Archived Industry Notes: Government
Published in 2008

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Seattle Goes Scientific With Trash Tracking Technology

We’ve all witnessed free-flying trash on city streets or wondered what happens to our trash once it leaves our garbage bins. Now citizens in Seattle won’t have to ponder. The city, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) SENSEable City Lab, is on a quest to assess the city’s waste removal system by affixing electronic tags to 3,000 items to see where they end up.

The electronic tags utilize cell phone technology, which will allow MIT researchers to conduct real-time tracking of articles, like boxes, Styrofoam, bottles and metal scrap. So far, researchers have recruited hundreds of citizen volunteers -- each contributing 10-15 household items -- to participate in the study. However, interested volunteers can bring items to the Seattle Central Library to be tagged.

Details Here

first published week of: 09/14/2009

Senate Bill Could Give Smart Infrastructure a Second Chance

When earlier this year Congress earmarked billions of dollars for broadband and road building within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, some observers foresaw a future in which Internet connectivity would be built directly into the roads themselves -- literally paving the way for "smart" infrastructure: smart roads, smart cars and smart transportation.

But as governments chose which projects to fund in the early months of the economic stimulus, they leaned toward those that were “shovel-ready,” which equated to building and resurfacing bridges and roads in order to create jobs immediately.

Supporters of so-called “smart infrastructure” had hoped that decision-makers would take a longer-term view and build fiber-optic capability when laying down roadbeds. It hasn’t worked out that way so far, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.

Details Here

first published week of: 06/15/2009

Senate goes medieval on Web loyalty programs, monthly fees

If you buy items on the Web, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a popup screen after making a purchase that offers you a cash back reward on future purchases. “Cash back! On future purchases! Awesome!” you think, clicking the “yes” button and entering an e-mail address. “After all, companies can’t sign me up for any kind of mysterious recurring charges with an e-mail address, right?” Wrong—thousands of people have seen charges of $9-12 show up on credit cards every month after clicking on such links. That’s because they have actually enrolled in a Web loyalty program, in many cases without knowing it.

Details Here

first published week of: 06/01/2009

Senators Introduce “Run Tubes Under the Highway” Bill

National broadband plan? We don’t need no stinking, national broadband plan, two Senators all but announced Monday, introducing a measure that would require states to build tubes for internet fiber optic cables under every bit of highway or rail they build or modify with federal funds.

And that could be a lot of tubes, given the billions flowing to the states for infrastructure projects as a way to stimulate the economy.

Democratic senators Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) and Mark Warner (Virginia) introduced the so-called Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2009, which would require many of the so-called ’shovel-ready’ projects funded by the stimulus bill earlier this year to also lay conduits capable of carrying fiber optic cables.

Details Here

first published week of: 06/29/2009

Silver Lining for the Gov's Cloud
Cloud computing solutions might improve the overall security of gov't software.

Cloud computing received a strong push last week when the U.S. government's Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra announced apps.gov, a website that lets government agencies find and buy access to cloud-computing tools and services.

Experts have previously warned that cloud computing can introduce new security, privacy, and reliability risks, but some say that the technologies on offer could actually help improve the government's information-security record.

Details Here

first published week of: 09/21/2009

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