The Presidential Blackberry. Wouldn't you love to get a glimpse of what's on it? That's precisely the problem, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin told WebProNews. While President Bush travels generally incommunicado--that is, unthinkably for most us, sans mobile phone--the President-Elect is in a very public argument for retention of his pre-election smart phone. read more

president phone presidential precisely glimpse house blackberrythe retention love sans public bush generally webpronews mobile hagin unthinkably former argument election

Google may be used to seeing its market share climb, but it looks like the search giant is getting kicked down a rung or two in one country.  Mozilla has decided to make Yandex, and not Google, the default search provider in future Russian versions of Firefox.read more

search firefox google russian russiagoogle country mozilla giant versions seeing away default share yandex provider climb market future looks pushes

It looks like some politicians are starting to get the hang of this Internet thing.  Two new YouTube channels have been established, and certain members of the House and Senate intend to use them as communications and outreach tools. read more

members outreach establish youtube politicians hang internet tools certain communications embrace senate intend house starting channels looks youtubeit congress

Here's a little validation for everyone who thinks politicians talk too much.  Patrick Kennedy, the U.S. State Department's Under Secretary of State for Management, has warned everyone in his organization to be careful about clicking the "reply all" button when responding to emails.read more

state reply everyone emails allquot warn clicking validation button department under management cause patrick talk kennedy thinks organization departmenthere uproar

With the inauguration of President-Elect Obama just days away, small business owners affected by recession see restoration of the country’s economy as his top priority, but many lack faith in him to improve matters, according to a poll of 50,000 small business clients by email and direct mail marketing company VerticalResponse.read more

business economy direct improve company affect elect clients priority mail obamawith faith inauguration restoration email according matters lack poll days

On the ground, it’s bombs, bullets and blood. On the Web, it’s a war of ideas. As Al Jazeera, via Twitter, stokes sympathies and outrage over Israeli force, the Israeli government fires back with information campaigns of its own on Facebook and YouTube. read more

s itrsquo israeli twitter bombs israel ideas youtube campaigns jazeera blood facebook bullets stokes information webon sympathy force ground palestine

Election season was good for media companies; people, places, and things were taking out ads left and right.  Now, in the hopes of getting some extra mileage out of the period, Gannett is moving forward with an ad initiative called ContentOne that will affect its online operations.read more

gannett forward contentone mileage operations sights hopes media moving extra season initiative places high getting online sets period people affect

Much was made of the way in which certain members of the tech community supported Barack Obama's run for the presidency.  Now an even more direct tech-to-politics connection looks ready to form, as Meg Whitman, eBay's former CEO, is stepping down from three companies' boards and may try to become a governor.read more

whitman boards tech three politics stepping form support become community members certain looks governor direct enter former barack report company

Amazon.com announced today that it has launched an Inauguration Store, which "features everything customers need to get ready to attend the event, host an inauguration party or watch from home."read more

inauguration quot introduces everything storeamazon features launch host event attend party read ready announc home customers amazon store watch

In his final days as chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin appears to have done an about face on a proposed content filter for free wireless broadband. After opposition killed the original plan, Martin has placed a new proposal, sans smut-filter, on the table for review at the next and final FCC meeting on January 15. Perhaps it’s an attempt to end his tenure on a high note by doing something very positive for the nation—auctioning off spectrum to a wireless provider that can serve up wireless broadband to 95 percent of the country. read more

filter martin broadband wireless final smut days free positive changes proposal propos next kevin plan opposition content sans appears itrsquo

In March of 2006, I predicted it was only a matter of time before “a major media company” bought YouTube, and that the government would step in eventually to regulate Internet content. A few months later, Google was obviously that media company, and close to three years later, we are witnessing the potential handover of Web content to the FCC and/or other regulatory agencies.  read more

later content media internet potential regulatory companyrdquo years predict youtube major months obviously google handover a agency eventually government ldquo

The co-founder of an Internet gambling site has pleaded guilty to violating U.S. online gambling laws and has agreed to forfeit $300 million.Anurag Dikshit, 37, a former director of PartyGaming PLC, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District court to charges that he used wires to transmit bets and wagering information the Justice Department said.read more

plead founder guilty gambling partygaming information district million former said tuesday court wagering justice forfeit give anurag transmit laws internet

The Wall Street Journal has created a ton of Internet buzz, but not in a good way. In what now appears to have been a slam against Google, Barack Obama, and Network Neutrality, there are misrepresentations, misquotes, and pure fabrications seemingly tailored toward a desired end: create the appearance Net Neutrality is losing its most important supporters. read more

neutrality create google important desir supporters slam toward internet street seemingly tailor journal against network misquotes appears buzz pure appearance

Seizing a domain is like seizing a billboard, argue the attorneys appealing Kentucky governor Steve Beshear’s attempt to take possession of 141 gambling domains. Even if domains were forfeited, users could still access gambling sites via IP addresses, which become destinations without signs over them. read more

seizing gambling domain domains argue without possession steve attempt users billboards become beshearrsquo appealing equivalent forfeit signs s sites billboard

Britney Spears’ chewed bubble gum: $500. NFC Championship hot dog: $1,800. Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich: $28,000. Famous turkey denied a pardon by Sarah Palin: $225. In case you possibly missed it, GOP VP nominee and Alaska governor Sarah Palin, while being interviewed by a local TV station following a silly turkey-pardoning Thanksgiving tradition, had to speak over the terrified gobbles of a different turkey meeting its unfortunate raison d’etre. If you hadn’t heard, join the 3.3 million viewers of the YouTube-broadcast execution. read more

turkey palin sarah famous station drsquo denied miss broadcast video youtube possibly heard governor alaska pardoning speak unfortunate interview million

