International diplomacy may feel like schoolyard antics, but the participants do have something a little heavier to throw at each other. After President Obama signed an executive order to improve national cyber security, the White House is now reportedly opening the box marked Trade and Diplomatic Sanctions, which it'll lob at any country that's found to be appropriating US trade secrets. The executive has published a report, outlining a dozen thefts from companies such as GM, Ford and DuPont, fingering China as being behind a majority of them. If the hacking persists, then James Lewis, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the White House should deny visas or access to US banks to Chinese people and corporations -- making us wistful for the courtroom dramas of yore.

Update: We've corrected the story to correctly attribute the comments made by James Lewis.

Introducing Sky Movies Disney – the home of new and classic Disney movies

Sky and Disney are working together to create a brand new television channel, Sky Movies Disney. The new channel will be the home of new and classic Disney and Disney/Pixar movies in the UK and Ireland, and marks the first time that Disney has been involved in a co-branded linear movie channel anywhere in the world. It is also the first time that viewers in the UK and Ireland will be able to watch all new blockbuster Disney-branded movies, as well as classics from the past, on one single channel.

The launch of Sky Movies Disney builds on Sky and Disney's 24-year relationship in the UK and forms part of a new wide-ranging agreement between the two companies, covering further movies, and Disney Channels, across multiple platforms and devices.
Launching in time for the Easter holidays on 28th March 2013, Sky Movies Disney will show recent hits including Brave, Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings and Wreck-It Ralph in their first pay TV window. Future releases that will be available include Oz: The Great and Powerful, Monsters University and The Lone Ranger. The new movies will be available on Sky Movies Disney from around six months after they have ended their run in cinemas and will be exclusive to Sky Movies for at least a year.

Apples and oranges watches. Today's bumper pack of patent applications from Cupertino included this nugget, outlining a small flexible screen that's paired with a "bi-stable spring." In normal lexicon, we're talking about one of those slap bracelets that go from completely straight to wrap-around in an instant. Interestingly enough, Apple isn't the only tech company sniffing around these bracelets as a possible holster for their tech -- Nokia mused on slightly similar notions back in March 2012.

This is an application, so most of what today's filing tells us is certainly not set in stone, but new ideas include a "kinetic energy gathering component" within the band -- like the trickle charge feature found on watches -- to pump energy back into the device. One example embodiment of the idea includes a touchscreen interface that will allow music browsing, phone call reviews and even text input through a "simple virtual keyboard." The concept also mentions AMOLED screen tech, as those deactivated (so, black) pixels would assist in eking out battery life in a device where space is definitely at a premium. The filing also suggests that the device could house an end-detection sensor, allowing the wearable to configure itself to each user, regardless of differing wrist measurements, and deactivate sections of the flexible display that aren't on show. This particular application was made in August 2011 -- a fair while before the recent increase in iWatch murmurings. As is the case with Apple's patent contributions, however, we'll wait to see whether the patent is granted and whether these ideas will ever crystallize into a genuine product. In the meantime, maybe it's time to buy up some snap bracelets on eBay: they might just be making a comeback.

ASUS has gotten into the habit of quietly releasing info about its new MeMo Pads, and to continue that trend, has snuck a trailer for the 10-inch model onto YouTube. The vid talks up various aspects of the MeMo Pad Smart 10, including its 1.2GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 5-megapixel rear shooter, 10-inch IPS display (1,280 x 800) with 178-degree viewing angle and SonicMaster audio tech, as well as some bundled software. Alongside "the metallic miracle," we're likely to see the tablet on the MWC floor in its pink, white and dark grey outfits. Before we get our hands on it, though, check out said trailer below to see if ASUS can sell you on hardware that lacks the frenzy-inducing Nexus branding.

Update: Just to be clear, the MeMo Pad Smart 10 is currently available in Europe and other territories, and is expected to cost around $299 when it launches Stateside.

You may not know about TestFlight if you're used to running apps rather than building them, but odds are that you know its effects when over 300,000 iOS apps have reached testers that hopefully caught bugs in advance. That makes the launch of a private Android beta something of an event, as it gives developers the same simple feedback and provisioning for pre-release apps. Coders who split their time between both Android and iOS also get a truly cross-platform management console as part of the expansion. There's no set date for when the beta expires, but TestFlight eventually plans to offer its utility directly through the Google Play Store -- and might just keep the Android app train rolling smoothly.

