News and Updates

Innovative work, news, and ideas from people and teams in government

Canalys, an international IT company, predicted last week that tablets will almost out-ship all other PC form factors combined next year. They expect that tablets will account for almost 50% of the total client PC market (that includes desktops, notebooks, and tablets) in 2014. PC shipments accounted for 40% of PC shipments
Dec 03, 2013

Surviving Thanksgiving With Your Smartphone

Oh, Thanksgiving! If you need to take a time-out from the dinner table for a little of your own (cyber)space, give these apps a try: Does a holiday with your extended family put your nerves on edge? The Breathe2Relax and TacticalBreather mobile apps are specially designed to help you control
Nov 27, 2013
Cyber Monday, billed as one of the busiest online-commerce days of the year, is spilling into the rest of the holiday season as more consumers use mobile devices to shop whenever they please. Shoppers are no longer waiting to return to work on the Monday after Thanksgiving to surf and complete web deals. Consumers armed
Nov 26, 2013

State CIO Top Ten Policy and Technology Priorities for 2014

Security, consolidation, cloud services and enterprise portfolio management top the list of critical state CIO priorities in 2014, according to state information technology leaders surveyed by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). The prioritized rankings of strategies and technologies reflect voting by state CIOs and are
Nov 22, 2013

Coast Guard HSWL App

Are you active or retired Coast Guard — or related to someone who is? If so, you’ll want to spread the word about the United States Coast Guard’s Health, Safety and Work Life (HSWL) app from USCG’s Office of Work-Life Programs.
Nov 21, 2013

Mobile Product Compatibility and Functional Testing 101

As covered in the Mobile Product Testing Guidelines article, there are various approaches to mobile testing. This article is a resource of the Federal CrowdSource Mobile Testing Program and focuses on two common test types are compatibility testing and functional testing. Compatibility Testing The Wikipedia article on compatibility testing states the “Compatibility testing, part of software
Nov 21, 2013

Creating Cross-Channel Experiences

One of the most important jobs for an organization is to think about the entire ecosystem of their brand and what the user experience is across each channel. Whether it is through accessing information on your site through various devices, calling a help line, engaging through social media, and/or having a face-to-face conversation, there may
Nov 18, 2013

Ideation Challenges

Tips for Conducting an Ideation Challenge Examples of Ideation Challenges Criteria for Choosing an Ideation Platform Online Platforms and Tools Challenge and prize competitions are one tool that federal agencies use to drive innovation and solve mission-centric problems—whether technical, scientific, or creative. One type of competition is ideation, which allows you to collect ideas from
Nov 14, 2013

5 Tips for Communicating Technical Information: iPad Pilot

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” — Mark Twain It’s simple—you’re the technical expert; you know the topic inside out, so of course you can easily explain it to a captive audience. Right? Not always. Communicators in every industry know that message
Nov 12, 2013