Giga-normous Gov'ment Tech Expo

FOSE, the giga-normous tech confab for government folks, comes to the Washington Convention Center April 1-3. It's worth visiting, especially considering the all-star keynote line-up, which includes top execu-visionaries from Google and Sun Microsystems, premier tech guru/writer/commentator David Pogue, and the wizard behind the Mars Rover. Check out www.FOSE.com

And for those of you who missed Robin's prior Conventional Wisdom coverage of FOSE for the City Paper, here it is:

FOSE 2007

The Industry:

cutting-edge information technology

The Attendees:

25,000 technocrats on reconnaissance for the newest micro-, macro- and giga-gadgetry

The Issues:

Acc-sex Denied: Reduced productivity isn’t the only cost of employees and contractors visiting gambling, porn and other inappropriate websites on government time and dime. Even something as seemingly benign as streaming music eats up valuable bandwidth, slowing e-mail to snail’s pace. Offensive images seen by a passerby can be construed as hostile action or harassment, leading to lawsuits. And clicking on that virtual voyeur image or movie clip can download viruses, malicious code, and spyware. Sp8e6 Technologies unveiled a new URL filtering device that “manages the threat from within.” It can automatically block users from visiting inappropriate sites, flashing a message such as “Access Denied; see our acceptable use policy.” Or perhaps “Welcome to www.getbacktowork.com.” The filter, which works with existing hardware and architecture, also prevents enterprise-wide data and intellectual property leakage.

Watch Doctor: After launching and selling his first company at age 17, Eric Hines is donating a percentage of his current venture, Applied Watch Technologies, to the American Indian College Fund. He introduced version 4.0 of his platform for enterprise open source security management, nicknamed Shaman, defined as an intermediary between this and next world. The software thwarts attacks that defeated network defenses.

Dancing with the Feds: Cobalt Flux touted its pro-grade Dance Dance Revolution dance platforms as the next step in government and military fitness. “It’s one of the few forms of exercise people voluntarily do,” explained salesman Matt Anderson while calibrating a new song.
Coming in 6 months, he divulged: “DDR with arm motions!”

How Green is My CPU: A recent Presidential executive order mandates that all federal agencies buy computers that meet criteria set by EPEAT™ (Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool). At a show floor press conference, one speaker itemized benefits expected from 4 years of purchasing EPEAT-registered computers. Among them: saving $71.4 million in energy, the equivalent of making 72,630 households power-free for a year; reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 64,700 metric tons, equal to making 51,317 cars emission-free; reducing toxic materials by 75.1 metric tons, the equivalent of 37,550 standard bricks; reducing hazardous waste by 2,820 metric tons, the equivalent of 1.4 million standard bricks; and reducing mercury by 5.7 kilograms, the equivalent of 9,368 mercury thermometers.

New ID: New disaster management products from Salamander Technologies include evacTRAX, which employs machine-readable tags that can be made onsite to track family members, pets, and personal belongings from location to location. Motorola is using RFID (radio frequency ID) for monitoring the movement of luggage, mail, and food. Precision tracking will reduce the staggering annual losses from food spoilage and counterfeit prescription drugs. Tools such as E-Pedigree will protect the “chain of custody” – which includes product brand, recalls, and supply chain tracking. Why are businesses hesitant to go RFID? Their longtime investment in barcode technology.

Vertical Mark-it: That’s no joystick; it’s Wow-Pen Traveler, the new wireless vertical mouse with ergonomic anti-carpal-tunnel-syndrome design, germ-killing silver nano coating, built-in laser pointer, and ability to read sloppy penmanship.

Battle of the Bags: CDW-G lost the biggest-bag title to Best Buy this year, but each scored knockouts on the crowded show floor. Some armed themselves not to tote literature but to use as shields.

Scan-Do Attitude: Kodak’s new i1860 scanner shoots out 200 pages per minute. The Visioneer Road Warrior fires 33 ppm. But it costs just $199, weighs less than 11 ounces, and can slip in an office in a box – handy for soldiers storming bunkers where they’ll need to quick-scan documents for evidence.

Idle Threat: Presenters explained how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Telework Program attracts and retains exceptional employees, minimizes overhead and real estate costs, and boosts productivity so the agency can keep pace with “the exploding number of patent and trademark applications.” To a base of 600 teleworking examiners, the agency is adding 400 this year, and then 500 a year through 2011 for a total of 3,000. How can USPTO be sure that offsite employees aren’t slacking off? Measuring productivity by a widget metric, the supervisors “know how much work is done down to 2 decimal spaces.” Besides, employees want to be successful so that they don’t have to come back to work full-time in the office.”

Our Space: “It’s not videoconferencing!” Cisco representatives beckoned passersby to demo TelePresence, which saves employers travel time and costs by enabling virtual in-person meetings. The solution combines big point-to-point plasma screens, “the virtual table,” spatial wideband audio, ultra-high definition video, and lower-profile features such as knee-knockers to keep meeting attendees from straying out of camera range. Cisco brought in filmmaker George Lucas’s crew members to help craft the virtual meeting experience; their tips included backlighting to eliminate dark bags under the eyes and neutral tabletops to avoid distracting reflections on light skin.