Lab Notes
The chip that could. The Celeron pro-cessor jumped from desktop to portable processing this month when Intel Corp. announced three new chips for notebook PCs. Bargain notebooks will start at around $1,200 with the new 333-MHz mobile Celeron. The affordable chip has already dropped desktop PC prices to less than $1,000, and a similar drop could reward notebook buyers.
Mapping system links pictures to exact locations
Sometimes it's good to know exactly where you stand. The Video Mapping System 200 from Red Hen Systems Inc. ties a map location to a still picture or video via Global Positioning System readings. The mapping system is in a little black box the size of a cigarette pack, weighs about a pound and has a long, flexible antenna that can wrap around you or a dashboard. At the end of the antenna, a
CDC's database project pays off in fast, paperless searches
In not much more time than it takes to read this sentence, an employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can find a record using the agency's records database. In the past year, the agency turned the corner on a seven-year effort to improve records management. It saw the time it takes an employee to find a record, or figure out if it even exists, drop from three days to 20 seconds, CDC officials
In turnabout, McCain sponsors bill to ease crypto export limits
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a long-time proponent of export controls on encryption products, is one of a group of senators proposing a bill to liberalize encryption export limits. McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, joined Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) to sponsor S 798, the Promote Reliable Online Transactions to Encourage Commerce and Trade Act.
Organizer puts planning in motion
As business card holders and daybooks have evolved into personal information managers, Lotus Organizer is still a standout. Version 5.0 integrates the functions of its paper-based forebears with Internet calendaring and scheduling. It has matured without turning stodgy. The interface, based on the familiar day planner metaphor, is transparent to anyone who can page through a calendar, to-do list, directory or notepad. Organizer's call-scheduling component will dial phone numbers
Marines swap faulty servers
Despite server glitches that delayed some installations by as much as six months, Marine Corps officials expect to complete a migration to Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Exchange messaging by year's end. The Corps last year bought about 400 Digital Equipment Corp. Digital Server 5200 models for the transition, through Digital's Navy Tactical Advanced Computer blanket purchasing agreement. The $4 million the Corps paid represented bargain basement prices, said a Marine Corps Systems Command official at
Letters to the editor
In your Buyers Guide on imaging [GCN, March 15, Page 67], you incorrectly state that JASC Software Inc.'s PaintShop Pro has no layer support. Version 5 does indeed support layers. We have used PaintShop Pro in our office since Version 3 for Web site and computer-based training development, and it has proven itself an excellent, low-cost alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
Many IT chiefs will spend New Year's Day at work
Do you know where you will be on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2000? As the government moves beyond year 2000 tests of mission-critical systems, agencies are formulating plans that detail New Year's Day responsibilities. The so-called Day 1 plans are an integral part of overall agency contingency and business continuity plans, federal information technology executives said.
Netscape reassures DOD after takeover by AOL
Netscape Communications Corp.'s acquisition by America Online Inc. will strengthen Netscape server and application software development—a concern for the Defense Department as its largest single customer, said John Menkart, Netscape director of government sales. Netscape formerly had to divide its focus between server and application software, leading to some government worries about its ultimate direction, Menkart said. AOL of Dulles, Va., the world's largest online service provider with 14 million subscribers, will help Netscape deliver in
IRS Web site is a hit—767 million times over
Between Jan. 1 and April 18, taxpayers hit the IRS Web site 767 million times—a 123 percent increase over last year. The IRS defines one hit as one Hypertext Transfer Protocol transfer. The site, at www.irs.gov, drew 25.4 million hits on April 15 alone, said Linda Wallace, chief of Electronic Information Services.
Unicor uses law to handcuff the competition
The arm of the Bureau of Prisons that employs inmates wants to keep 25 percent of all federal inmates employed at labor rates of 25 cents to $1.25 an hour. Unicor—the trade name of Federal Prison Industries Inc.—sustains itself by exercising its legal right to make federal agencies buy products it chooses to manufacture. This mandatory preference is at once Unicor's lifeline of customers and its political Achilles' heel.
EPA, HUD webmasters offer up lessons learned
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Housing and Urban Development Department, two agencies that pioneered the dissemination of information online, had to make up the rules as they went along. EPA started its Web site as a "science experiment—no rules had been written," said Emma McNamara, the agency's webmaster. In the summer of 1994, she posted the site's first page.
BREAKING NEWS
The Transportation Department has selected MCI WorldCom Inc. as its FTS 2001 provider in a contract worth an estimated $160 million. MCI WorldCom will supply voice, data and Internet services to the department and its agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration. Company officials credited MCI's prior experience at providing mission-critical FAA network services for giving the company an edge.
Coming Corel suite builds on solid core
Real-life requirements: Corel Corp. has not shipped a new office suite for a couple of years, so the buzz is high about the imminent release of WordPerfect Office 2000. I tried out the second beta version. Corel representatives as-sured me most of the features are final and little will change be-tween now and the product's release.
Koskinen: Protect Y2K emergency fund account
Clinton administration officials this month pleaded with lawmakers to protect year 2000 emergency funds from partisan budget crossfire. John A. Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion, said the money is critical as agencies enter the homestretch on year 2000 efforts. Koskinen asked that the emergency funds appropriated last year not be withdrawn.
Xerox integrates document sharing, summaries
Summarization is finally getting respect from users of document-sharing software, according to product managers for Xerox Corp. The company's Visual Recall document management software automatically generates one-page summaries or 20 key excerpts from documents. "We had summarization three years ago, but folks didn't see a value in it at the time," said Jay Ganesh, Xerox product marketing manager for Visual Recall.
PRODUCT PREFERENCE SURVEY: Antivirus software
When the Melissa virus struck recently, they needed a cure, pronto. And users I talked with said they got it from Symantec Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., whose Norton antivirus software was the top-rated brand in the GCN survey. "Symantec had the Melissa fix out there within 36 hours," said John Engstrom, an IRS computer audit specialist in Tampa, Fla., who uses Symantec's Norton antivirus 5.0. "I was impressed with
DOD Computing Briefing Book
Through the 15-year, $1 billion Integrated Space Command and Control contract, the Air Force wants to wed 40 air, space and missile defense C2 systems to give commanders a common, real-time picture of the battlefield. The Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the Air Force Materiel Command's Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., are leading the ISC2 procurement.
Tech Refresh
DriveSavers Inc. claims it can recover data from just about any burned, crushed, dropped or waterlogged hard drive, floppy disk or magneto-optical cartridge, among other dead media. The company boasts a success rate exceeding 90 percent. DLT Solutions Inc. of Herndon, Va., has added DriveSavers services to its General Services Information Technology Schedule contract, a move that might interest federal sites that have no prohibition against sending their unclassified media off-site.
After a crash, Search and Rescue can recover lost or corrupted data
Instead of sending a damaged hard drive to a data recovery service, agencies can recover the lost or corrupted data themselves using $149 software—as long as the stored data has not yet been overwritten and the disk is still spinning. Search and Rescue from PowerQuest Corp. of Orem, Utah, is the enterprise version of Lost and Found from Highpoint Technologies of Austin, Texas, which Power-Quest bought last year.
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