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Research conducted by payments software vendor ACI Worldwide suggests that as many as a quarter of the world's consumers were victimized by card fraud in the past five years, and financial institutions are losing customers as a result ACI and the Aite Group, which jointly surveyed more than 6,100 customers equally divided by gender in 20 countries,...

When the U.S. Supreme Court issues a unanimous decision, it's easy to conclude that it must be right on the facts, right on the law, and right in applying the law to the facts. So what's not to like about its recent 9-0 ruling in a software patent case? The decision was spot-on -- or at least nearly spot-on, according to Victoria Espinel, president...

Cruise aims to spark a revolution among autopilot technology with a US$10,000 accessory that consumers can use to create a self-driving car, of sorts. At the heart of the Cruise RP-1 system is a sensor pod that gets mounted on the roof of a car. It utilizes cameras, data and radar to analyze the vehicle's surroundings. With that information, it ca...

Though early purchasers of the LTE model of Google's Chromebook Pixel were promised two years of limited data, it appears Verizon has reneged on those assurances The WiFi-only Pixel cost US$1,299 while the LTE model set back consumers an extra $150. Those who bought the system through the Google Play Store when it went on sale last April were offer...

Ransomware is a growing problem for consumers and businesses alike. In Symantec's most recent quarterly security report, the company's researchers found all targeted attacks -- including ransomware -- grew 91 percent year-over-year That's raising a big question for those targeted by cyberextortionists: Should the ransom be paid? Security experts in...

Microsoft is offering up to US$650 worth of in-store credit to MacBook Air owners who are willing to trade them in and purchase a Surface Pro 3 The campaign runs until July 31....

While Apple's mobile operating system does hold users' hands when it comes to device management more so than competitor Android, there are additional steps you can take to optimize your iOS device. Free third-party utilities are available in app form to beef up battery management, cloud storage and camera backup, as well as to find lost phones, am...

Five9 has introduced Summer Release 2014, the latest version of its cloud contact center software The company's first major release since its 8.1 launch last year, it follows Five9's acquisition of SoCoCare, a social engagement and mobile customer care provider.

Two months after the Heartbleed vulnerability sent frissons of fear down the spines of IT managers everywhere, 300,000 servers still remain vulnerable, Errata Security said this weekend That figure has remained unchanged since May....

Specifications for HTC's 8.9-inch Volantis tablet, which may be renamed "Nexus 9," have been reported by Android Police. The device will ship with a 2048 x 1440 display, a Tegra K1 Nvidia Logan 64-bit processor, and 2 GB RAM. It will have the option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of storage, and will come with 8 megapixel rear-facing and 3 megapixel fro...

In the wake of overwhelming evidence that the kill switch Apple introduced in iOS 7 last year has reduced iPhone thefts, Google and Microsoft have agreed to follow suit San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who have spearheaded the battle to implement smartphone kill switches, last week annou...

Path has hived off its mobile-only messaging service as a standalone app named "Talk," it announced Friday. It also ended limits on the number of friends users can communicate with, and announced its purchase of place messaging pioneer TalkTo as it sets itself for growth The Talk app has a new feature, Ambient Status, that shows users' current stat...

The Obama administration and the private sector -- often at odds over the regulation of everything from telecom issues to software protection to the environment -- apparently agree that a major issue dealing with cybersecurity should be addressed on a cooperative basis, largely free of federal regulation The White House signaled its tilt toward a c...

Amazon launched its rather impressive Fire Phone last week, and it has a number of things that make it interesting -- but just as the iPhone improved massively by the third version, I expect this phone will as well, as a result of users providing feedback on what they want. Ironically, if the iPhone fails against the Fire Phone, it will be becaus...

Apple reportedly is preparing to ship multiple versions of a smartwatch this coming fall, as competition increases in the wearable technology space Its long-rumored smartwatch will be available in multiple screen sizes and will include more than 10 sensors that will allow it to track the wearer's health and fitness metrics, among other information,...

Amazon unveiled its Fire Phone this week, sparking wide interest, if not acclaim. The Fire Phone comes with some innovative features: a dynamic perspective display made possible by six cameras that track the user's head and eye movements; and Firefly, an intelligent assistant that can give Apple's Siri a serious run for its money. Then there is Ma...

Best known for its computer chips, Intel has ventured into new territory. The company on Thursday unveiled Pocket Avatars, a mobile messaging app that uses animated icons to mimic users' facial expressions Now available for both Android and iOS, the free app can be used to create, send and receive personalized 3D video animated messages designed to...

T-Mobile CEO John Legere was his usual controversial self when he took the stage at the company's Un-Carrier 5.0 event on Wednesday, striding on after being announced like a wrestling champ and lacing the air with profanities AT&T and Verizon were "greedy bastards" that were "raping" customers, he fumed. "Maps and charts and promises -- and happy f...

If you like the economy of working in a lightweight desktop environment such as LXDE, you no doubt will love the tweaked performance of the LXQt desktop. It is a fusion of the LXDE and Razor-Qt desktop environments. The LXQt hybrid is the next generation of the popular LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment). The result is a lightweight, modula...

If you live in the English-speaking world, you've been exposed to the stereotype of the snotty Parisian. One of the characteristics of this stereotype is that Parisians refuse to speak English. They know how -- but they won't -- and they turn up their noses at anyone who won't speak French In my experience, that stereotype is largely wrong -- if yo...