Is the Internet of Things safe? ISACA's latest survey suggests a major confidence gap about the security of connected devices between the average consumer and cybersecurity professionals. [ + ]

Companies still using Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 will have less than six months to upgrade before the ageing operating system reaches its end of extended life. [ + ]

Dell will take on a whopping US$50bn in debt to acquire storage giant EMC for around US$67bn ($92.6bn), in turn becoming the world's third-largest IT vendor. [ + ]

The mandatory metadata retention legislation has taken effect, but few if any ISPs are compliant, with many still not even understanding what data they are required to store. [ + ]

This week: Mushrooms to power batteries, computer glitches cause more airport headaches, and a smartphone that's also a robot. [ + ]

Telecommunication companies received thousands of complaints from Australians for mobile, internet and landline services in 2014–15 according to figures released by the industry's ombudsman. [ + ]

Education and training are fundamental to driving Australia's growth and require a coordinated and mutually invested partnership between government, higher education and the private sector. [ + ]

Touted as the taxi industry's comeback to Uber, the ihail booking app may not see the light of day with the ACCC proposing to block its entry to the market. [ + ]

The professionalism arm of the global federation representing ICT employees has insisted that software engineers have an obligation to refuse and even report unethical orders from higher-ups. [ + ]

Growing adoption of HTTPS encryption has allowed attackers to disguise malware within encrypted traffic to keep it undetected by conventional security systems. [ + ]

LinkedIn to pay $18m to settle a class action over unwanted emails, Global IT services company CSC plans to purchase Australian company UXC, and HP will split into two listed entities.

Gartner expects the rise of artificial intelligence, machine learning, a diverse and growing range of connected devices and other technology advances to shape the main tech trends for 2016 and beyond. [ + ]

In a matter of weeks, Kmart and David Jones — as well as Patreon and T-Mobile USA overseas — have fallen victim to cyber attacks, while new threats including a variant of the notorious Carbanak malware have surfaced. [ + ]

Microsoft has revealed plans to launch a range of new Surface, Lumia and Band devices running the Windows 10 operating system by the end of the year. [ + ]

This week: Banks behaving badly, NRL's footy photo fail, nuclear nightmare from cyber attacks, quantum computing's future, and a knot-tying flying robot. [ + ]