It has become a cliche that government technology tends to be stodgy and out-of-date – President Barack Obama’s chief technology officer has even complained about the software in the White House. IBM said today that it wants to make things better, with a new software platform called the Government Industry Framework.

Specifically, IBM wants to make it easier for technology from different government agencies to work today, and with applications built by outside companies. The framework includes a lot of IBM’s existing software, such as WebSphere, Rational, Tivoli, Lotus and Information Management, while bringing in new, more open architecture.

• Why BT Is Rethinking the Voice Business

  When BT, formerly known as British Telecom, splurged and bought Mountain View, Calif.,-based Ribbit for $105 million some 15 months ago, I dismissed it as an attempt by an aging incumbent carrier to reinvent itself as a web-savvy…
• Customer Service Tips for Early Stage Startups

  This post is part of our .
  Few companies put as much effort into customer service as they do into member acquisition. However, in order to retain members, community-driven startups need to be conscious of the entire customer experience…
• IBM erects fedware for The Man 2.0

  IBM is sinking its teeth deeper into government IT today with a new software framework that joins the company’s expansive middleware portfolio into a neat package for The Man 2.
• French Government Chooses Mozilla To Replace IBM and Microsoft For 130,000 Desktop PC’s

  The French Government’s public finance department will switch 130,000 desktop PC’s to Mozilla’s email and calendar applications.
  Mozilla’s Thunderbird email service, Lightning…
• Omaha World-Herald Buys Local Wiki Network WikiCity

  Newspapers buying local news startups is still a rarity, so this one is intriguing. The Omaha World-Herald, the largest employee-owned newspaper in U.S., has acquired WikiCity…
• What Startups Need to Know About the VC Upheaval

  Two gloomy reports were released yesterday that may have some startups questioning their fundraising chances over the near term. The National Venture Capital Association…
• Spotify loses its brain

  Spotify has lost its CTO and slashed the price of subs in the UK by over a third, for a limited period.
  The former is a bit of a shocker. You’d expect a CTO for one of the most-talked-about startups to want to stick around…
• Lifting the Veil on Pricing for Health Care

  It’s long been hard for health-care consumers to learn how much doctor visits or hospital stays will cost them. That’s now beginning to change, as a growing array of Web sites try to lift the veil on pricing.
  The online resources come from insurers…
• City of Los Angeles Goes Google for $7.2 Million

  It looks like those Going Google billboards are actually good for something, as the Los Angeles’ city council has just unanimously approved a Google Apps deal worth $7.2 million.
  According to CNET…
• Amazon Web Services Announces Relational Database Services

  Amazon is providing users with the ability to run relational databases in the cloud. The service, Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), means that customers now have…

Windows/Mac/Linux: Mozilla just released the first official beta of Firefox 3.6, featuring built-in support for themes (Personas), improved performance, and more. Early adopters, your download is ready.

Last week we saw a test build of this release, but if you were waiting for the slight upgrade in early adopter usability, the official beta is here. In a nutshell, the updated features and improvements in Firefox 3.6 beta 1 look like this:

• Camino 2 Release Candidate Available for Download

  Mac only: If you’re looking for a lighter weight alternative to Firefox or Safari, you can’t go wrong with Camino, Mozilla’s native Mac browser. The new version includes built-in Flash blocking…
• The Droid Has Landed…Unboxed! Plus a Few Facts

  So the Droid from Verizon just landed and we have an unboxing video. Despite all the hype, I have this to say to the makers of the iPhone: You’ve got nothing to worry about…
• SAP shares dive on warning

  SAP saw its shares take a dive today, when it warned that poor sales in Japan meant that it was likely to miss targets for the year.
  Shares were down over seven per cent in early trading.
  Werner Brandt…
• Android Buzz Grows as Droid Launch Nears

  The Android buzz ramped up another notch this week with Google’s release of the SDK for Android 2.0, dubbed Eclair. Among other things, the new OS offers a combined inbox for multiple email accounts…
• Android 2.0 Official: It’s the Android We’ve Been Waiting For

