News

2010

March

12

• Instant ads set the pace on the web. Time is now on the side of online advertisers. Advertisers have been able to direct online messages based on demographics, income and even location, but one element has been largely missing until recently: immediacy. Advertisers…

10

• LifeLock settles amid allegations that it misled consumers. Its chief executive prominently displays his Social Security number in ads for his identity-theft protection company. But LifeLock Inc. couldn't protect customers from the company's own misleading advertising, according to state and federal authorities. In…

09

• Target puts coupons on customers' cellphones. Using your cellphone during checkout at Target could soon earn you discounts. Starting Wednesday, the giant retailer will allow customers to take advantage of special mobile-coupon offers on their handsets. The coupon is redeemed when…

08

• Working from home might be the new calling in sick. Jeremy Lesniak owns a small Web design firm in Randolph, Vt. He has 10 employees and hundreds of clients. Sick isn't an option. "I have two cell phones and a pager" he said. "I have…

• Prenuptial agreements: Unromantic, but important. Let's face it: The afterglow of that Valentine's Day proposal often begins to dim as discussions of wedding details get started. The happy couples face potential buzz killers that are financial (how to keep reception…

05

• Homeland Security seeks to thwart cyber-attacks. Cyber-security researchers in the private sector have lamented for many years that collaborations with government officials on addressing cyberthreats have been few and far between. But at the RSA Conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center,…

• Smartphones have changed the way we travel. Business traveler Mike Monroe no longer rummages through his bag at the airline counter fishing for his flight ticket or confirmation number. The consultant from Lakeland, Fla., has gone paperless, thanks to Continental Airlines' electronic…

04

• How cybercriminals invade social networks. "Hey Alice, look at the pics I took of us last weekend at the picnic. Bob". That Facebook message, sent last fall between co-workers at a large U.S. financial firm, rang true enough. Alice had,…

February

23

• F.T.C. links data breach to file sharing. The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that it has uncovered widespread data breaches at companies, schools and local governments whose employees are swapping music, software and movie files over the Internet. The consumer protection agency…

19

• Trove of stolen logons in hands of 'amateur' hackers. A band of hackers who were recently discovered hoarding a trove of account logons pilfered from thousands of companies worldwide are garden-variety cyberthieves, security experts say. The gang most likely began by hiring spam specialists…

18

• Systems hacked in one of largest cyber attacks. More than 75,000 computer systems at nearly 2,500 companies in the United States and around the world have been hacked in what appears to be one of the largest and most sophisticated attacks by cyber…

17

• Spammers adjust to security trends. Last fall, Henry Stern, a senior security researcher for Cisco Systems, got a social-network request from someone claiming to be a colleague, asking to become part of Stern's network. Stern checked Cisco's employee directory before…

• Privacy watchdog files complaint about Google Buzz. A privacy watchdog group complained to federal regulators on Tuesday about Google's new Buzz social networking service, saying it violates federal consumer protection law. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed its complaint with the Federal…

16

• More use trusted traveler plans through customs. The U.S. government trusts Ricardo Castro as a customer. And it wants more like him. Castro, an oil industry executive who travels internationally and lives in Houston and Singapore, signed up as a member of…

• Google Buzz planning more changes to appease users. Even more changes are coming to Google Buzz. That’s the upshot from my conversation with Google product manager Todd Jackson. His team has assembled a “war room” in its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters where engineers…

15

• A comeback for credit card come ons. After three quarters of near-paralyzing caution, credit card issuers last quarter increased the number of offers they were sending out to American households.

• A fine line when ads and children mix. When an arts and crafts company placed an ad in Discovery Girls magazine for Tulip Glam-It-Up iron-on crystals, it hardly seemed controversial. The ad, which ran last summer, showed a young girl wearing a T-shirt…

14

• Guard your health insurance card. You may want to make sure you know where your health insurance card is. According to a new study, the 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report, from the research company Javelin Strategy & Research, 7 percent…

13

• Debt collectors want you to know they're here to help. Y ou're having a hard time coming up with the cash. That's understandable. The economy tanked and dragged you down with it. Trish Hilliard gets that. She knows times are tough. But here's the deal:…

12

• Cell phones and privacy. Cellphones have long been a fixture of life, becoming more powerful and more “aware” of their locations every year. Phone companies and software developers jump on each advance to provide new services. But the law…