FEMA's New Website for Smartphones

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has recently announced the launch of new website specially designed for smartphones, available at http://m.fema.gov/.

Smartphones are becoming more prevalent, affordable, reliable and more viable to locate and obtain information and assistance. This service will provide yet another avenue for the sharing of important information that is so critical to ensuring the public is prepared for emergencies. As we've seen in recent cases, often times after a disaster, mobile devices become a crucial lifeline to provide information to survivors. ~ FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate

The U.S. Courts Website Redesigned

The United States Courts website is redesigned. Today's announcement introduces new enhancements and highlight the primary goal of the website.

The site has been redesigned to make it more attractive, accessible, and useful to its diverse audience of users. The improvements further the website's mission of increasing public interest, awareness, and understanding of the federal court system and its functions, and to serve as a source for disseminating Federal Judiciary information to the public.

The website is a primary source of information on the structure, function, and operations of the federal courts. It plays an important role in how the Judiciary communicates to the public, with useful and timely information for students, news media, attorneys, academics, government officials, associations, and others - both in the United States and worldwide.

Among the objectives of the redesign are a more dynamic website that can integrate emerging web technologies, such as RSS, podcasts, and multimedia.

The website features email delivery services, multimedia services including video, podcasts, photos, YouTube channel, widgets, and read-aloud services.

Supreme Court's new website

This press release has details of the new Supreme Court website, which debuted yesterday. The web address changed from http://www.supremecourtus.gov to http://www.supremecourt.gov, and the Supreme Court took over administration of the site from the GPO.

Dockets, oral arguments, opinions, and order remain available, along with enhanced historical information. The search capabilities have been improved, and overall the updated design is more user friendly.

50 Best Websites 2009

The TIME featured a post listing 50 Best Websites 2009 including sites such are Flickr, Delicious, Metafilter, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, Wolfram|Alpha, Hulu, Vimeo, Amazon, Kayak, Netflix, and many others. Check out the full list.

USCIS Unveiles New Website

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) unveiled a new website. User can subscribe to new updates via RSS feed or updates can be received via email. The site seems clean and easy to navigate through. It offers information about USCIS related topics, forms, laws, resources, and news.

What do you think? Comments?

The World's 10 Best Court Websites

Via Legal Blog Watch and with a little bit of delay, Justice Served announced its annual awards for the Top 10 Court Websites in the world. Justice Served is a consulting firm that provides services and training to courts in management and technology. It looked at thousands of court Web sites and evaluated them based on criteria including court and web functionality.

The Winners Are:
Superior Court of California, County of Orange
Colorado State Judicial Branch
State Court of Chatham County Georgia
Singapore Subordinate Courts of Singapore
Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara
Courts Service of Ireland
Iowa Judicial Branch
Spokane County District Court
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
Alabama's Legal Information Network

You can access the world's 10 best court websites for the previous years going back to 1999. Click here and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.

Update to Energy & Fuel Page at USA.gov

The Energy and Fuel page, at the USA.gov website has been updated by a new link. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) provides information about current and potential energy legislation, energy policy, programs, consumer resources, publications and meetings, and most current news from the press room. The ACEEE was founded in 1980

The ACEEE is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. ACEEE carries out its mission by:

• Conducting in-depth technical and policy analyses
• Advising policymakers and program managers
• Working collaboratively with businesses, government officials, public interest groups, and other organizations
• Converting conferences and workshops, primarily for energy efficiency professionals
• Assisting and encouraging the media to cover energy efficiency policy and technology issues
• Educating businesses and consumers through our reports, books, conference proceedings, media outreach, and Web site

Don't forget you can subscribe to all news from the USA.gov by email or via RSS feed.

Most Dangerous Search Terms

CNN.com reports the risks of some terms when searching on the Internet. In an article titled What are the most dangerous search terms on the Internet, based on a report by McAfee, you can find out what words, used as search terms on the Internet, pose a higher risk of acquiring virus or other malware on your computer.

If you like to search for "music lyrics" or "free" things, you are engaging in risky cyber behavior. And "free music downloads" puts 20 percent of Web surfers in harm's way of malicious software, known as "malware."

A new research report by U.S.-based antivirus software company McAfee has identified the most dangerous Internet search words that place users on pages with a higher likelihood of cyber attacks. The study examined 2,600 popular keywords on five major search engines -- Google, Yahoo, Live, AOL and Ask -- and analyzed 413,000 Web pages.

CIA Launches New Website

The Central Intelligence Agency launched a new website, titled The World Factbook. It provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. The Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.
A completely redesigned look presenting a cleaner look, improved navigation, and a host of added features. Check it out yourself.