  This is it: The official video laying out Android 2.0’s new features, to go along with 2.0 support hitting the SDK today. Man, Android 2.0 is nice.Highlights of Android 2.
• Pete Cashmore Talks Windows 7 and Hulu on CNN Live

  Microsoft has dominated the social buzz this week. They made waves when they inked a search deal with Twitter, but the story that has dominated the news this week has to be the highly anticipated launch of Windows 7…
• DNA database reports shows costs up, ‘detections’ down

  Analysis Researchers looking to assess the effectiveness of DNA profiling in solving crime are unlikely to take much comfort in the recently released Annual Report of the National Policing Improvements Agency (NPIA).
  Meanwhile…
• Google Reader Sorts Feed Items by Personalized “Magic”

  Want Google’s computers to tell you which RSS feeds should be looking at in Reader, and which feed items to read first? It’s now possible, as Reader introduces a “Sort by Magic” filter and an “Explore” section with recommended feeds.
• Best Portable Apps Suite?

  Portable applications are quite handy; it’s great being able to take a piece of software you use at home with you anywhere you go, settings and all. So what could be better? A whole suite of portable apps…
• Fedora 12 Beta Available for Download

  All platforms: Fedora’s released a bootable beta of their upcoming 12th release, “Constantine,” that speeds up system updates, makes Bluetooth an on-demand service, and optimizes CPU and graphics performance on netbooks…

Sharks are scary. So scary that the texture of their skin alone prevents parasitic bacteria from sticking. Good, because by modeling a plastic sheet-like surface after that scary skin, we can actually prevent drug-resistant superbacteria like MRSA from building up.

A Florida-based company by the name of Sharklet (yes, I laughed at the name, too) came up with this plastic film which “is covered with microscopic diamond-shaped bumps” that prevent all sorts of nasties from building up. So far it’s proven to work pretty well in tests and we might be seeing it on bathroom door knobs and similar surfaces in the future. Just don’t use that as an excuse to skip washing your hands, please. [Pop Sci]

• Canon’s EOS 7D experiencing ‘residual image’ phenomenon, fix is on the way

  Canon’s $1,900 EOS 7D DSLR just started shipping a month ago to pros and those who’d like to be, and already the thing is causing all sorts of fits when shooting continuously…
• Harvard Medical School’s H1N1 App Let’s You Panic On the Go

  Swine flu! It’s the panic du jour, far less dangerous than eating poorly cooked chicken or getting in a car, yet apparently infinitely more scary. And now Harvard will take $2 to scare you on your iPhone.
• Xerox Develops Ink To Print Circuits On Nearly Anything

  Wearable electronics aren’t news, but being able to make them cheaply and easily is. Xerox has developed an ink with which you can print circuits onto plastic, film, fabric…
• HTC HD2 fulfills its unboxing obligations on video

  You’ve already seen the HD2 that HTC would have you see, but now it’s time to take the obligatory journey to the world of unboxings. Seen here in “not-yet-final” packaging…
• Mobiado 350 Pioneer: Gold, sapphire crystals, all sorts of excessive stuff like that

  Oh man, yet another “élite” phone for us to look over and never be able to afford. It’s the Mobiado 350 Pioneer. It looks sort of like an Indiana Jones relic (note: I’ve never seen an Indiana Jones movie)…
• Magic Mouse post-teardown loses some of its dark arts charm

  Were you expecting unicorn tears or something? iFixit keeps working to finish its list of teardown to-dos, this time with Apple’s new Magic Mouse. It probably comes as no surprise…
• Barnes & Noble Nook dual-screen reader officially announced… for real

  Barnes and Noble’s Nook ebook reader might have made an unexpected debut a little earlier than planned today, but it’s all official now. The Nook has a six-inch 16-level E-ink screen with a color touchscreen underneath for navigation and settings…

