Study: Medical Web sites need simpler text
A survey of 100 Web sites with pediatric information aimed at a lay audience, including nine federal sites, concluded that the text is usually at too high a reading level.
NOAA hires SER for data conversion
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is looking to a Herndon, Va., company to help it create the world's largest digital archive of climate data at the agency's National Climatic Data Center under a $1 million contract.
Justice alters court strategy with Microsoft
The serpentine course of the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. wound almost to an end last month.
FEMA offices on 24-hour alert
Last Tuesday's terrorist attacks at the Pentagon and World Trade Center prompted the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up an emergency support team at its headquarters in Washington. All 10 FEMA regional offices were also put on alert.
Microsoft ships 64-bit Windows OS
Computer makers last month took delivery of Microsoft Corp.'s first operating system for the new 64-bit Intel Itanium platform.
Customs nabs men trying to smuggle units
The Customs Service has arrested two suspects in Missouri and California for attempting to export military encryption technology to China.
GSA revamps Section 508 resource site
The General Services Administration has launched a friendlier version of its Web site about information technology accessibility with a link to a database of compliant products.
PACKET RAT
'How could a sock puppet get appointed as an undersecretary?' The Rat pondered his wife's question. The whole brood had accompanied him to California on a week's vacation in hopes of finding some dirt pertaining to the political fornia on a week's vacation in hopes of finding some dirt pertaining to the political appointee now running the cyberrodent's particular subdivision of the federal food chain [<a href="http://www.gcn.com/20_27/log-off/17021-1.html">GCN, Sept. 10, Page 76</a>].
CROSSWORD
GOVERNMENT SCANDALS REDUX
DID YOU HEAR
Artificial intelligence?The ever-popular 'computer error' caused 14,000 Qwest Communications wireless users to be billed recently at rates up to $600 per minute. A Toronto coffee shop was billed $1.6 billion by the post office for three months of package deliveries.
At least 11 Navy IT personnel still missing
One-fourth of all Navy personnel still unaccounted for in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon are information systems workers, according to a release from the Defense Department today.
IRMCO plays out 40 years of the future
The Interagency Resources Management Conference celebrated its 40th anniversary recently by going 'Back to the Future' at its opening dinner in Hershey, Pa.
People on the Move
Stephen VanderLinden, of the Support Contracts Branch of the IRS' Office of Procurement Operations, has won the inaugural Ida M. Ustad Award for Excellence in Acquisition.
System makes use of maximum storage space
The V960 Shared Virtual Array Disk System from Storage Technology Corp. holds 170G to 4.3T of data with full device-level virtualization.
Energy, IBM are partners in biological supercomputing project
For the second time this year, an Energy Department laboratory is teaming up with industry to develop new high-performance computing techniques for studying genes and proteins.
Public expects high-level online service from feds
The public has high expectations but low satisfaction with online government services, according to a recent survey of Internet users.
Marines at Camp Pendleton call home with kiosk videophone
For many young Marines, their tour of duty is also their first experience living far from home. Keeping in touch with family is tough without telephones and computers.
INTERNAUT
Visit the Thomas legislative Web server at the Library of Congress, and you'll find no fewer than 45 pieces of legislation with the key words kids, Internet and safety.
POWER USER
As prices plunge for personal digital assistant devices, agencies are starting to buy in. PDAs can be fantastic tools, and I myself carry one everywhere, but I'm acutely aware that they're a first-class security headache.
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