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YouTube stars will interview Obama at the White House next week
Just a few days after President Barack Obama gives his penultimate State of the Union address he'll be taking to the web to answer questions from a trio of big-time YouTube stars. Bethany Mota, GloZell, and Hank Green will sit down with the President in the White House to ask him questions about the issues that matter most to their audience -- mainly tech-savvy millennials. While the three will certainly have their own questions, a good portion of the queries will come directly from you, the American people. You can submit questions via the usual social channels using the #YouTubeAsksObama hashtag.
White House photographer uses iPhone 6 to catch people off-guard
Christmas at the White House means a whole lot of camera flashes, poses, and smiles, and that usually means plenty of fancy camera equipment. For one seasoned photographer, Apple's iPhone is the tool of choice this year. As Time reports, photographer Brooks Kraft -- who has spent over a decade covering events at the White House, decided to take a different approach to capturing this year's Christmas festivities. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are his go-to tool this time around, and in addition to the fact that it's a fast-shooting, all-around capable photo gadget, one of the reasons he's doing so may surprise you: It tends to catch people off guard. "I notice that people just don't react the same way [when you're using an iPhone]," he told Time. "If you are looking to capture something candid, people are so used to seeing mobile devices that their reaction time is slower. You have a better chance of getting the shot, and that was the case at the White House." Of course, being a professional photographer, he notes that his DSLR is still his primary tool of choice for more, shall we say, important events, but the iPhone 6 twins performed well during the holiday photo event. [Photo via Time/Brooks Kraft]
The White House's game jam focused on education
Pizza boxes, crowded computer labs and an overworked coffee maker – these are common sightings at plenty of game jams, but the interior of the White House and Secret Service members are a bit more uncommon. USA Today reports that 100 developers saw both when they gathered in Washington, D.C. for a game jam, an event sponsored by the White House to specifically focus on education. Science and technology advisers from the Obama administration hosted the weekend-long jam, with attendees including Far Cry 4 contributing developer Red Storm Entertainment, Angry Birds developer Rovio, and GlassLab, a collaborative effort which includes members from the Entertainment Software Association and Electronic Arts. The 23 participating teams retain all rights to the concepts they cooked up during the jam, and while there doesn't seem to be an official gallery to host the designs, there's plenty of photos and recollections unified by the "WHGameJam" hashtag on Twitter. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Barely Related: Alan Moore's million, James Franco's Rant
Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
White House cybersecurity chief is proud to know nothing about cybersecurity
Even if their intentions are good, there's a reason that we don't let amateurs do brain surgery or design housing complexes. That logic doesn't seem to apply at the highest levels of government, however, after Michael Daniel boasted that about his lack of knowledge in his specialist field. In an interview with GovInfoSec, the White House cybersecurity co-ordinator has revealed that he's not technically-minded, but that he doesn't "have to be a coder in order to do really well." He added that "being too down in the weeds at a technical level could actually be a bit of a distraction." Sure, being able to see the wood for the trees when you're in charge of the nation's electronic safety is a good thing, but as Princeton's Ed Felten remarked, there'd be uproar if the attorney general bragged about a lack of legal expertise. Maybe we'll start working on our application to become the next surgeon general, after all, we have seen at least four episodes of ER.
President Obama signs cell phone unlocking bill into law
The White House today announced that President Obama was signing the "Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act" into law after the bill passed successfully through both the House and Senate. Today, President Obama will sign into law the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, and in doing so, will achieve a rare trifecta: a win for American consumers, a win for wireless competition, and an example of democracy at its best -- bipartisan congressional action in direct response to a call to action from the American people. The bipartisan bill restores the exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that made it legal to unlock a cell phone. The Library of Congress failed to renew this exemption in 2012 and sparked an outrage that led to the eventual passage of this bill. This provision for unlocking a smartphone will remain in effect until the Library of Congress reviews these DMCA exemptions again in 2015. You can read more about the issue in this primer written by Brad Molen for Engadget. Image obtained from Flickr.
Sprint will provide home broadband to 50,000 students in the US
Through its ConnectED program, the White House is aiming to connect 99 percent of students with high-speed broadband in the next five years. One year in, Sprint's making an important contribution to the initiative, announcing plans to bring broadband to as many as 50,000 students' homes. It's just the latest effort from a major company to improve educational resources in the US, with Microsoft having discounted the cost of Windows for public schools and Apple, Autodesk and others donating devices and software. Today select schools can apply to receive up to four years of Sprint Spark connectivity, with the program to coincide with the start of the school year in August.
