New York City is about to put 14 of its administrative organizations on a cloud computing network in an effort to improve efficiency. IBM is set to helm the $7.7 billion initiative, according to Arik Hesseldahl at AllThingsDigital.
The move is part of an effort on the part of the city to save $100 Read More
Caroline McCarthy from CNET has a terrific feature today about the EDC’s efforts to bolster the tech industry here in New York.
It covers some of the tension between the startup community and the EDC that the Observer highlighted a few weeks back.
One fascinating nugget is the idea that the city, demoralized Read More
Rachel Sterne’s major qualifications for her new job as New York City’s digital chief seem to be her social media savvy.
But apparently the attention her Facebook page received after her new gig was announced was either too much for Sterne, or didn’t jibe with her position as a public official, because she greatly Read More
A day after New York City named Rachel Sterne as its first chief digital officer, advertising trade publication Adweek has posted an ostensibly hard-hitting look at the appointment that seems based in a misreading of what it is Ms. Sterne will actually be doing for the mayor’s office.
Says Adweek:
[D]espite the rave Read More
As Mayor Bloomberg worked through his state of the city address today, his office simultaneously announced a new software-based initiative to help foster communication among city employees and hopefully make it more responsive to the needs of the citizenry. It’s also setting up a kind of digital suggestion box so employees can give their Read More
Alex Bell, a native New Yorker and electrical engineering student at Columbia, was tired of waiting for the subway.
So he invented Subway Arrival, an iPhone app that tracks users as they enter and exit the underground. It notices when they lose signal, then reappear somewhere far away. By matching cell phone base stations Read More
The New York Times has story today about New York’s efforts to woo a top flight engineering school that could produce homegrown tech talent.
Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steele spoke at the Googleplex, because Google is the kind of Silicon Alley powerhouse New York hopes will take root here during the Read More
Coworking is a growing trend among New York’s freelancers, especially for the tech set. Instead of plugging away in their pajamas or snagging a spot at the wi-fi cafe, coworker prefer a more organized, office atmosphere.
But how much does it really save, or cost, to rent a desk in this kind of co-working space? Read More
Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith sent out a new memo asking city employees to shut off their computers when they leave work for nights and weekends.
If the city’s 100,000 computers were powered down more often, it would save about $250,000 a year in power costs.
“If full shutdowns are not practical, agencies are strongly Read More
You can learn a lot about a person by going through his or her web search history. It’s like picking through someone’s trash, but less messy.
A snapshot of the city’s top search terms for 2010 reveals Gotham’s character and preoccupations.
We’re still obsessed with take-out, prone to accumulate parking tickets and always on the Read More
