Microsoft, IBM Top List of U.S. Tech Firms with Biggest Overseas Profit Hauls

By Jordan Robertson – When it comes to the politically inflammatory issue of U.S. companies holding trillions of dollars in profits overseas, two tech firms get the lion’s share of attention and blame for the practice: Apple and Cisco Systems.

That’s because their chief executive officers, Tim Cook and John Chambers, have been among the most vocal lobbyists for a tax holiday to bring the cash home at a rate lower than the 35 percent currently required by the U.S. government. more> http://tinyurl.com/klvh7sc

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Orthogonal Awakenings & Innovation Ice Breakers

By Brian Fuller – Cloud computing is changing society in ways we’re just starting to appreciate. But no one woke up a few years ago and said, “We’re going to change the world by building cloud computing.”

What they said was, “We have an idea to leverage the Internet to revolutionize retailing” (Amazon). “We have an idea to leverage the Internet to disrupt advertising” (Google). “We have an idea to leverage the Internet to disrupt the music record industry” (Apple).

The challenge for us now is to consider the dominant paradigm — cloud computing — and look for an orthogonal awakening from it. more> http://tinyurl.com/lnxpjks

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IDC Report: 1.7 Million Cloud Computing Jobs Remain Unfilled, Gap Widening

English: Cloud Computing visual diagram
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Saroj Kar – Research firm IDC titled in a new report “Climate Change: Cloud’s Impact on IT Organizations and Staffing” sponsored by Microsoft reported that the demand for cloud-savvy IT professionals will grow by 26% annually until 2015 and will create more than seven million cloud-related vacancies worldwide.

This gap in skills is even more alarming as almost two-thirds of global firms are planning to implement or use cloud technology and more than 50% of companies agree that the cloud is a priority. more> http://tinyurl.com/a6u9y9z

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Lenovo To Release ‘Coffee Table PC’

By Peter Svensson – Lenovo Group Ltd., one of the world’s largest PC makers, is calling the IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC the first “interpersonal computer” — as opposed to a “personal computer.”

At first glance, it looks like a regular all-in-one machine in the vein of the iMac: It’s a 27-inch (685.8-millimeter) screen with the innards of a Windows 8 computer built into it, and it can stand up on a table.

But you can pick it up off the table, unhook the power cord and lay it flat for games of “Monopoly.” It’s big enough to fit four people around it, and the screen can respond to ten fingers touching it at the same time. more> http://tinyurl.com/bh3mqy3

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Are Firewalls Dead?

By Alan Shimel – is your firewall doing anything for your security? No, really. With so many of today’s attacks coming over port 80, is your firewall providing any defense anymore? Has the firewall outgrown its usefulness and been passed over by a new generation of sophisticated attacks?

Microsoft security expert Roger Grimes writes for InfoWorld and back in May he set off something of a firestorm in the security industry when he suggested that firewalls are dead. Ever since there has been a back and forth over this alleged heresy in the security arena. Roger published a second article on his views where he did a nice job of responding to some of the more reasoned responses to his original article. more> http://tinyurl.com/c83zwcc

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The End Of Microsoft … As We Know It

By Todd Hixon – In the 1990s Microsoft triumphed over Apple with its stand-alone operating system (“OS”) strategy. Now Microsoft is abandoning its winning formula, and following its competitors.

Microsoft is at or near to this same Rubicon: does it bet on its key customers and core DNA, or does it try to run with the fast crowd and define the future? Either way, it will be the end of Microsoft as we know it. more> http://tinyurl.com/7l4rngs

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The Patent Mafia and What You Can Do To Break It Up

By Alan Shimel – The lawsuits are raging all across the tech world. Oracle sues Google, Yahoo sues Facebook, they counter-sue. Others threaten, others buy more patents and the circle goes round and round.

Don’t be fooled by the lawsuits between these tech titans though. The real cost that the patent mafia extracts from the tech world is on the smaller companies who can’t afford to battle the Apples and Microsofts of the world. Their choices are far simpler. They can abandon their innovations or they can choose to pay and allow the Mafiosos to wet their beaks. Also, don’t be fooled about who the real losers are here. The the real losers are you and me.

While companies are certainly entitled to the fruits of their inventions, many of these patent rackets are based on patents improperly issued, improperly enforced or improperly applied. more> http://tinyurl.com/btn3v4y

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