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% [?]
Well it looks like the candidate of change was true to his word as he uses the Microsoft Zune. I’ve always been a fan of the Zune (even before it had sex appeal) because of what it could do and not how it looked (now you see why I was rooting for McCain). Now I’m begging to wonder if I should be proud or indignified that President elect Obama shares my Zune love.
In case you have not noticed, Zune kicks iPod butt in features and thanks to my new Zune Pass I keep 10 of the songs I download every month forever (and no Microsoft does not support this blog).
Anyways if you’re wondering how the president-elect owns a Zune and he uses Mac, wake up. Obama was only using his Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and Mac thing to “get the younger vote” which didn’t really help him much. If you haven’t notcied already Washington either uses Linux (first on the list) and secondly Microsoft. There is no change when it comes to Washington tech so wake up and grab a Carona…or not.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Its not like this is new business for The Simpsons. They’ve been doing this for years. But I find this one quite funny seeing it takes aim at one of the most ridiculous notions around today: Just because you own an iPhone does not make you cool, and just because you don’t own one does not make you uncool.
The entire five minutes of Apple bashing can be found after the break.
Popularity: 65% [?]
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% [?]
Maybe its because he was able to use cell phones to track down innocent civilians when he was the terminator, or maybe its because only one machine should be operated while driving. In any case, if you are caught texting and driving in Cali you will be charged $20. Disobey the Governator again and thats increased to $50.
For whatever reason I find these charges to be more like a slap on the wrist (especially considering they are coming from Cali). Than again maybe they know that the sheer amount of tickets they will be handing out will compensate for the low fines, though I see how they will be able to distinguish between a driver texting and a driver using the built in GPS on his phone or making a phone call.
Popularity: 14% [?]
