NASA

White House Engages Audiences With Online Tool

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During President Barack Obama’s January’s State of the Union address, citizens could follow along in real time with an online slide presentation which showed – in pictures and graphics – the major points the president was making just as he was making them.

The technique brought the viewers into the presentation in a way that simply watching or listening to the event could not. Visually, each of the president’s points was portrayed in a striking way that cemented the ideas in viewers’ minds better than a simple verbal presentation could do – even with the bright lights and grand chamber of the House of Representatives as a venue. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 28, 2012 at 9:28 AM

Feds @ Work: Jerry Davis Weighs Threats On Terabytes Of VA Data

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Every week, between 250 and 400 terabytes of data traverses the network backbone operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The data is stored and travels between 380,000 desktops, 40,000 laptops, 18,000 mobile devices, 21,000 servers and about 15,000 network devices VA employees use for work. On top of that, VA analysts have to maintain and manage massive data sets. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 30, 2012 at 8:52 AM

How U.S. Government Could Still Re-energize Solar Power Industry

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It’s an all-too-familiar refrain in the United States these days: “Solar is too expensive.”

Supporters of solar power have long had to face the argument that conventional energy sources are simply cheaper. This economic reality is a substantial portion of what underlies the sizable government subsidies to solar companies such as Solyndra in the U.S., and why the Chinese government is vigorously subsidizing its own solar industry. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 9, 2012 at 1:01 PM

Feds@Work: Unique Partnership Nets Innovative Sustainability Solutions

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NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), plus the State Department, NIKE, Inc. and other private-sector partners, have been collaborating on a unique venture that identifies and provides support for innovative ideas and technologies dealing with such global challenges as water resources, clean air, health care and energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 6, 2012 at 1:30 PM

New Report Details Overgrowth Of Federal Websites

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Years of decentralized efforts by federal agencies to share information using the World Wide Web have resulted in a tangle of thousands of government websites, a fifth of which are no longer in use, according to a new government report.

The new “State of the Federal Web Report,” released Dec. 16 by a government task force, represents the first comprehensive review of federal websites, following the Obama administration conclusion earlier this year that there were simply too many government websites. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 21, 2011 at 8:16 AM

Feds@Work: NASA Deputy CIO Takes Data Centers Down to Size

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NASA’s deputy CIO Deborah Diaz doesn’t just talk about data center consolidation. She’s rolling up her sleeves and making it happen at the space agency.

Since Diaz joined NASA in 2009, she’s been responsible for shrinking the number of data centers from 79 to 54 and eventually to 22, driven by the Obama administration’s effort to eliminate excessive and duplicative services. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 15, 2011 at 4:04 PM

Government Contracting Opportunities Remain Vibrant Despite Budget Cuts

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UPDATED Dec. 13 with video synopsis. Despite the looming threat of significant, across the board budget cuts for federal agencies, there are still major government contracting opportunities that will remain vibrant into the near future. And regardless if you’re a large government contractor, small business or agency program manager, you need to know where to look before you can take advantage of these opportunities.

That was the underlying message at a monthly luncheon forum on Government Acquisition Trends and Techniques Dec. 8, hosted by the Association For Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM). Keep reading →

 /  Published December 12, 2011 at 3:34 PM

Message At Amazon Cloud Summit: Provisioning Instead of Procurement

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I had the opportunity to attend the Amazon Web Services Gov Cloud Summit II on Oct. 18 in Washington, DC, which featured the new Amazon Federal and Gov Cloud (US) offering for architects, solution developers, and executives. The summit also featured senior federal agency IT executives talking about their use of those services. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 20, 2011 at 10:01 AM

NASA ‘Space Taxi’ To Take Flight

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American astronauts are deep in training for future missions, but with the space shuttles retired, they’re currently relying on Russia for transportation.

That’s about to change. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 13, 2011 at 11:35 AM

Rep. Frank Wolf Sees Satellite Images As Tool In Fight Against Human Rights Abuses

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Commercial satellites capable of photographing objects a half-meter wide with stunning clarity from 423 miles above the Earth have become a routine part of the analysis picture for the 17 government agencies that make up the intelligence community.

But high resolution satellite images are also gaining wider application at a variety of other federal agencies, from the U.S. Geological Survey for precision mapping to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assess disaster response strategies. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 11, 2011 at 7:58 AM
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