New District of Columbia Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak is bringing initiatives to his new role – and lots of initiatives for D.C. Included in his database of plans is the recently launched TrackDC program.  TrackDC functions as a real-time operational dashboard for every agency in the city. D.C. is not publishing more information than [...]

The Office of Personnel Management has released the final draft of its 2010-2015 strategic plan, which intends to overhaul and improve the federal hiring process. The five-year plan lays out approaches to rework the federal hiring process by promoting innovative ways of recruiting, streamlining the end-to-end hiring process to create a positive experience for applicants, [...]

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission revealed a 360-page national broadband plan that includes six different long-term goals over the next decade. One of these goals is “Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.” The other five long-term goals are spelled out [...]

Open government has become the buzz phrase in the Obama administration. When OMB Director Peter Orszag in December last year released the Open Government Directive to federal department and agency executives to expand upon President Barack Obama’s January memorandum on transparency and open government, he noted how transparency, participation and collaboration formed the cornerstone of [...]

Despite inventing the Internet, the United States has fallen behind when it comes to implementation and use of broadband, making the nation far from the leading countries in high-speed Internet adoption, according to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. In a column in The Washington Post, Genachowski wrote Sunday how universally deployed broadband networks could [...]

Jeffrey Zients, the federal Chief Performance Officer, wants to change the federal government hiring and performance appraisal systems to make both processes more efficient. According to the Washington Post, Zients said in a speech at the National Treasury Employee Union luncheon last week that, “Many of our [personnel] policies are bureaucratic, cumbersome and outdated. Too [...]

Microsoft is researching how gadgets like the company’s Xbox device, surface computers and accelerometers in cell phones could be used to improve health care, according to IDG News Service. Some of the applications from Microsoft Research plug into existing Microsoft products like HealthVault, an online service for patients to track their own health records. An [...]

A cellphone application that sniffs out deadly chemicals and alerts the user is currently under development at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate. The Cell-All initiative aims to equip all cell phones with a sensor that detects volatile substances at minimal cost—to the manufacturer and to the user’s phone’s battery life. “Our [...]

On Friday, March 12th, Aneesh Chopra, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, addressed the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards. He delivered a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama via video. The goal of her message was to inspire game developers to help fight childhood obesity and win the $40,000 prize. The 2010 conference was held [...]