Thursday, September 24, 2009
Report: Google Exec Named as Obama's Deputy CTO
The Obama administration had reportedly snapped up another Google executive.Andrew McLaughlin, head of public policy for Google, will leave the company to become Obama's deputy chief technology officer, reporting to CTO Aneesh Chopra.McLaughlin joined Google five years ago, and has also worked at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).Google CEO Eric Schmidt served on Obama's transition team, but insisted that he did not want the CTO role. Others were not as hesitant - Katie Stanton, a former Google project manager, is now the White House director of citizen participation, and former Google.org executive Sonal Shah is the head of the White House office of social innovation.
Kundra Not Concerned About Tech Execs Joining Obama Team
Vivek Kundra, national chief information officer, is not concerned that hiring top technology executives to serve in the Obama administration poses any ethical dilemmas.
The federal government has more than four million employees and 10,000 information technology systems, so the hiring of a handful of Google or Microsoft executives is barely a blip on the radar, Kundra said during Tuesday's Personal Democracy Forum.
"What I would say is that it's so exciting to actually be in an administration where I have access to some of the brightest minds when it comes to information technology," Kundra said in a response to a question. "Those people are coming to serve in the interest of their country and [are] driving towards making change that's fundamental and structural [and] extremely important in terms of where we're headed."
Those people include Andrew McLaughlin, a former Google policy executive who last month was selected as deputy chief technology officer. The appointment prompted protests from consumer groups who argued that hiring McLaughlin was a conflict of interest.
In April, meanwhile, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, were named to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an advisory group intended to help the president and vice president develop tech-related policies.
Kundra was not concerned that any of these executives would greatly influence technology policy.
"As far as the universe of people who are involved in [government] technology, you can slice and dice it so many ways because you're talking about tens of thousands of people who are working in information technology," he said.
The contributions of someone like McLaughlin, while important, are a "small percentage" of the overall work on federal IT projects, Kundra said.
Macon Philips, the White House director of new media, agreed.
"What we are trying to do is bring in a lot of people who can facilitate a process, really think about how we can make the government more transparent, and involve the public in our decision making," Philips said.
These executives "get that in their gut, and they care every day about ways that we can be more open," Philips said.
The doubters, meanwhile, can keep the government in check, Kundra said, by keeping tabs of IT projects via the newly announced IT Dashboard Web site.
"You'll be able to see everything online ... when it comes to procurements, contracts, and investments across the board," he said.
The federal government has more than four million employees and 10,000 information technology systems, so the hiring of a handful of Google or Microsoft executives is barely a blip on the radar, Kundra said during Tuesday's Personal Democracy Forum.
"What I would say is that it's so exciting to actually be in an administration where I have access to some of the brightest minds when it comes to information technology," Kundra said in a response to a question. "Those people are coming to serve in the interest of their country and [are] driving towards making change that's fundamental and structural [and] extremely important in terms of where we're headed."
Those people include Andrew McLaughlin, a former Google policy executive who last month was selected as deputy chief technology officer. The appointment prompted protests from consumer groups who argued that hiring McLaughlin was a conflict of interest.
In April, meanwhile, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, were named to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an advisory group intended to help the president and vice president develop tech-related policies.
Kundra was not concerned that any of these executives would greatly influence technology policy.
"As far as the universe of people who are involved in [government] technology, you can slice and dice it so many ways because you're talking about tens of thousands of people who are working in information technology," he said.
The contributions of someone like McLaughlin, while important, are a "small percentage" of the overall work on federal IT projects, Kundra said.
Macon Philips, the White House director of new media, agreed.
"What we are trying to do is bring in a lot of people who can facilitate a process, really think about how we can make the government more transparent, and involve the public in our decision making," Philips said.
These executives "get that in their gut, and they care every day about ways that we can be more open," Philips said.
The doubters, meanwhile, can keep the government in check, Kundra said, by keeping tabs of IT projects via the newly announced IT Dashboard Web site.
"You'll be able to see everything online ... when it comes to procurements, contracts, and investments across the board," he said.
Government Site Exposes U.S. IT Spending
The U.S. government spends over $70 billion a year on IT projects, but how much of that money is wasted thanks to inefficient processes, lackluster management, or antiquated ideas?
The Obama administration is looking to shine a light on its IT investments with a new Web site that will provide detailed information about how federal funds are allocated, where they are spent, and whether the projects are living up to their expectations.
"One of the biggest challenges we see today ... is how we make sure that the investments we're making in IT actually produce the dividends that were promised," Vivek Kundra, the nation's chief information agency, said during Tuesdays's Personal Democracy Forum in Manhattan.
Kundra was on hand to unveil the IT Dashboard, a Web site that will let users drill down on IT spending for 27 agencies across the board - from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to NASA and the Smithsonian Institution.
Last year, over $30 billion in IT projects were wasted, Kundra said, but the government provided little data beyond a single list of the projects that were in trouble.
