Apple’s profits in Ireland are “a fraud,” said Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Tom Keene. True it is, but almost every tech company uses the same loophole for which Stiglitz blamed the U.S. tax system.Stiglitz said: “Our current tax system encourages companies to keep their money abroad, opens up a vast loophole through what is called the transfer-pricing system that allows them not only to keep their money abroad but, effectively, to escape taxation.”How it works
In international markets, companies manipulate higher costs, reducing taxes by using easily understood transfer-pricing. In this simplified example below, a product sells for $1,000 and costs $500 to produce. The taxes in the U.S. would be $175. But if the cost to produce it can be inflated to $600 and recognition of the sale and the cost transferred to a lower-tax country such as Ireland, $175 in taxes are saved.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There was an interesting exchange between IDG Chief Content Officer John Gallant and VCE President Chad Sakac in an interview Network World published today. In it, Gallant asked Sakac about the company’s converged infrastructure partnership with Cisco in light of VCE presumably soon becoming part of the merged Dell/EMC. After all, Cisco (the “C” in VCE) sold off its stake in the venture some time ago and will likely find itself competing more directly with EMC once it combines with Dell.+More on Network World: Cisco: Potent ransomware is targeting the enterprise at a scary rate+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Interpol has arrested a top Nigerian email scammer who stole more than US$60 million by tricking businesses into handing over funds by posing as trusted suppliers.The 40-year-old Nigerian, known as “Mike,” is allegedly the leader of a criminal ring that targeted hundreds of victims across the world, Interpol said on Monday.He and at least 40 other individuals pulled off their scheme by allegedly pretending to be CEOs or suppliers using hacked email accounts of legitimate companies.The criminals then sent fake emails, asking the victims to wire funds or send payment to bank accounts under the scammers’ control.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A bottleneck in data rates is coming, some scientists say. The ever-increasing demand for faster devices, networked information and collected data threatens to ultimately disappoint society—data throughputs and speeds aren’t going to be able to keep up with our digital thirst if we don’t figure out more efficient methods to do it.The problem is particularly prevalent within systems. The semiconductor itself is pretty fast, but an issue arises when one tries to get the data in and out of the semiconductor and over to the surrounding electronics. The conventional interconnects, like wires, slow it all down.Lasers as a solution
Some are betting on lasers as a solution. And indeed growing lasers on silicon substrate is one proposed way. Transistors meshed with photonics is another—silicon-germanium has inherent light-absorbing capabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In 2004, there was science fiction movie about a character named Van Helsing. He was a vigilante monster hunter who went around searching for and vanquishing evil monsters such as Mr. Hyde, Dracula and werewolves. If you were evil, there was nowhere to hide. Van Helsing would find you and put an end to you.Accenture and Endgame plan to do the same kind of thing against security threats.Accenture, one of the leading IT, management and consultancy firms, and Endgame, an NSA-centric security solution vendor, are teaming up to offer threat hunting as a service. The new offering will be an Accenture-based managed service that leverages the leading-edge technology and expertise from Endgame.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A cyber risk profile is a complex measure of an organization's security posture. It paints a picture of your risk related to technical aspects such as network and system security liability and network interruption, as well as more organizational aspects such as cyber defense maturity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Well, here we are. The free upgrade period for Windows 10 ended on July 29. You had a year to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, but you put it off, and put it off, and now it’s too late.Or is it? There is no longer an official way to upgrade to Windows 10 without paying a cent. But there are a few loopholes making the rounds on the Internet that apparently allow you to still get a free upgrade.INSIDER Review: Enterprise guide to Windows 10
We haven’t tested all of these methods to see if they’ll work. But we can tell you that all of these methods require you to check your morals at the door.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Telehealth, the practice of providing care services remotely using digital technologies, took a big step forward at New York-Presbyterian last week. The hospital system, which sees more than 2 million people a year, is now offering patients the option to receive second opinions, urgent care and consultations via online portals and video conferencing services.The initiative is designed to improve patient outcomes while lowering healthcare costs, says CIO Daniel Barchi, who joined the hospital in December after serving as CIO at Yale New Haven Health System and Yale School of Medicine since 2010. Barchi says the program was well underway before he joined NYP. “Our CEO, Steve Corwin, had the vision for telehealth,” Barchi says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon Communications plans to buy cloud-computing-focused fleet management firm Fleetmatics Group, in a deal that will pump up the telecom carrier's internet of things portfolio.The US$2.4 billion deal for the Dublin-based fleet management vendor will give Verizon a toehold in the GPS vehicle-tracking and connected cars markets. Fleetmatics, with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, has about 37,000 customers and 737,000 subscribed vehicles worldwide.The deal, announced Monday, "underlines Verizon's commitment to the IoT space," Dan Bieler, a digital business analyst with Forrester Research, said by email. "In terms of IoT revenues, this deal helps to improve Verizon's positioning."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This gadget from CARCHET is a tire pressure monitoring system that is simple to install on virtually any vehicle, and wirelessly shows you the current pressure of all 4 tires at all times while driving. Proper tire pressure prevents puncture and damage of car parts caused by flat tires. It improves fuel efficiency, prolongs tire life, and prevents abnormal wear of vehicle parts.
