On the heels of President Obama's recent introduction of a Privacy Bill of Rights, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), the latest self-regulatory organization for online advertising, agreed to support widespread implementation of Do Not Track (DNT) browser headers. This is a laudable step, and in the coming months the responsibilities for how websites respond to the signal will be articulated in multistakeholder meetings through the W3C's Tracking Protection Working Group. One conspicuous absence from the Do Not Track discussions is Facebook. As a company that tracks millions of users around the web, Facebook needs to follow in the footsteps of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and others by committing to respect user choice. More »

Continue reading BlackBerry 7 devices get American, Canadian Government approval

BlackBerry 7 devices get American, Canadian Government approval originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rupert Murdoch's latest tweets accuse President Obama of supporting Google—the "piracy leader"—and the rest of his "Silicon Valley paymasters." The accusations follow a White House blog that expressed doubts about the Stop Online Piracy Act. More »

President Obama complains White House technology is '30 years behind' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama can sleep tight tonight, knowing that the Robonaut R2 has finally been unpacked aboard the ISS. However, he's not actually been activated—not until May, anyway. [Robonaut via Plastic Pals] More »

Remember when the study came out that most broadband connections in America weren't really broadband? Well that might be a thing of the past after Obama just pledged to deliver high-speed internet connections to 98% of Americans. More »

Finally, Congress passes a piece of legislation that citizens on both the right and left side of the political spectrum can get behind. Late yesterday, Congress approved the CALM (Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation) Act, which “requires TV advertisers to ensure their ads don’t play at a volume louder than regular TV programming.” The new bill requires ad makers to use “industry technology” to prevent the volume annoyance from occurring.

“Consumers will no longer have to experience being blasted at,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California. “It’s a simple fix to a huge nuisance.”

The bill currently awaits President Obama’s signature. Once enacted, commercial makers will have one year to comply with the new law.

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

In case you missed it yesterday, the big green tech news of the week rolled in last night with the announcement of Google's top-secret robot car project, which has been deploying and testing self-driving robot cars on the streets of California over the past several months! (Engadget covered it here). It's also been a big week in general for green transportation announcements, as several supercharged electric vehicles hit the streets last week: the Delorean EV took us back to the future and SiGNa Chemistry unveiled an electric bike that runs on water. Finally, from the realm of tomorrow we brought you the future of moving house: strapping your home to an enormous balloon and lifting off for the skies.

This week solar power also lit up the newswires as President Obama announced plans to deck out the White House with photovoltaics this coming spring and scientists proclaimed that interstellar solar winds could provide 100 billion times the Earth's energy needs. We were also wowed by a dog park powered by poo in Cambridge, and we can't wait to get our hands on this new copper-covered Nokia phone that recharges its battery using body heat.

Speaking of eco gadgetry, we also showcased a set of gorgeous wooden wristwatches, and the world's first iPhone 4 cover made of plants. Green lighting was also a hot topic this week as scientists created a new type of glowing nano LED and we spotted an array of luminous lamps made from salt at the London Design Festival. We also learned how a wireless router scored a date for one lucky Inhabitat writer, and how Inhabitat editor Jill's solar-powered backpack has been a real conversation starter. See, green gadgets can help you make friends and influence people!

Inhabitat's Week in Green: robot cars, solar winds and the DeLorean EV originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Either NASA astronauts are really getting hit hard by Obama's manned space program cuts or their Twitter account has been hacked by spammers just over an hour ago. For a second, however, I thought Best Buy took over the ISS. More »

The past week saw several big developments in the energy industry as President Obama announced $8 Billion in loan guarantees for the construction of the first new nuclear plants in 30 years. Nuclear energy is basically emission free, which is a good thing - but what about all of that radioactive waste? Enter GE Hitachi, who announced a system capable of transforming nuclear waste into fuel. Meanwhile our friends in Norway are charging ahead with plans to build the world's largest wind turbine, and we're feeling a bit jealous of those forward-thinking Scandinavians.

