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Apps for America 2 Finalists Announced
This week the Sunlight Foundation announced the finalists in its <a href="http://sunlightlabs.com/blog/2009/08/24/apps-america-finalists/">Apps for America 2</a> contest, which challenged the public to come up with innovative applications using the data feeds from the recently launched <a href="http://www.data.gov">Data.gov</a>. Sunlight Labs received 47 entries since the contest <a href="http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/05/fbi_fugitive_concentration.php">launched in May</a> and has narrowed the field down to three finalists:
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Bernanke on IT and Productivity
After Ben Bernanke was appointed to his first term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, he gave a commencement speech on the connection between information technology and economic prosperity to the class of 2006 at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The man that President Obama on Tuesday reappointed for another term as chairman observed three years ago that IT investments don't always translate into productivity gains immediately.
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Cloud computing as security measure
Usually people equate the terms "open standards" and "cloud computing" with weak security -- whether legitimately or not. But McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt argued the exact opposite during a morning session at the GFirst Conference, hosted by the Homeland Security Department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
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Hand-Cleaning CDC Social Media
The administration quickly should spread hand-cleaning and other public health messages through social media to prepare young people for the expected 2009-H1N1 epidemic, a presidential advisory group reported on Monday.
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No New Networx Extension
In response to a <a href="http://federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=35&sid=1744646">confusing report</a> published this week, I would like to take a moment and pass on a clarification I just received from GSA regarding the deadline for agencies to transition to the Networx telecommunications contract.
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Classification Comments from Public?
A coalition of public interest groups has yet to hear from the national security adviser about its request that he allow public comment on a review of classification policy before delivering it to the president next week.
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HHS Issues Breach Notification Rules
The administration on Wednesday announced safeguards intended to protect consumers from health information technology breaches, as the White House moves forward on its healthcare overhaul.
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McClure to Lead Office of Citizen Services
GSA just confirmed that they will be naming David McClure will be named an associate administrator, heading up the Office of Citizen Services and Communications. OCS manages all of GSA's public outreach efforts, including the federal web portal <a href=http://www.usa.gov>USA.gov</a> and the Federal Web Manager's Council.
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Who's on Board for Windows 7?
Software giant Microsoft will release the latest version of its Windows operating system in October, and the company can only hope that this go around is smoother than the last.
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Birthers and Transparency
Programmers may extract data from a White House-led online discussion about transparency to analyze the influence of participants who are out to prove that President Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen.
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Stimulus Reporting Process Starts
Stimulus money recipients can start on Monday the process of reporting their spending and job creation statistics to the public.
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The Facts On Kundra's College Records
I'm hesitant to address this topic, since I don't really want to draw additional attention to an erroneous report. But this <a href="http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/08/12/special-report-is-us-chief-information-officer-cio-vivek-kundra-a-phony/">piece</a> from <em>PC Magazine</em> columnist John Dvorak on his blog Dvorak Uncensored has been creating enough buzz this morning that I felt it necessary to clear up a few points Dvorak raises.
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Take Responsibility for Your Cookies
The Cato Institute's Jim Harper on Tuesday <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/08/11/all-hail-the-demise-of-a-bad-policy/" target="_blank">blogged</a> that a recent White House proposal to reverse a long-standing ban on cookies is an acknowledgment that Americans can control their own cookie intake. No, this was not a commentary on the administration's healthcare overhaul plan.
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Another Cyber Guru Leaves
The same week that the acting White House cyber chief stepped down, the Homeland Security Department has lost one of their cybersecurity officials. <em>The Washington Post</em> <a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080702805.html>reported</a> that Mischel Kwon submitted her resignation after five years as the director of DHS' U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, which was established in 2003 to coordinate the government's response to cyberattacks.
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Hackers Silence Political Speak
The latest reports about Thursday's denial-of-service attack that brought down Twitter and slowed Facebook point to a Georgian blogger as the hacker's primary target. Allegedly, the attack was intended to silence his pro-Georgia commentary posted on multiple social media sites.
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Chopra and Silicon Valley: The Video
Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra was in Silicon Valley this week, where he spoke to the Churchill Club, the valley's premier business and technology forum. They liked what he had to say, according to some news reports.
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GSA Issues RFQ for Cloud Services
A <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=84317cbecb74c1f08471a130fc61933e&tab=core&_cview=0&cck=1&au=&ck=">special notice</a> posted by the General Services Administration on FedBizOps contains the first set of requirements for vendors interested in offering cloud computing services through GSA's <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090715_3532.php?oref=search">online cloud storefront</a>.
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More Find EHRs a Hot Investment
The market for electronic health records is heating up, according to the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> blog Digits. Salesforce.com has bought a stake in a small EHR company. The company joins Google, Microsoft and even Wal Mart -- which this year "said it had partnered with Dell and . . . eClinicalWorks to sell an EMR from its Sam's Club stores," Digits <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/08/05/salesforcecom-dips-its-toe-into-electronic-medical-records/">reported</a> -- in the market, which has been fueled by President Obama's stimulus package.
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IT Dashboard Updates Reviews
The government's IT shop on Wednesday announced it has updated a recently-launched White House Web site with reviews of all major federal IT investments.
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