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Caitlin Fairchild

Web Producer Caitlin Fairchild joined Government Executive in summer 2011 as an editorial fellow, after graduating from the College of William & Mary, where she spent four years writing for the student newspaper, The Flat Hat. In March 2012, she was hired full time as a web producer. She has completed internships at Washingtonian Magazine and at the public affairs office of Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas.
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Here's How to Save Phone Data While Traveling

November 2, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow As the holiday season approaches, people are finalizing the details of their upcoming travel plans. Keeping the smartphone offline can be key while traveling, especially when traveling abroad. No one wants to discover massive data charges after they've returned home. But many travelers will still need a smartphone for some...

Can Computers Read? They're Learning To

November 1, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow When logging into a website or app, we sometimes have to prove we're a human. This is a tricky task, previously done by filling out a Captcha. But those squiggly, sometimes nonsensical word combos have quickly become much easier to read and much easier to crack for computer systems, provided...

These Driverless Cars Won't Rely on You in An Emergency

October 31, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Waymo has been testing autonomous vehicles with human passengers for the last several years, but the company recently decided to make one important change. The company, a subsidiary of Google, told Reuters they stopped developing "hand-off" features that made drivers take control in dangerous situations, which many other autonomous vehicles...

Apple Versus Google: Whose New Phone is Better?

October 30, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Two powerful new smartphones, Apple iPhone 8 and Google's Pixel 2, have entered the market, but which one is the better choice? The iPhone 8 runs OS 11 and has Siri. The Pixel 2 runs Android Oreo and has Google Assistant. Both devices are water resistant but neither has a...

McAfee Stops Lettings Foreign Governments See Its Source Code

October 27, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow While everyone is worrying about Kaspersky software on government systems, McAfee, a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm, is worried about government interference in its software. The company will no longer let foreign governments, especially Russia, review its source code, a company spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. McAfee was previously a part of...

Twitter Bans Ads From Russian Media

October 26, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Twitter announced Thursday that they were planning to "off-board" advertising from any accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, two Russian news sources. This decision comes after a report from the U.S. Intelligence Community that concluded RT and Sputnik acted on behalf of the Russian government and attempted to...

Do You Trust Amazon to Enter Your House?

October 25, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Amazon announced a new service on Wednesday called Amazon Key, which would allow an Amazon delivery worker to place packages just inside the door of the recipient's house. This may be welcome news to the many people who have had packages stolen or damaged by inclement weather but requires significant...

Google Launches Its Own Online Payment System

October 24, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Google is introducing a new online payment system meant to rival PayPal. The system, Pay with Google, allows users to check out from a few popular websites with just a couple taps The feature was first introduced in May in a sneak peek, but now the tech giant is offering...

On Second Thought, Keep Your Laptop With You, FAA Says

October 23, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow In March, the Homeland Security Department announced it was planning on banning laptops on flights coming into the United States from the Middle East and North Africa. In June, DHS announced plans to expand that restriction and introduced additional security rules for all international flights coming into the US. Now,...

Google Introduces New Bug Bounty

October 20, 2017 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Attention all good-guy hackers, Google has a job for you. The tech giant has set up a new bug bounty program that would focus on the top Android apps found in Google's Play Store. This isn't the tech giant's first bug bounty program, but this one will pay hackers who...