WASHINGTON — There is one addiction President Obama will not have to kick: his BlackBerry.

For more than two months, Mr. Obama has been waging a vigorous battle with his handlers to keep his BlackBerry, which like millions of other Americans he has relied upon for years to stay connected with friends and advisers. (And, of course, to get Chicago White Sox scores.)

He won the fight, aides disclosed Thursday, but the privilege of becoming the nation’s first e-mailing president comes with a specific set of rules.

“The president has a BlackBerry through a compromise that allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends,” said Robert Gibbs, his spokesman, “in a way that use will be limited and that the security is enhanced to ensure his ability to communicate.”

First, only a select circle of people will have his address, creating a true hierarchy for who makes the cut and who does not.

Second, anyone placed on the A-list to receive his e-mail address must first receive a briefing from the White House counsel’s office.

Third, messages from the president will be designed so they cannot be forwarded.

The battle over whether the president could keep his BlackBerry has been fueled to a large degree by Mr. Obama himself, who mentioned it again and again. He would not take no for an answer. In an interview this month, he worried aloud, “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

Mr. Obama received his BlackBerry on Tuesday, but officials declined to specify what kind. In a conversation with reporters on Thursday evening, he said, “I don’t think it’s actually up and running yet.”

Obama Keeps His Blackberry in a Hard-Fought E-Victory – NYTimes.com.

Newsweek Video | Beyond Words: Two Heirs to Two Great Americans.

But their messages contain hints of the challenges the new U.S. president will face.

Reporting from Washington — World leaders impatient for a new direction for America greeted President Obama’s arrival with exuberance Tuesday but sent telltale warnings of the challenges about to envelop the new chief executive and his administration.

The White House was flooded with leaders’ best wishes, including those of Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Obama to be “the promoter of peace and cooperation between nations.”

At the same time, many of the messages were laden with hints of the caution required in dealing with the troubled times ahead. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a conservative who had a good relationship with President Bush, nevertheless said she hoped that in the new era there would be agreement that “no single country can solve the problems of the world.”

Obama, in a nod to the global sentiment and with Bush seated only a few feet away, left no doubt in his inaugural address that an important part of his audience was on the far side of the horizon.

He promised a new era of American leadership, suggesting that the Bush presidency, with too great a reliance on force, had veered from the U.S. approach that had won World War II and the Cold War.

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World leaders welcome Barack Obama – Los Angeles Times.

Philadelphia Inquirer/Rapport Press

HANDOFF: Barack Obama was sworn in Tuesday as the nation’s 44th president. More than one million people gathered for the event.With Mr. Obama’s first day on the job scarcely begun, the financial uncertainty facing his presidency made itself felt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4%, its worst inauguration-day performance in history, amid fresh signs of trouble among the nation’s banks.

WASHINGTON — On a day rich in history, Barack Obama took office Tuesday as the 44th president of the U.S., urging Americans to stand together amid the “gathering clouds and raging storms” of war and recession.

The inauguration of the first African-American to lead the world’s most powerful country drew a crowd of well over one million to the National Mall here. In his 18-minute address, Mr. Obama called on Americans to return to the values of “hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity” that have seen the country through past crises.

With Mr. Obama’s first day on the job scarcely begun, the financial uncertainty facing his presidency made itself felt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4%, its worst inauguration-day performance in history, amid fresh signs of trouble among the nation’s banks.

At exactly noon, by law, Mr. Obama became president. Placing his hand on a Bible once used by Abraham Lincoln, he took the oath using his full name, Barack Hussein Obama — a moment that stood in contrast to episodes on the long campaign trail in which detractors would occasionally stress his middle name in a derogatory way.

Obama Sworn In as President – WSJ.com.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Never before has the coverage of the transition of power been so readily available to so many. The inauguration of President Barack Obama was seen and heard by millions on the National Mall Tuesday. The world also followed the event on TV and through videos, photos, map mashups and Tweets across the web.

