Government Technology - November 2007 - (Page 11)

4 Back in the mid- to late 1990s, schools also struggled with how to take advantage of the Internet. I recall from personal experience the advent of the Internet-enabled high-school computer lab. While some school districts still struggle to provide quality online access, many students today have wireless access anywhere on campus. WAY BACK FACT NASA ended 1996 with a bang when it blasted the Mars Pathﬁnder into the heavens. The Pathﬁnder was an extremely important mission for NASA; it was the ﬁrst test for a new type of landing system. The spacecraft deployed airbags to land on the surface. It was also the ﬁrst test for Pathﬁnder’s cargo — a small robotic rover named Sojourner, which paved the way for the larger rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Those rovers landed on Mars in 2004 and were expected to operate for three months. As of this writing, both are still roving. WAY BACK FACT In 1997, IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a six-game exhibition match. Kasparov accused Deep Blue and IBM of cheating, which IBM denied. These days, Deep Blue makes its living using its powerful computational innards to forecast weather, model ﬁnancial data and design automobiles. 1997 Technology ended its first decade with a sobering story detailing the growing problem of America’s inferior telecommunications network. Written by current Digital Communities Editor Blake Harris, The Race for Bandwidth showed how those in the know pleaded for investment to increase our broadband capabilities before foreign countries would begin overtaking us. “We need bandwidth now. We need it instantly. And we are not going to wait around,” said John Gage, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. “[Everything] is going to be on the Net, requiring this bandwidth. That is why bandwidth is going to be inexorable.” So how did we do in 10 years time? My $45 monthly bill for 6 Mbps indicates we didn’t do well at all. 11 In December 1997, Government WAY BACK FACT In July 1996, science ﬁction once again became science reality. At the Roslin Institute in Scotland, Dolly the Sheep was born, becoming the world’s ﬁrst cloned mammal. Dolly lived to be 6 years old, about half the average life span for sheep. Dolly was diagnosed with a viral disease common among sheep, though some contend it was a result of the cloning process. Since Dolly, numerous other mammals have been cloned, including horses, cats, monkeys, people … er, umm, forget you read that last one.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - November 2007

Government Technology - November 2007 Contents Point of View Way Back Machine The Last Mile GT Spectrum Big Picture Building Better Government Up Close Inspector Gadget By the Numbers Money Talking No Greenwashing Pinching Pennies Bay Bridge Bustle Two Cents Products Signal: Noise

Government Technology - November 2007

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