-
Bankrupt Pay By Touch to auction off its assets
Pay by Touch came to market with a big splash; its system was installed in more than 700 U.S. retail locations; its biometrics and personalized marketing businesses, however, lost $137 million last year on only $600,000 in revenue; it sought buyers, but there were no satisfactory offers, so it is planning to auction off its assets
-
-
Bain's effort to acquire 3Com on verge of collapse
Bain Capital and a Chinese partner wanted to buy 3Com for $2.2 billion; 3Com’s TippingPoint unit sells security software used by U.S. government agencies, and persistent questions were raised over the national security ramifications of the deal; Bain and Huawei Technologies have now withdrawn their application to CFIUS
-
-
Aussie company in $20 million wave energy project for Maui
Australian specialist in wave energy to build three platforms off the coast of Maui; project aims to provide up to 2.7 megawatts
-
-
Textual analysis reveals corporate fraud
The textual analysis technique can be used to identify language patterns in management communications which are inconsistent with either the company’s financial performance or with the communications of other companies in the same industry, indicating fraud
-
-
Australian biometrics software developer finds success in U.K.
Aussie biometric company finds success in the United Kingdom, with recent order from Wales bringing to company’s U.K. orders to more than $1 million; company still awaits similar recognition at home in Australia
-
-
Lockheed Martin wins FBI database contract
Lockheed Martin built and maintains the FBI’s current ten-fingerprint database, so it was expected to win the contract for the agency’s new database — and it did; contract potential value is $1 billion
-
-
World’s first commercial-scale tidal stream
The tidal farm scheme would be capable of generating 10.5 MW of power drawn entirely from the sea’s major tidal currents; project will be built off the north-west coast of Anglesey, north Wales
-
-
Spain to explore oil reserves on its east coast
Spanish oil company signs up a leading Norwegian engineering company to do infrastructure work for to oil exploration projects off the east coast of Spain
-
-
Chinese hackers target government
The Chinese government has embarked on a massive industrial espionage campaign aimed to hasten China’s rise to global technological and economic dominance while at the same time weakening Western companies; Aussie intelligence says Australia is now also a target of that campaign
-
-
India's Tata Group, U.S. company to manufacture defense equipment
India is worried about China’s growing military might; Indian companies see an opportunity here, and more and more of them are looking to enter the defense market — with U.S. companies as partners; the U.S. government, too, is intensifying its defense cooperation with India
-
-
airBaltic selects cockpit security from AD Aerospace
One key security upgrade which resulted from the 9/11 attacks has been the installation of impregnable cockpit doors; locked doors means that the pilots need other means to monitor area right outside the cockpit — and airBaltic chooses AD Aerospace’s gear for that
-
-
Lumidigm completes $7 million funding round
VCs continue to show interest in biometric technologies; Series C funds will support customer-centric deployments of multispectral imaging fingerprint systems
-
-
Magal Security Systems receives $45 million in contracts
Israeli smart-fencing company receives contracts from several U.S. critical infrastructure operators; recent developments along the Gaza-Stip-Egypt border offer Magal new opportunities
-
-
Emphasis shifts to analytical tools rather than building sturdier walls
The $169 million PayPal paid for Israeli on-line security specialist Fraud Sciences is part of a larger trend in security: “Security is less a matter of keeping everyone outside the outer wall and more one of detecting them sneaking through the premises,” as one analyst put it
-
-
Intel No.1 on EPA Green Power Partner list
Intel will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates; company said it hoped the record-setting purchase would help stimulate the market for green power
-
The long view
U.S.-China Tech Rivalry: The Geopolitics of Semiconductors
The United States and China are locked in a high‑stakes contest for dominance in computing power. In response to US sanctions and export controls, China has ramped domestic chip design and manufacturing, aiming to create an all‑Chinese semiconductor supply chain that reduces dependence on foreign technologies.
The American TikTok Deal Doesn’t Address the Platform’s Potential for Manipulation, Only Who Profits
If we want to protect democratic information systems, we need to focus on reducing the vulnerabilities in our relationship with media platforms – platforms with surveillance power to know what we will like, the algorithmic power to curate our information diet and control of platform incentives, and rules and features that affect who gains influence. The biggest challenge is to make platforms less riggable, and thus less weaponizable, if only for the reason that motivated the TikTok ban: we don’t want our adversaries, foreign or domestic, to have power over us.
Underground Data Fortresses: The Nuclear Bunkers, Mines and Mountains Being Transformed to Protect Our “New Gold” from Attack
Bunker scholars have long noted that these buildings are as much about time as they are about space. Bunkers are designed to preserve and transport their contents through time, from an apocalyptic present into a safe future.
Funding Cuts, Policy Shifts, and the Erosion of U.S. Scientific and Public Health Capacity
The U.S. continues to face mounting threats to its health, scientific enterprise, and national security. A recent report warns that proposed FY 2026 budget cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could reduce its funding by more than half – from $9 billion in FY 2025 to under $4 billion. If passed by Congress, these cuts would result in an estimated ~$11 billion in economic losses.
U.S. Energy Supply Chains Are Unlikely to Meet Anticipated Demand
The U.S. fast-growing energy demands for clean energy sources faces a problem: Under current supply chain conditions, the United States is on track to fall significantly short of surging demand for three clean energy sources: wind, solar, and battery. The shortage is due to the scarcity of critical raw materials such as nickel, aluminum, and silicon.