Obama

I've remained steadfastly neutral on this whole iPod versus Zune thing. I use an iPhone, so it's easy for me to sit out, but before I got my iPhone, I had both a Zune and an iPod. I liked both quite a bit and still do. They both offer something the other doesn't. I won't go into details, as we've already done that today, but you should know something about your next president: He uses a Zune, at least according to reporter.

According to Clog, the blog of Philadelphia's City Paper weekly, a writer … Read more

With numerous and diverse groups pushing for President-elect Barack Obama to adopt open media principles, many are anxiously awaiting his choice for chair of the Federal Communications Commission, expecting it to signal what kind of media approach the new administration will take.

The media reform group Free Press is highlighting the significance of the selection in a new ad campaign and appeal for public input on what the next chair's top priorities should be.

The group's "Help Wanted" ad reads: "The American people seek a new leader at the Federal Communications Commission to take media … Read more

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team anticipated the requests of open government advocates by copyrighting Change.gov under a Creative Commons license, but a coalition of groups in favor of more online freedom is asking for more.

The group released an open letter Tuesday morning to the Obama team, urging them to adopt certain principles on Change.gov so that no one is blocked in sharing or remixing transition-created material. The signatories include Web 2.0 evangelist Tim O'Reilly, Stanford Law professor Larry Lessig, MoveOn.org, Newt Gingrich's organization American Solutions, and the government transparency group the Sunlight … Read more

Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, drew applause from liberal Democrats earlier this year when he denounced the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

A review of Holder's public statements, speeches, and testimony when he was a top Justice Department official in the Clinton administration, however, reveals a more nuanced record on privacy. His remarks indicate support for laws mandating Internet traceability, limits on domestic use of encryption, and more restrictions on free speech online. He also called for new powers for federal prosecutors, some of which became law under President Bush as part of … Read more

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has licensed the site Change.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, giving visitors more freedom to use content from the site.

Change.gov was previously was copyrighted under an "All Rights Reserved" notice.

Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig, who noted the change on his blog Monday, called the move "consistent with (Obama's) values of any 'open government' and with his strong leadership on 'free debates.'"

The license under which the site is copyrighted allows visitors to copy, distribute, display, and perform material from the site, as … Read more

President-elect Barack Obama's choice of James Jones as national security adviser brings a retired Marine general who advocates a comprehensive overhaul to U.S. energy policy in the name of national defense.

Jones was announced on Monday as part of the Obama administration's national security team. He has been president and CEO of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The group last month published a detailed set of recommendations on energy policy, written as a memorandum to Obama. (Click here for PDF.)

In the transition paper, Jones says "… Read more

WASHINGTON--Trends indicate that more and more commercially successful innovations are backed by federal dollars, a researcher said Monday, and politicians should do even more--even create a cabinet-level Innovation Department--to support the innovation economy if they want to kick-start the wider national economy.

"We need economic policies that pull us out of the recession but are oriented towards innovation," said Fred Block, a sociology professor from the University of California at Davis. "What we have to do as a country is figure out how to walk and chew gum at the same time."

Block co-authored a report … Read more

President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the formation of an Economic Recovery Advisory Board, naming an economist with expertise in Internet policy as the board's staff director and chief economist.

The newly established economic advisory board will be expected to regularly brief Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, and their economic team with independent, nonpartisan information and analysis that will help the administration formulate a plan for economic recovery. Obama named former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as the board's chairman and Austan Goolsbee as staff director and chief economist of the board.

Goolsbee is an economics professor at … Read more

A new feature called "Join the Discussion" was added Tuesday to President-elect Barack Obama's transition Web site, Change.gov, making the site more interactive for visitors.

The new page allows people to post to comments on a specific topic deemed a top priority by Obama. The page's first discussion focuses on health care and features a video from health care transition team members Dr. Dora Hughes and Lauren Aronson. As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,100 comments had been posted.

"A critical part of our health reform efforts is making sure every American voice … Read more