Last time the Obamas tried to get away from it all for a little while was in summer — but then Ted Kennedy went and died and Ben Bernanke was renominated as Fed chairman. He already had to delay the start of this vacation to helicopter over the healthcare bill. Now he and the family — and his aides and military advisors — have taken off he really, really wants to do nothing. From the AP:

White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that the president wants to spend his holiday in his birthplace away from the news-of-the-moment distractions that have dominated his first year in office. No public events were scheduled and the best any of the president's aides could promise would be bets whether lefty Obama would out-drive his good friends - joining him from Chicago - on the golf course.

Which raises the question, if he's really determined not to do much, as to what are Presidential round-the-house clothes are like. Are there some stained sweatpants with the presidential seal on? Do the Secret Service have to sniffer-dog a 'Vegas or Bust' hoody that someone gave the president as part of an in-joke in 1993? Are there — and this is a question of vital national importance — official Snuggies?

Reporting on a White House and NASA meeting last Wednesday, sources say that the President has decided to give NASA an additional $1 billion in 2011. The extra funding will serve to create a new, simpler heavy lift rocket, as well as to increase the fleet of satellites controlling Earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere.

The objective is to have the heavy rocket ready for a 2018 launch, while Europe, Japan, and Canada would develop a lunar lander and moon base modules with their own billions. While this may make some NASA fans sad—after the US single-handely arrived to the Moon—I'm convinced that the collaboration with other countries is the only way to move forward in manned space exploration.

I mean, the Klingons will be here any minute, people! Let's get on with the program. And where the fuck is Kirk? [Science Magazine]

Previously, pilots would keep planes on the tarmac as long as possible out of fear of losing their place in the takeoff line, and an average of 1,500 flights (114,000 passengers) per year violate these new laws. Message to American, Delta, USAir et al: You want us to sit for longer than a movie, you better bring me some damn pretzels. [NYTimes]

This video shows cabinet members leaving their phones in a basket before entering a meeting with President Obama. While there's no explanation of why this very low-tech and low-security method is used, I sincerely doubt that anyone will try to steal a phone from the White House. The real thing to worry about is what happens if the sticky notes fall off. [CNN via Neowin]

Obama said those words while presenting his "Educate to Innovate" campaign, which aims to promote the development of new inventions by students all around the country.

The president also said he's introducing an annual White House Science fair with the winners of national competitions in science and technology. " If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you're a young person and you've produced the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too. "

Students will launch rockets, construct miniature windmills, and get their hands dirty. They'll have the chance to build and create — and maybe destroy just a little bit — to see the promise of being the makers of things, and not just the consumers of things. [White House via NY Times]

Industry leaders like Sony are launching a nationwide challenge to design compelling, freely available, science-related video games. And organizations representing teachers, scientists, mathematicians, and engineers — joined by volunteers in the community — are participating in a grassroots effort called "National Lab Day" to reach 10 million young people with hands-on learning.

Business leaders from Intel, Xerox, Kodak, and Time Warner Cable are teaming up with Sally Ride, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the Carnegie Corporation, to find and replicate successful science, math, and technology programs all across America. Sesame Street has begun a two-year initiative to teach young kids about math and science. And Discovery Communications is going to deliver interactive science content to 60,000 schools reaching 35 million students.

These efforts extend beyond the classroom. Time Warner Cable is joining with the Coalition for Science After School and FIRST Robotics — the program created by inventor Dean Kamen, which gave us the "Cougar Cannon" — to connect one million students with fun after-school activities, like robotics competitions.

I like to think that they're figuring out how to set up a soccer ball controlled Guitar Hero game in the White House, but let's be realistic. They're probably watching a crazy YouTube video. Question is which one. [Pete Souza via Top Cultured]

Photo by Pete Souza

Update: Reader Louis wrote in with a friendly note pointing out that we should in fact know what's on the screen, because there's a caption explaining it on Pete Souza's Flickr page:

President Barack Obama and White House staffers aboard Air Force One to Paris look at Reggie Love's photos of Egypt on June 5, 2009

Now, do we really believe that though? Or are they only fibbing about what nutty content is on the screen?

And Sonic. And Pac-Man. Even President Obama makes an appearance, although I don't think Hope: The Video Game is out just yet.

For reference, artist John Quigley says the Obama one took about 20 hours to complete. That time, since I'm a self-deprecating kind of guy, puts my personal Rubik's Cube record—which will remain undisclosed—to shame. [Technabob via CrunchGear]

"My Boyfriend Is the President" is a risque video game (or eroge) out of Japan. Of course, the game has its own trailer and whiny theme song, seen here:

Naturally, dating a president is a rich theme full of narrative weight—anyone who's seen Rob Reiner's The American President can attest to that. So the clip featuring Obama, Hilary, Hatoyama, the Putinator and Kim Jong-il is a fan-made remix of a video game that explores the excitement and turmoil of porking a president. And in that context, it almost begins to reach a semblance of sense. [Yamatologic via Japan Probe via CrunchGear]

President Barack Obama announced today a $8-billion federal plant to modernize the United State's power grid. $3.4 billion will come from the government, and the rest will be put up by private companies. In his words:

At this moment, there's something big happening in America when it comes to creating a clean-energy economy. But getting there will take a few more days like this one, and more projects like this one. Here in this region of Florida, this project will reduce demand for electricity by up to 20 percent during the hottest summer days that stress the grid and power plants,. It will provide smart meters to 2.6 million more customers. And most importantly, it will create thousands of jobs - good jobs, by the way, that can't be outsourced; jobs that will last and jobs that pay a decent wage.

