed, it's election year in the US of A. And while we already have a slight idea of which political party your beloved neighbors prefer, why not have an all-inclusive video hub to keep you updated with the latest action taking place on the road toward America's historical White House. Here's where YouTube comes in. The Google-owned service announced earlier today the creation of its Elections Hub, which it's dubbing as the "one-stop channel for key political moments" happening now and all the way until the final US election day on the 6th of November. Naturally, the social vid giant's teamed up with some of the biggest outfits around to bring live and on-demand content to the Elections 2012 channel, including ABC News, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and, for the spanish-speaking crowd, Univision. Regardless of who's landing your worthy, priceless vote, this should be a great corner of the internet to keep you in the loop during this year's Stateside political battle.
White House aims to make internet '90 percent cheaper' to build, teams up with Mozilla for $500k competition
The government's US Ignite partnership aims to push the growth of next-generation broadband networks, teaming up with over 100 start-ups, universities and existing tech companies like HP, Comcast and Verizon for the project. The President is set to sign an executive order today that aims to cut the cost of broadband construction across federal roadways and properties by up to 90 percent. The White House is also is looking to improve "next-generation applications and (the) digital experience," running on networks that are a heady 100 times faster than what's in use today. The National Science Foundation has thrown in $250 million to assist the partnership's creation of a national 1-gigabit network that would connect together academic and developer hubs. Mozilla has decided to team up with the foundation to offer up a $500,000 prize pot for developers looking to help create the "internet of the future". The challenge aims on education, healthcare, public safety and other (admittedly broad) topics, with the top ideas capable of grabbing $15,000 from the prize fund. And if Google reckons gigabit networks are the way to go, who's the White House to argue?
Obama tells government agencies to embrace mobile apps within a year
We already know the President has gone mobile -- and now he wants to take the rest of the government with him. President Obama has gone on the record ordering major federal agencies to jump on the mobile bandwagon, developing apps to increase public access to tax payer funded departments like education and healthcare. Said the President in a statement, "Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device." Obama has ordered the agencies to join the app revolution within the next 12 months.
President Obama test drives a Sphero on Boulder visit
President Obama was in the Centennial State last night, hyping up an enthusiastic crowd at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Coors Events Center. Of course, he couldn't help but take some time to check out some some of the local innovation. The President took a few moments out of his busy schedule to play around with the smartphone-controlled Sphero RC ball, declaring "how cool is that," before demanding that the crowd, "give me some space to drive my ball." He also tossed out some superlatives like "terrific," after nearly driving it into a woman's flip-flop. Now that's a solid endorsement, if ever we've heard one. In the end, though, it didn't last long -- the guy's got a country to run, after all.
Obama cracks down on Iran and Syria's surveillance of dissidents
President Obama may be quite cozy with tech -- what with his predilection for the iPad and those town hall meetings on Facebook -- but he's well aware of its dark side, too. Today he announced that the US will freeze assets and cancel the American visas of Iranian and Syrian agencies tracking dissidents and pro-democracy groups via satellite, computer and phone networks. Among the entities getting the blacklist treatment are the Syrian cellphone company Syriatel, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian internet provider Datak Telecom. Amid election-year pressure to confront Iran, Obama addressed the ongoing threat of the country acquiring nukes, but also paid lip service to social media's role in democracy. "These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them," he told an audience of 250 people, according to Reuters. Still, given the limited impact of previous sanctions against Iran, it remains to be seen just how much of an effect Washington's actions have on the human rights situation in either country.
Department of Commerce and NTIA suggest spectrum sharing for government and commercial services
In 2010 President Obama stated, in no uncertain terms, that our country's competitive edge and technological leadership were conditional on our ability to open up broad swaths of spectrum for commercial and governmental use. Two years later, we've made progress, but our wireless providers are still struggling to keep up as our demand for cellular broadband skyrockets -- even spectrum hog Verizon claims to be gasping for air. The Commerce Department and US National Telecommunications and Information Administration are suggesting a new approach to opening up the airwaves to carriers that doesn't involve the wholesale abandonment of radiowave real estate by its current residents. The NTIA thinks there is room for both federal agencies and companies in the 95MHz between 1755 and 1850MHz. This would open up the prime spectrum to commercial use, but would also save the time and money normally needed to relocate existing government services which, in this case, includes military communications and missile guidance systems. In typical bureaucratic fashion, more study will be needed before a formal recommendation can be made to the FCC. But, there's plenty more detail to be had in the meantime -- just check out the PR after the break and the full report at the source link.[Tower photo via Shutterstock]
White House gets behind online 'bill of rights,' companies to adopt 'do not track'
President Obama is throwing his weight behind a consumer bill of rights that includes protections against online companies in particular, and aims to safeguard customer privacy. While the plan doesn't come prepackaged with a new set of laws for companies to abide by, the Commerce Department is working to develop enforceable policies with help from the concerned parties. The bedrock of the new bill of rights is that consumers should have control over the kind of data companies collect and what they do with it. Internet firms would have to be transparent about what information is gathered and how it's used. There is also a call for limitations on the use of certain personal data. As part of the push a number of major players in the field, including Google, have agreed to include a "Do Not Track" button in their browsers and to honor the system -- the latter being a tiny detail that has made implementations of the feature ineffective until now. Hit up the source links for a few more details.
BlackBerry 7 devices get American, Canadian Government approval
The Governments of the USA and Canada have announced that BlackBerry 7 (and 7.1) smartphones are suitable for official use. The units have been granted FIPS 140-2 certification, demonstrating a suitable level of cryptographic security to protect sensitive information. Gear that hasn't been FIPS-certified can't be purchased by Government agencies, so RIM can expect to see a substantial order of its Bold 9900 / 9930 / 9790, Torch 9850 / 9860 / 9810 and Curve 9350 / 9370 / 9380 phones, as President Obama looks to swell the number of people legally allowed to BBM-him. After the break we've got a missive from Waterloo expressing how proud it is now it's been Government-sanctioned.
Obama to host first Google+ Hangout tonight at 5:30PM
Barack Obama is no stranger to social networks, but Google+ is still relatively new territory for him (and everyone else for that matter). The president doesn't seem afraid of mixing it up with the online riffraff, though, and will be hosting his very first Hangout tonight at 5:30pm ET. He'll be answering questions submitted via YouTube and selected by Google based on viewer rating. Sadly (or, perhaps, mercifully) this won't be a public free-for-all. Obama will be joined by five of his fellow Americans, but there won't be a rotating cast of random folks popping in and out of the group video chat queueing up clips of Maru. Hit up the source link to watch it live later this afternoon.
White House releases early test code for Data.gov platform, moves closer to open source reality
The White House's Open Government Partnership inched closer to maturity last week, with the release of a new open data platform, designed to help other governments set up their own Data.gov portals. On Wednesday, Data.gov developer Chris Musialek posted the first pieces of early test code for the unfortunately named "Data.gov-in-a-box" -- an open source version of the US and Indian governments' respective data portals. Both countries, in fact, have been working on the platform since August, with the Obama administration pledging some $1 million to the effort. The idea, according to federal CIO Steve VanRoekel and federal CTO Aneesh Chopra, is to encourage "governments around the word to stand up open data sites that promote transparency, improve citizen engagement, and engage application developers," using Data.gov (and its 400,000 datasets) as a blueprint. Wednesday's release is just the first step in that plan, with the finalized Open Government Platform (OGPL) slated for launch by early next year.
