Data mining

iPad Cuts Into Apps Development

Apple’s new iPad is drawing developers’ attention away from applications for smart phones — even the company’s own iPhone.

Flurry, which specializes in mobile application analytics, said developers flocked to Apple’s tablet device in the run-up to its release April 3. The company tracks which operating systems developers are working on when they log in to Flurry's system. Here's what it found.

New project starts in 2009
iPhone: 78 percent
Android: 18 percent
BlackBerry: 4 percent

60 days before iPad’s launch

iPhone: 67 percent
iPad: 22 percent
Android: 10 percent
BlackBerry: 1 percent

Source: Flurry

Transparency Efforts Reduce FOIA Requests

The Obama administration's focus on transparency is leading to fewer records requests, according to The Hill newspaper. The number of Freedom of Information Act requests fell by about 46,000 between fiscal 2008 and 2009, a 7.6 percent decrease. White House officials attributed the drop to the administration releasing government data and posting it on public Web sites, according to The Hill.

FOIA requests
Fiscal 2008: 605,491
Fiscal 2009: 559,491

Sources: Justice Department, The Hill

Experts Fear a Cyberattack Is Imminent

More than seven in 10 federal information technology professionals believe a foreign country will launch a cyberattack against the United States, according to a survey by Clarus Research Group. The firm polled about 200 federal IT officials and other decision-makers, as reported in The Hill newspaper.

74 percent: The number of national security IT professionals who think a foreign-based cyberattack will occur by the end of the year.

42 percent: The number of all respondents who ranked the government's ability to handle such threats as fair or poor.

Sources: Clarus Research Group, The Hill