"Thirty billion dollars of taxpayer money - that's unacceptable," he said. "What the Obama administration is committed to is laying a new foundation when it comes to transparency, accountability and responsibility - especially when you look at how we manage IT investments."
The site provides a "performance dashboard" for all agencies, with a pie chart that provides details on the percentage of projects that are normal, that need attention, or that have significant concerns. That data is then broken down by whether the troubles are finance-related, off schedule, or simply have not yet been evaluated.
The Department of Defense, for example, is spending $9.6 billion in fiscal year 2009 on 62 major IT projects. Of those 62 projects, 79 percent are rated as normal and 16 percent need attention. About 5 percent have significant concerns, including a $236 million Air Force combat support system, and a $126 million Defense agencies project intended to make the department more net-centric.
Want to share the data you've found on IT Dashboard? Each agency breakdown features a "share" button that includes a URL, embed code, and the ability to share via Facebook, Twitter, or delicious. The data can also be added to an RSS feed.
"It's not enough to just roll up information and make it available in an abstract fashion," Kundra said. "We need to be able to go down to the deepest level in terms of data and information performance."
Get the rest of this story on pcmag.com.
The Obama administration is looking to shine a light on its IT investments with a new Web site that will provide detailed information about how federal funds are allocated, where they are spent, and whether the projects are living up to their expectations.
"One of the biggest challenges we see today ... is how we make sure that the investments we're making in IT actually produce the dividends that were promised," Vivek Kundra, the nation's chief information agency, said during Tuesdays's Personal Democracy Forum in Manhattan.
Kundra was on hand to unveil the IT Dashboard, a Web site that will let users drill down on IT spending for 27 agencies across the board - from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to NASA and the Smithsonian Institution.
Last year, over $30 billion in IT projects were wasted, Kundra said, but the government provided little data beyond a single list of the projects that were in trouble.
"Thirty billion dollars of taxpayer money - that's unacceptable," he said. "What the Obama administration is committed to is laying a new foundation when it comes to transparency, accountability and responsibility - especially when you look at how we manage IT investments."
The site provides a "performance dashboard" for all agencies, with a pie chart that provides details on the percentage of projects that are normal, that need attention, or that have significant concerns. That data is then broken down by whether the troubles are finance-related, off schedule, or simply have not yet been evaluated.
The Department of Defense, for example, is spending $9.6 billion in fiscal year 2009 on 62 major IT projects. Of those 62 projects, 79 percent are rated as normal and 16 percent need attention. About 5 percent have significant concerns, including a $236 million Air Force combat support system, and a $126 million Defense agencies project intended to make the department more net-centric.
Want to share the data you've found on IT Dashboard? Each agency breakdown features a "share" button that includes a URL, embed code, and the ability to share via Facebook, Twitter, or delicious. The data can also be added to an RSS feed.
"It's not enough to just roll up information and make it available in an abstract fashion," Kundra said. "We need to be able to go down to the deepest level in terms of data and information performance."
Get the rest of this story on pcmag.com.
Navteq Revamps Mobile Traffic Web Site
Navteq, the digital mapping company, has unveiled a new version of its
WAP site for cell phones. The new site offers up-to-the-minute traffic
reports, including travel times, vehicle speeds, delay times, accident
reports, and what the company calls the Jam Factor, a numerical traffic
measurement scale that color-codes worsening or improving trends on a
particular road.
To hit the Web site, key in mobi.traffic.com from any cell phone Web
browser. You can use the site without registering, but Navteq prefers
that you set up a login on their desktop www.traffic.com Web site
first--that lets you save commonly used routes (such as your daily
commute or a typical weekend trip), which you can then call up with a
single button press on the WAP site.
WAP site for cell phones. The new site offers up-to-the-minute traffic
reports, including travel times, vehicle speeds, delay times, accident
reports, and what the company calls the Jam Factor, a numerical traffic
measurement scale that color-codes worsening or improving trends on a
particular road.
To hit the Web site, key in mobi.traffic.com from any cell phone Web
browser. You can use the site without registering, but Navteq prefers
that you set up a login on their desktop www.traffic.com Web site
first--that lets you save commonly used routes (such as your daily
commute or a typical weekend trip), which you can then call up with a
single button press on the WAP site.
Mozilla Wants a "Shiretoko Shock" for Firefox 3.5 Release
With today's release of Firefox 3.5, which went by the codename of "Shiretoko," the folks at Mozilla want its fans to bombard the social web with celebratory posts in a shock wave that circles the globe. Firefox partisans can head to Spread Firefox
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Republicans Try Their Hand at Social Media
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is readying its Web site for a relaunch that promises to incorporate the social media tools the party admits to ignoring during the 2008 election, but is today's Web 2.0 friendly to the GOP?
"Conservatives didn't use the tools" available to them during the election, Todd Herman, the RNC's new media director, told attendees at the Personal Democracy Forum. "But that's changing."
Herman, who previously served as general manager for media strategy and monetization for Microsoft's MSN network as well as streaming media evangelist at MSNBC.com, joined the RNC in March.
