The U.S. government should bar foreign companies that repeatedly steal or use stolen U.S. intellectual property from selling their products in the country, a new report recommended.

About US$300 billion worth of intellectual property is stolen from the U.S. every year, with 50 to 80 percent of the theft coming from China, according to the report, released Wednesday by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, a bipartisan group of former government officials and business representatives.

The U.S. government needs to take a series of strong measures to protect U.S. IP because current measures are ineffective, commission members said. The U.S. needs to make it much more costly for nations to encourage IP theft and for companies to engage in it, said Jon Huntsman, co-chairman of the commission and former U.S. ambassador to China and Republican presidential candidate.

Chinese industrial polices focused on acquiring science and technology "encourage IP theft," Huntsman said during a press conference.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

By now, it's become a tired old tech industry bromide: CIOs need to be business-savvy.

But while that sentiment remains true, technology trends, generational shifts in the workforce and changing demands from end users are forcing CIOs to go further and fundamentally rethink their roles, according to members of a panel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan CIO Symposium on Wednesday.

Rather than make broad decisions about a company's technology strategies and purchases, CIOs should act as "brokers," thinking of themselves as middlemen between users and the services they want or even create, said Michael Golz, senior vice president and CIO for SAP's Americas division.

Golz described SAP's internal "app gallery" which contains mobile applications developed by employees. SAP checks the applications' security, tracks and measures their adoption and makes some of the most popular ones part of the official company roster. An employee-built application for single sign-on was among those that made the cut, Golz said.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple, that darling of the tech world, has been in the news this week, not because of any new hardware it's releasing, but because of the way it's been handling its foreign earnings.

Dragged before the U.S. Senate, CEO Tim Cook was excoriated over allegations that the company is using an Irish subsidiary to avoid billions in taxes. Cook has denied the charges, saying, "We pay all the taxes we owe—every single dollar."

And Cook is right. In simplified terms, Apple is a huge, multinational corporation, and it earns plenty of its money overseas. When you sell a product in Europe and leave the money you received for it in Europe, different rules apply, and the country in which the sales took place essentially gets first crack at the cash. As a U.S. company, you often don't have to pay tax until you repatriate the earnings by bringing them back to the homeland. The Senate would greatly prefer this not to be the case, though: Apple has $102 billion sitting in foreign accounts that would amount to over $35 billion in taxes if the earnings were repatriated. In comparison the company has only about $43 billion in its U.S. coffers.

Apple isn't playing ball, and it doesn't have to. The law provides for offshore earnings to be treated this way, and Cook explained that it's his duty to Apple shareholders to keep the tax bill down as much as is (legally) possible. Meanwhile, he noted that Apple is America's largest taxpayer. (Cook's endgame is ultimately to work a deal so that Apple gets a break on those taxes should the earnings eventually be repatriated.)

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Last year the U.S. was the least riskiest place in the world to open a data center, according to a study released this week.

The rankings, which were released by Cushman & Wakefield, Hurleypalmerflatt and Source8, were made after measuring risks related to physical, economic and social issues in the countries. The U.S. was followed by the U.K., Sweden and Germany, while Indonesia, India and Brazil were at the bottom of the list. The study ranked 30 countries.

The issues considered for the study are usually taken into account by companies when establishing data centers. The risk index included weighted ranking of energy, bandwidth, ease of doing business, tax, labor, political stability, sustainability, natural disasters, education, energy security, GDP per capita, inflation and water resources.

The U.S. remained at the top despite natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy, which knocked out power supplies and left many data centers offline on the East Coast for weeks in October. The U.S. rated 29th out of 30 countries on natural disasters and ranked last on corporate taxes, but the establishment of data centers continued to grow as mobile device shipments increased and companies increasingly deployed public and private clouds.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Saving a destination in Google Maps makes it easier to navigate to and also lessens the chance for error when entering or trying to remember an address.

