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Google CEO Wants to Be President Obama’s Tech Chief [America's Next Top President] 20 October 2008 at 4:00 pm by admin

Did you know? Besides sitting on Apple’s board of directors, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been an informal adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. In fact, he lurves Obama so much that’s he not just going to endorse him (shock, right?) he’s going to actually campaign for him next week. And not just ’cause Obama might be good for business! No, he says he’s “doing this personally.” Very possibly because he wants to be the nation’s very first Chief Technology Officer, a position Obama said he would create last year—maybe not-so-coincidentally right before he paid his first visit to Google!

While Schmidt says the Goog is officially neutral, the WSJ notes that “Congress is considering measures that could have an adverse impact on Google’s business” like “rules that would allow telecommunications companies to charge different prices for different levels of Internet service,” i.e., net non-neutrality. Obama has said that he is pro net-neutrality, which would benefit Google. Perhaps not-so-surprisingly, Google employees have donated nearly half a million dollars to Obama’s campaign, and a mere $20,600 to John McCain as of Aug. 31, according to the Journal (which would likely make them among Obama’s top corporate donors, since Verizon employees’ $155,000 for McCain placed among his top 20 corporate donors ever).

Tuesday is the first day Obama and Schmidt hit the trail together, but some speculate he’s been doing some campaigning of his own with Obama for a while—to be Obama’s first tech chief:

Asked at a speech this month whether he would consider entering the political arena, the 53-year-old Mr. Schmidt shouted, “H-, no!” But some tech and media executives speculate that he might desire a role in an Obama administration, possibly the chief technology officer post Sen. Obama has said he would create.

I have to say, there are few more qualified than Google’s CEO, especially since Bill Gates dreams beyond tech now, and Steve Jobs is perfectly happy within his own little world at Apple. Who would be your dream tech chief be? [WSJ via Valleywag, Image: Real Dan Lyons]


+ Lego Sarah Palin Winks, Says "Pew Pew" to Lego Bridges to Nowhere, Just Like the Real One [Lego] By admin 18 October 2008 at 5:45 pm and have No Comments

The debates are over, and we’re in the home stretch to election day. Since campaign ads are obviously full of crap, that means the only ways left to decide who you should vote for are Photoshop and Lego. Built at what OJ calls “marionette scale,” Lego Sarah Palin is maverick enough to field interviews from Lego Katie Couric, debate Lego Joe Biden and say “no thanks” to Lego bridges to nowhere. [Ochre Jelly via Brothers Brick]


+ PBS and YouTube Want You to Play Michael Moore on Election Day [America's Next Top President] By admin 15 October 2008 at 5:40 pm and have No Comments

You’re one of those internet-addicted, Obama-loving youngins that’s actually going to vote on Election day. That’s great, since the youth vote has historically been a bucket of fail. But PBS and YouTube want you to take your civic duty even more srsly and bring your camcorder to document the experience—as well as any problems you see, like long lines (horror!), glitchy voting machines (likely) or “overly aggressive” voter ID practices—and upload it to their Video Your Vote channel. The best clips will air on PBS, like legitimately produced journalism. Oh, the fine print:

Clips should be between 30 seconds and three minutes. More importantly, some states have fairly strict laws about filming in or around polling places, so if you get too Michael Moore-y, you might get to document your first cavity search (though that would be more appropriate for RedTube). The Citizen Media Law Project has more details about how to stay out of jail while being a web 2.0 do-gooding oversharer. Or you could just be safe and stick to Twitter to tell everyone who you voted for. [AZ Star, AP, Image: Flickr/Refractionless]


+ Democrats Still Most Tech Savvy, Rent Digital Billboard to Text Message Sarah Palin at Rally [America's Next Top President] By admin 07 October 2008 at 7:20 pm and have No Comments

Need more evidence that Democrats are more grassroots tech savvy than their elephantine counterparts? At a Sarah Palin rally in LA on Saturday, the California Democratic party rented a digital billboard across the street which displayed questions for the veep candiate sent by text message. Granted, even if Palin did read them, she wouldn’t be able to recall which ones she read specifically. But still, quite awesome—I hope both parties get creative with tech like this, it’s a fantastic way to reach voters. [CA Dems via Online Video Watch via Textually]