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]

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]

Due to January 20' "wicked cold" (Mr. Ma's words), the inaugural planners decided to roll tape for "Air and Simple Gifts" with the intent of avoiding frozen fingers or rapid de-tunings causing a John-Roberts-scale fuckup on the world stage.

I can't say that I blame them at all. Itzhak is getting up there in the years, and he's earned a bit of slack. Apparently inaugural tunes are always pre-recorded to avoid just such a mishap; interesting to note, though, that the Marine Band's "Hail to the Chief" was broadcast live and direct. Semper Fi! [NYTimes]

That's according to the law enforcement junkies at Officer.com, who are carrying a McClatchy-Tribune story that quotes law enforcement officials saying Obama would wear "bullet-resistant clothing" for the inauguration.

While this could just mean some standard kevlar, we agree with our friends over at Slate's Explainer that it's much more fun to hypothesize an actual bullet-resistant suit, tailored to Obama's exacting standards. Slate points to the wares engineered by the intrepid Miguel Caballero—the Colombian designer known for dressing international journalists in his anti-assasination fashions and then firing guns at them.

I'm assuming Barack's test fitting wasn't quite so dramatic. But hey, bullet proof clothing—from the Medellín mean streets to Washington! [Slate]

Update: The Vice TV guys, makers of fine hipster travelogues, wrote in to remind us that they've been shot by Miguel too. More good stuff.

Sources say Dan Nosowitz, who turns 23 today, does not care in the slightest about the latest rumors regarding President-Elect Obama's BlackBerry. This source, who describes himself as "close to Nosowitz," says the technology blogger experienced debilitating apathy and slight annoyance at an Associated Press story reporting the President-Elect's clumsy inability to retain a tight grip on his well-publicized BlackBerry.

Further, he suggests that Nosowitz was not impressed by the news that Obama will legally be allowed to keep his beloved phone for personal use only, presumably unmonitored by the traditional White House zeal for documentation. Allegedly, Nosowitz suggested that, "Nobody cares."

Says Nosowitz, "I drop shit all the time and the AP never writes stories about me." He later added, "Not even on my birthday (which is today)."

However, Nosowitz was able to maintain a sense of humor about the situation. He is reported to have "laughed derisively" at the ending statement, "Aides report that his device still works." [AP, picture by AP/Charles Dharapak]

Yup, access to the National Communications System is just one of the perks to being the President. Put in place by President Kennedy in 1963, the NCS' priority call system is for emergencies when the phone lines may be full but government officials need to make a call.

The NCS contains many different calling options, but the Wireless Priority Service is definitely the most convenient. As described by CNET:

[it] gives authorized users including what NCS calls "senior members of the presidential administration" a higher-priority connection to the cell tower. WPS is accessed by dialing *272 before the destination phone number—but, alas, will only work if your mobile provider has authorized your phone. And the federal government needs to approve.

Now for Obama to get the whole Blackberry situation straightened out. [CNET]

On the Obamaphone, the head of Mi Phone says:

"The coming of the new President of the USA is an auspicious moment for all Kenyans and the people of Africa. It is our pleasure to be able to launch the Mi-Obama phone as a memento that will always stay within the user's hearts and minds."

Over 1,000 of these brand new pieces are in the streets of Nairobi right now, where they sell for $30.

[Mi Fone (awesome, awesome site) via Cellular News via Crunchgear]

Usually, Obama tosses in a mention or two about how important technology is, but today, we really see what he plans to do. He pledges to have broadband internet access available to all Americans, and promises to bring networked access to every doctor's office, public school, and hospital. Part of Obama's economic recovery plan will go directly to modernizing public hospitals, first and foremost to digitize all medical records.

He does leave out certain important concepts, most importantly how he's going to pay for all this, and I'm unclear on how exactly he plans to force ISPs into reaching into parts of the country where they can't turn a profit. What do you guys think? [Change.gov]

We mostly use YouTube for clips of things like a cappella renditions of John Williams songs, but this address is helped by the familiarity of YouTube: it treads the line between casual and formal without ever becoming either. Yeah, we're a bunch of durn lib'rals here at Giz, but this is an important milestone in how we interact with our elected leader, and Obama made his weekly debut in the right way. There was no mention of the medium, nothing garish like, say, a holographic Will.I.Am.. YouTube is simply the easiest, most widespread, and most accessible way to directly address the people, and that's why it doesn't feel forced or stilted. Well, that and the way I just get lost in the music of his voice. [Change.gov]

They neither publicly released the changes they'd made nor paid Artifex for the privilege to keep the changes to themselves, and in the hippie-dippie share everything world of Linux, that doesn't fly. Luckily our new President of the Universe Barack Obama won by a large enough margin that we can't question the results, but good god, it's beyond time to ditch this aggressively stupid company and get an electronic balloting system that, you know, works. [LinuxDevices]

When Todd placed McCain and Obama bobblehead dolls on the Surface, the national map would change colors to show each candidate's specific chances. Put on the Obama bobblehead, and the map turns varying shades of blue. Use McCain, and it turns red. Then he turned Dark Helmet and made the bobbleheads fight each other, revealing the true reason he ordered them up in the first place. The off-screen newswoman didn't seem too impressed, quipping, "Now the five-year-olds are glued to the television," but I'm 22, so the joke's on her! [MSNBC]