Four short links: 30 June 2009

Military Open Source, Social Govwork, Dietbot, and US IT Dashboard

1. Military Open Source Software Conference -- 12-13 August 2009 in Atlanta.
2. Govloop -- a "Social Network for Gov 2.0". Gov 2.0 could easily become the intersection of talk radio and social media consultant inanity. As with the Web 2.0 lunacy, when everyone who could spell wiki tried to sell one, you should cultivate the art of identifying and sidestepping the bozos, the time-wasters, and the charlatans who use buzzwords as a convenient alternative to thought. (via cheeky_geeky on Twitter)
3. Introducing the Autom -- a personal robot to help you lose weight. Developed by Initiative Automata as an offshoot from MIT researcher Cory Kidd, Autom has conversations that encourage you to record your diet and exercise. The theory is that the added benefit of interaction will help you stick with the diet longer, increasing the chance that it will stick. Trials showed Autom users stick with their "weight loss regimen" twice as long as pencil-and-paper. (via So, Where's My Robot?)
4. USA Government IT Dashboard Launches -- Vivek Kundra's latest project, a dashboard giving insight into government spending. Contractors, CIOs, projects, schedules, and data via an API. Built in Drupal!