HP, Lexmark and IBM earn top ratings
Printer driver and installation glitches plagued the nine high-end network laser printers the GCN Lab reviewed for this issue. But several behaved themselves as good network citizens, and three delivered top-notch results. IBM Printing Systems Co.'s Network Printer 24 and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s LaserJet 5si Mopier were essentially twins, and so were their outputs. Both won Reviewer's Choice designations.
Final year 2000 regulation is due out Aug. 1
General Services Administration officials are fine-tuning the final version of a year 2000 procurement regulation defining interoperability requirements for the government's systems. The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council crafted an interim rule requiring agencies to certify that any commercial products they buy can handle date and time processing tasks after Dec. 31, 1999.
The eyes have it: Extron screen checker scores big
This device, the size of a pack of cigarettes, can measure the scan rates of any CRT monitor or television screen. To activate it, just pull out the plastic strip protecting the factory-installed internal batteries. That's all--no calibration needed. Once you pull out the isolator strip, the device will run for about a year before it needs new batteries.
Latest Eudora Pro release mails voice attachments
The Eudora Pro 3.0.3 interface is ugly, because Qualcomm has resisted the urge to pretty it with performance-retarding graphics. But the Microsoft Windows interface eases contact management by letting you drag entries from one address book to another. You can sort messages by click-ing on column headings and resize window panels by dragging.
HHS pros answer call for help
The two specialists for the fee-based Information Technology Service of the Health and Human Services Department had been besieged with requests from analysts at the personnel office of the Health Resources and Services Administration in Rockville, Md. The HRSA analysts had to access 2,000 records that held 10M of payroll and personnel data. It was stored in a Microsoft Access 2.0 database on a server from NetFrame Systems Inc. of Milpitas, Calif.
Scientist links PCs to run at 'super' speed
Roldan Pozo was tired of waiting for supercomputer time at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. So with $30,000, the NIST research scientist strung together three PCs and built his own supercomputer to run complex math calculations. "Most projects like this one start out with some people wanting to build a fast computer," said Pozo, a scientist in NIST's Mathematical and Computational Sciences Division. "But we had real work to get done."
How to exact revenge or Always stay on the help desk's good side
Toxic fumes from summer renovations had rendered the whiskered one's agency command bunker uninhabitable. After every help desk staff member had been to the emergency room twice, the Rat's department head considered alternative working arrangements. Now that he's back in the office, the Rat had the opportunity to take up some festering old business. Namely, revenge.
Battle for privacy has right fight, wrong focus
Last year, Internet users were incensed by a Lexis-Nexis Corp. people-finder service called P-TRAK. The database consisted of name, address, phone number, Social Security number and other personal information. The data came from so-called credit header information in credit bureau files. Credit reports are highly regulated, but credit header information is not. P-TRAK was not unique. Other services traffic in similar data on the Net and elsewhere.
You can locate and trust those frequently answered questions
In spite of considerable difference of opinion about the quality of Internet information, I find little to fault in most technical FAQs--as opposed to FAQs about, say, Monty Python or Star Trek. Some people consider all FAQs unreliable because they are unregulated and free. But remember that dozens of people contribute to a technical FAQ, and the information gets scrutinized by hundreds or thousands of other people as soon as it becomes the official FAQ
Army examines telemedicine
Walter Reed officials said the system eliminates problems associated with sending and reviewing medical images and data via desktop computers. Previously, telemedicine systems offered limited clinical applications and had high transmission costs, said Col. Edward Gomez, chief of vascular surgery at the Washington Army hospital. Using commercial software, Walter Reed doctors can transmit X-rays and patient medical records during videoconferences that let doctors at different hospitals conduct cost-effective diagnostic consultations. Walter Reed is testing the
Treasury seeks EBT answers
Congress has mandated that all agencies and departments issue payments electronically starting Jan. 1, 1999. The law excludes tax refunds and allows some other exemptions, but it generally requires agencies to use EBT and electronic funds transfer whenever possible. Each year the government pays $100 billion in benefits to some 30 million Americans.
IRS restructuring team praises its MVP
If the National Commission on Restructuring the IRS were a baseball team, Charles Lacijan would be the utility player. Commission members and others on the staff described Lacijan as the unsung hero of the project, which wrapped up last month with the release of a report recommending wide-ranging change throughout IRS.
GSA rethinks financial systems schedule buys
GSA officials are floating the idea of replacing the existing FMSS program with an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity format. In a recent memo to members of the Chief Financial Officers Council's Joint Systems Solutions Team (JSST), GSA officials said the IDIQ contracting approach appears to be the best way to streamline financial software buying procedures and respond to JSST's concerns about providing agencies with reliable software products.
2 vendors offer novel 2000 deal
The financing plan, from DynCorp and Siemens Pyramid Information Systems Inc., leverages procurement reforms that give agencies more flexibility in spending operations and maintenance funds for hardware, software and services, the vendors said. DynCorp and Siemens Pyramid officials said the Army, Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency are evaluating their systems to see which ones are suitable for rehosting under the fixed-price, fixed-time program.
Bryce 2 graphics program sees 3-D picture, gives realistic look
A powerful, easy-to-use 3-D graphics program, it is equally good for architectural backgrounds or low-level satellite fly-bys of an imaginary planet. Anyone can use it to do photo-realistic terrain sculpting. Although it's a Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT program, its interface is unlike Windows. But it's easy to learn and use.
Base looks for a GIS payback
"We haven't been able to do it, and nobody else has," said Greg Kuester, GIS and computer-aided design manager in the office of the director of public works at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. In spite of initial return-on-investment studies and ongoing anecdotal evidence based on requests for custom color maps, the payback remains uncertain.
Electronic software distribution is where licensing is going
But you'd better get used to it. ESD is the shape of things to come, and if you buy software for the government, you're going to have to incorporate ESD into your buying plans fairly soon. With electronic software distribution, you buy a license, then download the software over the Internet. This is more than just a way to make sure you get the absolutely latest versions of whatever you buy. It's also a way
Agriculture will cut jobs to pay for IT upgrades
A memo that Secretary Dan Glickman sent to agency chiefs this month gives a general outline. Agriculture wants to eliminate more than 1,300 jobs over the next five years. Savings to USDA could be as high as $450 million, Glickman said. Some of the money Agriculture saves will be applied to computer upgrades and modernization efforts. Chief information officer Anne Thomson Reed is one of two people selected to head the streamlining effort.
Forest Service shuns PCs and NCs, buys X Window terminals instead
The Agriculture Department agency is bucking the PC LAN and client-server trends, but not by buying NCs. Instead, it is going with an X Window System terminal upgrade for its 35,000 employees. The service's 900 offices are migrating from a 1980s Data General Corp. minicomputer system with dumb terminals to IBM Corp. AIX 4.1.5 Unix servers and X Window terminals.
Justice creates video game that's ethical to play on job
Debuting this week, the Justice Department's ethics training game lets players act a part in scenarios and gives them hundreds of opportunities to make the right-or wrong-decision: Is it OK to accept that free membership? How about just a discount? (See the answers at end of the story.) The game is triple its projected size and nearly three and a half years late, although on budget to the penny. Under a $248,000 contract, Legend Entertainment Co.
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