Circuit

Yahoo for the shuttle

NASA and Yahoo officials jumped for joy after their joint Webcast of last week's shuttle launch broke Internet records. About 433,000 people watched the Return to Flight liftoff, quadrupling the ratings of NASA's previous record, set this past July 4 when fireworks generated by a NASA probe crashing into a comet drew 118,000 Internet users. Continuous coverage of the 12-day mission is available at www.yahoo. com.

New jobs

Change is in the air at Computer Sciences Corp. Last week, Austin Yerks, president of business development at CSC, was named president of its Defense Integrated Systems division, which handles more than $1 billion in business from Army and Air Force contracts. Yerks' new position moves him from a marketing role to an operational management role.

Also, CSC has named Jose Jimenez president of CSC's Federal Sector Enforcement, Security and Intelligence division. Jimenez will direct the company's work for the Homeland Security Department, the intelligence community and other national law enforcement and security endeavors.

Ivy recognition

An award from Harvard University is always worth its weight in gold. And this year, the prestigious Ivy League school awarded six public-sector programs its government Oscar.

Included this year is the Office of Management and Budget's Program Assessment Rating Tool, which assesses every federal program's purpose, design, management and results to determine effectiveness. The uniform assessment is used to improve management and make smart budget decisions.

A link to the PART Web site available on FCW.com Download's Data Call at www.fcw.com/download. We will also post a link where you can find the list of winners, each of whom will receive $100,000 grants to expand their efforts.

In the market for a few good ideas

Got an idea for homeland cyber information assurance? Our colleagues on the other side of the FCW Media Group office are seeking insights and white papers as they prepare for a conference on the subject later this year. The information will be part of the 6th annual Security Conference and Exhibition: Homeland, Cyber and Information Assurance.

The deadline for abstract submissions is Aug. 24.

For more information, visit FCW.com Download's Data Call. Or click there yourself by going to the events part of FCW.com, located in the far right column of our Web page.

Another good e-idea

The Direct Marketing Association, the nation's largest direct marketing group, set up a registry last week to remove dead people from its telemarketing, e-mail and direct mail lists — for $1.

The organization, which represents more than 5,000 companies worldwide, said its Deceased Do Not Contact list was designed to help families dealing with the loss of a loved one. The idea was modeled after the federal government's Do Not Call list, which allows consumers to sign up online and imposes fines on telemarketers when they call those consumers.

The free Do Not Call list was established in 2003 and has more than 97 million numbers.

What vacation?

A new poll shows that managers, executives and many workers check in with the office via e-mail at least once during their vacations.

The Rasmussen Reports poll found that 23 percent of U.S. workers plan to check their e-mail during their vacation this year. That number increases to 38 percent for managers and 40 percent for entrepreneurs.

To help them, Novatel Wireless, which provides wireless broadband access solutions, is marketing 3G technologies to give these Type A workers broadband connectivity, eliminating the need to seek wireless hot spots at coffee shops and hotels.

We say there's got to be a better way — take a few days away from work and enjoy your vacation.

Got a tip? Send it to jhasson@fcw.com.