This year's revised federal tax code plus new Covid-19 initiatives provide additional incentives for startup companies, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. If you received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, you may qualify to have that indebtedness forgiven; and other tax incentives this year provide new deductions to lower your tax bill.

A set of flaws in a widely used network communication protocol that could affect millions of devices has been revealed by Forescout Research Labs and JSOF Research. The nine vulnerabilities discovered by security researchers dramatically increase the attack surface of at least 100 million Internet of Things devices, exposing them to potential attacks that could take the devices offline or to be hijacked by threat actors.

Microsoft has announced it is purchasing Nuance Communications, a natural language to computer processing company, in a deal valued at $19.7 billion. "Nuance's popular healthcare-focused products and services will provide Microsoft an instant revenue stream and relationships with existing Nuance customers," noted Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT.

Even the most customer-centric businesses can overestimate their performance or miss the broad trends in customer behavior. That is why NICE inContact conducts annual surveys that track the customer experience from the perspective of businesses and consumers. CRM Buyer discussed the recent findings and related issues in more detail with the company's CEO Paul Jarman.

When technology is advancing very rapidly, the leading providers of an evolving class of products are on very different pages. I'm talking about Cisco and Microsoft -- and while neither's approach is wrong, neither is complete -- and together they can build what's needed for our hybrid workplace future. Let's talk about the advantages of a simulated workplace done right, and we'll close with the product of the week, a new graphics card from AMD.

With most workers continuing to work remotely, CRM has become an important tool for managing relationship risk. Financial firms have to deal with market and operational risk, consumer retailers have to focus on supply chain risk, and all companies have to keep an eye on economic risk. Relationship risk is no different, and the role of the CRM is right at the center.

Major information technology providers opposed to the broadening of class action litigation related to consumer protections have taken their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The companies are hoping the court will strike down a lower court ruling which makes it easier for consumers to file class action suits. The tech companies may not have to wait too long for a decision.

A report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation called on the U.S. government to take an active role in promoting industrial competitiveness, and to formulate an advanced industry and technology strategy, which should include a set of policies and programs explicitly designed to support specific industries and technologies.

Personalization and automation, two of the hottest buzzwords in the lexicon of CRM practitioners, are all the rage for marketers these days. But only 14 percent of organizations are using artificial intelligence or machine language to automate their marketing campaigns. A survey by Rackspace Technology reveals that the majority of organizations worldwide lack the internal resources to support these high-powered CRM initiatives.

Creating a smooth functioning interface for smart glasses that allows its wearers to operate in an augmented reality world has proven to be a challenging task, but Facebook believes it may have a solution on the human wrist. It's a comfortable location for all-day wear, Facebook noted. It's located right next to the primary instruments used to interact with the world -- the hands.

The arts have seen a shift in the last year away from in-person gatherings, but that doesn't mean that performances, showings, and other creative activities have stopped. Rather, they've been transformed, becoming increasingly virtual and digital. We spoke with experts in the arts, design, and marketing to see how these fields have changed and might continue to evolve.

Nvidia is in the process of working through regulatory approvals to buy Arm from SoftBank -- a technology holding company with mixed success husbanding its acquisitions. Let's explore this acquisition, the most significant regulatory hurdles the effort needs to overcome, and what might result once the two firms are one. We'll close with the product of the week: Nvidia's GeForce Now.

Half of consumers who originally planned to return to their pre-pandemic in-store shopping routines once coronavirus is under control now plan to stick with online shopping. That shift in preferences means that e-commerce merchants must keep up with trending ways to market, sell, and prevent fraud. Let's look at a few of the most important developments and see where they're going.

For multichannel video programming distributors to stay competitive, they need to offer multichannel video programming solutions that are not only innovative but user friendly. Smart TV manufacturers need to reduce time to market and provide flexible services. Each can bridge the gap by leveraging RDK-V, as it enables various technology platform choices while still allowing an easily customizable UI with a host of tangible benefits.

An increasing number of businesses and even public companies are showing interest in Bitcoin. However, not all chief financial officers of these institutions are convinced to invest in the digital currency as a corporate asset any time soon. According to a recent survey of finance executives by Gartner, 84 percent say they have no plans to purchase Bitcoin as a corporate reserve any time soon.

