We tweeted. You clicked. Here are some of the most popular tweets we sent out this week…

- Could Virtual Reality Fix PTSD? http://bit.ly/9QbIYI

- What Happens Next, Senators? http://bit.ly/bPeF57

- Failure to Launch Off! http://bit.ly/a8UQtJ

- Pentagon OKs social-media access http://bit.ly/aL5VMI

- i-Phone on the Battlefields? http://bit.ly/d0gLf1

- Army, Navy and Air Force continue to ban flash media http://bit.ly/9FL9So

- Who has the U.S. Lost Its Crown To? http://bit.ly/cyzPrd

Last week, we told you about CitizenTube, a channel gives you a chance to ask the President follow up questions after the State of the Union speech. For the past five days since the President’s speech, people from across the country have submitted and voted on video and text questions on CitizenTube.

Today, the President will respond to these questions in a live YouTube interview at 1:45 p.m EST.

This is the first time President Obama will answer follow-up questions since the speech last week. CitizenTube promises the interview “will cover a range of issues, minimize duplicate questions, and include both video and text submissions.”

As of now, well over 11,000 questions have been submitted covering a broad cross-section of topics and concerns.

Tune-in to CitizenTube at 1:45 pm EST for the interview.

This Wednesday, at 9pm EST, president Barack Obama will deliver his State of the Union speech.

This year will be extra special as the followup to Obama’s speech viewers will have the opportunity to submit questions (and vote on other users’ questions) in response to the speech on youtube.com/CitizenTube. Next week, Obama will answer some of the questions in an online event delivered live from the White House. From the YouTube blog:

“Presidents have long used new technology to share their message directly with the American people. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to broadcast the State of the Union over the radio in 1923, and President Truman made history in 1947 when he became the first to deliver his address to a live television audience.

This year’s State of the Union speech will also make history. It will be the first time that citizens will have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions during the speech — and to hear the president’s response to those questions.”

Currently, the exact timing of the followup event is unknown.

Ruby is a new, cutting edge, open source programming language gaining popularity in the programming community. It is made up of a combination of other languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada and Lisp) that form balanced functional programming with imperative programming. Ruby has been ranked among the top 10 programming languages worldwide and SGIS experts have been at the fore-front of training with this language to meet the demand and deliver the best technical solutions to our customers.

“Knowing this language allows our employees to handle the demands for emerging technology,” said Marc Mussoline, an Operations Manager at SGIS. A growing number of our customers have expressed interest Ruby’s capabilities because it is an attractive technical solution to customer problems, he said.

The user community for this relatively new, dynamic language continues to grow daily. SGIS employees who are already trained in Ruby have been extremely helpful to our customers. The language offers simplicity and productivity and is viewed as flexible because parts can be freely altered and are non-restricting on the coder.

At SGIS, our experts develop and apply advanced technical solutions to help protect our fellow citizens from threats by aggressors, provide advanced tools to soldiers who defend our nation and develop technologies that enable the further exploration of our solar system.

To learn about our other emerging capabilities, visit our Website by clicking here.

In a previous blog post, we discussed the growing efforts made by government officials towards cybersecurity. As the popularity of online social networking and information sharing services continue to grow, more and more security threats arise. A new military command structure will need more flexibility than traditional models to combat these threats, according to Lt. Gen. William Lord, chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.

Lord recently spoke at an AFCEA Northern Virginia chapter and said non-traditional elements will play a big role in creating a command model that will be successful in such a domain. Cyberspace cannot be dominated because it is a commercial enterprise and not a military enterprise, he said.

As military and government officials continue finding ways to battle cyber threats, SGIS experts are working towards finding solutions to these threats as well. If you are interested in working on cybersecurity and a career with SGIS, visit our Careers page for a listing of our current openings.

Source: Federal Computer Week, “Cyber threat calls for flexibility in command model, general says” http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/09/18/Lord-emphasizes-joint-force-approach-to-battle.aspx

Cybersecurity is one of the most widely discussed topics in recent government news. The popularity of online collaboration and information sharing technologies and concerns over cyber attacks and cyber espionage have pushed the subject into the public eye.

One of this week’s most read and most e-mailed articles on NextGov.com explains the Department of Homeland Security’s new initiatives to protect federal computer networks against cyber attacks.

As a result, the Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team is currently developing and testing Einstein 3, an upgrade upon predecessor Einstein 2, which was criticized for being too reactive.

Homeland Security is also working towards proactive approaches with the White House and industry on a cyber incident response plan that will guide how organizations react in the occurrence of a widespread attack.

To read more about Cybersecurity and how SGIS defends individuals and government agencies against cyber attacks, click here.

Source: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090910_6952.php?oref=rss

The Department of Defense Website recently underwent a huge transformation. Formerly known as “DefenseLINK.mil,” the DoD page has now become a new-and-improved “Defense.gov.” The reason for the change? A strategy to emphasize two-way, personal communication with the American public, according to Price Floyd, principal deputy assistant secretary of public affairs. The launch is targeted specifically towards the 18- to 24-year-old age group. Defense officials at the Pentagon are hoping to reach and engage these users in a number of ways by allowing them to post questions, provide feedback and participate in other interactive features.

If you haven’t been to the page yet, you’ll definitely want to take a look.

New DoD Homepage

Have you visited the new DoD Website? What security risks do you think should be addressed?

In July, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced 17 grants, totaling more than $7.5 million dollars that would provide approximately 3,000 veterans with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers. The grants are being awarded under the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program (VWIP).

As if this wasn’t enough good news, there will be a strong emphasis on training veterans who are interested in “green jobs.” These jobs range from fields such as energy efficiency, renewable energy and modern electric-power development to clean vehicle development. To view more information about this initiative, visit http://www.doleta.gov and look for the “green jobs” heading.

Not sure what qualifies as a “green job?” You can find more information about Green Careers here and you can view the full press release of Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announcement here.

SGIS was recently awarded the largest contract in company history, valued at over $130 million, by the U.S. Army in support of Project Manager, Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS).

One of our core values is “Work & Play: We work hard. We have fun. We encourage and celebrate success at all levels.” We value our employees and reward them for their exemplary work. One of our SGIS employees recently won a lease on a brand new Mercedes for his work on the contract.

F-22 breaking sound barrier over the Gulf of Alaska

The new photo has gained recent popularity, capturing an Air Force F-22 Raptor aircraft as it does a supersonic flyby over the Gulf of Alaska on June 22. The aircraft carrier was participating in Northern Edge 2009, an exercise focused on detecting and tracking things at sea, in the air and on land. Scientists refer to it as a vapor cone, shock collar, or shock egg, and believe it is caused by what is known as a Prandtl-Glauert singularity. To learn more, click here.