As if Obama wasn't already the coolest guy this side of John Shaft, I love the way he reacts to the incredibly rude and thoughtless reporter's ridiculous ringtone. "Whose...whose duck is back there?" It's no mean feat to slap down that kind of interruption in the middle of a speech about tolerance and gay rights. [via Crunchgear]

In this video you will learn of our President's enthusiasm for comic books, see a photo of him imitating a statue of Superman, and watch him flash the Vulcan sign.

Indeed, John Hodgman. It is an exciting time to be a nerd. [Collegehumor, Thanks Julian!]

We all know the US lags way behind in broadband penetration (a phrase that never fails to sound far dirtier than it is), but it's still a little disheartening to find exactly how far. The top 5, which consists of South Korea, Singapore, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Taiwan, are all over 80% penetration while the US struggles at only 60%. Hell, even Canada hit 76%, and they've got way more land and way fewer people. This will change, of course; Obama's pledged to increase broadband penetration, though at the moment he still has to fistfight his way through the legislature or whatever it is he needs to do to get anything passed. Still, it's nice to see Estonia get some good press for once. [Ars Technica]

Moss, also known as Dark Tangent, founded both the DefCon and Black Hat hacker conferences in addition to legit security work—most notably at Ernst and Young, one of those giant corporations that provides auditors, attorneys, brokers, designers, and lots more to other companies. He's a sort of godfather of hackers, a pioneer who uses his underground skills in mostly above-ground ways.

As the Obama administration has been placing a heavier focus on cybersecurity, it's an extremely smart move to ask one of the world's foremost professional hackers to assist on the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council. He's got enough expertise to really be able to offer some help, but he's also not a dangerous hacker—one analyst called him "as corporate as hiring someone out of Microsoft," meaning that for the hacking world, Moss is hardly a loose cannon. But that's exactly why it's also a smart political choice. Picking a hacker seems like an edgy choice, but Moss is a guy who's worked for Fortune 500 companies, not someone who's working in his basement to bring down the power grid.

We're looking forward to seeing cybersecurity finally advance, and this kind of guy is just what we need to get ourselves back on track. [CNET]

The book Obama's BlackBerry is on sale now, $11 at Amazon, and is consistently hilarious, as you can see from the (authorized) excerpts below. [Kasper Hauser]

Some argue that this budget does not reflect Obama's campaign promises about the future of the space program. Again, this figure is preliminary, but there are definitely opposing viewpoints on how much money should be spent on NASA. So, my question to you is: are we spending too much or not enough?

The new BlackBerry is locked down by Genesis Key's SecureVoice technology that turns any Curve or 8830 into a hack-resistant handheld. When he gets the BlackBerry in a few months, he'll be able to call or text to other people with the same software, like Michelle Obama and top aides, whoever they are. The software is considered hardcore enough that it can access Top Secret-level classified data

In the meantime, he's been using a regular BlackBerry for personal stuff and that crappy Sectera Edge for official business.

I wonder if they're going to let Joe Biden in on the secret BlackBerry circle. Would you? [Washington Times via Fast Company]

The $10 Obama USB drive started as a humble, 2GB of flash storage. But following the introduction of a holographic Obama visage along with 30MB of bonus material, including the real Obama's Inaugural Address MP3, "Race Speech" MP3, and, of course, his official White House photo, the Obama USB drive transcended convenient digital storage to lead an entire movement of USB products that believe in real change...a better world for its children filled with clean air, honest jobs, peaceful diplomacy and maybe a few Brando products.

It's also waterproof. [Active Media Products]

The CTO position is linked with that of the Chief Information Officer (the recently-named Vivek Kundra), but they are two distinct jobs. The White House explains:

The responsibilities of the CIO are to use information technology to transform the ways in which the government does business. The CTO will develop national strategies for using advanced technologies to transform our economy and our society, such as fostering private sector innovation, reducing administrative costs and medical errors using health IT, and using technology to change the way teachers teach and students learn.

Essentially, the CIO is responsible for the general strategic aim of information technology, whereas the CTO is the one who really gets his hands dirty with the specific architecture. In particular, Obama has listed health care and education in today's YouTube address as the two areas most requiring the efforts of the CIO and CTO, and we (along with most others) think Chopra is the right guy for the job. Here's why.

Aneesh Chopra is not a CEO. He's not a thinker like Negroponte, or a businessman like Gates, or a showrunner like Jobs. He's a governmental agent. This is important because the CTO is, after all, a government job, and Chopra won't have to adjust his strategies to work within a governmental system. Right now, he's the Secretary of Technology for Virginia, and has shown huge success in the field. Last year, Virginia was ranked 1st in Technology Management, a direct reward for Chopra's work.

Further, he's made significant achievements in health care and education, which, you remember, is just what Obama wants. He's gotten the nation's first open-source textbook approved, initiated competitions for the state's students to create iPhone apps, and designed a social network for physicians in remote areas.

Most importantly, Chopra's achievements are forward-looking (Web 2.0, social networking, open source) but fervently grounded in the practical. He's not pushing for the sake of pushing, he's using the best tools we have in the best way he can.

Here's a video of Chopra at the State of the Net conference this year.

We're really looking forward to seeing what Chopra can do with the resources of the federal government at his disposal. [White House, O'Reilly Radar]

Apparently, President Obama arrived at Buckingham Palace today bearing gifts for Queen Elizabeth II. What does a man of Barack Obama's power and stature get for the woman that truly has everything? How about an iPod loaded with video from her 2007 visit to the US (Gee...thanks? Actually, she already has an iPod, so I'm assuming she will be regifting that). Not to be outdone, the Queen presented Obama with a framed picture of herself. Wow, that is

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The plan is as follows:

* The Department of Energy is offering up to $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce these highly efficient batteries and their components.