20% under-inflation reduces tire lifetime by 30%
30% over-inflation reduces tire lifetime by 45%
30% lower pressure looks like a properly inflated tire
Screw a sensor and a special anti-theft screw onto each valve stem where you would a valve cover. The receiver is simply plugged into your cigarette/power port. Readings are taken while in motion and a high/low pressure alarm can be set to alert you of issues. This product currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon (read reviews). Amazon indicates that its typical list price of $189.99 has been reduced by 47% to $99.99. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The web is an incredible place, filled with a slew of programs and apps designed to help you get the most out of your PC. But which ones do you pick? Fortunately, the Ultimate PC Bundle is here, and it has curated 10 top-rated productivity, entertainment, and performance programs designed to breathe new life into your PC for only $39.99.Included in the bundle is Scrivener, a word processor and project management tool that lets you outline, take notes, and conduct research all at once. If you’re looking to boost your PC’s entertainment potential, then WALTR and Softorino Youtube Converter have you covered, letting you listen to your favorite songs offline, online, and on any format.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It took a while, but the hot Pokemon Go mobile game is now working on smartphones with Intel chips.Initially, the app wasn't compatible with Intel-based smartphones. Concerned users put up a petition, which had 42,606 supporters, requesting Niantic Labs -- the developer -- to make the game compatible with x86 smartphone chips.In response to the user backlash, Niantic Labs and Intel worked together to make the app compatible with x86 smartphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
VCE has only been in the hyperconverged appliance market since the February launch of its VxRail family, but President Chad Sakac says the company will soon be the No.1 player in that rapidly growing market. Sakac doesn’t lack for confidence, nor will his company – launched as a joint EMC/Cisco/VMware venture – lack for resources to back up his claims. VCE is now the converged infrastructure division of EMC and, if things go to plan, will soon be part of the merged Dell/EMC. That giant company, Sakac says, will boast a ‘superpower’ that gives it a huge advantage over rivals like Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Not being beholden to Wall Street, it can move customers more quickly to true utility models of IT. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Uber may not plan to reinvent the wheel, but the company will drop $500 million to re-map parts of the world. The company has been using Google Maps, but now that’s not good enough…especially if the maps need to be extremely precise for self-driving cars.“Uber wouldn’t exist if comprehensive interactive digital maps hadn’t been created first,” said Brian McClendon, vice president of advanced technologies at Uber. McClendon, who was previously the head of Google Maps, believes, “Existing maps are a good starting point, but some information isn’t that relevant to Uber, like ocean topography.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cloud computing has been on a roll for a while now, and instead of slowing down, it just keeps speeding up. Last week, for example, the cloud hit the accelerator big time, as demonstrated by a pair of key developments:First, Amazon announced record quarterly results for Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS simply blew through its Q2 numbers, hitting $2.9 billion in revenue, which was up more than $1 billion from the same quarter in 2015. Yes, quarterly revenue increased by a billion dollars in just one year.Second, Oracle announced a $9.3 billion takeover of cloud ERP provider NetSuite. That’s a huge investment in the cloud from a company that not so long ago went out of its way to ridicule the very concept of cloud computing. (Sure, NetSuite had deep Oracle ties, but almost $10 billion to buy into the cloud is serious money.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With new hacking techniques, malware, viruses and threats being created faster than Melisandre’s demon babies, the web is indeed dark and full of terrors. Here are seven lessons for security managers pulled straight out of Westeros.1. Small things can become huge problemsIn the age of big data, risk once deemed minimal may pose serious threats to companies concerned with keeping the information they’ve collected private, but that begins and ends within the companies and the parameters and protocols they have in place to keep data secure.Nobody took the dragons or dire wolves seriously in the beginning of Game of Thrones, but by season 3 they were capable of wreaking havoc and wiping out armies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AFLAC still uses technology that was developed using assembly, the old programming language. It's part of the mainframe system that runs the insurance company's policy, administration, claims and billing functions, and it works just fine.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
The longer your career stretches out, the more experience and knowledge you gain. But that doesn't mean you need to dump it all onto your resume. Instead, resume experts say, you should focus on crafting a focused and concise resume.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Angela Johnson's career began at a call center where she performed technical and customer support and end-user training for legal clients having trouble with the online legal research and database service WestLaw. But after a few years, during which time parent company West was acquired by Thomson Reuters, Johnson moved to Rockwell Automation, a manufacturing automation company whose products gathered and analyzed data about specific parts being machined on factory and plant floors."I am one of a rare breed whose brain seems to intuitively understand the linear nature and thinking required to work with relational databases, I guess, and Rockwell recognized that. We had so many clients on so many different databases, but I was able to help with the technical aspects of extracting that data from Oracle, SQL, Sybase, all these different databases and analyzing it," Johnson says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Russian military networks and other critical infrastructure have been hit by tailor-made malware, according to government officials.Networks at some 20 organizations in Russia -- including scientific and military institutions, defense contractors, and public authorities -- were found to be infected with the malware, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Saturday.The range of infected sites suggests that the targets were deliberately selected as part of a cyber-espionage operation, the FSB said.Analysis of the attack showed that filenames, parameters and infection methods used in the malware are similar to those involved in other high-profile cyber-espionage operations around the world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here