A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.

Why Government Tech Is So Poor
Farhad Manjoo cuts into the government’s baggy IT procurement process.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor

The Gonzales Maryland Poll for October was released Thursday, and the results showed approval ratings dropping for Governor Martin O’Malley and President Barack Obama. The poll surveyed 819 registered voters in Maryland who said they were likely to vote in the 2014 General Election.

In an interview aired on WBAL-TV Channel 11, Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris said it’s hard to determine why O’Malley’s approval rating dropped, but a number of laws have taken affect including the controversial gas tax and gun laws.

“O’Malley’s popularity rating if I remember correctly has sort of bounced around.  A little bit above 50, a little bit below 50 for some time, so I’m not sure what to make of this,” Norris said.

The poll results showed President Obama’s approval rating dropping from 64% in January to 58% in September. Norris said the government shutdown was a factor, but wondered if the numbers would be higher Thursday with the government back open.

“I think people are concerned about a government shutdown for good reason because the government provides services to the people and when the government is shutdown people  can’t get those services,” he said.

Norris also commented on how there is very little wiggle room in the Democratic primary in the race for governor with so many voters undecided and with the poll showing Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown with a twenty-point lead over Attorney General Douglas Gansler.

You can find the full story on WBAL-TV here.

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

by Romy Hübler, Doaa Rashed and Maria Nandadevi Cortes Rodriguez

Criminals are increasingly using the internet to turn dirty money into a spotless shade of green. Now a report written for the United Nations lifts the lid on many of these increasingly popular techniques.

Life's been pretty good lately! I've just signed a land contract with my previous landlord to buy the house I'm living in, in Milwaukee. I quite like Milwaukee and the house, so I'm excited about that. Feels a bit grown-uppy.

Last month I took a trip to Scotland with some friends which was great, in part because it's the only non-tech trip I've taken in some time.

I'm significantly healthier than I was 3-4 months ago. I'm down about 40lbs. I have quite a ways to go to be truly healthy, but I'm doing all the right stuff including a lot of walking, biking, weight training, and eating better and drinking less. I've already booked another stay at the health resort thing that helped me kick it off, so I can really keep it going.

I spoke at my first An Event Apart event in Austin earlier this month. That was cool. I'm doing another in San Francisco in December, but if you don't already have a ticket I'm afraid it's sold out.

This Sunday I leave for CSS Dev Conf which is exciting and obviously right up my alley for a conference focus. I'm polishing my slides right now.

I got to be a guest on some podcasts since I've last done one of these Chronicles. Pixel Recess and Dorm Room Tycoon. The Dorm Room Tycoon one wasn't published, so not sure if that just didn't work out or what, but it's a good show worth checking out.

Speaking of podcasts, ShopTalk took a few weeks off while Dave and his wife tended to their brand new baby Otis. We're now back with what we're calling Season 3 in which we'll have shows every week through at least the holidays.

Most of my time, as always, is dedicated to CodePen. Since the last Chronicle, we've released several major features and countless little features and improvements. Among the biggest features: Customizeable Embeds, the Mobile Editor, and much better Comment Notifications.

We recently got the team together in Bend, Oregon (where Tim lives) for some co-working which was fun and productive. We're doing another little mini-sprint together in December in Palo Alto (where Alex lives).

The year is still going for The Pastry Box Project where I write monthly. Several posts since last time including article about my internal struggle with spammers, my one bit of advice regarding "success", and a fake story about mustard.

CSS-Tricks Chronicle XV is a post from CSS-Tricks