Nick Barber

Destinations can be starred from a mobile device running Google Maps or from the Web. After searching for an address or location, click on the pin for the destination and switch on the star icon. Starred destinations will be synched across all Google accounts and devices. Starred destinations are easier to find and will type ahead on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Maps. Starring locations is a good idea for local errands and for vacations and business trips to other states and countries.

When traveling to a place with unreliable mobile data reception or expensive data rates, it’s also a good idea to save an offline version of Google Maps. Once in the application on a mobile device, press the options button and select “make available offline.” Pan and zoom the map until the area to be downloaded is highlighted. Click “done” and the map will be downloaded to the mobile device and be able to be used when mobile data isn’t available.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Improvements to Nvidia’s virtualization technology are aimed at turning graphics processors into a more important resource in data centers and could speed deployment of virtual desktops and delivery of data over the cloud.

The graphics company Tuesday announced improvements to its VGX technology, which virtualizes the GPU and makes it a resource that can be shared with CPUs and memory in servers. Hardware and software improvements to VGX will allow a graphics board to deliver multiple virtual desktops. Previously, VGX could deliver only one virtual machine per graphics board.

Nvidia

Virtualization enables efficient use of server resources in a distributed computing environment and GPUs could help cut electric bills through fast delivery of virtual desktops. GPUs are considered faster than CPUs in some cases and are used in some of the world’s fastest computers for complex calculations, as well as by Web browsers for faster graphics rendering. Virtualizing graphics processors could enable servers to deliver games over the cloud and make high-performance resources available to remote users.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Citrix Systems is making its cloud-based storage service ShareFile more Microsoft-friendly with SharePoint integration and the ability to store data on Azure.

Services for storing and sharing content in the cloud started in the consumer sector, but more enterprises are now adopting rather than blocking them. Citrix saw this trend coming and acquired ShareFile back in October 2011; it announced the latest round of updates Wednesday at the Synergy user conference.

Two of the updates are related to where and how ShareFile stores data. The service lets enterprises choose between storing user data in their own data centers; in data centers managed by Citrix; or using existing file storage systems, according to Bill Carovano, senior director of product management for Citrix's ShareFile products.

Using existing systems is made possible via what Citrix calls StorageZone Connectors. The company has supported traditional network shares, but is now adding integration with SharePoint, according to Carovano. With the ShareFile app users can, for example, find a file on their iPad in the SharePoint document library, open it up, make changes and then check it back in again.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FreeSpace 2 and other space combat classics kept the genre alive, albeit on the back burner, for years Then indie game studio Born Ready Games came along and decided to create a modern space combat simulator: Strike Suit Zero ($20).

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Western Digital's HGST subsidiary today announced what it is calling the industry's densest mobile hard-disk drive, with capacities of up to 1.5TB in a 9.5mm (.37-in.) high form factor.

The 2.5-inch-wide disk drive contains three platters—a first for the company in that form factor and an achievement in shock resistance.

Currently, the highest capacity for slimmer 7.5mm and 5mm height mobile drives are 500GB.

The new Travelstar 5K1500 is being targeted at a variety of market segments, including notebooks, external hard drives, gaming consoles and all-in-one desktop PCs.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Personal branding isn’t a new topic. In fact, it’s been around since roughly 1997 when Tom Peters coined the phrase, but as we slowly recover from the economic downturn and with the rise of new technology, personal branding is becoming more prevalent and more important.

Developing and maintaining your personal brand should be a part of your long-term career strategy.

A personal brand is more than just maintaining your LinkedIn profile, according to the experts. “Good people put their head down and get caught up in their job and forget they have a whole career to manage,” says Pamela Rucker, chairwoman of the CIO executive Council’s Executive Women in IT.

So where should you start? CIO.com spoke with career strategists, authors, and industry experts to lay out a nine-step plan to help you build your personal brand from the ground up.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Avid gamers pay attention: MSI's newly announced GX70 gaming laptop packs a pair of potentially powerful firsts from AMD. The notebook sports AMD's fresh new "Richland" A10-5750M accelerated processing unit, along with the recently unveiled flagship Radeon HD 8970M mobile GPU.

