InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

15 Green Tech Innovations

Cost-savings and energy efficiencies go hand-in-hand. The poor economy and a collective awareness of the finite resources available to the world are encouraging businesses to invest in green technologies. In fact, 60% of companies now have green criteria for their technology purchases, a Forrester Research study found. Cutting costs is the primary motivator, while real or anticipated regulatory issues and pressure from buyers also ranked high, the report said. Only 30% were driven by their desire for environmental stewardship, Forrester said. Economic realities and environmental commitments have spurred businesses to invest in green technologies and practices to boost the bottom line and appeal to increasingly eco-conscious customers. These 15 leading green technologies that have big potential or are already making an impact.

Obama's Tech Tools

As a candidate, Barack Obama benefited greatly from the power of the Internet, tapping Web tools to reach, motivate, and collect funds from millions of people across the country. As president, Obama has cemented his role as the nation's most connected president to-date, incorporating technology as a cornerstone of key initiatives from healthcare reform to education. Taking a page from corporate America, Obama hired a chief technology officer to oversee the nation's IT direction. And, though he has publicly claimed ignorance about iPads, iPods, and popular gaming systems, Obama has long been known for his reliance on a BlackBerry, an addiction that required approval from the Secret Service for security reasons.

Top 10 Healthcare Stories Of 2010

Changes to the healthcare insurance status quo won and lost elections, revised and created business plans, and kept harried CIOs and their overworked staffs up at night. But it also generated opportunities for IT professionals in the healthcare industry to save their organizations time and money, reshape burdensome workflows, and improve patient care. When he was elected, President Barack Obama pledged to change healthcare insurance -- and this year marked months of debate and political hijinks that ultimately resulted in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; soon after, it was renamed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. In addition, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which strongly encourages medical providers large and small to use technology. In a carrot-stick approach, the federal government first rewards those who invest in solutions such as electronic health records and then penalizes those that do not do so.

Top 10 Security Stories Of 2010

As smartphones and tablets complement and battle with notebooks and PCs as routes to the connected world, as corporate users and consumers turn to both traditional Web sites and newer social networking sites to communicate, share ideas, trade business concepts, and shop, corporate IT professionals and the government organizations overseeing the nation's cybersecurity are all-too aware they must do more. And they must do it fast. Recognizing this, the federal government hopes to create a new wave of cybersecurity educational and certification programs in order to form the next, much-needed workforce. And law enforcement agencies around the world are becoming more adept at working cooperatively to combat the growing number, complexity, and sophistication of cyber criminals that pursue money and power through their creation of malware and network destruction. This teamwork already has brought down some botnet gangs in different nations.

Top 10 Microsoft Stories Of 2010

Odds are, almost every household in the United States bought or used at least one Microsoft-related product in 2010. From smartphones to game consoles, entertainment software to applications, cloud computing infrastructure to expanded search engine agreements, the developer increased its footprint across earth and cyberspace. This year marked one of new beginnings and some endings for Microsoft, which released its long-awaited Windows Phone 7 operating system, the software giant's answer to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. In plenty of time for this year's healthier holiday season, Microsoft also unwrapped Kinect, a much-lauded new sensor for its already popular Xbox gaming hardware -- and saw it receive rave reviews from technophiles and, more importantly, the kids, tweens, and gamers for whom it was designed. Likewise, the developer rolled out the third leg of its Halo trilogy, a move almost guaranteed to appeal to the game's legion of followers around the world.

Top 10 Government Stories Of 2010

In 2010, the government turned to technology as a way to cut costs and improve efficiencies, an approach that worked in some cases but backfired in others. Like their associates in the public sector, government executives and IT professionals saw some big wins -- and headaches -- over the past 12 months. In some cases, cities or agencies were able to save money and boost productivity by adopting technologies such as cloud computing, by centralizing contracts, and reducing energy consumption through consolidated data centers. In other cases, contracts-run-amok or a malfunctioning component led to headlines, hand wringing, and late night scrambling to recover data and operations.

Top 10 Google Stories Of 2010

Google may be the company of the decade -- the previous one, if not the next one. As such, its actions are closely scrutinized, and its steps and missteps make news. What started as a search engine is now a company that's shaping our technological future, with initiatives in mobile phones, tablet and netbook computing, telephony, and TV. Unburdened by decades of legacy tech and customer expectations, it's proven more nimble at exploiting new niches than its competitors. From successful forays into mobile devices to embarrassing breaches of people's privacy, Google was in the news a lot in 2010, most often for its steps but sometimes for its missteps. Here are the ten top news stories involving Google this year.

