Engineers and scientists are desperately needed by many high-tech firms. However, positions are going unfilled because there are not enough trained Americans to fill them and immigration policy doesn’t allow enough visas to be granted to qualified immigrants who would be happy to take these jobs. And it’s not only in established businesses where immigrants bolster the economy. One study showed that foreign-born entrepreneurs started more than 25% of the technology and engineering firms in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005. Businesses created by immigrants generated $52 billion in sales and had 450,000 employees in 2005. Foreign nationals now comprise the majority of scientists and engineers being trained in the U.S. for advanced degrees. For example, they account for 50% of master’s degrees and 70% of Ph.d degrees in electrical engineering.

http://themoderatevoice.com/147657/high-tech-immigrants-needed-but-immigrants-need-not-applu/

The demand for faster and faster technology has spurred the development of a wireless millimeter-wave (mm-wave) technology. The VIRTUS chipset, developed jointly by scientists at the Nanyang Technological University and A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R), transmits large volumes of data at ultra-high speeds of a reported 2 Gigabits per second. That’s 1,000 times faster than Bluetooth. The two institutions, both located in Singapore, developed the chip to address demand for higher speeds for wireless devices. “The demand for ultra high-speed wireless connectivity has fuelled the need for faster data transfer rates. Unfortunately, current technologies are unable to meet these stringent demands,” Professor Yeo Kiat Seng, the principal investigator of the project and Associate Chair of Research at NTU’s School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, said in a statement.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112542469/virtus-chipset-is-1000-times-faster-than-bluetooth/

A new startup, Leap Motion, is dedicated to changing the way people interact with computers. David Holz and his co-founder, Michael Buckwald, have built a device about the size of a cigarette lighter that contains three tiny cameras inside. It attaches to a computer and turns any PC or Mac into a gesture-recognition device. The idea is similar to the one behind Microsoft’s (MSFT) Kinect, an Xbox add-on that lets people play games just by moving their hands and body. At $70, the Leap Motion is about half the price of a Kinect. It’s also far more accurate, says Holz. The software that analyzes the images from the three cameras can track all 10 of a user’s fingers and detect movements of less than one-hundredth of a millimeter. “It’s so precise that it tracks down to the tendon,” says Andy Miller, a former Apple (AAPL) executive and now a partner at Highland Capital Partners, which has contributed to Leap Motion’s $14.5 million in funding.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-24/david-holzs-leap-motion-wants-to-kill-the-mouse

IBM has banned Apple’s Siri digital assistant–along with other apps and services–from its networks out of concern for security and privacy. Big Blue realizes the move to enable workers to bring their own devices to work offers both benefits and challenges.

As well-mannered and well-intentioned as she may be, Apple’s Siri is not welcome at IBM—at least not on the company’s networks. According to an MIT Technology Review report, IBM has banned the use of Apple’s Siri digital assistant on its networks because of security and privacy concerns. “The company worries that the spoken queries might be stored somewhere,” IBM CIO Jeanette Horan told MIT Technology Review.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/IBM-Bans-Apples-Siri-on-Big-Blue-Networks-for-Security-Reasons-830647/

Windows 8 is a chance for Microsoft and its partners to put the PC back at the center of people’s lives, while also expanding into tablets—an area Apple has dominated with the iPad. On May 21, Microsoft shared details on the multi-monitor experience for Windows 8. “From the very first public release and demonstrations of Windows 8, we have shown improvements over Windows 7 for multi-monitor scenarios and have shown how we support new Metro-style apps within a multi-monitor environment,” said Microsoft’s Windows president Steven Sinofsky. “We have continued to develop and refine features for multiple monitors and have significantly enhanced the experience as we move to our next milestone, the Release Preview.” Here, eWEEK looks at what Windows 7 has to offer both business users and consumers, and previews what people can expect from Microsoft Windows 8 and what the company has done since the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and earlier versions of the new operating system.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Microsoft-Windows-7-Windows-8-Look-to-Redefine-PC-Experience-184311/

The iPhone 5 is expected to arrive in October featuring a “completely redesigned body style,” say analysts. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS will be marketed to the developing world. A “completely redesigned” Apple iPhone 5 will arrive in October, according to analysts with Piper Jaffray. There have been a lot of conflicting reports about when the new iPhone would arrive but the analysts are “confident,” in their time frame, according to the May 21 research note. Jefferies analysts also released an Apple-related note May 21, and together the two reports offer a picture of what’s to come from Apple and what’s likely to be phased out. The launch of the iPhone 5—as the newest model is expected to be called—will represent the biggest product launch of the year, as well as the biggest device upgrade cycle “in smartphone history,” wrote Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Douglas J. Clinton.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/iPhone-5-Will-Be-Completely-Redesigned-Resemble-iPad-Analysts-174315/

Yes, of course, but things got out of hand. A quarter of executives admit to having slept with a smart phone. Consultant Deborah Lovich could be accomplishing the management feat of the mobile era. She’s convinced hundreds of agile-thumbed, on-at-all-hours colleagues to put down their smart phones and stop working or checking e-mail all evening long. True, the break happens only once a week. But Boston Consulting Group’s “predictable time off” experiment has been a hit. Since it was widely introduced in 2009, more than 900 internal teams have taken part, and the program has become standard practice at most BCG offices in North America and Europe.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/40325/?p1=BI

Until recently, I didn’t pay much attention to the data that makes up my life—how many steps I take each day or miles I bike each week, how often I update my Facebook status, feel stressed out, or have a drink. A growing group of people do track this sort of data as part of the “quantified self” movement—everything from mood ratings to exercise routines to sleeping and eating habits. The idea is that this kind of tracking can teach us valuable things about ourselves and help us make better choices. Even if we think we know ourselves, the theory goes, tracking can yield surprises.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/40453/?p1=A1

The world’s first peer-reviewed video journal gives scientists a better way to show others how to replicate experiments. If a photo is worth a thousand words, imagine the understanding that can be captured from 10 minutes at 30 frames per second. A scientific journal dedicated to video—a medium seldom seen in peer-reviewed publications—is finding out. Increasingly, scientists include short video clips when they submit their manuscripts to a journal. But the Journal of Visualized Experiments—JoVE for short—is an online journal where video is the main medium rather than a supplement.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/40444/?p1=A2

Google co-founder Sergey Brin was spotted Wednesday wearing the search leader’s forthcoming augmented reality goggles in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood.  In April, Google confirmed it was working on glasses that can do things like show maps, messages and other information by releasing a mocked up video of a person using the glasses to take photos, receive messages, share videos of what they’re seeing, and obtain directions. Like Google’s press images for what it calls “Project Glass,” the glasses Brin wore while walking down King Street were lens-free with a small, clear prism-like display mounted above the right eye.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/27872/?p1=blogs