The MSI GX70 3BE is the first notebook to offer either of those, and that combination gives it the most potent possible AMD GPU/APU combination for the immediate future.

Of course, you pay for that power, though not as much as you would for Intel-based gaming laptops. The MSI GX70 starts at a competitively priced $1,400. It has a 17.3-inch screen at full 1920-by-1080 resolution, and it’s also a bit chunky  2.17-inch thick and 8.6 pounds. That heft, however, hides a lot of power under the GX70's hood.

AMD

The GX70 ships with AMD's Richland A10-5750M, a quad-core chip that starts clocked at 2.5GHz but is capable to hitting 3.5GHz under load thanks to AMD's Turbo technology. The chip includes several other handy-dandy software features, which you can read about in PCWorld's Richland APU overview.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If you were going to sum up Windows 8 in a single sentence, “It’s all about the apps” would do the trick. And that’s why a new study from Soluto, a company that offers a remote troubleshooting tool for Windows PCs, suggests a somewhat stark reality for Microsoft's new-look operating system.

Windows 8 was rebuilt from the ground up to revolve around finger-friendly Windows apps. The modern UI Start screen is chock-full of Live Tiles generated from those apps, virtually all of Microsoft’s default programs sport that oh-so-modern (a.k.a. the interface formerly known as Metro) luster, and users don’t even get the option of booting straight to the desktop. You have to stare the Start screen’s shiny, shifty app collection in the face every time you boot up your PC.

With that heavy a focus, Windows 8’s very future hinges on the success of its apps. Soluto’s report digs into how often people really use those apps on a daily basis.

The news isn’t wonderful. Of the 10,848 Windows 8 devices studied by Soluto, the majority of traditional desktop and laptop users—even ones using a device with a touchscreen—fail to open a modern-style app daily. (Note that this study refers only to modern apps, not to traditional desktop programs.) Even on tablets, the devices best suited for Windows 8’s modern UI, just 56 percent of all users launch a Windows 8 app day in and day out.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Blue Coat Systems, a provider of Web traffic filtering and business assurance products and services, plans to buy security analytics specialist Solera Networks, which uses data mining techniques to classify network traffic and detect potential security threats.

The acquisition is expected to be finalized within the next 30 days, the two companies said Wednesday.

BlueCoat declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has over 15,000 customers worldwide, plans to use Solera's technology to add security analytics and forensic capabilities to its future offerings.

Blue Coat hopes that the combination of its own Web-based threat intelligence with Solera's "DeepSee" analytics platform will help customers more rapidly identify and respond to security incidents and data breaches.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce.com is hoping to set the standard for how government bodies deliver online services to citizens using mobile devices.

The cloud-based software vendor on Wednesday announced Rapid Response 311, a mobile application that citizens can use to log and track requests for service; Mobile Communities for Government; Government Social Command Center and Mobile Platform Services for Government.

The offerings are based on existing Salesforce.com products, such as the Service Cloud customer-service application and Radian6 social media monitoring technology. Government bodies would work with Salesforce.com partners to customize the products to fit their particular audience, said Daniel Burton, senior vice president for government transformation, in an interview.

Salesforce.com has been pushing the idea that companies can and should build closer relationships with their customers using its technology. And government entities have plenty of customers in the form of the citizens they serve.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

China's Baidu has long dominated China's search market. But a local rival to the company--Qihoo 360--is bolstering its own search services with the help of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

Qihoo 360 on Wednesday appeared to debut a new shopping search service in partnership with Alibaba's advertising platform. The service is listed as a tab on Qihoo 360's search engine, now China's second largest behind Baidu.

Qihoo 360's newest product was built from the infrastructure of Alibaba's own shopping search engine called eTao, said Alibaba Group spokeswoman Dora Chai. eTao works by helping users compare products for the best price.

