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Amazon on Monday launched its Payments Partner Program -- a global effort widely seen as a rival to PayPal -- in the United States, the UK, Germany and Japan Currently available by invitation only, the program provides for three levels of partners: premier partners, certified partners and certified developers. The first two are for e-commerce platf...

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced a plan to create label disclosures that would give consumers a clear picture of the pricing, speed and bandwidth they are paying for under high-speed Internet contracts The FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee proposed the nutrition-like labels amid concerns that providers were not transparent ...

IBM last week announced thatLawrence Livermore National Laboratory has purchased its TrueNorth processor-based cognitive computing platform The purchase included an end-to-end ecosystem and a multisocket host node....

Apple appears to have experienced a lost weekend with the 4-inch iPhone SE failing to rack up significant sales When the period ended, the SE claimed only 0.1 percent of the iPhone market, Localytics reported Monday....

Weeks after backing down from its litigation demanding Apple's help to access encrypted data on the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone, the FBI appears to be taking full advantage of its newly discovered forensic prowess by offering assistance to law enforcement agencies across the country. The agency has sent out letters letting local officials kn...

Oculus last week updated its terms of service to accompany the release of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, raising privacy and content ownership concerns. Software will be installed to monitor how the device is used, and the usage data will be sent back to Oculus and its parent company, Facebook, according to the terms of service....

At last week's Microsoft Build 2016 conference, Executive Vice President for Cloud + Enterprise Scott Guthrie announced innovations in mobile app development, the Internet of Things, microservices and intelligence designed to help developers create apps for the company's Azure cloud environment ...

Amazon last week announced that it had increased to more than 100 the number of Dash buttons Prime users can install in their homes to replenish supplies of common household goods. Dash buttons -- which are available only to Amazon Prime members, for whom they're essentially free -- are connected devices that link to a customer's Amazon account.

At last week's Microsoft Build conference, I attended the Hololens Academy -- a whirlwind effort to turn me into a master programmer able to create things out of thin air. It failed. Apparently it takes longer than an hour to teach someone who hasn't coded in decades to be a master programmer -- go figure. However, by the end of the class I was g...

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted 3-2 to approve a US$2.25 billion program to subsidize broadband Internet service and bundled voice and data packages for low-income consumers. The new subsidy is part of a major overhaul of the agency's Lifeline program, which has provided affordable phone access for decades. FCC Chairman Tom...

IBM on Thursday announced that it has agreed to buyBluewolf, a Salesforce system integrator It reportedly will pay US$200 million....

Unintentional consequences led Google to pull its April Fools' prank, Gmail Mic Drop, a few hours after launching it on Friday The joke let users claim the last word in an email thread by clicking on the "Send + Mic Drop" option. A GIF of a minion from the animated movie Despicable Me -- would accompany the reply, and the sender would not receive ...

Foxconn has agreed to purchase a controlling stake in Sharp -- about 66 percent -- for roughly US$3.5 billion, the companies announced Wednesday Foxconn has committed to restoring Sharp's profitability and improving operations, according to the companies....

Facebook apparently has been working on mobile pay and secret chat features for its Messenger app, according to a report published this week byThe Information, based on clues found in extracted software code on Messenger for iPhone Commands embedded in the software hint at secret conversations, similar to what's found in WhatsApp, the voice and mes...

Microsoft on Wednesday unwrapped a major open source coup forCanonical when it announced that Ubuntu Linux will be able to run on Windows 10 Kevin Gallo, Microsoft's director of Windows developer platform, announced the development during a keynote address at Microsoft's Build 2016 conference in San Francisco....

Despite its computer systems being infected with malware since Monday, MedStar Health, which operates 10 hospitals and more than 250 outpatient facilities in and around Washington, D.C., has continued to provide patient care at near normal levels, according to several updates released this week Since the malware attack occurred, MedStar Health has ...

Days after the FBI found a workaround that ended the epic legal battle to compel Apple's cooperation in unlocking an encrypted iPhone, the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday announced that it had identified dozens of other criminal cases in which the government has made similar requests -- both of Apple and of Google. The government has u...

Tesla fans around the world queued up to add their names to a reservation list in anticipation of Tesla Motors' planned Thursday night unveiling of its Model 3. The long-awaited new addition to the Tesla line is a more affordable sedan that targets not just early adopters, but a larger audience of luxury car owners Company founder Elon Musk has sha...

CNBC earlier this week published a piece with the goal of helping users strengthen their password security, but the attempt backfired badly An interactive tool provided to help readers detect the strength of their passwords was to blame....

Hackers in recent weeks have stepped up their efforts to steal employee tax information from companies in all kinds of industries Typically, the information contained on IRS form W-2 is used to file false tax returns or steal someone's identity....