NIMA: We need more money
Congressional budget cuts are hampering efforts to digitize data, officials of the national Imagery and Mapping Agency officials said recently. NIMA has been controversial since Congress created the agency in October 1996, and Congress is apparently not convinced NIMA is necessary, the officials said. NIMA, managed by the Defense Department, failed to get full funding for this fiscal year. NIMA's budget is classified, but agency officials said Congress slashed about $100 million from its programs--most
Tool identifies risky date code
Visual 2000 is the best analytical tool the Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command has found for testing application code at its combat training centers, STRICOM project director Mark Jozwiak said. "Now we know where the broken modules are," Jozwiak said. The Visual 2000 tool from McCabe & Associates Inc. of Columbia, Md., is a test-coverage analyzer that identifies the high-risk modules within applications. The information lets the Army and other agencies design tests that
Total Xaos helps deal with chaos of using Photoshop art plug-in
The Total Xaos, pronounced like chaos, plug-in trio now runs under Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT. The applications are Paint Alchemy 2.0, TypeCaster 1.15 and Terrazzo 2.0. Also on the CD-ROM is Fresco, a collection of 80 royalty-free backgrounds. To install, double-click the CD's setup icon. The installer gives you the option to install the plug-ins as a group or individually. The user guide comes in three sections, each having a table of contents,
Cell phone receives wireless e-mail
Put some POP in your pocket. The Post Office Protocol pushes e-mail to the phone in your pocket via AT&T Corp.'s PocketNet cellular service. PocketNet combines features not usually found on a wireless phone--or even on most personal digital assistants. The e-mail, contact database, scheduling and basic Web surfing almost make the handheld phone more a PDA than a cellular phone. PocketNet stands out from other wireless services for keeping in touch. I did,
Here's how two agencies are making EC work
In its first year of service, the Veterans Affairs Department's Credit Card System has earned $5.8 million in rebates for the department's IMPAC cardholders. Run by the VA Financial Services Center in Austin, Texas, the electronic payment system processed $800 million in payments during the last year. CCS' one-day turnaround earned the center's VA customers the rebates, center director Harlan Hively said.
State pilot will let contracting officers create RFPs and receive bids online
With a technical assist from the Army, the State Department next month will launch an electronic commerce pilot. Using its own Web site as a front end, State will piggyback on the online buying system created by the Army's Communications-Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, N.J. CECOM will charge State a one-time $30,000 fee.
Book tells of IT managers on a path toward doom
It's not often that I finish reading a book on software development. Usually I barely get through the first few chapters. Sometimes the methodology is too abstract to work in the real world. Or a book is full of great ideas, but I could never sell them to colleagues or management. Or maybe my mind is numb from 25 years of bureaucratic life.
Logically speaking, MindWizard isn't for everyone
MindWizard is an artificial intelligence program that's supposed to simulate your own reasoning powers. It could give a hand to engineers, accountants, analysts or anyone else who makes forecasts. AI programs often fall short in emulating the human thinking processes. MindWizard's developers recognize this. They promise future application-specific templates and macros that would make the package take off.
Hey, your Web browser's not a remote off-track-betting site
Was your office NCAA pool on the server? Do you do a little online wagering during lunch? If so, be careful--Big Brother doesn't like illegal sports bookings in federal offices. A word to the wise: Federal computers are already supposed to be stripped of games. But your Internet browser, if used to place a bet, can get you into big trouble.
Keep networks safe with body language
Biometric identification, common in science fiction and James Bond films, is just starting to mature enough for mainstream viability. Network firewalls protect against Internet intruders, but they cannot deny physical access. After two decades of security awareness efforts, many PC users still tape their passwords to a monitor or desk drawer. And, frankly, it has never been practical to count on users to choose hard-to-guess passwords.
With right guidelines, servers can survive outside of firewalls
Good security practices make life outside the firewall less scary than you might think. Government network administrators often get requests from their application developers to locate servers outside the enterprise firewall. The routine answer is no, but exceptions sometimes must be made. Why? External machines give employees a workspace to share with outside contractors and agency partners, while preventing remote workers from penetrating the internal network.
Backup drive keeps files safe, sound
Under Microsoft Windows 95, the drive can even read old tapes in QIC-3020, QIC-3010, QIC-80, TR-3, TR-1 and QIC-3095 formats. The stated backup rate is 60 megabytes/sec for the internal drive and 40 megabytes/sec for the external drive, which fits a parallel port. Although the documentation indicated the unit would run under MS-DOS, my test failed for lack of memory on a 66-MHz Compaq Computer Corp. Deskpro XL 566 that had 16M RAM and an
With ACES, GSA will set up a baseline PKI
In its recent draft request for proposals for a digital signature infrastructure, the General Services Administration said the program would provide "the public with the ability to do business with the government electronically." Through the Access Certificates for Electronic Services buy, GSA intends to build a public-key infrastructure using commercial products. GSA's Federal Technology Service will issue the final RFP next month and award several ACES contracts later this year.
Use the Net and VPNs to manage comm wisely
Cost of ownership of desktop computers is much in the news lately. Seat management--outsourcing PC operations--is one response to the fact that many federal managers believe that desktop PC technologies are changing too rapidly to justify ownership. But the difficulty of dealing with PCs pales in comparison to an even bigger issue: telecommunications services. Telecom, you could argue, has an even greater impact on agencies' ability to carry out their missions.
Guard relies on smart net staff
To Maj. Bruce D. Babcock, deciding whether to use Microsoft Exchange 5.0 or 5.5 or to deploy Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition is easy. Taking care of his 1,300 users is a far more complicated and crucial matter. Babcock is chief of the metropolitan area network for the Air National Guard Communications and Information Branch. The National Guard Bureau, a joint staff for the Air and Army National Guards, has 800 users at Andrews Air
NIH opens a bandwidth closet
In new buildings on the National Institutes of Health campus, Michael Stoos and other network support personnel can now colocate telephone and LAN cables in wiring closets. But support issues are still tangled. Stoos and officemate Mike Griffin each have three desktop computers: a PC, an Apple Macintosh and a Sun Microsystems Inc. workstation. Many NIH employees use Macs and Unix machines, although the agency has set a goal of standardizing on one operating system.
Got a database? ASPs take it to the Web
Why are many webmasters turning to Microsoft Internet Information Server? For dynamic cross-platform Web page delivery through Windows NT's Active Server Page technology. Like Common Gateway Interface programs, ASPs use server-side scripts to make pages interactive. Unlike most CGIs, ASPs embed the scripting code within Hypertext Markup Language code.
Analytical tool tests app code
NEW YORK--Visual 2000 was the best analytical tool the Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command has found for testing application code at its combat training centers, STRICOM project director Mark Jozwiak said at a year 2000 conference here last month. "Now we know where the broken modules are," Jozwiak said.
SearchPad's Internet metasearches improve as you search
Web search engines such as InfoSeek and Yahoo were revolutionary when they appeared. Next came the metasearch sites that transferred a query to several different search sites at once. Then client-side metasearch programs such as WebFerret from FerretSoft LLC of Pickerington, Ohio, speeded searches even more [GCN, June 16, 1997, Page 40].
What's in a name? If it's a corporate name, the answer is a lawsuit
The Rat never ceases to marvel at the games corporate lawyers play. A case in point: the latest round of that classic capitalist sport, the name game, as played by Microsoft Corp. and 3Com Corp. The term in question is palm. 3Com, owner of Palm Computing Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., which makes the PalmPilot handheld computer, threatened to sue Microsoft for using the term palm computer to describe Windows CE devices under development by
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