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Editor & Publisher reviews a new book by a group of 20 Dallas News photojournalists and reporters that chronicles the devastating impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Eyes of the Storm: The Story in Pictures of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, by Dallas Morning News Related postings on the hurricanes
OMB Watch: “Citizens for Sensible Safeguards, a coalition of labor, consumer, and other public interest organizations, filed comments (29 pages, PDF) Jan. 9 on OMB’s Proposed Bulletin on Good Guidance Practices. The bulletin purports to make agency guidance documents “more transparent, consistent, and accountable” by setting new requirements that include high-level review by senior agency …
Following up on the series of references that were noted in my posting yesterday, news today that President Bush has apparently dropped his opposition to congressional hearings on the controversial domestic surveillance program about which news has appeared almost every day for the past month. Related reference on the upcoming hearings: President Participates in Discussion …
Press release: “The Department of Commerces United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today the 2005 top 10 global private sector patent recipients. Listed…are the 10 corporations receiving the most U.S. patents for inventions in 2005, along with their 2004 ranking.” IBM, Canon and HP rank 12, 3 respectively.
Following up on my November 11, 2005 posting, EPA Proposes To Limit Public Access to Pollution Release Inventory, see this new report from OMB Watch, Dismantling the Public’s Right to Know: EPA’s Systematic Weakening of the Toxics Release Inventory (16 pages, PDF): “The report details how under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) …
From the U.S. Courts, Legal Term Glossary Newly Available: “Stumped by a legal term? An updated glossary of legal terms encountered in the various federal courts is now included on this web site.”
After a series of Congressional calls for hearings and investigations into the administration’s controversial post 9/11 domestic surveillance program, news today from several sources confirming that probes have indeed been launched, and hearings scheduled. Questions remain as to when, and if, the conclusions will be made public. Additionally, ABC News reports that former NSA “insider” …
All that music you have burned to CDs may only last a couple of years according to IBM Speicherexperte (memory expert) Kurt Gerecke. He advises using long-lived magnetic tapes to store the music, videos and photos created by the plethora of gadgets we cannot live without.
Malware – Future Trends, by Dancho Danchev,10/01/06 (26 pages, PDF). “Malware has truly evolved during the last couple of years. Its potential for financial and network based abuse was quickly realized, and thus, tactics changed, consolidation between different parties occurred, and the malware scene became overly monetized, with its services available on demand. What are …
Corporate responsibility: Reporters Without Borders urges Internet users and bloggers to support its recommendations on freedom of expression. Related reference: Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, January 9, 2006: Search Engines as Leeches on the Web “Summary: Search engines extract too much of the Web’s value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors.”
Federal Times reports that FEMA data on contracts awarded after Katrina is substantively incomplete in numerous areas, including identification of whether over $450 million in contracts were even competitively bid. Related reference: Improvements Needed to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, GAO-05-960R, September 27, 2005.