Riptopia Trades on a Pragmatic Version of 'Digital Bliss'

He says his hope is to "become people's second choice for a search engine. We don't have the ambition to overthrow Google. That's a pretty lofty goal."

And as for Seline's message chastising his giant rival: "I was hoping to voice my opinion and put some pressure on them to hopefully change their mind," he said.

Assessing the Federal Workforce

Plateau Systems , an Arlington company that sells online training software, may soon be assessing the competencies and career paths of federal workers across all agencies. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is recommending the 10-year-old company's software for training and assessment of government employees in "mission critical" occupations -- initially information technology workers and human resources professionals. Terms aren't being disclosed, but Plateau's executives said this is their most significant contract to date, because while the firm has an established relationship with the Defense Department and some civilian agencies, this gives them an in-road with all federal agencies.

The Tire's Flat, but Not the Dream

Dexter , the autonomous vehicle created by engineers from Falls Church-based Ensco Inc., got a flat tire 90 miles into the winding Nevada course of the Grand Challenge and was disqualified from the Defense Department's highly publicized race. Another team won the contest, and it's unclear if there will be another Grand Challenge. But Ensco isn't ready to give up the quest.

The company recently recruited Anthony Levandowski, the 25-year-old leader of a rival team out of the University of California at Berkeley and set up an unmanned systems group.

"Business opportunities exist for creative solutions to the enormously demanding challenges of unmanned ground systems," said Ensco President Greg Young . Indeed, by 2015 the military wants a third of all its vehicles to be driven remotely or autonomously, which could lead to big bucks for companies with expertise in the discipline.

For Levandowski, who became something of a Grand Challenge sweetheart with the motorcycle-like vehicle his team designed, it means a good job with a company that will still let him spend two weeks a month in sunny California.

Goodbye

This is the last Download. The column was started by my predecessor, Shannon Henry, in 1998 and peaked during a time when venture capital was fueling hoards of start-up companies-- rationally or not -- and the world was captivated by the promise of the Internet. But the local tech scene has since changed, and it's time we changed with it. The Post will keep up its coverage of Washington's thriving technology industry, paying particular attention to its crossover with government contracting. But we'll do it through daily news and feature stories, rather than through this column. Please continue to send tips, comments and insights.

Ellen McCarthy writes about local technology and government contracting companies. Her e-mail ismccarthye@washpost.com.