Filed under: Odds and ends, Flickr Find
Obama team chose Apple on election night
In what could be a sign of things to come, an unnamed staffer Biden's son Hunter (thanks commenters) was pictured on Election Night showing Vice President-Elect Joe Biden something on a MacBook Air. Biden also appears to be holding an iPhone 3G with a sticker on the back.
Biden was apparently observing something on screen, while President-Elect Barack Obama celebrated in the background with another staffer. The MacBook Air appeared to be connected to a USB 3G network adapter.
The Obama administration could become the most technologically-savvy presidency so far. The President-Elect's transition team has already put up change.gov, a website developed by Blue State Digital, the same firm that created Obama's campaign website. Obama's administration promises to be the first to include a Chief Technology Officer, and he supports net neutrality.
Obama has been photographed during his campaign using an iPhone. A Newsweek article in Feburary noted that Michelle Obama bought then-Senator Obama and their children each a MacBook, so they could stay in touch during the long campaign.
Yes, we can add the team to the growing list of world leaders using Apple products.
Thanks, Brian!
Editor's Note: Political discourse can sometimes get heated, and that's understandable, but there are some boundaries. Multiple comments to this post have made threatening statements against the President-Elect. Any comments of this nature will be deleted and identifying information will be provided to the US Secret Service.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Michael Jones said 1:03AM on 11-09-2008
Al Gore *invented* Apple, and the Mac.
LOL Sorry. Couldn't help it, someone just had to say it.
ipod touch owner said 6:42PM on 11-07-2008
Er, it looks like Biden isn't holding an iPhone, it looks more like a voice recorder.
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Josh said 8:34PM on 11-07-2008
The iPhone -is- a voice recorder. Check the App Store.
Michael Jones said 8:39PM on 11-07-2008
It's an iPhone 3G. You can see the camera lens and volume buttons easily if you look closely.
Andre said 6:45PM on 11-07-2008
So if the new president uses an iPhone, do you think Apple might fix the mail-fetch bug sooner?
Wouldn't be good if Obama missed being notified of some important email.
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Jesse said 6:47PM on 11-07-2008
Once again, who really cares what kind of computer they're using?
Just another fanboy article, I guess.
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mabhatter said 10:20AM on 11-08-2008
everybody!
If the new Prez will be using Apple that means White House memos better work... and bureaucrats better report in a compatible format. software his office needs better work... or he'll ask to MAKE it work. The POTS simply ASKING for a Mac version is probably enough to make it happen even in very big, slow companies. That means those little bits that keep Apples out of "serious" business get fixed, software base grows and "lack of...." stops being an issue.
Hopefully open standards will rule the day as well then other OSes can piggy back the changes.
Ashwin said 12:15PM on 11-08-2008
@mabhatter
Every president including Bush has used Macs exclusively, so I doubt things will be much different from that angle.
Mark said 8:05PM on 11-07-2008
That concerned look on their faces is because they're getting no data through the cellular data network, at any speed. I was there that night and was unable to send or receive any data on my iPhone 3G until I dispersed into the city with the crowd. That happens at most huge gatherings where the number of people completely overwhelms the cell towers.
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PSM said 8:15PM on 11-07-2008
This gets better and better.
For his first act as president, I think Obama should propose a law making it illegal to release a smartphone without copy/paste ;-)
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Karin said 8:26PM on 11-07-2008
That "unnamed staffer" with Biden is his son, Hunter.
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Frank said 1:24PM on 11-08-2008
yes -- and the speculation is that biden was calling his other son in iraq.
Kevin Crossman said 8:26PM on 11-07-2008
Steve Jobs better keep the date of the State of the Union address free. Unless he feels he's trodding on Sculley's old ground.
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mark said 9:15PM on 11-07-2008
The Obama team "chose Apple" long before election night. They hired a team of programmers to design and release a clever iPhone app called "Obama '08." (http://tinyurl.com/6a6cyw)
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Charles R Hamilton said 9:24PM on 11-07-2008
It was reported that there is no truth to the rumors that Bidin was just finishing up Sesame Streets "Learn to count with the Count" for Mac OSX.
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edward said 10:29PM on 11-07-2008
I don't understand why mac is such a spotlight. is it unusual to use for election? mac or windows... it doesn't matter. but smart people know what is the best. usually people like them are mostly the side of Democrat. anyway, from now even it seems to be little late, if somebody who works for government or any staff doesn't know technology, it will be very very serious problem. I bet that mac will take over serious part in government office soon.
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Jon said 10:49PM on 11-07-2008
I would expect that every new president will be more technically savvy than the former.
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bodzasfanta said 3:29AM on 11-08-2008
The "unnamed staffer" is Hunter Biden. Biden's younger son...
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kakapo said 8:39AM on 11-08-2008
I think what makes this newsworthy is the other side - He & She Who Shall Not Be Named - where and still are the anthesis of being enlightened into the hard tool use of the Net as a method of getting their message out, organising their ground teams and providing a place of 24/7 support from the "top" and fellow team members.
That they are using Apple just confirms that I made a wise choice in my vote.
;)
Cheers.
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kakapo said 8:45AM on 11-08-2008
Mate, there actually is a law against saying what you are implying. There are two guys in Tennessee who found out what "silly talk" can do.
You know not of what you speak. yes, Obama has members of the DLC and DNC leadership working with him. It is funny how no matter who is elected, there are always disgruntled people who wish them ill.
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