Monthly Archives: April 2011

US State Department Considers Cloud Computing

(First posted on “Cloud Musings on Forbes“) Today I spent six hours in downtown DC at the first quarterly technology educational seminar and IT Expo to be held by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Information Resource Management. Keeping with the bureau’s mission “to empower diplomacy, consular services, and development, by providing access toRead… Read more »

Top 5: Reasons Beta.FCC.gov Is Now the Hottest Open Gov Project

In 1998, FCC.gov was considered the best website in government. Other than a redesign in 2001, their website has largely remained unchanged…and quite possibly had become the worst website in government. Here’s a screen shot of how it has looked for much of the past decade: Yesterday, GovLoop received a sneak peek at the Beta.FCC.govRead… Read more »

Can Too Much Money Ruin a New Startup? (Yes)

Last week the new app Color launched, a service that lets you take pictures on your phone and share them with people in your immediate vicinity. Soon after the app debuted to mediocre reviews, it was discovered that the founders had managed to raise $41 million for their first, pre-launch round. Let’s leave aside forRead… Read more »

Reg Closes Today at Midnight ET/NY for Interactive Games & Mobile Apps for Public Engmt

Our mini-conference this Thursday, April 7 will be a fantastic conversation about how interactive games and mobile apps are being used today for public engagement. The day is chock full of practical, inspiring and insightful case studies and other presentations. You can participate as an individual registrant or you can convene a group of colleaguesRead… Read more »

Minnesota managed care providers to return profit back to the state

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton struck a unique agreement with health care providers in his state today. Under the terms of this agreement BlueCross BlueShield, HealthPartners, Medica, and UCare will place a voluntary 1% cap on profits for 2011 managed care contracts. The one-time cap will keep earnings at 1% of revenue and return any amountRead… Read more »

No Solution In The Negative

Reading Pen Nerds and Finding Better Tools, where Anil Dash asked “Okay, pen nerds, is there a disposable ballpoint that’s as satisfying to write with as a felt-tip, but not smeary?” which generated a pile of good responses, many I want to try, varsity pen nerd, I. One that did not fit was, “Ballpoints areRead… Read more »

Minnesota managed care providers to return profit back to the state

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton struck a unique agreement with health care providers in his state today. Under the terms of this agreement BlueCross BlueShield, HealthPartners, Medica, and UCare will place a voluntary 1% cap on profits for 2011 managed care contracts. The one-time cap will keep earnings at 1% of revenue and return any amountRead… Read more »

Facebook Questions are Great for Gov, but be Careful…

On March 24, Facebook rolled out the Questions feature to all its users. It’s a new way to ask and get answers from your friends or fans on Facebook. For government, this could be a great opportunity to get direct feedback for Product development How can we improve our current website? How difficult was itRead… Read more »

NPR interview about Section 508 and website accessibility

Last week, Terry Weaver was a guest on the Kojo Nnamdi NPR radio show talking about Technology and Accessibility. They talked talked about the federal government’s efforts to make websites more accessible and Section 508. A recording is now available on-line, as well as a transcript.

Behind every gobby woman…

This is a post about my boyfriend. It’s also a post inspired by Matthew Taylor’s recent blog post on the RSA site about ingenuity. I think differently. But so does my boyfriend. And we are not the same and it’s not just biological or temperamental. It’s literally, a different way of thinking differently. I don’tRead… Read more »