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Sensors on soldiers’ garb spy what man cannot; Café policy; Not so electronic government
Sensors on soldiers’ garb spy what man cannot
Soldiers sometimes forget or block out what they witness during intense missions, making it hard for them to file follow-up reports. But what they unintentionally omit could be crucial to future missions.
To enhance soldiers’ recall, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is evaluating wearable sensors that automatically record critical details. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency developed the sensors.
This month, sensor-clad soldiers will simulate an unscripted foot patrol through Iraqi villages populated by fake bystanders, shopkeepers and insurgents. The idea is to have the sensors capture critical data, such as sounds of vehicle acceleration, images of suspicious human movement and weapons fire.
The digital store will be trustworthy and searchable. Software will be able to extract keywords and aggregate soldiers’ data to create indexed multimedia displays.
Café policy
The Humane Society is hailing Google’s decision to ban the eggs of caged hens in its employee cafeterias. The search powerhouse will not serve eggs from any hens that are confined in cages. Google workers reportedly consume about 300,000 shell eggs and 7,000 pounds of liquid eggs a year. Food service provider Bon Appetit is adopting a similar policy in cafes it runs for Yahoo, Oracle and Cisco Systems.
Not so electronic government
At FCW Events’ Knowledge Management conference last month, Spence Burton, manager of business development at the Office of Personnel Management, told feds in the audience that OPM had developed a list of knowledge management training resources. The list, however, is not publicly accessible.
Burton glossed over a couple of items on a slide with examples from the program, then added, “If you would like me to share [the list] with you, I’d be happy to do it if you see me after the presentation.”
Afterward, when asked if the list was available online, he replied, “No.”
If we get our hands on it, we’ll post it for everybody.
Got a tip? Send it to asternstein@fcw.com.
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