Government Technology - November 2007 - (Page 14)

pectrum reports from the IT horizon Smile :-) Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman said he was the ﬁrst to use three keystrokes — a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis — as a horizontal “smiley face” in a computer message 25 years ago. Language experts say the smiley face and other emotional icons, or emoticons, have given people a concise way in e-mail and other electronic messages of expressing sentiments that otherwise would be difﬁcult to detect. Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote lighthearted comments. — YAHOO.COM to managing editor Karen Stewartson spectrum ideas Send j 14 Mobility on the Move As notebooks become mainstream PC platforms throughout federal agencies, questions abound about the implications for data security. A study by the Telework Exchange, which interviewed 35 federal chief information security ofﬁcers (CISOs), revealed that federal CISOs do support telework and mobility. CISOs were asked if laptop use has increased. No Yes 17% 83% Collisions Traffic signals may soon be smart enough to prevent car crashes. A team of scientists at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, is creating such signals by connecting computers and cameras to “stop” and “yield” signs. When the cameras spot two cars approaching an intersection, the computer calculates the collision risk, then flashes warning lights on the sign to alert drivers to slow down or stop. The team’s next goal is to invent a smart traffic light, which would delay a green light so an offending driver can clear an intersection without causing a crash. Calculating CISOs were also asked if they have direct input into their agency’s telework infrastructure. Signiﬁcant input Some input No input 12% 37% 51% Online Living Surﬁng the Net has become an obsession for many Americans. One in three adults give up friends for the Web, according to a survey of 1,011 American adults by advertising agency JWT. Conducted Sept. 7-11, 2007, the survey found that 28 percent of respondents admitted spending less time socializing face-to-face with peers because of the amount of time they spend online. — Businessweek.com Nation — IHL Consulting Group Kiosk I Spy London is equipped with 10,000 crimeﬁghting closed-circuit TV cameras — which cost approximately $400 million — but doubt has been cast on their ability to help solve crime, thanks to an analysis of the publicly funded camera network. By comparing the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there, researchers found that police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any. Four out of ﬁve of the boroughs with the most cameras have a below-average record of solving crime. — THISISLONDON A 2007 forecast showed that North American consumers would spend more than $525 billion at self-checkout lanes, ticketing kiosks and other self-service machines, including postal kiosks by the end of the year. That could reach $1.3 trillion by 2011. http://YAHOO.COM http://Businessweek.com

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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