The United States government is trying to get smarter about getting smart. Throughout the federal government, and especially in defense and national security, artificial intelligence is getting an increased amount of attention, including the adoption of hefty AI budgets. That should lead to increasing contract opportunities for information technology vendors with high competence in AI.

Skeptics of giving computers control over high-risk activities like driving cars were given some ammunition last week when researchers at OpenAI discovered their two-month-old machine vision system could be tricked with a pen and paper into misidentifying objects. For example, their new system could be fooled into identifying an apple as an iPod by attaching a note to the apple with the word iPod on it.

Last week was particularly interesting. Microsoft had two big announcements with Mesh and Viva, while Huawei showcased a strategy for a universal OS that covers PCs, smartphones, tablets, TVs, and IoT devices to perfect integration across them all. Let's talk about both this week -- and work in Microsoft Mesh as the product of the week.

A road map for continued U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence has been revealed in a 756-page report released by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Two years in the making, the report made a number of recommendations to make the United States a leader in the AI age, including an emphasis on the need for the U.S. to win the AI competition with China.

Nostalgia website MyHeritage has launched a new service that allows you to create lifelike animations of faces in still photos. The AI-powered service called Deep Nostalgia, launched last week, is free to try and is remarkably accurate in depicting how a person would look if captured on video. Their eyes blink, their head moves and their mouth forms a smile.

We are in the midst of what many are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is a time of disruption, massive change, opportunities, and significant risks. Fortunes will shift, companies will fail, and new companies will rise from the ashes. Let's look at where we are in this latest Industrial Revolution, and where we'll likely be when this wave ends in 10 to 40 years. We'll close with the product of the week, a new conferencing camera/speaker from Poly.

Retailers are finding new ways to retool their customer experiences to conform with the new contactless "everything" supply chain; and artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies are lending a notable hand. Out are the bulky metal lockers where customers had to open doors that many other people have come in contact with to retrieve their items staged from online purchases.

This emerging building method is far less wasteful, far faster, and far cheaper to build much sturdier homes. The only real downside is that the skills and technology to build these houses aren't widely available yet. Still, a shift to 3D printed building could create many new jobs, and the training required isn't considered exceedingly difficult. Let's talk about 3D printed homes, and we'll close with the product of the week, the ARM-based HP Elite Folio.

Researchers have discovered a way to identify existing drugs that can be potentially repurposed to fight COVID-19 in the elderly. The researchers said they have plans to share their findings with pharmaceutical companies, but added that before any drugs can be repurposed for use on elderly COVID-19 patients, clinical testing will be required.

As they become more prominent, consumers will enjoy shopping experiences that no longer rely on payments from a piece of plastic with a four-digit pin. Instead, consumers will use unique motion sensors in smartphone devices to passively authenticate people using their walking behavior and other contextual biometric signals. Some of these contactless procedures are already being deployed.

Foci is a "Focus Wearable" device by U.K.-based company Tinylogics that combines cognitive biometrics with artificial intelligence and machine learning to help you focus better. That combination of technologies presents an eerie yet intriguing approach to help people easily bothered by mental distractions a way to clear out their brain clutter.

Global sales of electric vehicles in 2020 surged despite a drop in overall sales of passenger cars, according to a report from Canalys. Sales of EVs jumped 39 percent globally, reaching 3.1 million units, while sales of passenger vehicles fell 14 percent. Europe was a prime driver of EV sales last year, with the vehicles garnering 11.5 percent of new car sales in the region.

Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, ramping up the data privacy threats they pose to government agencies and businesses alike. Governments both domestic and foreign need to step up efforts to pass legislation that bolsters technological defenses this year, warn privacy groups. Stiffer privacy laws are gradually being reviewed and signed into the U.S. market. But that process is mostly taking place at the state level.

A team of scientists and engineers has invented a cryogenic computer chip capable of functioning at temperatures near absolute zero, which could enable a new crop of high performance quantum computers capable of performing calculations with thousands of qubits, or more. Quantum computers, up to now, could only accommodate a few dozen qubits. That's why the new cryo chip is such a breakthrough.

Qualcomm has announced several products that will be used to enhance next-generation automobiles. These future cars will most certainly be electric and increasingly autonomous. Let's discuss that this week -- and we'll take a close look at a forthcoming Cadillac that could be more of a technology showcase than anything by Tesla.