General

Barack Obama will be the most shadowed president in history, and it won't be just the Secret Service and press corps surrounding him.

Citizens and paparazzi armed with camera phones and a variety of other multimedia devices will chronicle every movement he makes in public and post it online.

Obama's visit on Friday afternoon to Manny's Cafeteria and Deli in Chicago was treated as a major event. Some footage was recorded by the Associated Press (see below), and in the background you can see employees, as well as a horde of press members, pointing their cameras at … Read more

Guest post: Frédéric Filloux, editor of Monday Note, which covers media, tech and business models, explains why death reports of paid-for models on the Internet have been greatly exaggerated and how Facebook might need subscription fees to survive in the current economic climate.

Death reports of paid-for models on the Internet have been greatly exaggerated. Granted: the network's genome carries the "free" nucleotide. As in both freedom and free goods and services. Like it or not, its publicly funded origins (universities and the Pentagon) led to the emergence of widely adopted services such … Read more

Updated at 11 a.m. to clarify that the change.gov site with the YouTube video of the Obama's radio address has text links to the same video on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo. YouTube still has premier position as the secretary of video...

It's great that President-elect Barack Obama is delivering his regularly scheduled Saturday address in both audio and video form. After using the Internet to help him get elected and connect with younger voters, it's clear that his team will continue to exploit the media to deliver its messages and stimulate dialog.

Obama has chosen … Read more

The rotten economy notwithstanding, Black Friday will undoubtedly produce the usual levels of retail insanity.

If you're intrepid enough to brave long lines and deal-crazed crowds on the day after Thanksgiving, well, I salute you. And I offer you BlackFriday.info, a site that rounds up Black Friday ads well in advance so you can plan your shopping (i.e. figure out where you want to show up at 4 a.m.).

As of Friday, the site has ads for about two dozen stores, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Staples.

Truth be told, I'm not seeing any … Read more

While the technology pundits are debating the role of an Obama administration CTO, a few programmers in Seattle yesterday decided to do something more useful. Using an application from UserVoice, they launched ObamaCTO.org, a site, unaffiliated with the Obama machine, that allow citizens to list and vote on what should be the top tech priorities for the new administration.

"User voting is an easy way for people to prioritize ideas," said Matt Lerner of Frontseat.org, which created the site. While the voting on this site is more like on Digg than a scientific sampling, and can … Read more

Guy Kawasaki, the oracle of technology startups, is publishing a new book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. It's a robust collection (450 pages) of posts from his blog, "How to Change the World." If you are seeking to change the world, especially in this economy, Guy's advice will be very worthwhile and entertaining. Check out the BNET video below with some tips from Guy:

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is out of the running for the chief technology officer (CTO) position that the Obama administration is planning to create. In an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, Schmidt said, "I love working at Google and I'm very happy to stay at Google, so the answer is no." Schmidt will remain a close adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, but his first call to duty is Google.

Based on the job description below, it could be difficult to find a worthy candidate from the private sector willing to take on a task of such … Read more

There I was, about to order something from Buy.com for Mrs. Cheapskate (am I way ahead on holiday shopping? Yes I am!), when I noticed the ever-popular Promotion Code box.

Rats, I thought--I don't have a promotion code. But then, a light bulb: maybe the Web does.

A quick Google search later ("Buy.com promotion code"), I'd snagged a 5-percent-off coupon. Total savings: $7.50. Not a fortune by any stretch, but a pretty good return on my 30-second Google effort.

There's also a site called DealLocker that collects coupons under one roof for … Read more

Hey, Michiganders! Want to talk tech? Maybe even win a prize? Then come to the Novi Public Library this Monday, November 3, 7 p.m., for some no-holds-barred geek talk.

The official topic of discussion: Tech Gadgets for the Holidays. I'll offer buying advice on everything from digital camcorders and MP3 players to netbooks and notebooks, and I'll have some cool products to demo. Of course, the discussion doesn't have to end there. We can talk freebie software, sweet Web services, the best places to get pizza (I'm liking Benito's these days)--whatever.

I'll … Read more