We also saw signs of the inevitable cyborg uprising as researchers unveiled energy generating gadgets that may one day be implanted within our bodies. MIT is working on a range of heat harvesting electronics that could power biomedical devices such as heart rate and blood sugar monitors. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan has developed an energy recycling prosthetic foot that makes walking easier for amputees. Even the planet is getting wired, as HP gets set to roll out its Central Nervous System for the Earth -- an array of billions of sensors that are paving the way for smarter cities, healthier humans, and the "Internet of Things".

Finally we took a look at two more entries from the Greener Gadgets Design Competition that will be taking the stage next Thursday for live judging: an energy generating glider lounge for public spaces and bass-kicking subwoofer made from recycled car tires.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: nuclear power, body heat electronics, and Greener Gadgets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two events dominated discussion last week: the unveiling of Apple's iPad and President Obama's State of the Union address. Leading up to last Wednesday, many wondered if Apple's event would overshadow Obama's. On social media, that was certainly the case.

Monitoring Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, blogs and the rest, social media analysts at Viralheat found over half a million mentions of the two happenings. Those mentions were overwhelmingly related to Apple's new tablet computer.

As the infographic explains, however, even if Apple had the buzz, Obama brought the honey. Generally, 42% of Apple's mentions were positive and 46% were indifferent, whereas 65% of his mentions approved of Obama's address and only 19% were indifferent.

On one hand it's surprising that the iPad generated so much more discussion than the State of the Union address, but in a sense it wasn't a fair fight. Whereas Obama's address is a routine, annual affair, the hype leading up to Apple's event suggested it was going to be one of a kind. Perhaps that's why the internet reacted so overwhelmingly with ":|" when the familiar-looking device was unveiled. [Mashable]

The Washington Post has this bizarre Final-Four style bracket to determine the "most influential person of the decade," and with President Bush's defeat of Sergey Brin and Larry Page, all the tech figures are now out of the race. Lame.

Previously, Osama Bin Laden knocked out Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, and President Obama defeated Steve Jobs, but the Google Duo held out until the semifinals, when President Bush liberated them. That is officially the oddest sentence I have ever written. Way to go, Washington Post. This is incredibly weird. [Washington Post via Wonkette]

The Infractor is probably the least efficient manner in which you could read the morning paper, but it involves Fortress of Solitude-esque prisms and interactive rays of light. Quite simply, the paper has never looked better. Video demo:

Running on what looks to be a Microsoft Surface, Infractor is software that represents all of the NYTimes as a streaming beam of light, with individual stories floating through the stream like fireflies. Placing an interactive prism on the table splits this beam, allowing you to assign filters like "Obama" to make the stream more relevant. (A jog wheel, placed next to the prism, can alter the prism's specific sensitivity.)

Eventually, you'll tailor the beam to only hold topics you're interested in. Well, that, or you'll remember why the printing press doesn't use prisms to convey information. [Infractor via notcot]

Case-Mate released a $0.99 cardboard iPhone case as a tongue-in-cheek, recession-appropriate gesture—and people bought them, and drew on them, and now they've got a contest to see whose creation is best.

If I'm going to be honest, I kind of expected more from this contest: There aren't many truly impressive drawings submitted as of now, and the current leader in votes is a virulent anti-Obama nutball creation that looks more like the bumper of an Alabama pick-up truck than an iPhone case. A drawing of Obama as Heath Ledger's Joker? What does that even mean? You can't be an anarchist and a socialist at the same time, they're completely conflicting ideologies. Take a political theory class, Cardboard iPhone Case Drawing Man!

Anyway, I think there are enough badass illustrators among the Giz readership that we could really bust out some impressive entries. I'd love to see what you guys can do—this contest is ripe for a Giz onslaught. Go forth, readers! [Case-Mate via CNET]

Filed under: Transportation

Aptera 2e three-wheeler deemed a car by the DoE, eligible for funding originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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