ITI Daily News Roundup

Inauguration Reaction

Tech industry applauds Obama's address.  President Obama's inaugural address on Monday has so far won positive reviews from the tech community.  Trade associations that represent Google, Apple and Cisco said they were encouraged by the themes covered in the president's inaugural address.  (ITI included/The Hill)

Tax

Budget tax increases would put red-state Dems in tough spot.  Congressional Republicans will try to use a Senate Democratic budget as a weapon against vulnerable incumbents in 2014. (The Hill)

Google, Facebook, Amazon may be subject to French taxes.  The European government proposes levying a tax on Internet-based tech companies that make mass amounts of revenue with online advertising.  (CNET)

Workforce

New Cornell Technology School Will Foster Commerce Amid Education.  At Cornell NYC Tech, a new graduate school focusing on applied science, the most striking departure of all may be the relationship it sets forth between university and industry.  (NYT)

Graduation rate for high-schoolers hits highest level in almost 40 years.  Data shows that 78 percent earn their diploma on time, but gaps among racial groups still persist.  (Washington Post)

Energy & Sustainability

Climate Goals Given Center Stage.  President Obama made climate change the most prominent policy vow of his address, setting in motion what Democrats say will be an aggressive campaign.  (NYT)

LEDs Emerge as a Popular ‘Green’ Lighting.  Consumers are buying more LEDs, but over time, the long-lasting bulbs will result in fewer sales, making the race for market share all the more urgent.  (NYT)

A new administration and a second chance for energy efficiency.  What can President Obama do in his second term to promote more efficient buildings?  (GreenBiz.com)

Economy

Cloud, programming top skills demand in China.  Majority of IT job demands in China is focused on basic skills such as programming, but cloud and mobility will continue to drive IT employment for 2013.  (ZDNet)

Japan unveils drastic new strategy to shake stubborn economic stagnation.  Plan represents a controversial rethink about how to repair the country’s crisis-battered economy.  (Washington Post)

Indonesia Plans Scorecards to Boost Corporate Governance.  Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority plans to publish scorecards rating companies on the quality of their corporate governance as it begins supervising capital markets in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.  (Bloomberg)

Chidambaram Vows Budget Prudence as He Pushes for Policy Changes.  India’s finance minister said fiscal prudence will be a key part of his budget next month and pledged to deepen an economic-policy overhaul by implementing a goods and services levy to spur commerce and widen the tax base.  (Bloomberg)

Tech Business

Huawei pins hopes on fresh face.  When a global company with $35bn in annual revenues presents its financial results, one might expect most of the attention to be focused on the accounts. But on Monday, there was a definite sense that it was the woman presenting the numbers who stole the show.  Cathy Meng is Huawei’s chief financial officer, but perhaps more importantly, she is also the daughter of Ren Zhengfei, the company’s founder. Her on-the-record meeting with foreign press is the first such appearance for someone from her family, and positions her as the new public face of a company that will probably soon become the world’s biggest telecoms equipment provider by revenues.

Cybersecurity & Privacy

Asia needs regional cybercrime center.  A dedicated pan-Asia online security agency will provide more effective protection for governments and companies, but heterogeneous legal landscape and enforcement regimes are challenges.  (ZDNet)

Understanding cybercrime (video seminar).  ZDNet Government columnist David Gewirtz delivers a guest lecture to the University of New Hampshire School of Law in Concord, NH. You can attend this seminar by watching the embedded video.  (ZDNet)

Dell to test Silver Lake’s skills as ‘undertaker.’  With its plan to take struggling PC maker Dell private in the biggest ever tech buyout, Silver Lake is about to put to the test its 14 years of experience in conjuring profits out of buying companies that have missed the tide of tech history.  (FT)

IBM Milks Lotus as It Updates Software.  IBM aims to update its software group by selling more programs aimed at fast growing areas like social media, cloud computing and mobile.  (WSJ)

Sony's new tablet is sliced thinner than the iPad Mini.  Sony's new tablet is arguably the thinnest 10-inch tablet yet. It's also really light.  (CNET)

H-P's Missed Chance to Avoid Autonomy Deal.  Behind HP's $11 billion 2011 acquisition of Autonomy were a new CEO bent on a high-impact acquisition; an inability to obtain certain financial data; and a board that had to wrestle simultaneously with another proposal.  (WSJ)

Investors Struggle to Get Handle on Apple.  Apple's push into new markets and its more complex supply chain are making its growth potential more difficult to understand and predict, raising jitters among investors.  (WSJ)

Samsung Ventures Buys Fixmo Stake to Take on BlackBerry.  Samsung Electronics Co. bought a stake in Canadian security software maker Fixmo Inc., looking to extend its smartphone growth with businesses and government customers traditionally served by Research In Motion Ltd.  (Bloomberg)

Former Microsoft executive says CEO Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power.  Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is not the right leader for the world's largest software company but holds his grip on it by systematically forcing out any rising manager who challenges his authority, claims a former senior executive who has written a book about his time at the company.  (Reuters)

AMD hires chip veterans, diversifies beyond PCs.  Advanced Micro Devices Inc has hired two senior engineers with experience at Qualcomm Inc and Apple Inc, its latest high-level recruitments as it diversifies beyond a slowing personal computer industry, sources close to the chipmaker said.  (Reuters)

Splunk stock still riding high amid Oracle purchase rumors.  The CEO of Splunk, a San Francisco big-data company that went public last year in soaring fashion, won't comment on rumors of interest from Oracle and IBM -- but one leading analyst said such a deal makes a lot of sense.  (San Jose Mercury News)

Google's Sergey Brin spotted wearing Google Glass in New York.  According to a tweet by a guy who got a picture of the mystery glasses-wearer, it was none other than Google co-founder Sergey Brin, wearing a prototype of one of the most highly anticipated new tech products -- Google Glass.  (LA Times)

LG: Google underestimated Nexus 4 demand.  Head of handset maker's French division says that forecasts ahead of launch of phone were far too low, leading to frustration for buyers - though LG is not making a loss on sales.  (The Guardian)

Think that inaugural activities are over?  Not quite yet.  At 10:45 a.m. ET, the President, the Vice President, the First Lady and Dr. Biden will attend the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.  In the evening, the President, the Vice President, the First Lady and Dr. Biden will attend the Staff Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center. 

House:  The House meets at 10 a.m. ET.  Members will consider a bill to reauthorize programs related to medical disaster and emergency response programs.  Votes are expected around 2 p.m.

Senate:  The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. ET for morning business and then recesses at 12:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus lunches.