Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Monday, January 26, 2009
Obama Rolls In An Armored Cadillac Stagecoach
General Motors has once again built the First Limo, which isn't so much a car as an armored personnel carrier wrapped in Cadillac bodywork. It is code-named "Stagecoach" but given its weight, wheelbase and bunker-like level of protection, Caddy One has been nicknamed "the Beast."
The limo that carries President Obama down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House today is the latest in a long line of Cadillacs to join the First Fleet over the years. Although GM and the Secret Service jealously guard the vehicle's specs and secrets, you can bet Obama's ride is the toughest, most sophisticated car anywhere. Think of it as the road-going equivalent to Air Force One.
"Although many of the vehicle's security enhancements cannot be discussed, it is safe to say that this car's security and coded communications systems make it the most technologically advanced protection vehicle in the world," Nicholas Trotta, assistant director for the Secret Service Office of Protective Operations, said in a statement (.pdf).
Will Obama Have a Computer in the Oval Office? [Obama]
Judging by history—and the photo above, taken yesterday in the Oval Office by White House photographer Pete Souza—probably not. Neither Clinton nor Bush had a dedicated computer in the office, but Bush, for instance, would pop outside to use one of the battalion of staffers' computers whenever he wanted to check sports scores or news reports.
Obama could bring in a laptop, as Bill Clinton did on occasion. But he'd have to plug directly into the office's internet connection. Astonishingly, there's no Wi-Fi in the White House. (Well, not thatsurprisingly, because of security reasons, but we all take Wi-Fi for granted.) But even then, the internet sucks: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and commenting on blogs are all blocked—ironic, given that the Obama campaign leveraged the crap out of three of those to get into the White House.
Even the iTunes Store is blocked, which brings us to Explainer's most charming anecdote. Two people did have access to iTunes: Bush's director of internet communications to upload speeches, and his personal aide, so he could put songs on Bush's iPod for him. Awwww. [Slate]
The Biggest Advances in Governmental Tech During the Bush Era [Bush League]
The Biggest Advances in Governmental Tech During the Bush Era [Bush League]
Among the many online weather and emergency alert services, job listings, and the like, the Bush years also found a few more interesting new tools. The Library of Congress began posting photos of their incredible catalog on Flickr, for example, and the FBI created widgets for locating sexual predators and most wanted criminals. New tools for college students helped them find loans and compare schools, and finally we were able to pay taxes online. Diplomatic and Intelligence agencies jumped on the Wikipedia bandwagon with Diplopedia and Intellipedia, respectively.
Sure, it's not free broadband internet for all, but let's give credit where credit's due. That Flickr page is amazing! [Nick Thompson via Wired]
Obama Staffers: White House Is a Barbaric Technological Wasteland Without IM or Macs [Obama]
Other brutal conditions include dated computer software and rules banning outside e-mail accounts (don't want another Sarah Palin mess, do we?). Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari." A travesty. How did previous White House staffs ever function???
Actually, even though I'm mocking their bellyaching because I have to meet my snide quota for the month, the conditions there really are brutal for the work they're trying to accomplish, and the new ways they're trying to accomplish it, if you think about it. IM, Facebook, email and laptops are the major tools his staffers have been using for the last couple years—and indeed, much of the reason they're in the White House today. And now they're gone. (Owen at Valleywag maintains the "stop whining" tack, from a real world perspective, if you're so inclined.)
Not to mention even the phones weren't working. In the office of the most powerful man in the world. Now that's ridiculous. [Washington Post - Thanks everybody!]
1.5-gigapixel “Obamaramic” photo of inauguration
This enormous picture, taken by David Bergman, was stitched together from 220 images taken on aCanon G10 mounted on a Gigapan panoramic imager system.
I think it turned out extremely well (check out the full-screen), owing in no small part to the photographer’s skill, of course, but also the bright, flat light that illuminated the whole scene equally and shadowlessly.
Obviously what most people will do is zoom in on Obama, but if you’re looking to count the hairs on his head you’ll be disappointed; with a wide-angle lens at that distance, you get detail but not detail; fortunately plain ol’ detail is quite good enough for discerning all the other interesting things in the picture. And considering it’s a picture of probably 50,000 people viewable in close-up, can you find:
- Cold-looking photographers crammed onto a tiny platform
- Waldo, with his head split in two
- Draco Malfoy’s father standing in a center aisle with a green hat
- A bunch of media cameras with their lights on, even though it’s broad daylight and they’re 100ft from the President
There’s lots of good stuff. You can’t download the whole thing, though, due to it being waaay too big.
[via Gizmodo and Cult of Mac]
Obama will defend telco spy immunity
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Over at Wired's Threat Level blog, reports that the incoming Obama administration will defend congressional legislation that protected American telecommunication companies from lawsuits over participation in the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. Snip:
That was the assessment Thursday by Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general, who made the statement during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A court challenge questioning the legality of the legislation is pending in U.S. District Court in San Francisco -- where the judge in the case wanted to know what the Obama administration's position was.
"The duty of the Justice Department is to defend statutes that have been passed by Congress," Holder told Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), who asked whether the Obama administration would continue the legal fight to uphold the legislation that the Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking to overturn.
"Unless there are compelling reasons, I don't think we would reverse course," Holder added.
Obama to Defend Telco Spy Immunity
Over at Wired's Threat Level blog, reports that the incoming Obama administration will defend congressional legislation that protected American telecommunication companies from lawsuits over participation in the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. Snip:
That was the assessment Thursday by Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general, who made the statement during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A court challenge questioning the legality of the legislation is pending in U.S. District Court in San Francisco -- where the judge in the case wanted to know what the Obama administration's position was.
"The duty of the Justice Department is to defend statutes that have been passed by Congress," Holder told Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), who asked whether the Obama administration would continue the legal fight to uphold the legislation that the Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking to overturn.
"Unless there are compelling reasons, I don't think we would reverse course," Holder added.
Obama to Defend Telco Spy Immunity
White House Now Without Email, Forced to Print Memos, Reactivate Pony Express
According to CNN, the White House's mail system is completely broken right now. I don't know if this is because their crappy technology or the wiretapping, but there has been a server meltdown:
An apologetic Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at 1:30 pm press briefing that the server meltdown was responsible for the delay in responding to their e-mailed questions. But late Monday, nearly six hours since the server first went haywire, staffers still can’t use their official e-mail addresses — and a press aide could not tell CNN when the press office might be able to start sending and receiving messages again.
Looks like the first thing the President's office should do is to upgrade all the White House computer systems so at least they don't have to depend on the telegraph or, God forbid, the fax. [Political]
An apologetic Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at 1:30 pm press briefing that the server meltdown was responsible for the delay in responding to their e-mailed questions. But late Monday, nearly six hours since the server first went haywire, staffers still can’t use their official e-mail addresses — and a press aide could not tell CNN when the press office might be able to start sending and receiving messages again.
Looks like the first thing the President's office should do is to upgrade all the White House computer systems so at least they don't have to depend on the telegraph or, God forbid, the fax. [Political]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)