Don’t panic, we haven’t gone back in time. What we’re looking at here is the world’s first but still-yet-to-be-released phone that runs on Windows XP, and its Chinese maker has just released some juicy specs and interface images to tease us all. The ITG xpPhone will be blessed with the chutzpah-filled AMD “Super Mobile” CPU, coupled with either 512MB or 1GB RAM. Storage options range from 8GB SSD to 120GB HDD (probably 1.8-inch) and everything in between. While the sheet confirms both GSM and CDMA support, ITG’s pre-order page — which looks more like a newsletter sign-up page at the moment — is still vague on the phone’s availability and price. For now we’ll just continue to gaze at the interface pictures until something happens.

• Windows XP Phone: A First Look at its Custom Touchscreen Interface

  Remember the xpPhone? The 4.8-inch touchscreen slider has netbook-like specs, some sort of “AMD Super Mobile CPU”, and runs a full-blown copy of Windows XP. They’ve just…
• Thanko’s non-crappy GPS watch

  Tokyo-based Thanko, famous for its plethora of USB-enabled gadgets that make no sense whatsoever, has announced a GPS-enabled watch [JP] today. And this device has a USB (2.0) port, too…
• FCC filing shows Cisco FlipShare TV

  I don’t quite understand why companies still see Sneaker-net as the fastest way to get content from your PC to your TV, but here is the FlipShare TV, a device from Cisco designed to transmit standard or HDMI video to a TV…
• Apple Wants to Make All iPod Shuffle Users Look Like Idiots

  Oh Apple patents, you harbingers of coolness. Sometimes, however, you announce potential pain and doom. This iPod-cum-wireless headset is one of them. There’s no way I…
• Acer’s T230H: One of them there fancy touchscreen monitors that work with Windows 7

  How keen are you on touchscreens? Keen enough to navigate Windows 7 while using such a monitor? Acer has a new one, the T230H, which will allow you to do exactly that…
• Beer + Videogames = A Kegerator for the Ages

  The Arkeg would seem to have almost everything a Wired reader (or editor) would like: Beer. And videogames.
  What else is there?
  Indeed, we’ve enjoyed playing (and drinking)…
• Dual Screen Netbook Concept Actually Looks Practical

  I was pretty skeptical about Kohjinsha’s dual 10.1-incher when I first wrote about it, but it actually looks decently engineered in this video. The second display simply slides out behind the first…
• Toshiba announces new 14.6 megapixel back lit sensor

  Toshiba just announced their latest advancement in CMOS technology, the BSI (back-side illumination) sensor. The BSI sensor is designed to improve high ISO (or low light)…
• Samsung Omnia II Examined: Looks Okay, But Why the Resistive Touchscreen?

  Samsung’s going the HTC route with Windows Mobile on its new AMOLED-packing Omnia II by cramming its own TouchWiz interface into every nook and cranny of WinMo. Ai.rs has a thorough walkthrough of the hardware and TouchWiz for your perusal.
• Ex-AMD chief Hector Ruiz caught up in insider-trading scandal

  Hector Ruiz certainly led a checkered career as CEO of AMD, earning the highest CEO salary in the semiconductor industry as his company’s stock dropped, its products dragged…

A few days ago we got Motrola’s Droid in the mail. The device is quite awesome. Beyond being offered on Verizon’s network (which consistently squelches AT&T in coverage and speed) the phone is forged from super-solid (and stylish) hardware. Plus it runs freaking Android 2.0 as its OS. From reviewer Priya Ganapati:

You can, of course read the full review of the Mottorola Droid on our reviews website.

• More on the DROID: thoughts from the rest of Engadget

  Somewhat unusually, Verizon and Motorola actually gave us four DROID review units to play with — and while Paul, Nilay, and Chris all contributed to Josh’s official Engadget review…
• The Engadget Podcast, live…now!

