president

The U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 841, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, which would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to set standards for alert sounds in electric or hybrid vehicles. The bill also creates a deadline for the safety protocols to be met by 2013.

"The passage of this legislation is momentous and marks over two years of vigorous advocacy by ACB membership that has resulted in consensus by the blind community, auto industry, and Congress," said Mitch Pomerantz, president of the American Council of the Blind, in a news release.

The National Alliance … Read more

Behind the fly-off-the-shelf popularity of products like Apple's iPad and iPhone are hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs--mostly overseas. Is it possible to create more of those jobs here in the U.S. to combat chronically high levels of unemployment?

Personal computing is moving rapidly beyond the laptop. And there's no better example than Apple, whose most popular products are arguably now the iPhone and the iPad. The surging demand for anything Apple is causing a seismic shift in chip manufacturing to Asia, the hotbed of new silicon ecosystems. Though companies like Hewlett-Packard and Dell also play a … Read more

If you want to ask President George W. Bush a question, you'll have your chance.

Starting at 2 p.m. PT today, the former U.S. leader will be talking about his new book, "Decision Points," and fielding questions from Facebook users.

The event is shaping up to be a big one. Facebook's announcement yesterday of the event has been "liked" by over 7,000 people. The post also has over 2,600 comments, as of this writing. A similar announcement on the George W. Bush Facebook page has over 288 comments and more … Read more

If the U.S. were hit by a severe cyberattack, would you want the president to be able to control or even shut down portions of the Internet?

A majority 61 percent of Americans polled by Unisys for a new security study believes the president should have the power to control or effectively "kill" portions of the Internet if key U.S. systems (military, financial, electrical) were hit by a malicious cyberattack from a foreign government.

These findings from the latest biannual Unisys Security Index suggest that the public may support a pending cybersecurity bill that would give … Read more

He won't be wearing a beret or a T-shirt that says "I know, I know, Jamie is always right," but President Obama will be making a guest appearance on the hit Discovery Channel show "Mythbusters."

In a release today, the Discovery Channel touted the segment--which the president and "Mythbusters" hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage taped on July 27--that will air during the December 8 episode of the show. The episode is called "Archimedes Solar Ray," and during his segment, the president challenged Hyneman and Savage "to revisit an ancient … Read more

If you had the fate of the world resting on your shoulders, what music would you listen to on your iPod?

Would you have Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds" constantly in your eardrums? Would the last thing you listen to at night be U2's "If God Will Send His Angels"? Would you not be just slightly tempted to have Slayer's "Silent Scream" always at your fingertips?

U.S. President Barack Obama, in an interview with Rolling Stone, offered none of the above--though that doesn't mean that they're not all neatly tabulated somewhere on his iPod, waiting for the right occasion.

The president did declare that he now has about 2,000 songs that he can use to hum away the effects of meetings with fascinating heads of state and economic advisers with large brains and slightly smaller achievements.

When it comes to music, the president is, like so many of us who have breached the age of 35 and realized that more isn't always better, still musically at one with the past. He told Rolling Stone: "I am probably still more heavily weighted toward the music of my childhood than I am the new stuff."… Read more

A new organization led by major CEOs is hoping to make the U.S. more competitive around the world by putting the focus on education.

Announced by President Obama yesterday as part of his "Educate to Innovate" campaign, Change the Equation is a nonprofit group whose goal is to improve education in the key areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Founded by former Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Xerox CEO Ursula Burns among other chief executives, and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, the group's membership includes 100 key industry … Read more

"Pretty smooth," President Obama said as he stepped out of a Chevy Volt to resume his tour of the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant on Friday. The president took a of test drive of about 40 feet, according to a GM news release.

President Obama's visit corresponds with GM's announcement that the plant will receive $336 million in new investment to prepare it to produce the Volt electric vehicle. The money is part of more than $700 million that GM has invested in eight Michigan facilities since 2008 to support the Volt's production.

According to … Read more

NEW YORK--If you want to know what the very latest tech toys are, don't go to Best Buy or an Apple Store. Go to the lost-and-found department at Grand Central Terminal.

That's because in a train terminal that services 700,000 people a day, and more than 2,000 lost items a month, those with the latest cell phones, laptops, or other tech gear are bound to lose them while at Grand Central. And there's a really good chance those people will be reunited with their hot new items.

"We start seeing technology as soon as … Read more