The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.

As increasing numbers of job seekers turn their attention to startups and the tech industry,
every city seems eager to position itself as a hub for innovators and big ideas.

But which cities can back up those claims?

To determine which of the country’s metro areas were playing backdrop to the most innovation, personal finance site NerdWallet looked at the number of patents per 1,000 residents, venture capital received per capita in a particular region in 2014, and “economies of agglomeration”–essentially, the benefits realized when a high density of startups cluster together.


San Jose, California, San Francisco’s neighbor to the south, lands in first place on this ranking. The city’s metro area received $3,585.68 per capita in venture funding in 2014, and 27.39 tech-class patents were issued for every 1,000 residents. According to NerdWallet, “The valley’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, designed to give West Coast entrepreneurs closer access to government regulators and education, will permanently occupy part of San Jose’s City Hall after renovations are completed this year.”

Runner up is the Boulder, Colorado, metropolitan area. Boulder has the highest density of startups of any city on this list, more than six times the national average. The San Francisco area might be the one most closely associated with startups and the tech industry, but the Bay Area ranks third on this list, with the second-highest venture capital funding, $3,400 per capita.

In pictures: The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.

Covallis, Oregon, ranks fourth with companies like Hewlett-Packard calling the city, which has a below-state-average unemployment rate of 5.1%, home. Seattle, Washington, home to tech behemoths Amazon and Microsoft rounds out the top five with more than double the national average density for startups.


Fort Collins, Colorado, and Provo, Utah, home to Colorado State University and Brigham Young University, respectively, both join the list on the strength of the universities turning out well-educated graduates with strong tech backgrounds, contributing to the continued growth of the local startup scene.

Number eight Austin, Texas, has gained increasing attention in recent years as a tech hub and home to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, prompting Facebook, Apple, and Google to open Lone Star State offices in Austin.

Burlington, Vermont, number nine, is often associated more closely with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream than it is with tech talent, but received the third highest number of tech-related patents per 1,000 people on this list.

Finally, Boston, Massachusetts takes 10th place, bringing in more than $900 in venture funding per 1,000 people and attracting international interest via Harvard and M.I.T.

In pictures: The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.

Cyber Bank Robbers Steals $1bn, Says Kaspersky Report

Not less than 100 banks as well as financial institutions worldwide have been attacked
in an “unprecedented cyber robbery” where the robbers stole almost $1bn , claims a new report. Read more as repoted by the BBC:

Computer security firm Kaspersky Lab estimates $1bn (£648m) has been stolen in the attacks, which it says started in 2013 and are still ongoing. A cybercriminal gang with members from Russia, Ukraine and China is responsible, it said.

Kaspersky said it worked with Interpol and Europol on the investigation. It said the attacks had taken place in 30 countries including financial firms in Russia, US, Germany, China, Ukraine and Canada. “These attacks again underline the fact that criminals will exploit any vulnerability in any system,” said Sanjay Virmani, director of Interpol’s digital crime centre.

Kaspersky said the gang’s methods marked a new stage in cyber robbery where “malicious users steal money directly from banks and avoid targeting end users”.

The gang, which Kaspersky dubbed Carbanak, used computer viruses to infect company networks with malware including video surveillance, enabling it to see and record everything that happened on staff’s screens.

The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.

As increasing numbers of job seekers turn their attention to startups and the tech industry,

Cyber Bank Robbers Steals $1bn, Says Kaspersky Report

Not less than 100 banks as well as financial institutions worldwide have been attacked

Samsung To Create Exynos Chips With Integrated Modems

According to industry sources from South Korea, Samsung is
getting ready to go to phase two of its plan to reduce its dependence on QualcommAccording to industry sources from South Korea, Samsung is getting ready to go to phase two of its plan to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. Phase one seems to have been the elimination of Qualcomm's chips from some of its most popular devices, such as the Galaxy S series.

The Galaxy Note series is likely to follow soon and use only Exynos chips as well, now that we know that Samsung is already working on successors to its Exynos 7420 chip (the one apparently going into the Galaxy S6).

Reducing reliance on Qualcomm's chips is not easy, though, and not just because Qualcomm has had a history of making good chips that most other OEMs have used, but also because Qualcomm has been a pioneer in integrating its modems into its SoCs. In fact, this sort of bundling has made Qualcomm's chips the default option for smartphone OEMs, especially in LTE markets such as the U.S.