Nintendo joins National Park Foundation for the White House Easter Egg Roll
Nintendo will bring along its fitness-oriented games when it joins the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America's national parks, in attending the White House Easter Egg Roll. This year's theme is "Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape," which means Nintendo bringing Wii Fit U and Wii Sports Club to the event is sensible, especially considering that the Egg Roll supports First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign. Children will race each other at the Egg Roll, using long-handled spoons to roll eggs down rows of the White House's South Lawn. These eggs are actually crafted from hardwood and produced by the National Park Foundation though, presumably because letting a bunch of kids stomp yolks into the White House lawn is an awful idea. It's clearly a missed opportunity for a sponsored Yoshi egg hunt however, and we've taken the liberty to mock up what could have been in the above image. Dozens of kids ascending the White House, conquering Secret Service agents in CQC before cracking open dinosaur eggs and releasing our Jurassic Park-esque future? Sounds more fitness-oriented (and more fun) than Wii Fit U. [Image: Wikimedia/Nintendo]
NSA overhaul could see an end to PRISM-style surveillance
Edward Snowden might have missed out on becoming Person of the Year, but that's not to say he's not been a big influence on America's government this year. According to deep-throated persons familiar with the matter, the presidential task force is proposing a huge overhaul to the NSA in the wake of the PRISM scandal. Proposed changes include giving bulk collection duties to phone companies or an independent third party, imposing tighter standards before NSA staffers can access your personal data and appointing a civilian head, rather than recruiting from the military. The report is due in full on Sunday, but there's no word on when the White House will make the proposals public -- unless, you know, someone else feels compelled to "do a Snowden."
President Obama issues executive order to make government data open and machine readable
Remember Data.gov? The President does, and he has issued an executive order that should give the information portal a shot in the arm. Starting this week, new and modernized Government information systems should use open and machine readable formats by default, adhering to the guidelines of a new Open Data Policy. The policy requires agencies to use open, machine readable formats that are non-proprietary, publicly available and unrestricted, and aims to put useful data in the hands of US companies while increasing privacy and security. According to the White House blog, this means new data will be served in CSV, XML, JSON and other machine readable formats, and will even be accessible via API in some situations. The White House hopes the new policy will help foster innovation. "There are private companies using open data to fight credit card fraud; consumers using open data to save on their energy bills; families leveraging open data to compare health care options; and a host of new apps and tools in areas ranging from public safety, to financial planning, to education, and more," the blog explains. "We are very excited about the path ahead and can't wait to see what new ideas and yet to be imagined innovations can be unlocked by increased access to open data." Head past the break to read the executive order for yourself, and check out the source PDF for a peek at the new Open Data Policy.
White House taps former Twitter lawyer as first Chief Privacy Officer
Two months after appointing Todd Park as Chief Technology Officer, the White House has picked Nicole Wong for the newly created position of Chief Privacy Officer. Details about the job are still MIA, but she'll likely be working closely with Park. One thing's for sure, though: Wong brings some serious Silicon Valley cred to the table, having worked on product copyright and privacy issues at Google for eight years and, more recently, serving as Twitter's legal director. If you recall, the EFF gave that social network high marks when it released its annual report last week -- an auspicious sign if we've ever seen one.
The Daily Roundup for 05.06.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
White House announces support for unlocking cell phones
A petition on the White House's website to work for a new law universally allowing the unlocking of cell phones recently raised more than 100,000 signatures from the public, and the White House has now officially responded to the idea, stating its support. The petition refers to Section 1201 of the Library of Congress' rules, which disallows users from unlocking their cell phones (including iPhones) for any reason, even when any contracts associated with the phones has expired. The phone industry says the rule is needed in order to keep illegal phone trafficking down, but obviously lots of consumers disagree, saying that the rule is prohibitive and often leads to lots of expensive fees. The White House's statement of support isn't exactly legally powerful, as it doesn't have any direct control over the rule or the Library of Congress. But the president's office can push for a new law to overturn the rule, and of course an official statement of support from the White House can do a lot to push the issue forward. The Library of Congress sent TUAW a statement saying that "we also agree with the administration that the question of locked cell phones has implications for telecommunications policy and that it would benefit from review and resolution in that context." So there's more "review" to be done on this issue. But for now, it sounds like there's both public and administration support for a change to the rule, which means there may come a time in the future when you're guaranteed to the right to unlock your phone whenever you want.
White House responds to petition: unlocking phones should be legalized
The recent ruling that effectively bans third-party phone unlocking has ruffled more than a few feathers, and the people have spoken with their electronic signatures -- 114,322 of them, to be exact. Now the petition to the White House, which asks that DMCA protection of phone unlockers be reconsidered, has finally received an official response, and it appears that it's for the positive. The author of the letter is R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation and Privacy. "The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties," Edelman writes. All told, the response matches that of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which wrote a letter to the Librarian of Congress in support of extending the exemption last year. So what does this mean for us? Edelman states: "The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation." We're not going to see immediate change, but it appears that a chain of events is now in motion in which the FCC and Congress potentially play a huge role. We're not out of the woods yet, but it's relieving to see such a positive response -- along with a call to action -- from the government. Read the response in its entirety below.