It’s just a small sample of what Obama (arguably the nation’s first tech president) can expect. Instead of merely having to contend with the press corps, he’s also got the whole blogosphere and Twitterverse watching his every move. Naturally, his advisers and media people will be trying to capitalize on the online momentum, much as they did during the campaign.

While it has only been a matter of hours since Obama took the oath of office, the new WhiteHouse.gov website is already up, and considering the new man in charge fought hard to keep his BlackBerry, the next four years are sure to see a whole new era of how technology is used to connect the people to power.

“Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the administration’s online programs will put citizens first,” writes Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House in a new blog post.

“One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the president: We will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the president signs it.”

Hopefully he’ll update his Twitter account again soon as well. In the meantime, the Inaugural Committee had its own Twitter feed of updates prior to and during the event.

Interactive Inauguration of Obama Is Just the Beginning | Epicenter from Wired.com.

Malia Obama takes pictures during an inauguration celebration Sunday. (Credit: Jim Young/Reuters)

Looks like there’s a digital camera enthusiast moving into the White House. President Barack Obama’s oldest daughter, Malia, was busily snapping photos before the inauguration ceremony began. Her camera of choice (on this day) appeared to be a grape-colored $150 Kodak EasyShare M893.

Kodak EasyShare M893.

But that may not be the only model in her camera bag. At several pre-inaugural events Malia was seen taking photos using a silver-colored point-and-shoot. On Saturday, she snapped photos in Philadelphia, although People.com reported that she was using a loaner camera. At the Kid’s Inaugural Concert last night, she was using a similar point and shoot to photograph the Jonas Brothers.

Let’s hope she has a Flickr account.

A New Photographer in the White House – Gadgetwise Blog – NYTimes.com.

Jan. 20 – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts administered the Presidential oath of office to the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama.

The CNN-Microsoft project to create a commemorative 3D portrait of the presidential inauguration is live, and you can view it here. Using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology, the joint venture is designed to capture the historical event by stitching together digital photos shared by anyone who was there.

The Photosynth software, part of Microsoft’s Virtual Earth software group, lets users create “synths”- 3-dimensional renderings of multiple images of the same scene. Users can rotate and view the synths from many angles. The more photos supplied, the better the 3D effect.

The inauguration synth makes for an interesting view. The multiple vantage points do give the viewer a better sense of what the event must have been like live. Navigational arrows appear on screen, making it easy to move between photos, which Photosynth melds together, albeit not always seamlessly. You can rotate images as well. The effect is jarring at times, particularly if you’re prone to motion sickness, but the overall effect is pretty cool.

The real-time aspect of the inauguration synth is a lot of fun. A couple hours after the swearing-in, for instance, the 3D portrait had just a handful of long-range shots of the event. Within minutes, however, more photos were added, including several close-ups of Obama taking the oath of office. The CNN-Microsoft is an intriguing experiment in citizen journalism that may have a bright future.

If you enjoy the inauguration images, check out these other synths from the day’s events in Washington D.C.

Photosynth Makes Browsing Inauguration Photos Fun – PC World.

A visual representation of the speech, which sizes the words based on the number of times they were used, shows that Mr Obama set an inclusive tone as he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

“Change”, the word most associated with the new president during the election campaign, was not among the most-used words in his speech and in fact was only mentioned once. “Hope”, another word synonymous with the Obama campaign, was used only three times.

However, words like “common”, “generation”, “prosperity” and “world” featured prominently.

Typically for an inauguration speech, Mr Obama hardly mentioned words specifically associated with policy but instead focused on more general, aspirational terms. Also notable by omission was mention of the state of the global economy, with the word “economy” used only three times and “recession” not used at all.

The new president was clearly aware of the historical significance of his inauguration, using words like “history”, “generation”, “generations” and “time” several times throughout his speech.

George W Bush’s second inaugural speech, on the other hand, emphasised words like “freedom”, “liberty”, “country”.

Both presidents used “America” and “every” repeatedly.

Barack Obama’s inauguration speech as a tag cloud – Telegraph.