Integrating the modem into a chip means it costs less to make, and it can be delivered faster in products. Qualcomm's mobile chip leadership won't be truly threatened until competitors can build chips that rival Qualcomm's in terms of performance and efficiency and are also able to integrate their own modems into those chips.

Samsung has been building its own modems since last year, but so far it hasn't integrated them into a single-chip solution. The modems have been attached separately to its Exynos processors. The company has already been working on its own Cat. 10 LTE modem that it may introduce along with the Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6 smartphone, but the modem will likely not be integrated into the SoC.

Following the Galaxy S6, the company is expected to ship devices with single-chip solutions with integrated modems. One of the first beneficiaries of such a chip could be the Galaxy Note 5 later this year.

. Phase one seems to have been the elimination of Qualcomm's chips from some of its most popular devices, such as the Galaxy S series.

The Galaxy Note series is likely to follow soon and use only Exynos chips as well, now that we know that Samsung is already working on successors to its Exynos 7420 chip (the one apparently going into the Galaxy S6).

Reducing reliance on Qualcomm's chips is not easy, though, and not just because Qualcomm has had a history of making good chips that most other OEMs have used, but also because Qualcomm has been a pioneer in integrating its modems into its SoCs. In fact, this sort of bundling has made Qualcomm's chips the default option for smartphone OEMs, especially in LTE markets such as the U.S.


Integrating the modem into a chip means it costs less to make, and it can be delivered faster in products. Qualcomm's mobile chip leadership won't be truly threatened until competitors can build chips that rival Qualcomm's in terms of performance and efficiency and are also able to integrate their own modems into those chips.

Samsung has been building its own modems since last year, but so far it hasn't integrated them into a single-chip solution. The modems have been attached separately to its Exynos processors. The company has already been working on its own Cat. 10 LTE modem that it may introduce along with the Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6 smartphone, but the modem will likely not be integrated into the SoC.

Following the Galaxy S6, the company is expected to ship devices with single-chip solutions with integrated modems. One of the first beneficiaries of such a chip could be the Galaxy Note 5 later this year.

Apple Pay To Become Accepted Payment Method For Federal Services

Speaking at the White House summit on cybersecurity, Tim Cook announced that starting this September,
iPhone users will be able to pay for federal services using Apple Pay. Initially, those services will include admission to national parks and other similar services. Later, the company intends to make Apple Pay work with more security-sensitive services such as social security services and veterans' pensions.

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“We're excited to announce that beginning in September, Apple Pay will be available for many transactions with the Federal Government, like for example when you pay for admission to your favorite national park," Cook said at the Stanford event.

“We're also working to make sure credit and procurement cards issued to government employees for their expenses can be used with Apple Pay, and we're working on initiatives with leading banks and networks to use this technology with benefits programs like social security and veteran's pensions that serve citizens at both the state and federal level."

Tim Cook also said that Apple is working with the U.S. government on making things such as driver licenses and passports digital, while still preserving the kind of strong privacy Apple Pay users get right now.


Apple Pay is the most privacy-oriented payment method out there because it uses unique tokens for each payment instead of the credit card number, which means merchants can't track multiple purchases from the same customer.

Touch ID is also one of the most secure identification methods in the world right now, while still being very easy to use. One thing Apple has done differently than other fingerprint-based solutions is that it doesn't store the fingerprint data on the device. Instead, a hash of the fingerprint data is created, and that is what's stored in a hardware-based "Secure Enclave." By using this method, Apple ensures that the fingerprint data can't be stolen from the device, even if the Secure Enclave is hacked.

Although having Apple create such a strong relationship with the government for federal services may end up marginalizing Android users for some time, it's probably better for everyone in the long term that it's Apple setting these strong security and privacy standards. If there was any other company, those standards could be much lower.

Apple may get a head start in adoption for federal services, but it's not going to monopolize digital identification for federal services. Sooner or later, the government will have to allow competitors to integrate with the government's systems, too, but by then they'll all have to embrace the high security standards Apple has paved before them.

Samsung To Create Exynos Chips With Integrated Modems

According to industry sources from South Korea, Samsung is

Apple Pay To Become Accepted Payment Method For Federal Services

Speaking at the White House summit on cybersecurity, Tim Cook announced that starting this September,