• More coders look to hit it big in the app economy
  The mobile revolution is giving rise to a small army of do-it-yourself application developers who are banking on one of their creations becoming a top seller. Statistics show the number of computer software engineers is on the rise -- totaling more than a million in 2010 -- but few are able to leverage their skills into a successful freelance business. It's easy to see the lure: Apple has paid freelance coders more than $6.5 billion in royalties since 2008, and the company now has 275,000 registered developers. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (11/17)      

• How automation could revolutionize the offshoring industry
  Robotic intelligence is primed to be an effective IT resource and may one day replace outsourcers, according to James Slaby, a research director at HfS Research. "It's the automation of various business functions: taking work traditionally done by humans and implementing it in software," Slaby said. CIO.com (11/16)      

• Researchers create smart-card-stealing malware
  A Luxembourg-based security research team has created a prototype of malware that infects designated USB ports on Windows PCs, allowing hackers to take control of smart cards, used by governments, banks and other entities to authenticate end users and sign digital documents. The proof-of-concept malware, tested using a national electronic identity card from Belgium, includes a keylogger that steals the PIN number or password associated with the smart card. PCWorld/IDG News Service (11/18)      

• Cisco expands cloud suite with $1.2 billion Meraki buy
  Cisco Systems announced it is acquiring Google-funded cloud services company Meraki for approximately $1.2 billion in cash and retention-based incentives. The deal, which will help bolster Cisco's Unified Access suite of business innovation solutions, is expected to close in the middle of the company's 2013 fiscal year. Seeking Alpha (11/19)      

• Are you an innovation skeptic?
  The best bosses are both optimists and pessimists when it comes to weighing new ideas, says innovation psychologist Sam Hunter. It's important to be open and upbeat when workers first float novel ideas, but also to be realistic or even downright pessimistic when the time comes to pay for implementation. "The skepticism lens should be brought out when cost is about to incur," Hunter explains. Entrepreneur online/The Daily Dose blog (11/15)      

• Survey: Technology upgrades leave many firms scratching their heads
  Enterprises are plunging headlong into popular network-centric technologies such as cloud computing, virtual desktops and unified communications, but many appear to be doing so before acquiring the skills to know how to effectively utilize them. Almost 50% of respondents to a recent survey of senior IT professionals by Endace reported experiencing significant network issues at least once a month, as IT struggles with hundreds of open troubleshooting tickets. The report found almost 30% of companies fail to grasp the basics of bandwidth utilization and more say they are not privy to which applications are running on their networks. eWeek (11/16)      

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on ExecTech readers in the past week.

• Windows 8 gets high marks from cybersecurity pros (eWeek)

• World's "leggiest" creature lives under a rock in Calif. (TG Daily)

• Cybersecurity measure fails in Senate; Obama mulls executive order (The Hill)

• IBM bets on BYOD with expanded mobility offerings (InformationWeek)

• Scientist says modernity may be making humans dumber (TG Daily)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

• GPS technology monitors world's biggest land crabs
  Scientists used GPS technology to analyze the behavior of 55 robber crabs found on Christmas Island, south of Indonesia. Their research, published in the journal PLoS ONE, revealed that these land crabs have a leg span of as much as 3.3 ft. and commonly reside within a small home area such as between tree roots or in crevices. Our Amazing Planet (11/16)      

Technology is always destroying jobs and always creating jobs, but in recent years the destruction has been happening faster than the creation." --Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, as quoted by The New York Times