FCC ACTS TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE SPECTRUM AVAILABLE FOR UNLICENSED DEVICES IN THE 5 GHz BAND

Washington, D.C. -- The Federal Communications Commission today takes the first steps to unleash significant additional spectrum to accelerate the growth and expansion of new Wi-Fi technology that can offer faster speeds of one gigabit per second or more, increase overall capacity, and reduce congestion at Wi-Fi hot spots.

The Commission proposed to make up to 195 megahertz of additional spectrum in the 5 GHz band (a 35% increase) available to unlicensed wireless devices. It also proposed to create a more flexible regulatory environment, and to streamline existing rules and equipment authorization procedures for devices throughout this band.

Scout for iPhone Now Includes More Options to Plan with Friends, Share Arrival Times and Discover Local Events

First Navigation App to Give Users the Ability to Discover, Share, and Drive to Local Events and Attractions

Sunnyvale, Calif. - February 21, 2013 - Telenav®, Inc. (NASDAQ: TNAV), the leader in personalized navigation, announced today an update to its free Scout™ for iPhone personalized GPS navigation app, making it easy for users to plan with friends by sharing locations and turn by turn navigation. With the touch of a button, users can easily share any address, place or local event with friends or family via text message, email or Facebook. Friends and family do not have to download the Scout for iPhone app or even have an iPhone to receive navigation to the event or location. The shared location will include a link to Scout's HTML5 browser-based, turn by turn navigation service that works on iPhone, Android and Windows Phones and offers a voice-guided navigation experience without a downloaded mobile app.

There are certain things you'd expect to encounter on a visit to NASA's Swamp Works research facility. Walking into the former Apollo testing facility, you'll almost certainly catch glimpses of martian rovers, soil samples and an assortment of scientific testing devices. But in spite of Arduino's near ubiquity these days, we'll admit that we were a bit taken aback when the familiar blue microcontroller made an appearance on a lab desk during our conversation with NASA "lighting guy," Dr. Eirik Holbert. It seems that NASA, like pretty much everyone else, is experimenting with the hacker-friendly component.

The board was hooked up to a lighting fixture Holbert is working on as part of NASA's upcoming deep space habitat concept generator. It's an attempt to bring some sunlit consistency to space exploration, simulating Earth-like lighting patterns to help keep the crew alert and get them ready for sleep in the evenings. So, where does NASA turn when it's looking to conserve weight and save some taxpayer money in the process? Toward the Arduino Uno, naturally. Holbert assembled a number of off-the-shelf products, including the aforementioned microcontroller and shields from Sparkfun to make a fixture for under $500.

Mountain View has just made it easier to peek the contents of Google Drive files on the web with a brand-new preview feature. Now, users will be able to quickly view up to 30 file types (photos, videos, PDFs and more) in a lightbox overlay, and thumb through by clicking right and left arrows within the window. When it comes to documents, folks can zoom in and out, scroll through pages, and even select and copy text. If the update hasn't made it to your account already, Page and Co. say you can expect it to roll out over the next few days. As for the Drive's Android app, it's been updated to let devices wielding Honeycomb or higher stream video saved on the service. According to the changelogs, the application has also been upgraded with performance enhancements, pinch-to-zoom in the presentation viewer and a grab bag of bug fixes and assorted tweaks.

Chromebooks have had the luxury of an app launcher for quite a while, but now Windows users can get in on the action too, provided they download the latest version of Chrome from the browser's dev channel. In order for the launcher to appear in the taskbar, however, those running the fresh release will need to install a Chrome packaged app -- an application written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript that opens outside the browser and works offline by default. Packaged programs aren't searchable on the Chrome Web Store just yet, but folks can code their own or head to the Chromium Blog for a pair of software suggestions. Linux and Mac OS X are penciled in to receive the launcher soon via the dev channel, but there's no word on when it might find its way into a mainstream release of Chrome. Ready to take the feature for a spin? Hit the source link to let Mountain View point you in the right direction.