Week in review: Dark tech days ahead?

Intel's chief executive predicts hard times ahead for the tech industry if things do not change.

Paul Otellini's remarks at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum amounted to a warning to Obama administration officials and Capitol Hill aides in the audience. Unless government policies are altered, he predicted, "the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here."

The U.S. legal environment has become so hostile to business, Otellini said, that there is likely to be an "inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we're seeing today in Europe--this is the bitter truth."

The comments from Intel's chief executive echoed statements made a day earlier by Carly Fiorina, the former HP CEO turned Republican senatorial candidate. America's skilled-worker visa system is so badly broken and anti-immigration that "we have to start from scratch," Fiorina said, adding that too many government policies push jobs overseas instead of making U.S. companies competitive against international rivals.
• RIAA: U.S. copyright law 'isn't working'

More headlines

Google makes it official: Phone calls now in Gmail

Gmail users can now make phone calls from within their accounts for free to the U.S. and Canada--and for pretty cheap to several other countries.
•  Google: 1 million Gmail calls during first day
•  Use Gmail to make VoIP calls: Hands-on review

Google gives real-time search its own page

Searching for updates on breaking news or trending topics on Twitter? Google has a new dedicated page for those queries.

Firefox 4 beta 4 tackles browser tab chaos

Trying to restore a semblance of order to the tab profusion that afflicts some people's Web browsers, Mozilla introduces Panorama. Also in new beta: Firefox Sync.
•  Firefox 3.6 likely the last for PowerPC Macs
•  How to use Firefox's new tab manager

Microsoft warns about application security flaw

The software maker says that it is looking into an issue that may leave many Windows programs subject to an attack mechanism known as DLL preloading, or binary planting.
•  Windows DLL bug hits dozens of apps

Bad flash drive caused worst U.S. military breach

Breach in 2008 was wake-up call for Defense Department to create a new cybersecurity strategy, says U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III.

Apple applies for patent to kill jailbroken devices

Patent application covers a series of security measures for dealing with and identifying unauthorized users and activities, including the practice of jailbreaking.
•  Apple's iPod, iTunes event September 1
•  Report: Apple prepping 99-cent TV show rentals
•  Netflix debuts on the iPhone

Dell ups 3Par offer yet again, to $27 per share

Yet again, 3Par has agreed to be acquired by the PC maker, which has been engaged in a bidding war for the storage company with Hewlett-Packard.
•  HP counters Dell's boosted bid for 3Par
•  HP trumps Dell with $24-per-share bid for 3Par
•  3Par gives Dell three days to top HP's offer

Microsoft's IE9 look leaks to the Web

Although the company has been tight-lipped about how its next browser will look and act, Microsoft's Russian subsidiary appears to have spilled the beans.
•  Windows 95 turns 15: Has Microsoft's OS peaked?

Yahoo completes switch to Microsoft-powered search

The move to Bing-powered search is done, at least for algorithmic search in the U.S. and Canada. The two companies still need to iron out paid search and international markets.
•  Monster swallows HotJobs, inks deal with Yahoo

The journey of juice: Inside the electric grid

CNET's Martin LaMonica takes a road trip to get a front-row view of the wholesale grid in action and to see how the grid will change in the future.

GE to test energy efficiency of smart homes

A $5 million Department of Energy project will measure whether high-tech tools, such as electricity monitors and smart appliances, coupled with solar panels can cut home energy use by 70 percent.
•  California approves giant thermal solar plant

Also of note
•  Prius to offer optional noise to alert pedestrians
•  Ford beaming Sync software to assembly line cars
•  Study: 56 million have played social-network game