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Porn Still a Fed Problem
It seems that viewing pornography is still a problem for some of those among the Federal ranks.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Fix Needed for Spending Data
The Sunlight Foundation said on Tuesday that it launched Clearspending.com, a site that will analyze data from USASpending.gov.
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When I Grow Up . . .
In a recent <a href=http://www.cio.com/article/603965/The_New_New_CIO_Role_Big_Changes_Ahead> article</a> on how chief information officers can become part of an organization's senior leadership team (rather than an order taker who makes sure the e-mail or data center doesn't go down), CIO.com quotes Tom Davenport, professor of management and information technology at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.:
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Sweet Cell Phone Dreams
In another sign of just how attached individuals have become to their cell phones, two thirds of adults say they have slept with their mobile device or placed it next to their bed at night, according to a survey released on Thursday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
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It's All in How You Look at It
Virginia computers that support issuing new or updated drivers licenses in the commonwealth have been down for a week. Commonwealth officials issued a statement today trying to play down how much inconvenience this caused drivers:
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The Narrow-Banded Brain
Stephen Baker, author of the <em>Numerati</em>, <a href=http://thenumerati.net/index.cfm?postID=632>wrote in his blog</a> on Tuesday that there may very well come a day when eye witness accounts could be less of a factor in courts and replaced by the ever increasing deluge of data provided by security cameras, digital recorders and databases. He points to research that indicates humans typically focus on just 1 percent of their field of vision when observing their surroundings and fill everything else on the periphery from memory. That's not a good thing when recounting what you saw in a court of law.
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Feds Bid Up Labor Costs?
For years, federal managers have complained they lose workers to the private sector mostly because they are not able to pay them as much as the private sector offers. The best and brightest go to companies for more money, as well as a faster track to upper-level management and a more entrepreneurial spirit. At least that's what most former feds have told me. Oh yeah, also because they face a huge college tuition bill for their teenage children, which is much harder to afford on a government salary.
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Turning On to Social Networking
Older Americans are quickly becoming avid users of social media - something their children are sure to be embarrassed about.
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What're Cyber Workers' Salaries?
The SANS Institute, a cybersecurity research and training company in Bethesda, Md., is conducting a survey of how much information security workers make in the federal government. And they want to hear from you, Mr. and Ms. Federal Cyber Employee.
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Find Your Agency
What are the most popular Web ions on the Web? For a visualization of the top 2 million "favicons," sized by relative popularity of the sites, go <a href=http://nmap.org/favicon/>here</a>. Make sure you use the online viewer to drill down. Zoom in and try to find your federal agency.
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