Wonkette
Even though we live in pretty amazing times, what with the technology and magic and all, we generally just complain about it. And by “we,” we mean “you,” because your Wonkette is very cognizant of the fact that there’s no way this particular operation could exist — across four time zones, simultaneously, with no offices — without the wizardry of Gmail and IMs and WordPress and, obviously, Blingee. So we fully support Barack Obama’s choice as Chief Information Officer of America, this dude Vivek Kundra, who was the tech guru for Washington D.C. until just now!
Kundra’s one of those “cloud computing” guys, which is dorky, of course, but it’s also The Future, which is generally decided by dorks. (Would you rather have Sarah Palin deciding the future?) So the main & immediate thing Kundra did for D.C. was put all the District’s email and spreadsheets and whatever on the free Google services. Really, why would you want to build some email system for D.C. when frickin’ Google has not only already done it far better than you ever could, but they’ve done it specifically so you can use what they made?
So, the entire Federal Government will now be moved to Google. It’s going to be hilarious when the CIA moves over to Gmail and your Wonkette immediately gets hundreds of those “So-and-so is now following you on Twitter” messages.
Also, Vivek Kundra is youngish and was born in India and grew up in Tanzania and his first language is Swahili (!) and he went to University of Maryland, so he is both the typical DC multicultural yuppie and a sign of the Great Change happening in America/the White House &c.
Here is the YouTube about Kundra using Google Apps, it is super-sexytime times a billion:
Inside the Head of Obama’s CIO [WSJ]
Meet your future, puny Wonkoids;
LEMURs (Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robots)
As a cynic, doesn’t the use of Google Apps just mean Google has more transparency into the government inner workings? Don’t they own any and all that pass through their engines?
Thank God he hired an Indian tech dud cause they knows that stuff! I was afraid someone from Alabama was on the short list so the Nasdaq is sure to soar. Since Google is the only company not begging for bailout money maybe they should be in charge of the Fed now. At least in a sort of virtual, online way.
Damn, when is Obama going to stop hiring these tax addled “minorities”? Hiring Blacks, Women, Chinese, Japanese, Hispanics, Gays, Jews and Others I don’t know about to mention. Plus they’re all very qualified if not wanted by the IRS!
What happened to era of hiring well connected, incompetent/ideologically pure, overly entitled, inexperienced, sometimes fundamentalist/retarded, under educated/qualified, perverted white douchesacks for top positions? Why does NoBama hate White Republican Affirmative Action?
I dread the very near future when teh Googlez become self-aware…
Nothing to complain about? Are your grandparents now the proud owners of a “web camera”, an evil device which they use to demand “skype” talky time?
Yawn…Other than make government more efficient and transparent, what has he ever done that is noteworthy?
Is he a tax cheat? Did he ever swap gravy with a celebutard? Did he “accidentally” run over a neighbor he was feuding with? Give me something to work with!
Awesome news. Now maybe my hidebound and reactionary bosses will consider using a Google Spreadsheet or Google Doc for collaborative work, instead of the MS Office + email attachment insanity we have now. CLOUD COMPUTING IS THE FUTURE, PEOPLE.
If this LEMUR is rockin’, then don’t bother knockin’ -
It looks like Google’s plans for world domination is becoming closer to happening.
Can you say
Half. Breed. Muslin.
India? Tanzania? Swahili? Probably, and a socialist, too.
snideinplainsight: What the hell is with that third robot (climbing the wall) and its chest-clock? Did they upload a Flava Flav brain scan or something? I guess that would be rudimentary enough for current-gen robotics…
Your YouTube linky is the word. It is tech support religion.
This one I mean, not the bottom one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus
ManchuCandidate: The principal of failing up is no longer valid. Worlds have collided.
Thank jebus! It’s morning in Amernica again…
Effiency. Pfffft. Does his wife take the shocker, that’s what I want to know.
In all honesty, it was very synchronistic, I had read a blurb about lemurs in Science Daily, and then followed a link about robots (from Daily Kos, no less - how likely is that) to
here
and saw a reference there for LEMURs. Jung would be approving. Exterior events mirror interior events -
Zadig: nevermind, on second examination my “clock” is a couple black wires on top of the white drum or whatever.
On second thought, I’m sticking with my first thought, because it’s better.
Huh. I dated a guy was born in India and grew up in Tanzania and whose first language is Swahili once. Had a dick, like, a mile long. You can generalize about those kinds of dudes, if you want.
Google?! I just invested all my hobo gold in AOL, for fuck’s sake! Ken Layne, unsubscribe me from your stock tips e-letter forthwith!
Vivek vaVOOM! This is the kind of porn I’ve been waiting for.
NoWireHangers: Gaaaah! The very thought terrifies me. On our last trip to Florida, my in-laws asked hubby to install a webcam for that very purpose, but since they’re running a 486 that hasn’t ever been upgraded, he was able to decline without giving offense.
Who cares. Whatever happened to the puppy? We were promised a puppy. Never forget.
G-mail is the default system of all university and government offices anyway. At work our e-mail just got “upgraded” to…wait for it…200 MB, so it’s, what about one thirty-fifth of the capacity of g-mail. Plus we get spam like a motherfuck.
This is also a useful reminder that not all Indians are smarmy new agey doctors, 7/11 owners, or failed Don Knotts impersonators. Shanti.
AnnieGetYourFun: You dated President Obama? Cool.
I had to use Internet Explorer last week (first time in years) and while I thought I was “googling” something, I realized, the browser made me use another search engine. The result page could have been in Swahili for all I care. It didn’t make any sense to my Google-addicted eyes. This annoyed me so much that I actually bothered to type http://www.google.com. I think Google owns me. And I think it’s already self-aware and now I know it also owns Barry. We’re doomed!
I dread the day my IRS auditor wants to talk cam to cam.
Bruno: Depends, GApps can run without a network to some extent. But of course if the tubes are clogged, (i.e. no network) you’re SOL. Also, if the net neutrality laws are passed, they’ll know what the info is about, but won’t know who authored it.
You think about, it’s just like Wonkette….
The Cloud will own you, but the robots will own the cloud. We’re doomed!
Google reads even my mail. There is no chance that Hopey’s e-mail stays secure.
freakishlystrong: All your tax refund and Social Security checks are belong to us…