We can't think of a bigger endorsement for a security and navigation service than a state Department of Education using it. Which is why we're excited to tell you that the Mississippi Department of Education is a happy OpenDNS user.

The Mississippi DOE switched from Websense to OpenDNS after finding OpenDNS meets all of its security needs — at a fraction of the price of Websense's appliance-based solution. For Wade Grant, Senior Network Specialist, and his team, the benefits of using OpenDNS expand beyond reliable DNS, content filtering, and anti-phishing.

"Using OpenDNS has cut down on the amount of traffic generated by our network by as much as 40 percent. OpenDNS's increased performance when dealing with thousands of queries has been worth the switch from Websense, in addition to the cost savings," says Grant. "OpenDNS provides us with an additional layer to help keep kids on task."

Photo by Flickr user Extra Ketchup

AT&T customers buying or upgrading to a smartphone must subscribe to a data plan, starting September 6, according to reports.

Existing smartphone customers sans a data plan will be grandfathered in.

Boy Genius Report first noted the change Friday, citing internal e-mails. BusinessWeek and Information Week later confirmed the change with AT&T.

According to Information Week, here is AT&T's statement:

Smartphone users tend to consume a higher amount of data services, like advanced e-mail, mobile Web, applications and more. Being able to take full advantage of these features without having to worry about a fluctuating or unusually high bill generally leads to greater customer satisfaction, so effective Sept. 6, smartphone customers will need to subscribe to a data plan, as the vast majority of customers already do.

On August 11, Randi Levin, the chief information officer of the city of Los Angeles, stood before City Council members at a hearing of the information technology committee and made her case for why the nation's second-largest city should adopt Google Apps.

"The ability to get whatever information the city needs, whenever they need it, on whatever device they need it on will fundamentally change the way the city works and enhance productivity greatly," she said. "In a fiscal crisis it is difficult to find technology solutions that will save money without requiring a significant capital outlay to achieve those objectives."

Security concerns have kept many government agencies and large corporations away from Google Apps. That is starting to change. A number of small U.S. cities are using the suite and there are Google Apps pilots in more than a dozen federal agencies. If Los Angeles signs on, it would join the District of Columbia as one of the largest government adoptions.

Legendary guitarist Steve Vai joins us as a guest blogger revealing his favorite guitar instrumentals (and what guitar riff he deems is the "voice of God"). Be sure to check out his live album 'Where the Wild Things Are' debuting on September 29th. The DVD (also available Blu-ray and audio CD) covers live footage from his 'Sound Theories' World Tour at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. You can also also listen to Steve Vai on the Rock Instrumentals station.

I just saw this shit on the news:

Weeks before his death, Michael Jackson was designing a clothing line with Ed Hardy. ED FUCKING HARDY. I don’t think I can listen to Thriller ever again…

Cool story about Les Paul's recording history and a very cool Quicktime video of Les Paul and Mary Ford performing "Waiting for the Sunshine"

LOVE IT!