  It’s DROID week, and that means we’re doing the podcast live. Josh, Paul, and Nilay will be going on-air at 4:30PM EST to talk about what Motorola, Verizon, and Google’s impressive new smartphone, as well as the other big stories from the week…
• Motorola DROID user guide unearthed in its entirety

  We’re not sure how much more Motorola DROID tidbits you need to whet your appetite until its November 6th Verizon launch, but in hopes of keeping those cravings at bay, we’ve got the entire user guide here…
• Taste Android 2.0 ‘Eclair’ From Your Own Computer

  If you’d like to explore the latest version of Android, aka Eclair, you can wait until Verizon starts selling the Motorola Droid, which is scheduled to be unveiled Wednesday…
• HTC Droid Eris Pictured, I Really Hope It’s Cheap

  We’ve seen leaks of the HTC Droid Eris (on Verizon) before, but now there’s a more official-looking shot from a Verizon training course—and it looks pretty much like the Hero…
• Verizon’s HTC Droid Eris to run Android 1.5 on a 528MHz CPU

  We can certainly understand why Verizon wants to brand all of its Android devices under the “Droid” label, but at this point we can’t say we understand why it’s launching…
• Motorola Droid gets fully previewed, ‘must-have’ claims may not be far off

  Boy Genius Report has thrown up a full preview of the Motorola Droid — or some prototype of it, anyhow — and any way you slice it, it looks like Android fans, Verizon fans…
• Motorola Droid (”Sholes”) hits the FCC with AT&T-friendly 3G – for real this time.

  A few days ago, we wrote a post highlighting the fact that a GSM version of the oh-so-hypetastic Motorola Droid (otherwise known as “Sholes” or “Tao”) had cleared the FCC runway…
• Motorola Droid Unexpectedly Appears on Motorola’s Site Ahead of Schedule

  Motorola is set to officially announce the Droid for Verizon on October 28th, but it popped up on Moto’s official site with full specs and more detail than we’ve seen so far.
• Rumor: Best Buy to have the Motorola Droid on October 24 for $599 sans contract

  It should be known by now that the Motorola Droid is launching on October 28, but according to these screenshots of Best Buy’s system, the retailer might have the phone available early on October 24…

If you jump through a few hoops you may be able to watch new premium channel Epix-for 72 hours. Online. The channel, launching Friday with only Verizon FiOS as a distributor, needs to generate consumer interest. You can’t do that with a very private beta or a service that can be used only by subscribers of multi-channel video providers who have a deal. The joint venture of Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Paramount, MGM and Lions Gate started offering some tokens this week through industry trades. Now it’s quietly offering weekend passes that are good for 72 hours for people who sign up and give the name of their satellite, cable or telecom service.

• CBS Digital Boss Quincy Smith’s Not-Quite Exit Interview: “Hulu’s a Great Service. That’s Part of the Problem.”

  Quincy Smith has finally announced that he’s sort-of leaving CBS, but will stay on as an advisor on its Web video strategy. So it seems like a good time for him to explain just what CBS’s Web video strategy is.
• Brizzly Adds Facebook – Aims to be The Blogger.com of Social Media

  Brizzly wants to be to microblogging what Blogger.com was to blogging five years ago. Currently, Brizzly offers a user-friendly browser-based interface for Twitter and Facebook…
• New Premium Net Epix Launching This Weekend, With Verizon Fios

  Hallelujah. Epix is finally launching on Oct 30. The premium movie channel, which is a JV between Paramount Pictures, MGM and and Lions Gate, will be available to Verizon’s FiOS TV subscribers…
• Two Yahoo Music Veterans Resurface with DashBox, a Service You’ll Never Use (Unless You’re a Music Pro)

  Digital music entrepreneurs Dave Goldberg and Bob Roback, who built up Launch Media in the 1990s and ran Yahoo’s music group for much of this decade, are trying their hands at tunes again.
  This time…
• Time Spent On Yahoo Homepage Up 20 Percent Since Redesign

  Remember when Yahoo started to roll out its new homepage last summer? It’s been live for all users for about three months now, and today Yahoo’s annual Analyst Day, senior…
• Is Book Sharing Really a Threat to Publishing?

