Facebook has been aggressively courting media publications to use its Live video streaming feature. Today, Buzzfeed was supposed to host the first interview with President Obama using Facebook Live. Shortly before it was supposed to begin, Facebook Live failed and BuzzFeed turned to YouTube to stream the interview instead.
The Wall Street Journal has published a new report highlighting the reach that Google has in the United States government. According to the report, Google employees have visited the White House 230 times since President Obama took office. That comes out to an average of roughly once a week. For comparison’s sake, Comcast employees have met at the White House just 20 times since Obama’s inauguration.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPHH1Ykx1jY]
President Obama is set to give the State of the Union address this evening at 9PM ET/6PM PT and one of the best ways to watch it will be live on the White House’s YouTube channel. The stream is available to watch on the desktop and mobile devices and can be flung to the big screen via a Chromecast or Nexus Player.
Google X VP Megan Smith
As previously rumored, the White House confirmed today that Google executive Megan Smith will be its next Chief Technology Officer alongside former Twitter lawyer Alexander Macgillivray as its new Deputy U.S. CTO. President Obama said the following about the new hires in a statement (via The Washington Post):
“Megan has spent her career leading talented teams and taking cutting-edge technology and innovation initiatives from concept to design to deployment. I am confident that in her new role as America’s Chief Technology Officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people. I am grateful for her commitment to serve, and I look forward to working with her and with our new Deputy U.S. CTO, Alexander Macgillivray, in the weeks and months ahead.”
Smith was previously a vice present at Google X, Google’s division for experimental projects like its self-driving cars and recently unveiled Project Wing drone project.
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will host a Google+ Hangout today as the first in a series of GOP presidential candidate Hangouts.
“In American politics, there’s nothing quite so frantic or fast-paced as a presidential campaign,” announced Google+’s Head of Community Partnerships Steve Grove on the Google Politics & Elections page. “Google+ Hangouts have made that a little bit easier, providing new ways for politicians, political organizations, advocates and campaigners to connect directly over video to share information online.”
More information is available below.