3 Key Areas of Technological Growth in the Public Sector in 2024

by  Celeste O'Dea

State and local governments will confront challenges from artificial intelligence, enhanced cybersecurity and multicloud interoperability.

In the age of cloud computing, technology plays a major role in empowering governments to become the data-driven organizations they aspire to be. New emerging use cases in artificial intelligence and cloud computing continue to put pressure on agencies to evolve and embrace these technologies to meet public needs in more efficient, accurate ways.

Some in the public sector have been slow to adopt new cloud solutions or buy into the AI trend that has swept the world in the past year. At the state level, for example, some have been aggressive in adoption, while others have been in a wait-and-see mode.

 Read full story at StateTech…

FTC Cracks Down on AI Impersonation Scammers

by  Alexandra Kelley

The Federal Trade Commission is looking to extend its authority to target fraudsters impersonating individuals in scams. The proposed rule covers the misuse of generative artificial intelligence and other technologies.

… “Fraudsters are using AI tools to impersonate individuals with eerie precision and at a much wider scale. With voice cloning and other AI-driven scams on the rise, protecting Americans from impersonator fraud is more critical than ever,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan. “Our proposed expansions to the final impersonation rule would do just that, strengthening the FTC's toolkit to address AI-enabled scams impersonating individuals.”

 Read full story at NewxtGov/FCW…

GSA Begins Work on New Telecom Strategy

by  Nick Wakeman

The General Services Administration wants industry input on what today's telecommunications and IT trends are, plus insights on the challenges they faced while transitioning to the current Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions vehicle.

The General Services Administration has its massive Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract in place through 2032, but they and some other agencies still rely on older contracts to supplement and transition telecommunications work to EIS.

 Read full story at WashingtonTechnology…

10 Hidden Safari Features You Simply Must Try

by  Pranay Parab

From generating beautiful pull-quotes to unlocking the power of extensions, it's all happening here.

Safari has long been the default browser on your iPhone and Mac, but there's a good chance you don't use it. It might be time to rethink that. Even if you prefer other browsers such as Chrome or Firefox, Apple has been improving Safari with each passing year, and in 2024, it has some interesting hidden features that might just tempt you to ditch your other options.

Here's a look at the best hidden Safari features definitely worth trying.

 Read full story at Lifehacker…

Apple Has a Warning: Don't Put Your iPhone in Rice if It Gets Wet

by  Chris Morris

Save your rice for dinner. Here's what Apple says you should do instead if you get water in your iPhone.

For over a decade, the home remedy for people who drop their iPhone in the sink, a puddle, or, ahem, the toilet has been the same: Dry it off and stick it in dry rice as quickly as you can. Now, Apple is finally weighing in on that fix--and warning people it could do more harm than good.

“Don't put your iPhone in a bag of rice,” the company said in a recent support post. “Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.”

 Read full story at  Fast Company

What Is Copilot? Microsoft's AI Assistant Explained

by  Michael Muchmore

Microsoft's Copilot generative AI is popping up in Windows, Edge, Office apps, and Bing. But just what exactly is it? Here's everything you need to know.

Microsoft bills its Copilot generative AI service as "your everyday AI companion." That sounds nice, but what the heck does it mean?

Copilot is a conversational chat interface that lets you search for specific information, generate text such as emails and summaries, and create images based on text prompts you write. For example, if you type in, “Summarize this memo in two sentences,” Copilot will do just that by giving you a concise written summary in the chat interface below your request. Ditto for images when you describe what you want it to draw. You can even ask Copilot to write code in many widely used computer languages, including JavaScript, C, and Python.

 Read full story at PCMag…

DOE Devotes Funds for Improved Efficiency of Hydropower Facilities

by  Department of Energy

Department of energy announced Nearly $72 Million in Largest Single Investment to Support America's Hydropower Facilities

In support of the President Biden's Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of 46 hydroelectric projects across 19 states to receive up to $71.5 million in incentive payments to increase the generation efficiency of the Nation's existing hydropower fleet. Administered by the Grid Deployment Office and funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentive payments represent DOE's largest investment in hydroelectric facilities to date.

“Hydropower is the nation's prototype of renewable power playing an important role in deploying affordable and reliable electricity across the country,"”said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

 Read full story at Department of Energy…

Revolutionizing Energy Management

by Branko Terzic with John Petrovich

The Grand Transition in energy is underway as a matter of national policy and it is not just about replacement of fossil fuels.

While the most publicized aspect is that of replacement of fossil fuel electric power generation with renewable energy resources, most typically wind and solar, federal, and state policies have also been implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency and conservation. The late Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy and Energy Efficiency Hall of Fame Honoree, called energy efficiency the first fuel, recognizing the multiple benefits from energy efficiency investments.

 Read full story at Energy Central…

TVA Favors Building Gas Plant to Replace Aging Kingston Coal-Fired Units

by  Kevin Clark

The federal utility prefers replacing the Kingston Fossil Plant with a single combined-cycle gas plant paired with 16 dual-fuel Aeroderivative combustion turbines, a 3 to 4 MW solar site and a 100 MW battery energy storage system.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is expected to retire its nine-unit, coal-fired Kingston Fossil Plant by 2027 and replace it with a natural gas-fired plant, solar and battery storage.

That was the verdict from TVA's Final Environmental Impact Statement issued by the federal utility Feb. 16 after a public review process last year over how to replace the coal-fired units at Kingston. TVA anticipates making a final decision in March 2024.

TVA mainly evaluated two options to provide at least 1,500 MW of generation to replace the capacity to be lost, plus additional capacity to support anticipated load growth.

 Read full story at Power Engineering…