Herman expects to unveil a revamped GOP.com in about 45 days, he said. RNC Chairman Michael Steele has ordered him to "take the lid off" in redesigning the site, and Herman said he is eager to comply.
"To the consternation of the communications staff of the RNC, I am innately set on open," Herman said. "I am innately set to take your point of view and discuss it."
Herman suggested, however, that the "rules of engagement" regarding social media do not necessarily favor Republicans. Services like Google News are using techniques that are "anti-SEO" - search engine optimization - he said.
Herman pointed to Google News and its coverage of the American Medical Association's (AMA) opposition to Obama's plan for a government-sponsored insurance plan.
Google News, he said, provided links to an ABC news story about its healthcare town hall with Obama, and a Media Matters story about how the GOP had branded that town hall a failure, but nothing that used a phrase close to "AMA rejects Obama plan".
To find such a headline, one would have to go to a "not very well-trafficked blog," Herman said. That blog linked to a New York Times story on the issue that Herman acknowledged was "well done." He did not, however, like the fact that the Times used the phrase "doctor's group" in the headline instead of AMA.
Searching for the AMA story on Google.com, however, turned up the desired results, Herman said. Later, he also said that Google is his favorite search engine.
What does Google think about that?
Get the rest of this story on pcmag.com.
Side Note: In other Todd Herman news, on a day when CNN took some heat for referring to Twitter members as "sources", a note on Herman's Twitter feed caught my eye. He writes that his Tweets are his own beliefs and not that of the GOP or the RNC - standard disclaimer fare. But then he goes on to say that "reporters who quote tweets without calls to confirm are acting like gossip columnists." Thoughts?
"Conservatives didn't use the tools" available to them during the election, Todd Herman, the RNC's new media director, told attendees at the Personal Democracy Forum. "But that's changing."
Herman, who previously served as general manager for media strategy and monetization for Microsoft's MSN network as well as streaming media evangelist at MSNBC.com, joined the RNC in March.
Herman expects to unveil a revamped GOP.com in about 45 days, he said. RNC Chairman Michael Steele has ordered him to "take the lid off" in redesigning the site, and Herman said he is eager to comply.
"To the consternation of the communications staff of the RNC, I am innately set on open," Herman said. "I am innately set to take your point of view and discuss it."
Herman suggested, however, that the "rules of engagement" regarding social media do not necessarily favor Republicans. Services like Google News are using techniques that are "anti-SEO" - search engine optimization - he said.
Herman pointed to Google News and its coverage of the American Medical Association's (AMA) opposition to Obama's plan for a government-sponsored insurance plan.
Google News, he said, provided links to an ABC news story about its healthcare town hall with Obama, and a Media Matters story about how the GOP had branded that town hall a failure, but nothing that used a phrase close to "AMA rejects Obama plan".
To find such a headline, one would have to go to a "not very well-trafficked blog," Herman said. That blog linked to a New York Times story on the issue that Herman acknowledged was "well done." He did not, however, like the fact that the Times used the phrase "doctor's group" in the headline instead of AMA.
Searching for the AMA story on Google.com, however, turned up the desired results, Herman said. Later, he also said that Google is his favorite search engine.
What does Google think about that?
Get the rest of this story on pcmag.com.
Side Note: In other Todd Herman news, on a day when CNN took some heat for referring to Twitter members as "sources", a note on Herman's Twitter feed caught my eye. He writes that his Tweets are his own beliefs and not that of the GOP or the RNC - standard disclaimer fare. But then he goes on to say that "reporters who quote tweets without calls to confirm are acting like gossip columnists." Thoughts?
Unwanted Ctrl Alt Del at Startup
Q: When I log on to my computer there is a new message to log on to my computer. It says "Press ctrl-alt-delete to log on". Is this part of the new Microsoft updates for Vista or what? Is this something I have to be worried about? - Packer56.
A: For greater security, Vista and Windows 7 can optionally require users to press Ctrl Alt Del at logon. I haven't seen any reports of it turning on spontaneously, with or without a Windows Update. In any case here's how to control it.
The parallel feature in Windows XP was reached by clicking "Change the way users log on or off" in the User Accounts applet from Control Panel. In Vista and Windows 7 it's in a completely different location. Click the Start orb and launch NETPLWIZ (you can also click Start, click Run, and enter CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2). Click the Advanced tab, un-check the box "Require users to press Ctrl Alt Delete", and click OK. Done! - Neil J. Rubenking.
A: For greater security, Vista and Windows 7 can optionally require users to press Ctrl Alt Del at logon. I haven't seen any reports of it turning on spontaneously, with or without a Windows Update. In any case here's how to control it.
The parallel feature in Windows XP was reached by clicking "Change the way users log on or off" in the User Accounts applet from Control Panel. In Vista and Windows 7 it's in a completely different location. Click the Start orb and launch NETPLWIZ (you can also click Start, click Run, and enter CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2). Click the Advanced tab, un-check the box "Require users to press Ctrl Alt Delete", and click OK. Done! - Neil J. Rubenking.
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