5 Airport Body Scanner Patents Stripped Down

Here's a deep dive on five patents applying X-ray backscatter technology to airport contraband detection. These screening machines have been much in the news recently, amid controversy regarding both their effectiveness and the amount of radiation exposure to which travelers are subjected. The patents we'll look at are from prime players in the airport body scanner field. This list is led by Rapiscan Systems Inc. , of Torrance, Calif., which in 2009 won the TSA contract to supply whole-body imaging scanners to U.S. airports. Also included is Martin Annis, a pioneer in body scanning who founded American Science and Engineering Inc. (ASAE) of Billerica, Mass. in 1958. In 1980, Annis was awarded one of the first personnel scanner patents. Finally, L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems Inc., of Woburn, Mass., has sold numerous explosives detection devices to the military and vied for the TSA contract. Selected diagrams from five patents are included to illustrate inventors' efforts at enhanced privacy, through which explicit body part imagery is replaced by a mannequin-like view, as well as to show attempts to reduce traveler exposure to x-rays through more sophisticated radiation source arrays.

Top 20 Government Cloud Service Providers

Nearly a dozen teams of technology vendors have been approved to provide IT infrastructure as a service to government agencies through Apps.gov, the General Services Administration's cloud computing portal. The new blanket service agreement makes it possible for federal, state and local government agencies to order on-demand virtual servers, cloud storage and web hosting as needed from GSA-approved service providers. Cloud vendors must satisfy FISMA's "moderate impact" data security level to participate in the program. A total of 20 companies made it through GSA's vetting process. They comprise a broad cross-section of IT service and infrastructure providers, from industry leaders such as AT&T, Dell and Microsoft to smaller vendors that specialize in doing business with Uncle Sam.

NASA, Microsoft Reveal Mars In Pictures

As Earth's closest neighbor and with an atmosphere more similar to Earth's than any other planet in the solar system, Mars has long been a subject of great interest to astronomers and the public. NASA began exploring Mars with unmanned spacecraft in the 1970s, and the space agency hopes to eventually send a human to the Red Planet. In March 2009, NASA and Microsoft partnered under a Space Act Agreement to make images of Mars and other planets available through Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope, an online "virtual telescope." When viewed through Worldwide Telescope, users can study the surface of Mars in detail, while zooming in and out and panning its surface.

12 Best Government Websites

Easy access to government online has gone from being nice-to-have to being necessary in the "open government" era, with many government websites taking advantage of modern designs and technologies to help do the trick. All too often, local, state and federal governments and government agencies do far too little to reach out to citizens on the web. Many governments and agencies are stuck in the 1990s era of tacky animated images, an over-abundance of white space, and confusing arrays of links. However, there are also plenty of agencies that stick out, with designs nearly or every bit as modern and enticing as one might expect from top corporations and Web 2.0 companies. These are some of the best.

Inside DHS' Classified Cyber Coordination Headquarters

The Department of Homeland Security recently brought its classified National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center down to an unclassified level for one day only, and InformationWeek Government was there to take photos. The facility looks and functions like a state-of-the-art network operations center and much more. The NCCIC, as it's called, is the locus of DHS-led inter-agency cybersecurity work in the federal government. That includes providing an integrated response to cyber threats against government networks, monitoring network sensors across the government and coordinating any requested government aid and response to cyber attacks against private industry networks like power plants or communications networks.

15 Budget Busting Technology Projects

Large-scale information technology projects can balloon to inconceivable figures very quickly with endless revisions, change orders and delays pushing budgets into the stratosphere. Sometimes the cost of an IT project can be measured simply in dollars, but just as often these projects costly in other ways -- in reputation, for example. With government projects, it's easy to look at the budget and see how much it costs -- or at least how much it's supposed to cost. In the private sector, it's not as clear cut: often the people working on a specific project are employees of the company anyway, so you can't really measure the cost of the project in just dollars and cents. Many of the projects and products here the $100 million barrier; others are harder to put a figure on yet have to be considered "expensive" by any measure. Regardless of how you quantify it, these 15 projects cost their organizations a bundle.

IT Hall Of Shame, Part 2

Welcome back to our rogue's gallery of computer industry flops, frauds and foibles. In this installment, we're pleased to present ten more exhibits, from Y2K to the Pentium Bug, that prove the best laid plans of mice and men don't just go awry -- they lead straight to the IT Hall of Shame.

InformationWeek 500: Government Innovators

With projects ranging from safer Web browsing to a 21st century air traffic control system, federal, state, and local agencies demonstrate that they, too, can apply IT in critical and novel ways.

8 Big Data Deployments In Detail

What does it take to move into the era of large-scale data analytics? Data warehousing experts from Barnes & Noble, BNP Paribas, Cabelas, McAfee and more share insights on innovative big-data deployments.

Slideshow: Who's Who In Healthcare IT

The push toward "meaningful use" of health IT in America's hospitals and medical practices involves some of the country's most talented healthcare and technology leaders. InformationWeek Healthcare shines a spotlight on some of those healthcare IT movers and shakers.

Slideshow: Next Generation Defense Technologies

DARPA develops leading edge technologies for use in national security and defense from quadruped robots that trek through remote terrain to small satellite modules for use in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.