Qihoo 360 said in an email that it launched the new shopping service to address the growing number of Internet users buying products online. "A shopping search is a major demand Internet users want when they use a search engine. So 360 search will not ignore this need," the company added.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Since it launched in late 2012, Microsoft has positioned its Surface tablet as a fun, hip alternative tablet, emphasizing its construction and form factor. That failed. So with its latest commercial, Microsoft has returned to its corporate roots: productivity.

Microsoft’s latest Surface ad is oddly named—“Imagine”—but it's actually the most grounded of the Surface advertisements Microsoft has produced so far. And the real kicker of the ad, which begain airing last week, is the tagline: “Microsoft Surface. The tablet that runs Office.” The key message is clear: OK, so we weren’t really able to position the Surface as the bridge between work and play. Instead, let’s get down to business.

Recall that, to date, Microsoft’s Surface ads have been all sound and fury. Witness the “Movement” premier, followed by “Groove” as well as “ Vibe." But what have they signified? Little. Microsoft has seemed inordinately proud of the rhythmic noises the Surfaces', er, surfaces make, as well as how easily the hardware opens, shuts, and snaps together. Every so often there's been a shot of the Start screen—look, Netflix! And is that a chart?—but, by and large, Microsoft’s Surface strategy appears to be predicated on dancing its way into our hearts and briefcases.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A new variant of the Citadel financial malware is targeting users of the Payza online payment platform by launching local in-browser attacks to steal their credentials, according to researchers from security firm Trusteer.

Citadel is a Trojan program designed primarily to steal online banking credentials, but is also associated with the Reveton ransomware, which locks down computers and displays rogue alerts claiming to come from law enforcement agencies.

Like most banking Trojan programs, Citadel's hooks into the browser process can modify Web pages opened on infected computers in real time. These rogue local website modifications are known as Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) attacks and are harder for victims to spot than regular phishing attacks because the URLs displayed in the browser address bar are those of legitimate websites.

The new Citadel variant discovered by Trusteer researchers contains MitB code that alters the form fields users are asked to fill in on Payza's log-in page. More specifically, the code adds an additional PIN (personal identification number) field to the authentication form.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hard on the heels of the news that Dell's “Project Ophelia” thumb PC is expected to ship this summer, thin client vendor Devon IT on Tuesday rolled out a similar contender of its own called the Ceptor.

Devon IT

Like Dell's device, the $99 Ceptor is designed to plug into any HDMI-compatible display or monitor. Slightly larger than a USB memory stick, the multimedia-capable unit can then transform such a device into a “zero client” virtual desktop.

Whereas Dell's device uses Linux-based Android, however, the Ceptor uses Devon IT’s own Linux-based zero-client operating system, known as ZeTOS, to let users access their virtual desktops.

'An enterprise-class device'

At the heart of the Ceptor is a dual-core ARM processor with ZeTOS preloaded. The device features integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability as well as USB on the go via a USB-B micro host port and 1080p HD video output. Users need only enter their user name and password to get up and running in a remote session.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Gmail offers powerful customization options even if you don’t install a single browser extension. You can switch keyboard shortcuts on and off, modify individual shortcuts, enable experimental features, and more.

But there are some things even Gmail’s extensive customization settings can’t do, and that’s where these free Chrome extensions shine. They range from gentle tweaks to a full-blown Gmail makeover. You decide how drastically you want to change Gmail.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Jive Software has eliminated the limit on the number of people who can use its social task management application Producteev for free within a company.

It also added new features to the application, including the capability of assigning tasks to everyone in the company, not just to narrower sets of employees involved in a specific project.

"Now you can scale Producteev across large companies and have your entire network [of employees] all taking advantage of it," said Nathan Rawlins, Jive's vice president of product marketing.

