The District of Columbia’s Public Service Commission recently joined the emerging ranks metropolitan government agencies delivering service information to the public via a mobile application.
“The PSC is proud to be one of the first public utility commissions in the country to provide a mobile app to consumers,” said Chairman, Betty Ann Kane. “With a single tap of the finger, District residents will have faster and easier access to information that impacts their daily lives.” Keep reading →
Smartphones have made juggling multiple single-purpose gadgets a thing of the past for many, but the blind and visually impaired often use a raft of devices built with eyes-free use in mind
However, according to our AOL colleagues at Engadget, Qualcomm and Project Ray are aiming to consolidate phone calls, text messaging with voice read-out, navigation, object recognition, audio book reading and more for the visually impaired in a system built on an off-the-shelf Android phone. Keep reading →
In an important move aimed at advancing the Defense Department’s use of commercially-available mobile devices and services, the Defense Information System Agency announced it is seeking proposals to provide the U.S. Military with mobile device management capabilities and a dedicated mobile application store.
The announcement took the form of a request for proposals (RFP) posted to the federal government procurement website, FedBizOpps.gov. Keep reading →
I ‘m in Seoul, South Korea, this week for a Global e-Government Forum. Seoul is 13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, so for more than half the day, it’s tomorrow. But that’s not the only way that Seoul is in the future. The smell of kimchi mixes with the omnipresent electronica of smartphone rings and tablet notifications.
The Samsung building is visible from my hotel room, and its logo appears on at a majority of devices I’ve seen in this city. I’ve learned that this country is home to nearly 50 million people and 30 million smartphones, about 10% higher than smartphone usage in the U.S. Keep reading →
Data is often compared to water: people talk about data purity, data flow, and of course, data leaks.
One of the ways that companies try to avoid data leaks is through keeping tight control over the pipelines through which data moves, but when most (or all) of an organization’s employees carry smartphones through which they access data, it’s like having a spigot in every pocket. Organizations then face a choice: limit the functionality of devices by restricting their access to data, install technological filters on the devices to minimize the chance of a leak, or trust their employees to safeguard their devices and the data that they either hold or can access, or some combination of the latter two.
_____________________________________________________
This is the second in a five-part series examining the issues that governments and organizations need to address in the absence of a BYOD policy, originally published by the IBM Center for the Business of Government. For more news and insights on innovations at work in government, please sign up for the AOL Gov newsletter. For the quickest updates, like us on Facebook.
_____________________________________________________ Keep reading →
The proliferation of mobile devices and applications is creating unique communication network challenges for federal government institutions. With the surge of new smartphones and multimedia devices, CIOs and CTOs are dealing with growing demands by employees to deliver improved productivity and efficiency that mobile networks are continuing to provide.
The resulting task is monumental and multifaceted, including managing smartphones and other mobile devices, ensuring multi-carrier support, setting security parameters and prioritizing access control for all the mobile devices on their networks. Keep reading →
Responses of 300 federal executives (blue bar is current rate; red bar is expectation over next 12-18 months.)
Nearly two thirds of federal executives involved with mobile computing decisions in a recent poll reported that tablet computers are now being used by at least some employees at their agencies. And the over half believe that at least 5% of agency employees will primarily use tablets in their work in the next 12 to 18 months. Keep reading →
Boston is pothole city. So much so that the question, “Why are there so many potholes in Boston’s streets?” is a FAQ on the city’s “pothole page“.
The answer is that “coastal Boston area cities and towns experience extensive freeze/thaw cycles. You can expect to see more potholes in the winter and spring, following periods of cold temperatures and rain or snow,” according to the site. Keep reading →
Personal identity verification cards required for all federal employees and contractors will now be easier to use and more secure thanks to new draft standards just released by National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The changes incorporate the latest round of comments and revisions aimed at updating the original 2005 standard. “In 2011, we had our first draft,” said Hildegard Ferraiolo, a computer scientist with NIST. “We got about 1200 comments.” Keep reading →
Arlington National Cemetery plans to release a new smartphone app this fall that will provide a virtual tour of the grounds, list events and help visitors locate gravesites.
The application will be available in October and is currently in beta testing, said Maj. Nick Miller, the chief information officer for the cemetery. Keep reading →