Ideas
Why Legacy? It Works
NASA has taken some hits for having decades-old computer technology running the shuttle program and the International Space station. For example, the space agency uses some technology that the moon programs relied on in the 1960s and the space station uses processors more than two decades old. Sounds like a typical government operation? Well, no, when you have scientists explain it.
Ideas
Wikileaks' OGov Lessons
What the ongoing furor over the WikiLeaks phenomenon has revealed, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/print/article/154780/wikileaks-and-hacktivist-culture">writes</a> Peter Ludlow, author of <em>Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias</em>, "is that the media and government agencies believe there is a single protagonist to be concerned with--something of a James Bond villain, if you will."
Ideas
Europe to Google: Not in My Front Yard
Another European country has blocked <a href=http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/>Google Street View</a> from taking pictures in their country, as some Europeans fight the program that provides panoramic views of locations from the street level.
Ideas
A More Serious Twitter Breach
When hackers on Tuesday exploited a security flaw on the social-networking service Twitter to corrupt messages from users -- including the White House press secretary's account -- the breach seemed to be a joke rather than an effort to bring down systems.
Ideas
Drupal Finds More Converts
The Federal Communications Commission plans to rebuild its <a href=http://fcc.gov/>website</a> using Drupal, an open source content management platform, Steven VanRoekel, managing director of the agency, said in a <a href=http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog?entryId=784078>blog post</a> on Wednesday.
Ideas
Turbulence Ahead for FAA's NextGen
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledges there is still a lot of work to do on its ambitious $20 billion program to replace the nation's aging radar-based air traffic control system with a satellite-based network by 2020.
Ideas
Verizon Nabs HHS Networx Contract
The Health and Human Services Department awarded Verizon Business, a Verizon Communications unit, a $169 million contract to manage and secure Internet protocol and data networks.
Ideas
For HHS, the Eye is on the Prize
For the Health and Human Services Department, Health IT is all about knowing the end result.
Ideas
The Cyberwar Echo Chamber
Pentagon officials are starting to repeat one another's cyberwar rhetoric. Hello, is this an echo chamber?
Ideas
Porn Still a Fed Problem
It seems that viewing pornography is still a problem for some of those among the Federal ranks.
Ideas
Iran, State, an App and Fingerpointing
Technology designed to circumvent Internet censorship by Iranian officials has been found to be riddled with security loopholes, raising questions on how the State Department could have approved it for distribution in Iran.
Ideas
Cyber Pays, Commodities Don't
HP announced the latest in a string of acquisitions on Monday, with plans to buy security software company ArcSight for $1.5 billion in cash. In the last six months, the PC manufacturer has announced plans to acquire Fortify, 3Com, Palm and 3PAR, to name a few, giving it a larger footprint in networking, mobile computing and -- most notably -- security.
Ideas
Watch for Defense FAR Changes
A study by internal government watchdogs found Defense Department contracts are missing certain provisions for protecting confidential government data, an omission that may leave sensitive files vulnerable to disclosure or misuse by company employees. But the footnotes of the audit indicate that changes to the guidelines are expected this month.
Ideas
Video Gaming 101
Here's something every teenager will just love: The <a href=http://www.cihe-uk.com/>Council for Industry and Higher Education</a> in London released a report on Friday that concluded children should take classes on computer games as a way to improve the United Kingdom's competitiveness in the information technology (or what the Brits call information communications and technology) field.
Ideas
Cementing the State-Silicon Valley Relationship
State Department Policy Planning staff official Jared Cohen announced this week that he would be leaving the administration to head a <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20015705-265.html">new "think/do tank" at Google</a>, a move that cements the growing link between Silicon Valley and the State Department.
Ideas
Air Traffic Upgrade to Boost Jobs
Some information technology contractors welcomed an announcement by President Obama on Wednesday that he proposes investing in infrastructure, such as advanced air traffic tech, as a way of stimulating the economy -- but expresses nervousness about how he intends to compensate for the cost.
Ideas
One of the Silliest Things
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen is a big proponent of open source voting machines, which developers say are more secure and less buggy than the proprietary devices made by various manufacturers and in use nationwide. (Here's a helpful <a href=http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/opensource-voting>article</a> published in IEEE Spectrum magazine explaining open source vs. closed source voting machines.) Bowen got another chance on Wednesday to plug open source voting when she spoke at the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, saying it reduces time and costs.
Ideas