Google is calling for Proposition 8 opposition support. A post on the Official Google Blog talks about the company's opposition to legislation that eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. Back in September, Google Co-founder Sergey Brin posted this:read more

google proposition post opposition sergey september brin couples calling founder legislation company talks reiterates support eliminates marry blog official

Chrysler didn’t want to appear ungrateful to the American taxpayers, so CEO Bob Nardelli took out full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today to thank them for putting up their money instead of well-heeled Cerberus putting up its own. Reposting the expensive thank-you note on the company blog showed, however, America hates huge wastes of money more than it hates ingratitude. read more

putting money hates thank wall expensive nardelli t note wastes show company journal didnrsquo page appear taxpayers street america reposting

As the wireless networks prepare for inauguration traffic jam, there are plenty of ways that users will be utilizing the Internet to stay up to date on their inauguration coverage, just as they did with the election. Of course Hulu has it covered, and has even gone so far as to provide an embeddable countdown:read more

inauguration cover plenty traffic hulu internet utilizing countdown ways provide coverage date networks stay embeddable users gone netas wireless prepare

Some people have spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars to be in D.C. during the presidential inauguration.  For those folks who are interested but couldn't find the money (or just didn't feel like camping on someone's lawn), Google Earth has at least unveiled some new imagery of the area.read more

google earth hundreds unveil lawn view money inauguration interest folks people thousands imagery couldn camping feel someone gets least spent

Yesterday, we looked at different places around the Internet to get your inauguration coverage. Today Google is sharing a few Google Maps mashups that are out there. read more

google maps mashups inauguration inaugural places coverage internet look sharing

Akamai Technologies said today it saw a record spike in online traffic during the Inauguration of President Barack Obama.As the largest day ever for the delivery of concurrent live streaming over the Akamai network, the company reported it reached a peak of over 7 million active simultaneous streams (the majority live streams) at around 12:15 p.m. today.Total traffic on the network surpassed a rate of more than 2 terabits per second and the company also delivered over 12,000,000 requests per second at the same time.read more

traffic during company akamai second streams network record live technology spike report concurrent simultaneous online majority peak inauguration president delivery

At 12:00 Eastern Time when Barack Obama officially became the President of the United States of America (by rule of the Constitution), Whitehouse.gov transformed into its new version. And it's got a heavy emphasis on new media.read more

whitehouse media heavy eastern officially transform version america became makeoverat gets constitution president unit emphasis obama barack states rule

The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled late Tuesday that the state could not seize 141 online gambling domains because they do not constitute a gambling device under Kentucky law.The ruling overturns a controversial decision made by Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate in October that said online gambling domains could be seized by the state because the domains were illegal gambling devices that violated Kentucky law.read more

gambling kentucky domains online overturns seize court state ruling decision october devices under county rule controversial appeals said tuesday judge

Just as people packed into Washington yesterday to watch the inauguration, it seems that Google saw a huge number of inauguration-related queries.  An analysis of them points to some interesting conclusions.read more

inauguration google conclusions relate points yesterday query huge analysis washington watch people interesting search statsjust seems pack releases

If the outgoing Bush Administration was thought to run a secretive, bubble-icious type of White House, the Obama Administration so far is proving to be the opposite. The Whitehouse.gov redesign for greater transparency has already been widely noted—Presidential blog and all—but the website is now much more open to a new kind of visitor: the search engine spider. read more

house administration spider thought open engine already but proving secretive website blog widely whitehouse googleif allmdash search type greater unblocks

The Washington Post has launched a new site called WhoRunsGov.com that consists of comprehensive profiles of people in politics and the government.Currently the site is focused on people involved in the government and politics on a national level but plans are in the works to expand it to include state officials, experts at think tanks and interest groups.read more

government washington post people politics whorunsgov tanks officials groups level include political interest profiles currently launches call plans consists national

Israel's next prime minister is supposed to be elected on February 10th, and recent events have served as a clear reminder of this position's importance.  It's rather impressive, then, that YouTube users have been asked to submit questions for the candidates to answer.read more

candidates youtube face israel clear serv users prime answer position elect importance recent suppos impressive questionsisrael questions february minister ask

Sometimes we get so caught up with hunting down a remote few monsters, we forget about the gangs of gremlins lurking next door. A controversial new study from the Internet Safety Technical Task Force suggests minors face greater dangers from their peers than from predators.read more

study threat online bully caught bigger face task controversial lurking suggests minors gangs force greater dangers predators hunting forget door

Since President Obama was sworn in and Whitehouse.gov has switched to a new interface, there has been an endless amount of chatter about the state of the White House's technology. Some discuss the shortcomings, while others defend it as just fine. Tradition and Transition read more

house technology state president defend sworn interface chatter discuss shortcomings amount endless fine tradition obama switch whitehouse addressing transition others

China is continuing its Internet crackdown on pornography in what it claims is an effort to protect youth from vulgarity while maintaining it has nothing to do with quieting political dissent.read more

dissent protect continues pornography continuing effort crackdownchina political claims online china internet nothing crackdown youth maintaining quieting vulgarity