obama

Ballmer backs Obama, seeks 'sense of optimism'

During a whirlwind visit to Sydney, Australia, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer this week said he has confidence in President-elect Barack Obama's leadership.

Obama's decisive victory this week over Republican rival John McCain in the U.S. presidential elections has been broadly hailed by technology leaders as potentially beneficial to the country's technology and communications industries.

"I have a lot of faith in our system and our electoral process, and I think President-elect Obama understands that there's a deep set of economic issues, and I have confidence in his leadership," Ballmer said on the … Read more

Republican pundit pushes Obama as open source

For those who missed CNN's coverage of the U.S. presidential election, you missed a real treat. Alex Castellanos, a Republican consultant, discussed President-elect Barack Obama's "bottom-up" approach to leadership, comparing it to the open-source movement (and chiding traditional Washington "top-down" government as akin to the "old way" that Microsoft builds software).

(Obama) said his campaign began with a simple idea: "Change begins from the bottom up." That's not the way the U.S. government works. The seminal essay--this is a little wonk-speak here--in computer software architecture is called … Read more

Government transition sites launched

Two new Web sites launched Wednesday that map out President-elect Barack Obama's transition to the White House.

Change.gov, Obama's official transition site, features a blog, a section with Obama's agenda, and a section that profiles the Obama administration. It also includes a jobs page for those interested in working in the Obama administration, a page titled "America Serves" that emphasizes the need for community service, and a section called "American Moment," where visitors are encouraged to share their stories or their vision for the country.

The front page on Wednesday linked to … Read more

Obama appoints lobbyist to head FCC transition, reports say

So much for change.

Telecom policy circles are a buzz with the news of Barack Obama's pick to head the Federal Communications Commission transition team. Obama is reported to have chosen lawyer and DC insider Henry Rivera, a former Democratic FCC commissioner, lobbyist, and currently a partner at communications law firm Wiley Rein.

Rivera is not currently registered as a lobbyist, but according to the Center for Responsive Politics, he lobbied for the Catholic Television Network in 2001. In his capacity as a lawyer, he has represented major wireless carriers, a local exchange carrier, and a major airline in … Read more

Obama's victory: some in tech don't like it

I have just arrived in that Europe place, where, just as in America, few are indifferent.

Happy, sad, angry, amazed, disbelieving, numb. These would be a few of the words that might describe reactions to Senator Barack Obama's decisive victory against John McCain.

However, it's easy to let today's strong feelings mask yesterday's. In previous elections, there was much concerned discussion (on the losing side, naturally) about machines that could be programmed to steal the vote.

Voters would walk up, touch screens and, thanks to a little venal hocus-pocus, their choices might allegedly be made to … Read more

Obama's search for a CTO

By naming some technology executives to his transition team--especially former IAC executive Julius Genachowski--President-elect Barack Obama is signaling that he's likely to follow through with his proposal to appoint a chief technology officer to the White House.

The person in this new position--and possibly a new White House technology office staff--could be given the directive to create new levels of transparency and access to government agencies, or to guide policies that spur innovation and growth. Technology experts within the Beltway warn, however, that a CTO would have to avoid potential pitfalls such as creating new spending for ineffectual projects, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 847: Don't stand behind the hologram

The U.S. Army prepares to test and deploy ghost soldiers in MMORPGS and possibly also the real world. They may be decoys, folks, but remember: they're still light-based projections that won't stop a bullet. Also, it appears Apple will finally activate over-the-air podcast downloads for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Which, yeah. Ya think? Geez. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 847

Hey Microsoft, Yahoo’s for sale--for real this time http://www.crn.com/software/212000962

Obama, McCain campaigns both hacked, files compromised (thanks rpcaldiera) http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/05/221222… Read more

All-American hi-fi for Obama's White House?

America may not make world-class cars anymore, we don't build plasma TVs, or iPods, cameras, or all that much technology of any sort, but in high-end audio, we rule!

Come 2009 I'd love to see the best of the best American audio installed at the White House. The sort of system that the President could, after a hard day's work solving the world's problems, use to kick out the jams with a few James Brown or Parliament-Funkadelic tunes.

I'll volunteer my services to assemble such a system (donated by the manufacturers), with the following components:… Read more

Obama names tech execs to transition team

President-elect Barack Obama has named tech executives from Google.org and InterActiveCorp to his transition team, according to reports.

Google.org's Sonal Shah, and Julius Genachowski, a former IAC executive who also served as chief counsel to former Democratic FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, have both been named to the team, according to news reports.

Genachowski is a co-founder and managing director of Rock Creek Ventures, and is a founding partner of LaunchBox Digital, an early-stage investment firm based in Washington, D.C.

He attended law school with Obama, and helped stress the importance of high-tech issues in the campaign, … Read more