* The Department of Energy is offering up to $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors and other components.

* The Department of Energy is offering up to $400 million to demonstrate and evaluate Plug-In Hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts — like truck stop charging station, electric rail, and training for technicians to build and repair electric vehicles.

All good news.

Another thing I've realized? After the last few months of $792 billion bailouts and an additional trillion dollars of various other cash infusions, and an additional trillion dollars going to AIG's janitorial staff, $2.4 billion just doesn't sound like a significant amount of money anymore. [Physorg, Whitehouse.gov]

Right, I'll back up for a second. The embattled chopper(s)—under fire for their cost and alleged foreign manufacture—have been trotted out by republicans as an example of government spending spun out of control. Just as that controversy seemed to be subsiding, reports surfaced that the blueprints and avionics package for Marine One have been leaked over a peer-to-peer network, to Iran. Oops?

The leak wasn't at all intentional, unless you consider trusting technical illiterates with such sensitive material "intentional". No, the leak happened because an employee at a unnamed defense contractor (The Register thinks it's Lockheed) accidentally stored the files in a P2P folder, or, and this is more likely, just set his entire hard drive to share. Before long, the files had been uploaded to ~~xOsamaFanIran74x~~ and the intelligence community fell into a tizzy, all because some guy wanted to catch up on Big Love during his lunch break. In an interview with WXPI, Wesley Clark summed up the situation—and then, hilariously, the internet—for all of us:

We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went. Once it's out there, it's hard to get it back. I don't think the full ramifications of this have been understood by the watchdog agencies.

[The Register]

Update Turns out, this animation is made from a photo series by prestox, which you can check out, all super clear and stuff, here. [via Buzzfeed]

The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me. (Laughter.) Of course, I've never had a helicopter before — (laughter) — maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it. (Laughter.) But I think it is a — it is a — an example of the procurement process gone amuck. And we're going to have to fix it.

Of course, since the Pentagon already made the arrangements, Obama will still be riding in a helicopter that costs as much as Air Force One. [Actually, the 1.5+ billion is for 28 helicopters not only one, and according to Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon and the Secret Service, he needs them all: "They are stationed all around the country/world, just like a multiple-personality Air Force One aircraft." Also, the helicopter is American. The airframe is being built now by Agusta Westland Bell in the UK now, after being tested by Lockheed on the Merlin program. After the first few are built in Europe, the rest will be built by Bell in the USA, with Lockheed Martin adding the electronics in Owego, NY.-JD]

To me, the only fair solution would be to offer taxpayers the occasional opportunity to "bum a ride." [The White House and The Register via CrunchGear]

No matter the motive, the final product is great, and comes with a breakdown of the phone's features, which include proximity detectors and advanced call-forwarding/call-block functionality. There are even apps that tell jokes and remind you to take a smoke break. Here are a few of my favorites:

3. Press to play prerecorded "Love to, but this term's no good" response to Senator McCain lunch request.

6. Alarm flashes if Malia and Sasha are jumping on Lincoln's bed.

7. Push to get Rahm Emanuel's Wisecrack of the Day.

11. Tap once to activate C.I.A. briefing. Tap twice to activate C.I.A.-briefing lie detector.

13. Automatic alert beeps if Al Gore is within one mile of White House.

19. Press to refresh current Cabinet roster.

Check out the rest of the list over at [New Yorker]

These were custom made by the exhibitor for QVC, where they apparently sold out all 2500 of the limited edition for $199 apiece in 30 minutes, according to the dude in the booth.

Change, get it? CHAAAAANGE! With the financial crisis, this also takes on an added layer of irony.

And this was probably my favorite Barack toy: The Obama Mania Game! You use Obamabucks to navigate the campaign trail, where you can land on spaces like "Gov. Palin Proves a Liability to Her Party: GO SIX SPACES AHEAD!"

The Obama merch machine, clearly, shows no sign of stopping. [Toy Fair 2009]

The OpenType font reproduces Obama's "bold and elegant" script based on a few different sources, though it's tidied up a bit to fit neatly into lines, since Obama apparently uses the leftie style of writing diagonally against a tilted sheet of paper. (Which, as another awesome leftie, always seemed like way too much work for me, though the price of trying to write economically like a right-handed person was a perpetual ink stain on the side of my hand.)

You're probably wondering where the ingenious recession-busting entrepreneurship comes in. The font costs $15.95, though 20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to charity. If the Obama paraphernalia cottage industry can keep innovating, it's worth at least a couple tax breaks of stimulus power.

Headline quip courtesy of BaronClytias [Insign Design]

We've all seen this picture below of him using a BlackBerry since becoming president, though what he's holding is "actually a more sophisticated, encrypted variation." Biden has one just like it.

The people who know Obama's top secret email address are exceedingly few: Biden, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, senior adviser David Axelroad, press secretary Robert Gibbs, a few other top advisers and a select group of friends from Chicago. Even some cabinet members, like Defense Secretary Robert Gates don't have his email address. And, it's likely that his top secret email address will be changed on a regular basis.

If you are lucky enough to get an email from him, it's encrypted in such a way that it can't be forwarded to your parents, or anyone. No attachments will get through, either.

Left sadly unanswered, however, is the greatest question of all: Does Oprah, formerly the most important person in America whose name starts with O, have his email address? [NYT, Top Image: Pete Souza/The White House]