  Last week bookseller Barnes and Noble (BKS) unveiled the Nook, its long-awaited eReading device. Although ill-named, the Nook is a worthy competitor to the Kindle, offering a number of features not found on the Amazon device…
• Kilar: Hulu Isn’t ‘Giving It Away For Free’

  Hulu CEO Jason Kilar responded to TV industry critics who complain that Hulu is undermining current models, saying they haven’t seen his business plan. Talking to B&C after the closing session of Denver…
• Nokia Unveils China 3G Phone

  Nokia Corp. (NOK) unveiled its first cell phone developed with China’s homegrown third-generation mobile technology Tuesday, saying it would aim to “democratize” the smart phone market by aiming to sell lower-priced handsets at higher volumes.
• What are Hulu’s Mysterious Plans?

  Everyone is looking to Hulu as the future of Internet TV. The joint venture between several major networks, Hulu delivers free, ad-supported programming via online streams – an untested model for long-term profitability…
• Gadget-Picking Site Measy Goes Live

  As the holiday shopping season approaches many of us will be facing some very tough decisions: do we get the Asus netbook computer or the HP Mini, a Canon digital camera or a Nikon…

In jumping right from a consulting gig where he helped chart Guardian America’s web strategy to now creating a local Washington DC news site for the company that owns Politico, Jim Brady has a clear sense of what he wants his new venture to be: replicable, something that was digital and something that had a web-only focus. Brady, a former web editor for the Washington Post, spoke to paidContent about his plans for the site-which currently has no name-in terms of building its business and why he’s simply not creating an online newspaper.

• Politico Owner Tries To Completely Kill The Washington Post

  Politico’s owner, Robert Allbritton, is taking on the Washington Post directly. He’s launching a general DC metro news site, with Jim Brady, formerly in charge of WaPo’s website…
• Politico Owner Launching a Local DC Site; Jim Brady Running It

  Politco’s owner is not content with decimating Washington Post’s franchise of politics coverage, but is now going after where it may hurt most: local coverage. Allbritton Communications is working on launching a local DC site…
• Guardian in hot water over activist face flash

  An exposé of dodgy police tactics came under fire today from the very people it was intended to benefit – as activists accused the Guardian of disregarding personal privacy…
• 3 to offer iPhone next year

  Orange UK will start selling the iPhone early next month. And 3 has said it will offer the in-demand handset next year.
  Orange will begin selling the handset in Britain on 10 November – one day after O2’s two-year exclusive ends…
• Google to Launch Music Service?

  It’s TechCrunch, so take it with pretzel-sized salt. That said, the blog that claimed Google was in “late stage talks” to buy Twitter claims that the Mountain View firm might try and launch a music service in the U.S….
• Apple’s EU Chief On Gadget Sales, iPhone Pricing, Elusive Beatles Tracks

  One thing particularly stood out in Apple’s extraordinary Q4 earnings this week: revenue is Europe was up 45 percent, compared to 25 percent for all territories. What’s the recipe for success? Guardian.
• Auto thief foiled by guardian satellite

  A 21-year-old man was arrested Sunday after the 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe he’s accused of carjacking was electronically disabled as he sped away from two police cruisers.
  The SUV was stopped by OnStar…
• GNM Axing GuardianAmerica.com, Shuffling Execs In Restructure

  Guardian News & Media (GNM) is shuffling several exec chairs and abandoning its GuardianAmerica.com strategy, as it continues a big structural review. In all, seven…
• Guardian Mulls Paid Members’ Club; Rules Out Pay Wall, Calling It ‘Stupid’

  As the search for new newspaper income rolls on, The Guardian is asking readers’ views on a proposed pay-for “members’ club” to “support The Guardian financially.”
  It…