Its official, the Parliament of Estonia has approved a bill that will allow citizens to vote in parliamentary elections in 2011. This is not the first move of its kind because last election Estonians were allowed to vote over the internet.
Now I know everyones wondering how do they prevent fraud? Each voter is required to get a free authorized chip for the cell phone says Raul Kaidro, spokesman of the SK Certification Center (the company which issues personal ID cards in said country).
The chip will authorize voters and confirm their identity to the electronic voting systems. Raul says that it is the most secure way to authorize digital signatures, and he thinks its the first of its kind. We’ll just have to see about that Raul…we’ll just wait and see.
Popularity: 45% [?]
You might have remembered that two days ago I had blogged about how this dude from Philadelphia City Paper said that Obama owns a Zune. Well a spokesman from the Obama campaign has swiftly rebuffed the allegation and has said in no uncertain terms that the “The President-elect uses an iPod.”
My only contention with the fact is that the dude never said he does not own one. All the spokesman said is that he uses an iPod which means there is a good possibility that he does own a Zune. And that is exactly what the writer who originally reported the story is saying.
I vividly remember Obama pulling out an MP3 player with his left hand while exercising on the machine. It had a dark case protecting it and from what I saw, he was using a Zune.
I’ve seen a Zune in action. I know what it looks like.
But you know how politicians worse their spokespersons are. Always lying.
Popularity: 58% [?]
FDR revolutionized the Presidency (in terms of communication) when he began his weekly radio messages telling the American people exactly what he was doing to fix the Depression and WWII. Now Obama has taken that a step further with his use of YouTube. Obama will be giving his weekly address and fireside talks via the radio (as usual) along with a YouTube video cast in which he will basically do the same thing FDR did.
Of course half that will be said will just be PR and help with his reelection bid but on the other hand it does seem like the biggest step ini terms of communication between the President and his people since FDR. Oh well the first video can be viewed below.
Popularity: 62% [?]
If there is one thing I admire about Obama it is his tech-savvy. He may not be the Steve Jobs or Google guys but he does have his name in history as being the most technologically advanced president-elect in US history, unlike his opponent who thought 1080i refereed to a BMW model.
Well turns out that the device that said opponent ”created” won’t be allowed in the oval office. Obama has always been a fan of Blackberry’s (which is quite obvious looking through photos on his campaign trail). But according to the Presidential Records Act which requires correspondence between him and his cabinet in the official record and ultimately up for public review it looks like Obama’s Bold won’t be graduating with him to the Whitehorse in the next 65 days.
Mind you, Mr Obama was not the only one who faced this predicament. Eight years ago when Bush was sworn in he sent out an email from his than email address g94b@aol.com telling his 42 friends the following:
Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace
I’m just wondering if Obama will be able to get around this loophole? I guess when you’re a Barack anything is possible although his advisors don’t seem that optimistic about the situation.
Popularity: 52% [?]
I’m not going to go into too much detail here as that would be unnecessary but that cool computer that you saw Tom Cruise demo in Minority report (which was theoretically possible but un-invented at the time) has finally become a reality.
Thanks to one of the science advisors from the film along with a couple of tech geeks who obviously had too much time on their hand, the system has been made. I would explain it to you (had you not watched the film) but I think a video demonstration would be best. Video can be found after the break.
Popularity: 24% [?]
After reading the post on Engadget I could not decide whether I was looking at an ad for a phone or a lingerie model. Why does this matter? Well I think most people (men and lesbians that is) are gonna be so interested in what’s beside the device they aren’t going to notice the Sony Ericsson phone.
And yes I had nothing better to post so I thought I’d just go offbeat for a minute.
Popularity: 28% [?]
When you’re as big as McCain you get special services from the telecommunications industry. It seems like Mrs. Cindy McCain has not been able to continue her long calls as she (and her husband) have been having cell reception problems at their ranch.
While it takes months for the big boys to get their towers out Verizon and AT&T were able to set up portable stations for the Senator and his aides. In case you’re wondering why they’re showing him such favor, I should point out that AT&T has raised over $2.3 million for McCain while Verizon cut that short by $1 million. Not only that but five of his campaign officials including manager Rick Fisher are lobbyists for Verizon. As for AT&T, their employees are his #3 corporate donors.
I was expecting Sprint to send a WiMAX tower over to his ranch but I guess those privileges are too good even for the next president of the US.
VIA: WashingtonPost
Image Curtsey of Gizmodo
Popularity: 16% [?]
Finally something funny and totally preposterous to report form the McCain camp. Douglas Holtz-Eakin a top McCain policy advisor was caught waiving his Blackberry device on Tuesday (September 16) and saying:
“You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.”
This is almost as stupid (or probably just as stupid) as Al Gore’s comment that he invented the Internet. According to Eakin McCain put policies in place that created the Blackberry Smartphone (which BTW is manufactured by RIM located in Canada, not the US). This is the dude who confessed that he does not know how to check his email and he always thought that 1080i referred to a BMW model and not the definition of a TV screen.
I would blame McCain for this dumb idea but seeing he didn’t actually make the comment…I still blame him for having total nut jobs on his campaign. Than again everyone makes mistakes right? Too bad politics is not very forgiving.
VIA Gizmodo
Popularity: 16% [?]
