Gizmodo: debates

Where to Watch Tonight's Final Presidential Debate Live Online

matt buchanan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:10:00 EDT

Tonight is the final part of the talent portion of the Mr. President 2008 pageant, which I've been reading is like the most important one in our lifetime or something, but I think they say about that about all of them. Regardless, if you're stuck at your computer and can't get to a TV, don't worry, you don't have to miss this momentous occasion, the final talking points battle between good and evil (which is which is up to you). Feel free to get political and talk about the debate in the comments, but be civil, or we'll splatter your head with the Maverick Banhammer of Hope. Here's everywhere you can watch it go down live online.

•Hulu is our most favoritest pick because it's easy to get to and you can watch Colbert or Tina Fey or Future President Petrelli when it gets dull

•Current's Hack the Debate is our second favorite, a fantastic mashup of the live debate broadcast overlaid with Twitter messages in real-time, so you can see how everyone else is reacting (or jeering, knowing the Twitter mob)

•C-SPAN has a live stream and their debate hub is super-comprehensive and Web 2.0tastic but it looks like you need the Windows Media Player plugin if you're using Firefox (you do for their other videos)

•CNN has a bunch of extra coverage like a debate preview (as if you don't already know what they're gonna say) though you might need their plugin, like you do for other videos of theirs

•MSNBC seems to have a pretty snazzy player with a nice feature set and big, beautiful widescreen video—getting around their site sucks though, so use our direct link to make your life easier

•Foxnews—I tried to find a feed on their site, I really did. Send it in and I'll add it if you feel that strongly about it

•CBS

Or you could skip the debate entirely and base your vote on these zany Photoshops of John McCain and Barack Obama (coming later this week). Sounds like a plan to me. [Election Coverage on Giz]

Where to Watch Tonight's Presidental Debate Live Online: Hulu, VCAST and More

matt buchanan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Whereas a live online stream of the first presidential debate was a bit harder to pin down, our pick for tonight's at 9PM Eastern is Hulu. Its live stream of the final two presidential debates is actually Hulu's first ever live broadcast, which is something they might do more of following the debates. (Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it'll be in HD.) But there are, of course, other options.

If you're not near a TV or computer tonight Verizon's VCAST service will be streaming CBS's feed live. Of course, there are streams from CBS's regular site, CNN and C-SPAN, who has probably the best and most forward-thinking—for Web 2.0 fanatics anyway—online coverage around. Hulu's Election '08 hub also aggregates everything from speeches to punditry to funnies from The Daily Show, Colbert, Conan and more if you want to flip something more engaging during a particularly snoozy stretch of the debate. Or if your politics appetite is just insatiable, there's Obama's maybe gaming-changing iPhone app if you want to put your fingers in your ears whenever McCain speaks.

Where else are you guys planning to peep the debate? [paid content]

C-SPAN 'Debate Hub' Is the Political Social Media Web 2.0 Uber Geek's Wet Dream

Jack Loftus — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Even if politics and Presidential debates bore you to the point where you need to nap like a 72-year-old, credit is still due to C-SPAN for making the whole process slightly more interesting with its ambitious Debate Hub. The social media-packed, live-blogging saturated, video clip bonanza, pulls content from a variety of sources—including YouTube, ADD microblogging tool Twitter, and C-SPAN's spin-free video coverage—and crams it all into a clean little web page. At the conclusion of each debate, C-SPAN guarantees to have all video clips linked to the official transcript, as well as a tag cloud detailing each debate's central themes. Dare I say it, this could be the future of covering live events. It's liveblogging, on steroids!

It's too late to see the site doing its thing live (the first debate was last Friday), but there are three more debates planned, so you'll still get to see C-SPAN pull and archive video on the fly.

In an interview with ars technica, social media magnate Clay Shirky was enthused by C-SPAN's effort.

"This transforms liveblogging from a marginal thing that a few committed high-speed typists do to something anyone can do," said Shirky. "The platform allows me to do what I do when I blog asynchronously, basing a post directly on a link to a permanent reference point." This, he says, overcomes the "perennial liveblogger dilemma."

"Do I comment or watch and try to form a considered reaction?" he asked.

Truly, it could mean more power to the people, and an end to the talking heads of cable network news. I think that's an idea, red or blue, that we can all get behind. [C-SPAN via ars technica]

Stuck at a Desk? Watch the Presidential Debate Online

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:15:00 EDT

Tonight at 9pm ET the first debate between John McCain and Barack Obama takes place. In the interest of keeping political discussion alive in America, here's a link to CBS, where we know the debate will be streamed live, at least within the US. Here's a link to NBC, which hosts much debate-related video, but doesn't quite say outright that it'll be streaming live. ABC also has a link to election coverage, but they don't seem to say much about this streaming video thing at all. Watch, discuss, get excited or pissed off. If the network's commentary is too vanilla-bean for your uppity self—or if your sorry ass is out of the country and blackballed from US video service—hit up Gawker's liveblog of the debates. When you've had enough of democracy in action, come back here for your fill of Lego Millennium Falcons, boob-related iPhone apps and other timeless objets du awesome. [Gawker]

Question of the Day: Do You Consider Yourself a Fanboy?

Sean Fallon — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:00:00 EDT

The word fanboy gets thrown around a lot these days—so much so that Webster's decided to officially incorporate the term into the English language. Generally speaking, when referring to someone as a fanboy it is intended to be derogatory—but the bottom line is that Fanboyism is the root of all great nerdy debates. So, it is time to take a hard, honest look at yourself. Are you a fanboy? If so, what kind of fanboy are you? And if this poll turns out skewed heavily towards no, there are a whole lot of liars out there.