Despite ships being by far the most efficient form of transport, there is growing concern about climate change, the environmental state of the world's oceans and the air quality close to major shipping routes and ports which has led to ever more stringent legislation on emissions to both sea and air.

Retailers estimate that they will lose $3.8bn to return fraud for the 2014 holiday season, up from last year's $3.4bn estimate, according to a recent National Retail Federation (NRF) survey. Retailers also estimated that 5.5 percent of all holiday returns are fraudulent, similar to last year's 5.8 percent.

Information technology providers who market to the federal government got some holiday cheer as the U.S. Congress and the White House approved legislation to improve the way the government acquires IT equipment and services. The reforms are significant and welcome, and no doubt will facilitate the marketing of IT to federal agencies.

Toyota has rocked the auto industry by announcing that it is opening to the public 5,680 of its patents related to fuel cell technology for royalty-free use.

Will a strong system for protecting the privacy rights of computer and device users be in place 10 years from now? A sampling of technology experts says probably not. In a new survey by the Pew Research Center, more than half the 2,511 people polled said there will not be a "secure, popularly accepted, and trusted privacy-rights infrastructure" established by 2025.