A technology policy think tank has found that Australia ranked just 22nd out of the 56 major economies in terms of how effectively its domestic policies support global innovation. [ + ]

Microsoft plans to conduct a global recall of power cords for some Surface Pro tablets following overheating complaints, as Intel patches a serious bug in its Driver Update Utility. [ + ]

A potentially serious vulnerability in the Linux kernel has been uncovered, while Apple has issued patches for nine vulnerabilities in OS X and iOS. [ + ]

AGL Energy and First Solar have officially launched the two largest solar plants in the Southern Hemisphere, more than doubling Australia's large-scale solar capacity. [ + ]

Only 54% of respondents to Cisco's annual security survey are confident in their ability to defend against cyber attacks, and only 45% are confident they can scope and contain attacks. [ + ]

Win XP systems at a Melbourne hospital have been hit with a virus, Sydney and Canberra Hyatt hotels listed in hack, and Exetel forced to recant over contract changes. [ + ]

The current app store situation is a vector for malware to be accidentally loaded onto a user's device and then gain access to the corporate network. [ + ]

Young Australians are the least confident in their job skills and career prospects in the digital era among respondents to a nine-nation survey conducted by Infosys. [ + ]

The government has disclosed that 61 agencies, including federal and state departments, regulatory bodies and even one city council, have requested access to data under the metadata retention scheme. [ + ]

Support ends for older versions of Internet Explorer; Bluescope's internal espionage case; and the Bureau of Met suffers a meltdown.

A study of patient data breaches in 25 countries including Australia found that 18 of the 20 industries examined had fallen prey to such a breach, but many companies are not even aware they retain such data. [ + ]

Western Sydney University will deploy a next-generation smart Wi-Fi network using equipment from Ruckus Wireless that spans all of its seven campuses. [ + ]

Australian IT professionals nearly universally support rules requiring organisations to disclose data breaches within 30 days of their discovery, according to ISACA. [ + ]

A build-and-buy software strategy can support an organisation's unique competitive advantages, ensuring it can continue to improve its offerings and meet changes that occur in the wider market. [ + ]

EFA, the Australian Privacy Foundation and other Australian organisations have co-signed a global open letter asking governments to reject any policy that would threaten strong encryption online. [ + ]