I Vote For Technology

Gizmodo is not endorsing a presidential candidate. Nearly everyone on staff agreed that it would be a bad idea, for a lot of valid reasons. Besides the fact that Gizmodo is seen by many as a means of escape from the the real world, we simply don't cover politics. Many on our staff felt that, even if we weighted our selection using just the candidates' statements on technology, we'd just be trivializing the truly pressing issues—the economy, the wars, national security, America's cultural divide and our standing in the international community, to toss out a handful. But I think you guys should know where at least one of us is coming from: Technology is political, because it's tightly intertwined with every major issue. If you don't grasp technology, you no longer understand the world. I'm voting for the guy who gets that. More »

AT&T and Verizon Built Special Cell Towers at John McCain's House to Fix His Reception

Cell reception sucks an elephant dong at John McCain's Arizona ranch. Or it did, until Cindy McCain "embarked on an expensive public process" for Verizon Wireless to build a permanent cell tower at their ranch, reports the Washington Post. That got scrapped, but Verizon did see fit to "navigate a lengthy county regulatory process that hit a snag on environmental concerns" in order to get the McCains setup with at least a portable tower, absolutely free of charge. AT&T caught word of this, and brought in one of their own towers, also free. Wouldn't ya know, there's a laundry list of ethical concerns? Update: Verizon has responded to the Post's story, their statement below. More »

Where to Watch Tonight's Final Presidential Debate Live Online

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. More »

Barack Obama's $3 Million 'Overhead Projector' Actually Pretty Cool

During the last Presidential debate, John McCain delivered this line about his opponent with withering contempt: More »

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

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. More »

Desktop Debates: VP Square-Off Streamed Live

Once again, would-be people-who-matter are going to be talking at each another tonight. Update: Here's the link to CBS, and here's another one for CNN's live feed. A commenter says that MSNBC has it, to which I respond, "Get a new web designer, MSNBC!" Just how important is this debate? Well, it's not really up to us to say for sure, but since John McCain's chances of winning seem to depend largely on how darling Americans consider his running mate, I'd say they're pretty damn crucial. So get going, but by all means come back to express opinions and alienate fellow Giz readers in the comments below. Well, if you're really angry, you should probably take it to Gawker.

John McCain Blamed for Sucky Broadband in US

Our friend (and Wired editor) Nick Thompson wrote a piece in the Washington Monthly accusing John McCain for the sorry state of America's broadband. It seems the email-avoiding presidential candidate, as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, supported too much consolidation and too little oversight. The end result? "Since 2000, the United States has gone from fifth in the world to twenty-second in broadband penetration." More »

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

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! More »