president

Despite calling Apple's iPad, among other modern-day entertainment gadgets, a conduit for distraction less than a year ago, U.S. President Barack Obama has been outed as an iPad owner himself.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, Obama detailed that fact during a town hall meeting with Spanish-language network Univision, which took place earlier today.

During an interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, Obama said he does in fact have an iPad, and even tethers it to his high-security BlackBerry cell phone. Obama also noted that he owns his own computer, joking to Ramos and the audience about the idea of him having to borrow one from someone else:

Ramos: Not long ago I was having a conversation with my son. He's only 12 years old, and he couldn't believe that I grew up in a world where there were no cell phones, no Internet, no computers. (Laughter.) So do you have your BlackBerry with you, or do you have an iPhone? What do you have? Obama: You know, I took my BlackBerry off for this show, because I didn't want it going off, and that would be really embarrassing. But usually I carry a BlackBerry around. Ramos: Do you have an iPad? Obama: I do have an iPad.… Read more

When you're the Commander-in-Chief, the head of state, and generally the top dog of the United States of America, there will be times when you're expected to arrive to a variety of appointments, appearances, and meetings with other top dogs. But the President of the United States can't simply hop into his Ford Taurus and drive himself to meetings with foreign dignitaries--although he may be tempted by the SHO. Rather, getting from point A to B when you're one of the most important people in the nation requires high levels of safety and reliability, as well … Read more

President Obama spoke at an Intel chip manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Ore., today and praised company co-founder Andy Grove for his commitment to America.

Obama toured a cutting-edge Intel manufacturing facility with host Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel. The president made a stop in the San Francisco Bay Area yesterday and met with Silicon Valley tech leaders, including Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"We just had an amazing tour. One of my staff said it's like magic. I had a chance to see everything from an electron microscope, to the inside of the microprocessor … Read more

President Obama's attendance on Friday at a groundbreaking ceremony for an Intel manufacturing facility in Oregon comes at a critical moment for Intel, whose PC-centric chip manufacturing is being challenged by large, smartphone-centric Asia-based rivals.

The world's largest chipmaker announced last year that it would spend between $6 billion and $8 billion on U.S.-based manufacturing in Oregon and Arizona. Primarily targeted at building processors for the next generation of laptop, desktop, and server computers.

Obama is scheduled to attend a ceremony, hosted by Intel CEO Paul Otellini, for a future Intel plant that taps into some … Read more

President Obama said today he wanted 98 percent of Americans to have 4G-speed wireless Internet connections within five years, calling it necessary for the United States to remain internationally competitive and "win the future."

In a speech at Northern Michigan University in snowy Marquette, Mich., Obama offered details on his administration's proposal to promote high-speed wireless Internet connections in rural areas, elaborating on a point he made in his State of the Union speech last month.

"Every American deserves access to the world's information," Obama said today. "Every American deserves access to the … Read more

The Egyptian government of President Hosni Mubarak forced Vodafone to send out prescripted, propagandistic text messages during the country's recent unrest, the carrier said today in a statement on its Web site.

A text message by someone identified as "Vodafone" was sent to an Associated Press reporter in Egypt on Sunday appealing to the country's "honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our people and honor," according to an AP report.

But Vodafone said the Egyptian government can use its emergency powers under the country's Telecommunications Act to … Read more

The State of the Union address this evening underscored the limitations of watching live video from the front pages of major U.S. publications on Apple's iOS devices and why Flash is the default video streaming technology.

In my case, I was trying to watch President Obama's speech on my iPad and found that almost every major U.S. national newspaper could not provide a live feed from their front door, generating messages like "this content is only available in Flash" or "This feature is optimized for Adobe Flash Player version 9 or higher." … Read more

President Obama this evening will call for a wealth of new federal spending on biomedical research, information technology, and clean energy technology, saying that now is the time to open the taxpayers' purse to new projects

"This is our generation's Sputnik moment," Obama will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks for his State of the Union speech. (Our sister site CBSNews.com is streaming it live.)

While offering a nod to free enterprise, saying that the United States is the nation that created "Google and Facebook," Obama will say that taxpayer funds … Read more

President Obama today cited Apple CEO Steve Jobs' product success as an example of a person who Americans should "expect to be rich" as an incentive for others.

Responding to a reporter's question, the president prefaced his comments about Steve Jobs and Apple by saying, "What is...a fact is that people in the top 1 percent, people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent, or one-hundredth of 1 percent have a larger share of income and wealth than any time since the 1920s. Those are just facts. That's not a feeling on the part … Read more