Sneaker.Net
Michael Cheek GCN Staff This occasional column, written by sneaker-wearing GCN Lab manager Michael Cheek, will focus on sneaky computer problems and undocumented or hard-to-find solutions. Got a puzzle and can't seem to find a fix? Have questions about a recent article? Drop e-mail to sneaker@gcn.com and include a physical address. If your question appears, you'll receive a free GCN T-shirt--and an answer.
DOD Briefing Book
Forget all the hype about ubiquitous data networks and computer imagery used for Operation Joint Endeavor. According to Army Col. Kenneth Allard, who recently returned from the Balkans, "most U.S. soldiers are still using [paper] maps under combat acetate." Allard, a senior military fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, said network interoperability problems have bedeviled the troops. "The real heroes in Bosnia are the soldiers who have figured out work-arounds" to the system
The Netscape Biscuit Company serves up a snack that knows you
Pull up a glass of milk. Let's talk about cookies and what they mean to government World Wide Web sites. Persistent-client-state Hypertext Transfer Protocol "cookies" in client browsers can tell Web servers specific things about the users who access them. Cookies have been around for more than a year, but only recently have webmasters started using them to track usage and custom-tailor their page presentations.
Tall Order
The recent recommendations of the airline safety commission pose a rigorous challenge to federal agencies' database skills--and to their ability to work cooperatively. The commission calls for creation of automated passenger profiling systems using the databases of the FBI and CIA. It also calls for the Customs Service to get involved in airport security because of its police powers and its own database on criminals. And it specifically recommends upgrading Customs computer systems. You can
Has anything changed now that Brooks Act is defunct?
After conceding the California gubernatorial race, the defeated candidate shot this famous barb at the press: "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore." And now that the Information Technology Management Reform Act is law, it looks like we won't have the General Services Administration to kick around anymore.
Sometimes simple tricks are the ones that work out best
The other day I made a site visit to help someone who had been complaining for weeks that her Internet access was just too slow--despite having the fast modem I had recommended to her as well as a clean telephone line. She was even using a brand of PC I had recommended, so I knew the serial port was fast enough, as I have the same kind of Internet connection.
Weakness in Privacy Act show every four years
The Privacy Act of 1974 recently had its quadrennial 15 minutes of fame in connection with the "Filegate" investigation of the sharing of files between the FBI and the White House. During recent presidential campaigns, it seems someone always discovers a Privacy Act violation. It is amusing to watch members of Congress, political appointees and commentators wringing their hands over this, when they couldn't care less about the law otherwise.
Beat the clock
Project managers on the year 2000 beat have enough to worry about just fixing custom-coded applications without having to shake down their computer vendors for information. But that's happening. It's time vendors stepped forward with answers to: When will you ship 2000-compliant applications and systems software? What will they cost us? Where can we get them? Will we need to upgrade hardware to load the new software?
Time is shorter on protests with GAO procedure changes
With the General Accounting Office now the sole independent arbiter of information technology bid protests, vendors and agencies need to get up to speed on changes in GAO's bid protest rules. The changes, which took effect Aug. 8, were necessary because of the Information Technology Management Reform Act, which repealed the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals' power to hear IT protests.
Half of '97 TSM budget won't get the job done
As IRS officials bitterly complained this month that the funding cuts proposed for its Tax Systems Modernization would prove lethal, the General Accounting Office told a Senate committee IRS would survive just fine. GAO officials told Congress, in more than one report and at a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, that the plan to halve TSM funding to roughly $400 million in fiscal 1997 is not a death sentence for the agency or TSM.
NEC entry makes respectable showing in 200-Mhz PC derby
NEC's mantra for the PowerMate line seems to be, "There's always room for improvement." The 200-MHz PowerMate P2200 Pentium PC has been substantially redesigned since the GCN Lab looked at its 166-MHz predecessor, a Reviewer's Choice [GCN, April 29, Page 1]. My test unit, a preproduction model of the PowerMate P2200 Performance series, arrived in a minitower case with an eight-speed CD-ROM drive, 20-watt speakers, a microphone and an Iomega Corp. Zip 100 drive as
DOJ incident exposes Web insecurities
When Adolf Hitler showed up as the attorney general on the Justice Department's Web pages last month, it was just the latest hacker invasion into government systems. With the proliferation of federal World Wide Web sites, such tinkering is just a hint of what's to come. Many industry and government systems experts are suggesting that Web servers are the weak link in the security chain. Because many Web sites were created to get information on
Cyber-David and Goliath: Who will rule the Internet
The Internet browser war is heating up. You'd think it was a political campaign, what with all the name-calling and eye-gouging. Even users are getting jerked around with FUD (fear, uncertainty and deception) spread by combatants Netscape Communication Corp. and Microsoft Corp. This sounds like a classic David vs. Goliath fight, with a twist: Software giant Microsoft actually is the tiny little David, while the smaller Netscape plays the giant role. But a close look
Wolf!
The Justice Department got off lucky. The hackers who got to its Web page a couple of weeks back merely posted goofy pranks--substituting Attorney General Janet Reno's picture with that of Hitler, throwing in a photograph of a topless actress, that sort of thing. While nearly everyone gives lip service to the idea of computer security, many of the most vociferous may have probably felt in recent months like shepherds crying wolf. The Justice incident
Gimme that ol' time commitment, but not to OS/2 2.0 platform
The Rat's recent diatribe about an Apple PowerBook Duo [GCN, Aug. 12, Page 78] drew lots of flames from the Macintosh faithful. They accused the whiskered one of everything from being flat-out incompetent to not being static-free. The Rat enjoyed this spirited discourse. There's nothing better for one's soul than getting burned at the stake by zealots--at least by Joan of Arc's standards. Of course, religious computer arguments never have a winner, which is why
New procurement theory: Commercial items do not exist
For years the government has bemoaned the fact that it could not, would not or did not buy commercial items. I have suggested from time to time in this column that the thrill of buying commercial items might be somewhat overrated. I have even suggested that commercial items per se don't necessarily exist.
Agencies grapple with who's in charge of IT
HERSHEY, Pa.--Although federal agencies were supposed to appoint chief information officers with full authority over systems, eight agencies with CIOs still have their systems shops reporting to other officials. For now, the Office of Management and Budget intends to leave these organizational set-ups alone, said John A. Koskinen, deputy OMB director for management.
Help desk staff members are a different breed of techie
CUSTOMER: I can't log on. HELP DESK: What are you trying to log on to? CUSTOMER: My terminal. HELP DESK: Where are you calling from? CUSTOMER: My desk. HELP DESK: No, I mean what location are you calling from? CUSTOMER: Oh, I'm calling from my office. HELP DESK: OK, let's start over. What do you have on your screen?
DOD Briefing Book
Air Force officials at the Standard Systems Group in Montgomery, Ala., are hoping to become the first alternative source of software components compatible with the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment (DII COE). The Defense Information Systems Agency currently supplies portions of the COE for free to qualified developers. Now, under the Global Combat Support System-Air Force contract, contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. will be adapting its own version of the COE to the DISA standards.
New name for VA's medical systme:VISTA
After 14 years, the Veterans Affairs Department is saying goodbye to the Decentralized Hospital Computer Program, the software workhorse of veterans hospitals, and hello to VISTA. Adopting the name Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture reflects the broad changes in computing at VA medical centers in recent years, said Robert M. Kolodner, chief information officer for the Veterans Health Administration.
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