iPhone

Wanted: 17,676 iPhones – For Use By Immigrations And Customs Employees

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UPDATED. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced it plans to buy iPhone services for more than 17,600 employees.

According to an Oct. 17 solicitation notice posted on FedBizOpps, a government procurement site, the immigration and customs division of the Department of Homeland Security is planning to buy Apple iPhone devices that are bundled into monthly plans for cellular phone service, Internet access for domestic and international coverage, and text messaging capabilities. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 19, 2012 at 3:35 PM

Feds Weigh Pros And Cons Of Apple’s New Mobile iOS 6

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While iPhone aficionados may have to wait three to four more weeks to get their hands on the new iPhone 5, Apple officially released it latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, today. And that meant federal IT executives had yet another new mobile issue to contend with as they began in earnest to evaluate how the new operating system, which boasts 200 enhancements, might impact the growing use of Apple devices across the federal government.

“I think it’s safe to say that these continually improving and expanding features are a key reason why government workers find consumer mobile devices in general – and iOS devices in particular – so compelling for use in accomplishing their missions,” said Dr. Rick Holgate, assistant director for science and technology and chief information officer for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). Keep reading →

 /  Published September 19, 2012 at 12:19 PM

Ten Steps To Creating Insanely Great Mobile Apps

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Fueled by the widespread adoption of increasingly powerful mobile devices, we are in the midst of one of the most exciting technology eras ever. Half of American adults now own smartphones and over 20% are already using tablets. This pace of adoption is unprecedented as the first Apple iPhone was only introduced five years ago with the Apple iPad arriving in just the past two years.

The rapid emergence of this mass market has shattered the cost constraints for going mobile for every organization, including government agencies. For a technology geek like myself, what’s most exciting is the opportunity this creates to untether knowledge workers from the desktop so that they can be equally effective in the field. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 18, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Mobile 311 Catches On With Citizens

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What if you could call your city public works department, located about 45 minutes from your home, request a recycling sticker, and have a city worker show up at your door 18 minutes later? That’s the power of Boston’s new City Worker App.

Piloted last year, the new mobile app integrates seamlessly with the city’s existing 311 system for non-emergency information calls and service requests. It takes all of the service requests made by citizens for potholes, graffiti, streetlight outages, and even recycling stickers, and routes them to the Android-based mobile device of the nearest work crew from the responsible department. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 29, 2012 at 11:01 AM

Mobility Is About Applications as Much as Hardware

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A new computing device could revolutionize mobile federal computing. It’s super thin, has a potential battery life of close to nine hours, an ultra high resolution screen and a glass touchpad. It boots in seconds, has 4G connectivity, and it’s all wrapped in carbon fiber and aluminum for lightness and ruggedness.

It’s made by Dell. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 29, 2012 at 2:30 PM

New Technology Takes Aim at Fake IDs

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Until mid-December, anyone needing a fake driver’s license could download a free app from Apple’s App Store and make one. The DriversEd iPhone and iPad app-available since 2009-allowed users to pose for photos and create bogus licenses. But at the request of Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, who called the app “dangerous,” it is no longer available.

The app, from DriversEd.com, was intended as a game to see what it would look like to have a license for any of the 50 states. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 3, 2012 at 1:01 PM

NOAA Abandons BlackBerries for iPhones, iPads

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will save thousands of dollars by trading its fleet of BlackBerries for iPhones and iPads in the next few months.

CIO Joseph Klimavicz told Breaking Gov the change, expected to take place by June 1, would save substantial costs associated with managing BlackBerry devices. He declined to specify savings other than to say it would be “thousands of dollars” now spent on managing close to 3,000 devices. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 23, 2012 at 11:00 AM

EPA Announces Apps For The Environment Contest Winners

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US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson (pictured above) announced the Apps for the Environment Challenge on June 9–and almost five months to the day, the winners were announced at a forum at the Artisphere in Arlington, Va. The winner of the best overall app was the Light Bulb Finder developed by Andrea Nyland of the Eco Hatchery which helps consumers select and buy-online light bulbs that are more energy efficient while still providing the desired brightness.

Master of ceremonies Chris Dorobek welcomed a capacity crowd to the Artisphere and said that in a time when many are very dissatisfied with government, this event showed why we should like government. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 9, 2011 at 6:06 PM

Android Phones Top Malware Target List

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As the Army eyes handing out smart phones to every soldier, one stark fact stands out: Android phones are much more susceptible to malware attacks than are iPhones.



And the number of malware attacks on Android phones is increasing rapidly, with the computer security firm McAfee saying in its quarterly security report that, “Android-specific malware moved to number one” position of mobile systems attacked.

 /  Published August 23, 2011 at 4:45 PM