White House threatens trade sanctions for countries found cyber-snooping
International diplomacy may feel like schoolyard antics, but the participants do have something a little heavier to throw at each other. After President Obama signed an executive order to improve national cyber security, the White House is now reportedly opening the box marked Trade and Diplomatic Sanctions, which it'll lob at any country that's found to be appropriating US trade secrets. The executive has published a report, outlining a dozen thefts from companies such as GM, Ford and DuPont, fingering China as being behind a majority of them. If the hacking persists, then James Lewis, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the White House should deny visas or access to US banks to Chinese people and corporations -- making us wistful for the courtroom dramas of yore. Update: We've corrected the story to correctly attribute the comments made by James Lewis.
Vice President Joe Biden to games industry: 'You have not been singled out' on gun violence
Vice President Joe Biden met with leaders and researchers in the video game industry on January 11 to discuss gun violence and the impact entertainment may have on consumers' real-world actions. Biden was charged with leading a task force to gather input from members of the gun violence debate following the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.The above video shows Biden's opening remarks, seated next to EA CEO John Riccitiello and president of the Electronic Software Association, Michael Gallagher."We know this is a complex problem," Biden said. "We know there's no single answer and, quite frankly, we don't even know whether some of the things people think impact on this actually impact on it or not." He put a hand on Riccitiello's shoulder. "I want you to know you have not been 'singled out' for help, but we've asked a whole lot of people."Those people included the law enforcement community, physicians and medical authorities, at-risk and child advocacy groups, domestic violence prevention groups, legal and justice organizations, civil rights groups, youth organizations, gun safety and advocacy groups, educators and parents, the mental health community, sportsmen organizations, the NRA, retailers, film organizations and the one Biden found the most interesting, an inter-faith group. Biden's tour will conclude in a meeting with President Barack Obama on January 15, where they will discuss his findings with the goal of curtailing gun violence in the future.Prior to the meeting, gaming groups such as the International Game Developers Association and Electronic Consumer Association sent open letters to Biden expressing their positions. The IGDA specifically called for Biden to explore both the positive and negative effects of imaginary violence and warned against the type of censorship that "did irreparable damage" to the comic book industry in the 1950s.
Reuters: White House finds no evidence of spying by Huawei, feels unsafe anyway (update: White House denies)
Just last week, a Congress committee associated Huawei with "credible allegations" of "bribery, corruption, discriminatory behavior and copyright infringement." The report, of course, was part of the Legislative branch's ongoing concern of the company's alleged threat to national security. Today Huawei may have finally caught a break from the US government, albeit a somewhat backhanded one: according to Reuters, a White House ordered review says that there is no evidence of spying on the Chinese company's part. The other side of the hand lands when the report cites exploitable vulnerabilities in Huawei hardware -- one person familiar with the White House review said it found the company's equipment "riddled with holes," and susceptible to hacking. Security complaints aside, the government's old spying concerns are still there. "China has the means, opportunity and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes," said the House Intelligence Committee's Dutch Ruppersberger, explaining to Reuters that both Huawei and ZTE has pinned their limited cooperation on restrictions from the local government. Even if Huawei hasn't been caught spying, it's still something it could do -- and that's reason enough, it seems, for the US government to avoid doing business with the firm. Update: White House spokesperson Caitlin Hayden told The Hill that no such investigation has been made, stating: "The White House has not conducted any classified inquiry that resulted in clearing any telecom equipment buyer as reported in Reuters," recalling the US government's exclusion of Huawei in the planning for America's interoperable wireless emergency network.
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.
Internet Association to lobby Washington, may tout Amazon, Facebook, Google among its ranks
Political lobbying is often a mixed bag at best. Still, there's a cautious amount of optimism surrounding the Internet Association, a soon-to-start lobbying group that plans to advocate for an "open, innovative and free" internet among US politicians. The unsurprising (if well-intentioned) aim is to prevent another SOPA or PIPA with more formal opposition than even the Internet Defense League can manage. Who'll be pulling the strings is nebulous -- officially, the Association will only say that former Congressional staff director Michael Beckerman is at the helm until a formal September 19th launch. That internet openness must extend to some very leaky representatives, however, as the National Journal, AFP and Reuters all claim that Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Google are charter members. None of them are talking on the record; we certainly wouldn't be shocked if the roster is real, knowing how much Google and other partners have fought takedown laws that would bypass much of the normal legal system. We're hoping that whatever manifests a genuinely rational counterbalance to media and telecom influences that often aren't very interested in protecting internet-only business models or due process.
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?
