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The Islamic State is trying to hack American electrical power companies.

U.S. law enforcement officials revealed the hack attempts on Wednesday at a conference of American energy firms who were meeting about national security concerns.

"ISIL is beginning to perpetrate cyberattacks," Caitlin Durkovich, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, told company executives. The attacks by the Islamic State have been unsuccessful, Terrorists are not currently using the most sophisticated hacking tools to break into computer systems and turn off or blow up machines.

"Strong intent. Thankfully, low capability," said John Riggi, a section chief at the FBI's cyber division. "But the concern is that they'll buy that capability."

Indeed, hacking software is up for sale in black markets online. That's often how mafias acquire the cyberweapons they use to break into companies and steal giant databases of information they later sell to fraudsters.

The FBI now worries that the Islamic State or its supporters will buy malicious software that can sneak into computers and destroy electronics. An attack on power companies could disrupt the flow of energy to U.S. homes and businesses.

And it's not just Islamic extremists. There's an equal threat from domestic terrorists and hate groups, according to Mark Lemery. He's the "critical infrastructure protection coordinator" who helps coordinate defenses against attacks in Utah. But again, the worries are tempered.

"They'd love to do damage, but they just don't have the capability," Lemery said. "Terrorists have not gotten to the point where they're causing physical damage."

Officials made clear that the greater concern is attacks from other countries. Riggi said malware found last year on industrial control systems at energy companies -- including pumps and engines -- were traced to the Russian government.

The chance of a hack taking out the entire U.S. energy grid -- or even a section of it -- is extremely low. The grid isn't as uniform and connected as people might believe. Currently, it's a chaotic patchwork of "grids," each with different types of machines and software that don't smoothly coordinate or communicate.

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China now has more billionaires than the United States.

China now has 596 billionaires, compared to 537 in the U.S. 242 new Chinese billionaires were added to the list over the past year, moving the country ahead of America for the first time.

"Despite the slowdown in the economy, China's richest have defied gravity, recording their best year ever, and creating more wealth than any country has ever done before in a year," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun Report.

Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda recaptured the ranking's top spot from Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) founder Jack Ma. Wang, one of China's top real estate developers, is now worth $34.4 billion, a 52% increase over the previous year.

Wang's strong performance was primarily due to the listing of his cinema chain in Shanghai. Wang has been diversifying his assets, and recently purchased World Triathlon Corporation, which owns the Ironman brand.

Ma, meanwhile, saw his wealth decline 3% to $22.7 billion. Alibaba's shares have fallen sharply since its IPO a year ago.

Earlier this year that many of China's billionaires fly below the radar in an effort to conceal wealth from the authorities. It’s possible to identify roughly 50% of the country's billionaires, while 15% of China's wealth is hidden from the public.

"Think of it like an iceberg, the tip of it is much smaller than the whole," Hoogewerf said. "We do our best to find [hidden money], but they go to such extraordinary lengths to hide it."

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The new BMW 7-Series is one of the most technologically advanced cars ever, and can turn your dreams into reality.

This is a car that can park itself while the driver stands outside, and one that has a tablet for back seat passengers to control every aspect of the interior, including the lights, sounds and even how it smells.

1.) Automatic parking

Autonomous parking feature means the 7-Series can be driven into a garage by itself.

The new 7-Series can park itself when no one is in it. All you have to do is point the car roughly into the entrance of a space or garage, get out, then press the key fob and the car will do the rest.

Let go and it will stop, but with an array of cameras and sensors looking in every direction, the car should work things out for itself. Clearly, we are one step closer to the end game: autonomous cars collecting us from the pub.

2.) Smart key

The same key fob that controls the self-parking feature also has an LED display to show how much fuel the car has, plus the status of door locks and windows.

It has a 2.2in touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 320 and lets you set the climate control or heaters to a certain temperature before you get in; it also shows notifications, such as when a service is due.

3.) Inductive charger

The smart key's battery will last for months but to stop it ever running out, the 7-Series has an inductive charger to slot it into as you drive. The charger can also top-up any smartphones (or phone cases and covers) compatible with the Qi charging standard.

4.) Samsung tablet between the back seats

Continuing the mobile theme, the 7-Series includes a 7in Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 between the two rear passenger seats. This can be detached and used as a regular Android tablet (and connected to the car's built-in Wi-Fi network), but when fitted in the car it runs a bespoke BMW application.

Here, passengers can control the music, cabin lighting, the position of both rear seats and the front passenger seat, which can fold completely flat to act as a footrest.

The tablet can also be used to control the seats' massage function and even how the cabin smells; two different perfumes can be installed when you buy the car and picked from depending on your mood. The tablet can play its own music through the car, or stream video to two 10.3in screens on the back of the front seats.

5.) Gesture controls for the 12.3-inch touchscreen display

But the toys are not only for backseat passengers; those up front also get to have some fun. New for the 2016 7-Series is a 3D sensor that reads hand gestures performed by the driver or front passenger. Rotate a pointed finger in front of the dashboard to turn the stereo volume up or down or prod two fingers towards the dashboard to reject an incoming call.

Several other gestures can be configured to do whatever you like with the car's infotainment system. BMW's iDrive system is here, as you would expect, and features a touchscreen for the first time. There is also the familiar scroll dial and control buttons between the front seats.

6. Bowers & Wilkins stereo with speakers made from diamond

Such a huge car demands an equally large stereo, and few come larger than the 1,400-watt system created for the new 7-Series by British sound company Bowers & Wilkins. It has no fewer than 16 speakers dotted around the cabin, each illuminated as part of the car's dynamic lighting package, which includes lights in the roof lining designed to resemble a starry night.

A £5,000 optional extra, the stereo's speakers include laboratory-grown diamonds in the tweeters to produce sounds beyond what humans can hear. Never seen in cars before, the three diamond dome tweeters are joined by seven midrange drive units made from Kevlar, a material more commonly found in Formula One cars and bulletproof jackets. Completing the set-up are a further four aluminium tweeters, two bass subwoofers and a 1,400 watt, 10-channel amplifier.

7. Heads-up display with night vision

And finally... the 7-Series' heads-up display is 75% larger than its predecessor, as used by the BMW i8, and uses a night vision camera to warn the driver about pedestrians and large animals, which may be hidden at the sides of the road.

The display, which is projected on to the windscreen and can only be seen by the driver, shows the car's speed, the limit for that road (which changes when a camera spots a different road sign), overtaking restrictions, and sat-nav instructions in full colour.

The new BMW 7-Series goes on sale this month. Prices in the US start from $81,300.

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Apple Inc could be facing up to $862 million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices.

The jury in Madison, Wisconsin also said the patent, which improves processor efficiency, was valid. The trial will now move on to determine how much Apple owes in damages.

Representatives for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent for improving chip efficiency.

The jury was considering whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violate the patent.

Cupertino, California-based Apple denied any infringement and argued the patent is invalid, according to court papers. Apple previously tried to convince the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the patent's validity, but in April the agency rejected the bid.

According to a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge William Conley, who is presiding over the case, Apple could be liable for up to $862.4 million in damages.

He scheduled the trial to proceed in three phases: liability, damages, and finally, whether Apple infringed the patent willfully, which could lead to enhanced penalties.

WARF used the patent to sue Intel Corp in 2008, but the case was settled the following year on the eve of trial.

Last month, WARF launched a second lawsuit against Apple, this time targeting the company's newest chips, the A9 and A9X, used in the just-released iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, as well as the iPad Pro.

The case is Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation v. Apple Inc in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, No. 14-cv-62.

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