Producteev strikes a balance between to-do applications aimed at individuals and heavy-duty, complex project management software designed for project leaders, according to Rawlins.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A survey of U.S. utilities shows many are facing frequent cyberattacks that could threaten a highly interdependent power grid supplying more than 300 million people, according to a congressional report.

More than a dozen utilities said cyberattacks were daily or constant, according to the survey, commissioned by U.S. Democratic Representatives Edward J. Markey and Henry A. Waxman. The 35-page report on the survey, called "Electric Grid Vulnerability," was released on Tuesday.

The report is in response to widespread concerns that hackers could damage parts of the U.S. power grid, causing widespread outages and prolonged economic effects. Markey and Waxman are members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, which held a hearing on cyberthreats and security on Tuesday.

Power outages and quality disturbances cost the U.S. economy upwards of US$188 billion annually, with single outages costing as much as $10 billion, the report said. Replacing large transformers, for example, can take more than 20 months.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New network software from Ericsson is designed to make sure mobile users get the best possible connection when there is both a Wi-Fi and a cellular network available.

The software, which Ericsson introduced Tuesday at the CTIA Wireless trade show, is an enhancement to its platform for mobile operators that use Wi-Fi to supplement their cellular networks. It continuously measures which network will work best for a given subscriber and automatically shifts that user’s connection between the two, the company said.

According to Ericsson, this capability can prevent subscribers from being shifted from cellular to Wi-Fi and then kept on the Wi-Fi network even though it’s slower than cellular in their current location.

Why use Wi-Fi?

Many carriers are deploying or partnering for Wi-Fi networks in order to offload data traffic from their cellular systems, embracing so-called heterogeneous networks. In addition to conserving cellular spectrum and capacity, this can give subscribers better connections when near the Wi-Fi networks, which most often are deployed in crowded areas.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Yahoo again ranks as one of the world’s 100 most valuable brands.

The Internet company nabbed the 92nd spot in the annual list of global companies from multiple industries including technology, retail and service, released Tuesday by BrandZ, a brand equity database. The ranking gave Yahoo a “brand value” of $9.83 billion, which is based on the opinions of current and potential users as well as actual financial data.

Apple occupied the number-one position on the list, with a brand value of $185 billion. Google was number two, with a value of roughly $114 billion.

The BrandZ ranking, commissioned by the advertising and marketing services group WPP, incorporates interviews with more than 2 million consumers globally about thousands of brands along with financial performance analysis to compile the list. Yahoo last appeared on the list in 2009 at number 81.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Even great game franchises fall prey to mergers, acquisitions, and the vagaries of the game business. Such was the fate of FreeSpace 2, a space simulator originally released in 1999 to great critical acclaim, as part of the Descent and FreeSpace franchise. Due to business circumstances, it was the last in the series—but it can still be played today for the price of $10. and its source code, released in 2002, has been adopted by an active community of coders and modders.

The original game remains commercially available to this day through GOG, a service specializing in old-time games. While the original FreeSpace 2 offered very impressive graphics for its time, it can't hope to match modern space-sim games in the visauls department.

Fortunately, it has a lot to offer in terms of gameplay and depth. Cockpit and HUD controls are intricate and well thought out, from subsystem targeting, through automatic speed matching, to smart indicators on your HUD showing a target's distance and bearing even when it's out of your field of view. FreeSpace 2 also makes good use of the keyboard, with an interface that expects you to memorize many keys.

If you enjoy FreeSpace 2's detailed gameplay and only wish for some updated graphics, you're in luck: Open-source, free mods dress FreeSpace 2 in updated graphics from franchises you probably already know, and include new storylines and game mechanics to boot. I tried Diaspora, a mod based on the Battlestar Galactica 2004 remake, and was impressed by its slick graphics. It was nice to find myself in the pilot's seat of a Viper, trying to prove myself as a nugget (and badly failing).

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VMware has launched its long-anticipated public infrastructure as a service (IaaS), touting its virtual networking capabilities as a differentiator from other established hybrid cloud offerings.