New Blogs From the U.S. Government

For those who read blogs or for those who would like to start. The U.S. Government website has a section dedicated to government related blogs. Currently there are 50 blogs listed. The list offers blogs related to topics such are U.S. Marines, Coast Guards, Centers for disease control and prevention, congressional budget, energy savers, future digital systems, grants, Greenversations, minorities, National parks, Smithsonian Institution, White House, and many others. The latest additions are:

• Food and Drug Administration Transparency Blog
• Science and Technology Policy Blog
• White House Open Government Blog

You can subscribe to receive any U.S. Government website updates either via email or via RSS feed.

Data.gov - New Page at USA.gov

USA.gov has recently been updated with Data.gov as a part of the Data and Statistics - General Reference Resources page. The following is the stated purpose:

The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

Further,

Data.gov includes a searchable data catalog that includes access to data in two ways: through the "raw" data catalog and using tools.

The Primary Goal of this site reads as follows:

A primary goal of Data.gov is to improve access to Federal data and expand creative use of those data beyond the walls of government by encouraging innovative ideas (e.g., web applications). Data.gov strives to make government more transparent and is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. The openness derived from Data.gov will strengthen our Nation's democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Users may also suggest other data and materials to be added to this page and the searchable database.

And don't forget that you can subscribe to receive automatic updates from USA.gov via email or via RSS feed.

Law Library of Congress on Sonia Sotomayor

The Law Library of Congress launched a new website on Supreme Court Nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, listing articles and books, congressional documents, cases, and other web resources about Ms. Sotomayor, as part of their find legal resources section. To add to the list, also check out Pace Honorary Degree Recipient Sonia Sotomayor's profile on Pace Law School website.

StateScape Billfinder

StateScape Billfinder is a policy tracking and analysis website that allows you to quickly find any state or federal bills. As the creators describe themselves,

StateScape serves organizations seeking a competitive edge in government relations by providing the fastest and most accurate legislative and regulatory information and analysis service on the market.

Further,

Bill Finder helps you find any bill eligible for consideration in the current calendar year using either keywords and phrases or bill numbers.

StateScape provides:

• Legislative and regulatory monitoring
• Coverage of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, hundreds of localities and the federal government
• Issue analysis and political intelligence
• Real time updates and e-mail alerts
• Report formatting possibilities
• Links to customized reports with real time updates
• Customized web pages and direct data feeds

Among the search options is a quick search, legis track, and Bill finder. If you had an experience with this website, feel free to share your opinions.

EU dailies in 10 Languages

Via Crossroads magazine, as part of the news section, an article titled New Portal to Translate EU Dailies Into 10 Languages, features a new website attempting to have all citizens of EU to read the same thing.

A new website launched Tuesday (26 May) aims to get EU citizens across the 27 member states talking and reading about the same issues, something that to date has been hindered by language barriers. With EUR 3m of European Commission funds a year and a team of 10 journalists, www.presseurop.eu is part of the EU’s drive to create a ‘European public sphere.’

Among the languages are: Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. Especially for those who are into international comparative research, staying on the top of the current news might be helpful.

Library Of Congress On The U.S. Constitution

The Library of Congress has launched a new site dedicated to the Constitution of the U.S., titled United States: The Constitution. Documents are available in PDF format and include citations. Check it out yourself!

The website offers the following:

• Constitutional Interpretation
• Executive Privilege
• Military Tribunals
• National Security Whistleblowers
• Presidential Inherent Powers
• Presidential Signing Statements
• Second Amendment
• States Secrets Privilege
• War Powers
• War Powers Resolutions
• Additional Constitutional Resources

NYC New Website and Information Center Powered By Google Maps

Via BeSpecific, Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, announced the launch of a new dynamic website powered by Google Maps together with a new Information Center to help tourists and residents of New York City to better explore the city.

In partnership with Google, we are launching a new website and Information Center to help make it easier for both visitors and residents to explore all the energy, excitement and diversity of New York City's five boroughs. nycgo.com is the official resource on the web for all there is to see, do and experience in the City. This dynamic site uses Google Maps to help you plan your New York experience and find hotels, restaurants and entertainment, in addition to exclusive citywide savings and promotions. With nycgo.com you can use Google Maps to get directions to attractions throughout the City, and even send the info to your phone with Google Maps for mobile.

Obama White House website

With the new administration came a new White House website. The Obama administration website includes, among other things, video from the inauguration, President Obama's inaugural address and his first proclamation calling for a national day of renewal and reconciliation, a blog, and the agenda of the Obama-Biden administration.