In my words: About fucking time. We need to modernize the power grid not only for the jobs, but for the long term survivability of the country's economy. It's the only way to depend less on other countries, and make production more efficient and competitive.

And it's not only about using renewable energies. It's about increasing the efficiency of electricity transport and consumption at homes. That's why $1 billion is going to smart meters and other consumer oriented technology, which will make more than 5 million homes to consume a lot less. Two billion dollars will go to infrastructure to support those meters, and $400 to modernize power lines, with an additional $25 million to push for smarter, more power efficient devices.

Do you think this is a lot of money? It is, especially since it only covers a small part of the grid. But here's what we are getting in return: $20 billion in savings during the next decade, plus increasing the reliability of the grid to avoid power outages that cost $150 billion a year to the US economy.

I can only hope this goes well, and we keep modernizing the rest of the grid as soon as possible. [Miami Herald and Ars Technica]

The app store will be managed by the General Services Administration, and in addition to business apps, will provide tools for storage, web hosting and social networking. Kundra hopes it will save both time, energy and money, while bringing the Government's IT infrastructure out of the dark ages. Somewhere a Vogon is shedding a tear.

Google Exec Sergey Brin was so excited that he drove over in his Tesla and promised to save a chunk of Google's cloud servers just for the government! Facebook, Vimeo, Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce.com are all providing services as well. Everyone wins! [Apps.Gov via White House via NY Times]

Credit to Nicholas Thompson over at Epicenter, who spent some quality time with the bill:

[I]n its original form, did have some seriously bad ideas in it. For example, in an emergency, the president could "order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network."

And then, Senate procedure happened. The softened, pared-down language of the current bill would only entitle the President to, "In the event of an immediate threat to strategic national interests involving compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network" help to "direct the national response" to a crisis, "in coordination with relevant industry sectors." As Thompson notes, nothing scary is granted here, and the President definitely hasn't been authorized to take over private networks, for malign ends, for fun, or otherwise.

In reality, the bill might actually aid transparency, oddly enough: Thompson highlights a theory that, by ensuring the government's digital emergency management powers are kept out of the less accountable hands of the NSA and in the public view, abuses are less likely. So there's that! [Wired Epicenter]

A month ago, Apple rejected an application by Start Mobile featuring the iconic Obama "Hope" image by Shepard Fairey, stating the it "ridicules public figures." Typical App Store bullshit. But, hark! Start received an email from Apple the other day, that while it doesn't apologize, concedes that "after further investigation" Apple's decided it doesn't violate the App Store's terms. So Start can resubmit, and they'll get an "expedited review." Plus, the email's signed by a real human being, or at least a computer that calls itself Amy.

It's a small step, but it's a step nonetheless. We're still not holding our breath for Google Voice anytime soon, though. [TechCrunch]

Batteries have been a bottleneck in consumer electronics for years now, and it's getting ridiculous. Think back ten years ago: you probably couldn't have imagined all the wild stuff you can do with 2009's smartphones, but you definitely wouldn't have guessed that their batteries would last less than two days. It doesn't make sense, and it's slowing things down—imagine what our gadgets could do if manufacturers didn't have to spend so much of their engineering efforts of reducing power consumption.

The problem is, truly new battery technologies require huge institutional investments, the likes of which most companies aren't able—or willing—to make. As Wired explains, we've been stuck for years, but maybe, just maybe, this 2.4-billion dollars will somehow transmute into a breakthrough battery technology that'll trickle down to our gadgets, rendering out DC adapters obsolete once and for all. Or, it'll just sink into some kind of giant corporate money hole, and we'll just have to charge our iPhone 5GS Nanos six times a day. We'll see! [WSJ]

Come on. I bet he just clicks a button, and everything transforms into that chair. Then, he spends the day commanding battleships and air drones and playing World of Warcraft with his President buddies as level 120 wizard. [Big Picture]

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]

To top it off, the slightly stereotypical product has Obama dressed up like Colonel Sanders, and also features a coin bank for change. Sigh. Get it? One has to wonder whether or not they merely thought it was funny, or if they really just hate Black America. And for the record, a Popeye's bucket (despite them frying up superior chicken) WOULD NOT have made it any better. Regardless, though...WTF!

Final verdict? THAT'S RAAAAAAAACIST! [Brando]

The best, and really, only source of information on the status of the legal conflict comes from the two companies themselves, who have each sent out deliberately opaque press releases on the matter. From Funai:

Funai today marked a major achievement in its quest to end patent infringement by VIZIO and other television manufacturers. Today was the last day of a 60-day period in which US President Barack Obama could overrule the US International Trade Commission's (ITC) determination that VIZIO and other companies infringe on Funai's digital television patent...As of tomorrow, the ITC's exclusion order is final and [Vizio is] barred from importing or selling infringing Digital television products in the U.S.

Hooray for Funai! Down with Vizio! Justice has been served! But wait, take a close look at the language:

[Vizio is] barred from importing or selling infringing Digital television products in the U.S.

So not all Vizio products have been banned, just infringing ones. It's obvious, necessary language, but also an important distinction. To Vizio:

The products involved with this particular claim are obsolete, and no longer in mass production. Therefore we believe this action will not impact our ability to conduct our business in normal fashion

So—and please, commenter-lawyers, correct me if I'm wrong—it sounds like an import and sales ban has been upheld for past Vizio products, not anything they plan to import from now on. Nonetheless, the company is appealing the ITC's decision again, whether it be to help clear present inventory or to avoid some kind of future fines or legal difficulties. In short, Vizio's cheap, OK TVs—the most popular in the country—will probably still be in Best Buy tomorrow. [HdGuru]