barack

Kevin Rose. The man who holds the balance of power between McCain and Obama

How many of us are really comfortable crossing over to the other side?

You know, those people who do and believe things that you really don't like.

For some, that might be David Duke. For others, Doris Duke. And, for me, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Nowhere is this reluctance greater than in politics.

The media, each as objective as a Vegas casino owner, have abdicated their objectivity throne and decided to cater to their own skewed crowd.

Those barely left of center wander off to the New York Times, the Huffington Post and the Bill Maher Bible Study Group. … Read more

The 404 112: Where all we are is dust in the wind, dude

CNET producer and SF transplant Cheryl Holloway steps into the studio today to lament over crappy New York burritos and discuss the "dangers" of marijuana smoke, awful movie sequels, Hilary's announcement, and the upcoming movie from faux-news group The Onion. EPISODE 112 Download today's podcast

The 404 108: Where Caroline McCarthy loves to Tumble

Veteran 404 guest Caroline McCarthy of News.com makes a guest appearance on today's borderline indecent show. We touch on Hello Kitty fetishism, Pork and Beans, Reggie Love, the perils of softcore Youtube porn, and our secret pickup tactics. This episode is rated R, recommended for adults and pubescent adolescents alike. EPISODE 108 Download today's podcast

Politics 2.0: Barack Obama's videographer

The National Journal writes that when Arun Chaudhary was a teenager, his father asked him why he didn't want to get into politics. "I can't, Dad," he recalled saying. "I have a funny name." Now Arun Chaudhary, the son of an immigrant Indian father and a Jewish mother, is as close to politics as one can be: He took leave from his day job -- professor at the NYU film school -- to become Barack Obama's videographer (or, so the official title, director of field production).

After 10 months on the campaign trail, … Read more

Who is better for tech: McCain or Obama?

A long time ago - I think it was 1995 - I was seated at a long dinner table in a rather nice home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Around the table were all the officers and directors of Cyrix - the microprocessor company that was later acquired by National Semiconductor.

One of our directors was Jack Kemp, quarterback and politician extraordinaire. Jack, who can really work a room, eventually turned the conversation to politics. The question put to the table was whom did we like in the upcoming Republican primaries and why.

I instantly panicked. I didn't even … Read more

PayPal XSS vulnerability affects EV SSL

A new attack on PayPal could have allowed users who thought they were on a trusted page to access a fraudulent page and possibly expose personal information. On Friday, Finnish researcher Harry Sintonen reported the vulnerability on an IRC chat room.

In an interview with Netcraft, Sintonen said the issue was critical. "You could easily steal credentials." He added that in this case you can't trust the URL http://www.paypal.com.

A few weeks ago PayPal announced it would block users whose browsers did not support EV SSL. Sintonen, who is credited with finding an XSS attack on Barack Obama's Web site … Read more

Chinese search engine Baidu hails Barack Obama's Web cred

Chinese-language search engine Baidu has an unusual new mascot atop its home page: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

A cartoon version of Obama is depicted next to a donkey, the Democratic party emblem. He's holding a net as though casting it, and attached to the end of the net is a computer mouse--get it? It's the Internet.

This is part of a "person of the month" feature that Baidu has instituted since November, the blog Shanghaiist explains. Each month, Baidu selects a real-life or fictional personality who has ranked high in its search queries. … Read more

A new (Obama) brand of politics: yes, we can...remix America!

I just read Ellen McGirt's poignant feature story on "The Brand Called Obama" in Fast Company, and my marketing head is spinning. "The fact that Obama has taken what we thought we knew about politics and turned it into a different game for a different generation is no longer news," she writes, "but what has hardly been examined is the degree to which his success indicates a seismic shift on the business horizon as well." Indeed, Obama has introduced a new brand of politics, and he has caused a paradigm shift that goes … Read more

Survey: Obama, McCain tied among tech workers

If the outcome of this year's presidential race depended solely on the whims of computer industry workers, it appears that there'd be a draw.

Or at least that's what a survey of 600 employees in that space recently found. The questionnaire was conducted just before the early March primaries by the Computing Technology Industry Association, or CompTIA, a trade association that represents mostly smaller technology companies, and Rasmussen Reports, a public-opinion research organization.

In response to a question about who'd get their votes if the election were "today," both Democrat Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain … Read more

Super Tuesday is Super for a US based cap and trade system

One things for sure, post Super Tuesday with Governor Mike Huckabee far behind, Mitt Romney out, and McCain the all but crowned Republican nominee, the US is getting a cap and trade system for carbon. The question is which one. I thought I'd track a little of the candidates' various positions.

The major differences that are left between the parties are on how to do it. In general the Republicans favor US based systems, the Democrats favor a Kyoto based approach. The Democrats favor 100% allowance, the Republicans favor a slower adjustment scheme (The Kyoto mechanisms today are actually … Read more