VMware’s vCloud Hybrid Service will be based on the company’s vCloud architecture, allowing customers to shift their VMware encoded workloads between in-house and the VMware hosted service, a practice known as running a hybrid cloud.

Joab Jackson

“You can write an application and be safe in the knowledge it can be run anywhere,” said VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, in a Web conference announcing the new service, adding that much of the complexity enterprises experience in deploying their workloads in the cloud comes from preparing their in-house applications to run in a new environment.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Well, that didn’t take long. A mere five days after Brian Krzanich took the reins as the new CEO of Intel, he’s shaking things up at an organizational level.

Krzanich has reorganized key business groups and created a new “New Devices” division to focus on emerging trends, including “ultra-mobile” devices, reports AllThingsD. Mike Bell, who formerly co-ran Intel’s mobile unit—most notably in the push to bring x86 to Android—will take leadership of the new division.

“The group will be tasked with turning cool technology and business model innovations into products that shape and lead markets,” Intel said in a statement to AllThingsD.

Reuters first reported the changes after an anonymous source came forward with the information. Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy confirmed to Reuters that Krzanich had sent out an internal email outlining the changes, but didn’t elaborate further on shake-up details.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Plenty of applications help you show off your photos, and plenty help you show off your videos. But too few tools exist that allows you to show them off together. Enter Fantashow Pro, a $50-per-year (or $5-per-month) application allows you to combine still photos with videos to create a custom video slideshow.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft is making a big play for the living room with a new Xbox console that marries games with live TV, Internet browsing, music and Skype.

The Xbox One could considerably expand Microsoft's presence in consumer electronics but is expected to compete with Internet TV devices from companies such as Intel, interactive set-top boxes from cable TV companies, and Sony's PlayStation 4. There's also a possible set-top box from Apple.

It was unveiled during an event at Microsoft's Redmond campus. A launch date was not immediately announced.

"Xbox On," said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft, as he began to demonstrate the device. The Xbox sprang to life and presented Mehdi with a home screen.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

In an effort to streamline the development of wireless charging technology, Duracell subsidiary Powermat Technologies will merge with the Helsinki-based company PowerKiss.  Together, the two companies are responsible for thousands of public stations used to wirelessly charge mobile phones in the United States and Europe.  Until now, the conflicting systems used by each company have eliminated any benefit wireless charging technology might have for overseas travelers who rely on their smartphones.

The statement released today explains that eliminating those “incompatible standards” is the primary motivation of combining under the Powermat umbrella. With their forces joined, the two pioneers will be pushing forward with Powermat’s “PMA” standard, which has already been accepted by global leaders like General Motors, Starbucks, and Duracell.  Adding Powerkiss’ European presence to the PMA standard may well define it as the unofficial international standard for wireless charging.

Powermat has instituted PMA wireless charging stations in more than 1,500 retail locations including Starbucks and AT&T stores.  Likewise, Powerkiss has enabled wireless charging in more than 1,000 European locations, including McDonalds restaurants.  In a remarkable commitment to the future of the technology, the merging of these two companies will ultimately ensure consistency across international borders. 

This is a huge step for the burgeoning industry of wireless charging.  Our smartphones are heavily burdened with improving nearly every detail of our daily lives.  It’s a difficult task, even with vastly improved battery life aided by the efficient performance of processors like the Qualcomm Snapdragon.  For international travelers who already face issues with different outlets and service providers when they’re overseas, the introduction of seamless, consistent formats for wireless charging across the globe will be a big relief.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If you have any expectations about the privacy of your Skype communications, you may want to reassess them.

Microsoft appears to be peeking into Skype messages for security reasons, according to Ars Technica.

The owner of Skype regularly scans the contents of messages sent on the service for signs of fraud, but what’s done with the information from those scans—whether it’s stored indefinitely or destroyed—is unknown.

Similar findings were published by The H Security last week.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here