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Samsung has purchased mobile payments firm LoopPay to create its own digital wallet. Samsung already was an investor in the startup, along with Visa and Synchrony Financial. LoopPay's contactless magnetic secure transmission technology works with magnetic stripe readers. "The one major advantage L...

Customer satisfaction with retail has dropped for the first time in four years, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index -- except in the subcategory of e-commerce. All of the brick-and-mortar retail categories registered weak or flat customer satisfaction for the fourth quarter of 2014...

Xiaomi may soon take its first steps into the U.S. How will it do? I have some suggestions to offer. If it follows them, its chances of success will increase. If it doesn't, it may face the same problems that have dogged Microsoft, BlackBerry, Motorola, HTC and many others. Wireless in the U.S. is a...

Yandex has asked Russia's antitrust authorities to look into whether Google is breaking the country's laws by not allowing preinstallation of third-party services on Android devices. Three smartphone vendors told Yandex last year that they couldn't install its search engine as the default, the compa...

Criminals using Carbanak malware have stolen up to $1 billion from 100 financial institutions in Russia, China, Germany and the United States, Kaspersky Lab has revealed. The gang is expanding operations to other countries. Kaspersky has advised financial institutions to scan their networks for intr...

A major information technology trend within the U.S. government is the gradual -- and apparently inexorable -- migration of federal IT resources to cloud platforms. As the potential for federal cloud adoption has grown, vendors have intensified their marketing and improved their offerings to meet th...

Almost every day there are reports of cyberintrusions, attacks and related security breaches. If your company does not have the right insurance, it could be even more of a disaster. For example, according to regulatory filings, at the time of Target's cyberbreach in 2014, it had about US$100 million...

Cloud-based alternatives to traditional hardware and software systems and enterprise applications are experiencing a new level of CxO acceptance. Chief Financial Officers are the latest members of the C-level suite to embrace SaaS, PaaS and IaaS solutions to not only reduce operating costs, but also...

I love all the innovation and trends in the wireless, telecom, television, Internet and tech space. However there is also a big warning light flashing ahead that no one is paying attention to...trust is eroding. Trust is a delicate thing and is being ignored. Innovation is great, but if we don't pro...

Box is working with Amazon Web Services and Gemalto to bring to market the solution, called "Box Enterprise Key Management," and give its most security-minded customers total control over the keys used to encrypt data they store on Box. "Industries like finance, government, legal and healthcare are ...

For years, RadioShack had been the "go to" place for hobbyists, as well as the store where one could find everything from speaker cables to electrical adapters, gizmos to gadgets. It appealed as much to people who wanted to build a computer as use one. In the 1990s, it moved away from this market, l...

JetBlue on Tuesday announced that it will accept payments through Apple Pay in-flight. Passengers with an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, or an Apple Watch, will be able to use Apple Pay to purchase snack boxes, food, beverages, onboard amenities and better seating. JetBlue will accept Apple Pay on select ...

Just how close is 'too close for comfort' in the unprecedented connectivity of people, products and electronic communication that lies ahead with the Internet of Things? Should the providers of electronic devices be allowed to know when you set your house thermometer, or how often and how long you g...

Dish Network on Monday officially launched Sling TV, its widely anticipated US$20 per month streaming service, and further announced that customers could sign up for a "Sports Extra" add-on pack for $5 per month. The service, which is available now via a one-week free trial, can be accessed via Roku...

The ad on Apple's job site is innocuous enough, seeking an engineering project manager for Apple Search. However, that raises questions about whether Apple has plans to further improve its Maps app, possibly by strengthening local listings, which are increasingly important to businesses. "Apple may ...