The White House

Breaking news: the White House is now tumbling through the time-space continuum! Today, President Obama and crew joined Tumblr, where the White House will be posting officially sanctioned charts, inspirational quotes, pictures of dogs, and GIFs — just like the rest of us.

In its first tumble, the White House said it created a site on the blogging platform as a part of the president's commitment to making "this the most open and accessible administration in history." President Obama invites his fellow Americans to share and submit stories, questions, and tumbling suggestions.

We'll be anxiously awaiting more tumbles from the White House, but until then, follow POPSUGAR Tech on Tumblr for more of the Internet's most shareable finds!

This week, the White House announced a framework to protect consumer privacy in the digital age of smartphones and constant Internet access. The voluntary corporate guidelines called the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights "give consumers clear guidance on what they should expect from those who handle their personal information, and set expectations for companies that use personal data."

For now, the Federal Trade Commission will monitor those companies who voluntarily agree to these terms, though President Obama stresses in the document that he hopes to see Congress pass official legislation protecting the public's online privacy and personal data. We may be months away from seeing the real-world implications of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, but here's what you need to know about how each principle outlined by the president may affect your future online presence.

Individual Control

"Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal data companies collect from them and how they use it."
Companies should offer clear options for the public to make decisions about the personal information collected and used for business purposes. The tools for later withdrawing or limiting consent should be as easily accessible as were the methods of initial sign-up and granting of private data use.

How This Effects You: For example, there's no obvious deletion button for those who want to remove Facebook. With this principle, a data deletion feature would be easily accessible.

Transparency

"Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information about privacy and security practices."
Companies should ensure all privacy practices are understandable by the public. Clear descriptions of exactly what data is collected, why it's used, for how long, when it will be deleted, and whether it's shared with outside parties should be provided to customers.

How This Effects You: Forget complicated, 20-page-long privacy policies; companies adhering to these standards would explain where your information is being used in normal, nontechnical-jargon language.

Follow the break to learn how the five other points on the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights will affect you.

Tonight, President Obama is taking the stage to speak to the nation about the Gulf oil disaster at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT. If you're not in front of a TV, you can find this live broadcast on the White House's official YouTube page. But before the speech begins, you'll have a chance to submit your own burning questions about the Gulf oil leak directly to the White House.

Yesterday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced that he'll be answering public questions live on YouTube following the president's speech. You can upload your video now at the White House YouTube page, then tune in to see if yours will be answered before the nation and learn what's being done to stop the spreading leak. Hear from Gibbs directly after the break.

2009 brought change to the White House, but more than just a new president, it also brought technology. Continuing on the "wired White House trend," the recently released White House App — which is free for your iPhone and iPod touch — keeps you updated on the latest news, events, briefs, and real time video of the president and other White House officials.

Read The White House blog, check out official photos, and stream next week's State of the Union address on-the-go. Just don't watch it while you're walking! Additionally, the White House will be launching mobile.WhiteHouse.gov for Internet-ready mobile phones in the next few weeks to keep everyone connected, not just Apple fans.

• Coming this September are three new 12.1 megapixel LUMIX cameras — Engadget
• The Withing Connected Scale will send all of your weight records to your iPhone via WiFi — Chip Chick
• Why the BlackBerry Tour is both yay and nay — Switched
• The White House wants the public to know it likes Twitter very much — TechCrunch
• Apple's Final Cut Studio app update is out and it offers significant feature changes — Boing Boing
• We're still giving away Amazon Kindles! Log in for a chance to win one — geeksugar