Sean M. Gallagher

 

Now that winter has made its presence brutally known here in the northeastern US, I've run up against a bit of a problem—how to use my iPhone while braving the elements, without exposing my hands to the windchill.  It's a bigger problem than just iPhones: many touchscreen devices (like automated teller machines) depend on the electric touch of bare fingers to work.

Last year, I used fingerless gloves—or gloves whose fingers folded back. But those aren't exactly what one would call fashion-forward, unless your name is Bob Cratchit.

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With the proliferation of e-readers and e-reader apps for devices like the iPad, iPhone and Google Android smartphones, there are plenty of ways to download books wherever you are. Most of them require you to pay for them.

But what if you could check a book out from the library from wherever you were, straight to your phone? That's been possible for audio books for a while, thanks to software from OverDrive.

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I am one of many happy iPhone users.  But apparently, most people who own the iPhone have a unified distaste for the only carrier in the US that currently offers the phone: AT&T. 

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After a rocky start with the book publishing industry, Google has finally launched its own online e-bookstore. And it promises to shake up the universe of e-books, currently dominated by Amazon and Barnes & Noble. With the backing of over 4,000 publishers, Google's eBooks starts off with what the company calls the world's largest collection of e-books—including nearly 3 million that are free.

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As you finalize your holiday shopping—there are still a few days left of Hanukkah, and you're down to 3 weeks before Christmas—there's nothing to set off a little bit of pre-gift-giving buyer's remorse like a rumor that the next version of whatever you just bought is coming out next week. 

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Internet-based video and "Internet TV" are among some of the most-hyped features of many of the entertainment products being peddled this year for the holidays.  Apple TV, Google TV, and the Boxee Box are just a few of the consumer electronics devices for Web-based entertainment that are being targeted at people more comfortable with a remote in their hand than a computer mouse. read more

The Internet in all its forms has become a core part of how we communicate, socialize, and handle very personal business every day. But protection of individual privacy is spotty at best, and it seems to be getting worse every day. As we become an increasingly digital nation, do access to, and privacy on, the Internet become civil rights?

via Internet Evolution – Sean Gallagher – Facebook & the Right to Privacy.

One of the biggest problems that Defense Department intelligence analysts face isn’t a lack of information — rather, it’s finding the right information buried in the sea of data that exists on DOD’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance networks.

If you’ve ever struggled to properly search for something using Google, you’ll understand why: Most search engine technologies only function well when you know exactly what you’re looking for and know precisely the right keywords to find it.

via New intelligence framework synthesizes ISR data into universal formats — Defense Systems.

It’s been a year since the Air Force established the 24th Air Force, the Air Force Space Command subordinate unit in command of all Air Force networks and cyber operations. Based at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, the cyber numbered air force is the operational arm of Air Force Space Command’s network operations and cyber warfare mission.

The 24th has ramped up rapidly to an initial operating capability. But Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, its commander, still sees a long, difficult road ahead for the 24th and for the Air Force’s enterprise networks. In an interview with Defense Systems contributing editor Sean Gallagher, he highlighted the work that’s been done to build a true cyber capability in the Air Force, the concept of operations that guides the 24th and the work left to do to achieve the Air Force’s cyber goals.

via Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Webber discusses path to strong cyber defense — Defense Systems.