MasterCard to Offer Swipeless Cards
MasterCard said at an industry conference in Memphis Monday that it planned to have nearly four million "swipeless" RFID credit cards in circulation by year's end. Dubbed PayPass, a user will only have to wave his or her card in front of a sensor to make a payment on the item. American Express announced a similar service in June.
MasterCard is also working with cell phone providers in order to allow consumers to use phones as payment devices, and is now in a pre-launch phase in the United States. Similar programs have already proven successful in Asia. MasterCard America president Ruth Ann Marshall acknowledged that the Internet is causing "substantial ripples in the personal finance industry," and companies like PayPal -- and potentially Google -- pose a threat to MasterCard's business.
Microsoft Updates Office for Mac OS X
Microsoft enhanced support for Exchange Server in its Entourage e-mail client for Mac OS X, releasing Office 2004 for Mac Service Pack 2 on Tuesday. The update also includes changes across the entire Office product line, as well as bug fixes for common issues.
The company hopes that the tighter integration with Exchange will encourage its business Mac users to switch to Entourage, which competes with Apple's built-in Mail client. SP2 builds on basic support for Exchange server first introduced in 2004.
Apple Beefs Up .Mac Service
Apple overnight took its .Mac service offline, and it returned early Tuesday morning with several enhancements including more storage space, an updated version of Apple's Backup application, a new collaboration feature, and additional language support.
Most notable among the new features is the expansion of storage space from 250MB to 1GB on single-person accounts. Family accounts received a storage boost from 1GB to 2GB, and either type of account can add an additional gigabyte of space for $49.95 USD annually.
Jobs: iTunes Songs to Stay at 99 Cents
Don't expect the price of songs on iTunes to rise in the near future, at least if Steve Jobs has his way. Calling the record labels "greedy," Jobs said Apple has no plans to up prices. He mentioned that the profit margins on digital music are much higher than conventional distribution, and said there are no reasons why the price needs to change.
Labels are upset with Apple over its unwillingness to allow for higher prices, and are hoping to negotiate more favorable terms when iTunes contracts come up for renewal. "We're trying to compete with piracy, we're trying to pull people away from piracy and say, 'You can buy these songs legally for a fair price,'" Jobs told reporters Tuesday at Apple Expo Paris. "But if the price goes up a lot, they'll go back to piracy. Then everybody loses."
Qwest, Microsoft Team on Net Calling
Qwest and Microsoft have announced that the two companies will team up to bring voice over IP services to small and medium-sized businesses, and combine their efforts to offer a digital communications suite of products.
Qwest will be the first company to use the Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services, Microsoft said Tuesday at the Fall 2005 VON, a twice annual VoIP trade show.
Voice Calling Coming to AIM Client
America Online on Tuesday said it would launch a new pay service for making VoIP calls through its AIM client starting October 4. No AOL subscription will be required to use the service, and current subscribers of AOL's Internet Phone service will receive the upgrade automatically.
The company claims that consumers could save up to 40 percent over monthly landline phone bills by using the service, dubbed "TotalTalk."
Firefox, Mac Not Immune to Flaws, Viruses
Symantec has some bad news for Macintosh and Mozilla users. According to a recent report by the security firm, neither Mac OS X nor Firefox is as secure as proponents claim.
The firm said that during the first six months of 2005, 25 vulnerabilities were discovered that affected the Mozilla family of browsers, versus only 13 for Internet Explorer. Furthermore, 18 of Mozilla's and 8 of IE's vulnerabilities were considered "high severity."
Nokia Unveils Answer to iTunes Phone
Nokia has plans, at least in markets outside the United States, to take on the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone. The company announced on Monday the launch of the Nokia 6630 Music Edition, a special music-enabled version the company's popular smartphone.
The upgraded 6630 will include 256MB of built-in memory to store music, with the capability to add up to 1GB through a RS-MMC card. Transfer of music can be done through an included PC software or Nokia SD/MMC reader that will be included with the phone.
PC Makers Team With Verizon on EV-DO
In a move to corner its rival Sprint, Verizon on Monday said it had signed deals with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo to both market its EV-DO wireless broadband service and integrate the technology into future products from the three companies.
Dell will allow its customers to purchase the Verizon Wireless V620 PC card from retail channels starting today, with plans to directly integrate the EV-DO service into notebooks beginning next year. The card will be available for $249 USD and will require a two-year agreement, which costs $59.99 USD per month with a voice plan or $79.99 USD without.
U3 USB Devices Launch at DEMOfall
Several device manufacturers on Monday unveiled the first USB drives based upon the U3 standard, a method that enables users to carry, store and launch applications directly from a USB flash drive without installation.
The U3 technology was first introduced at CES 2005 in January, supported by a host of software and hardware vendors. However, missing from the list is Microsoft, which has not committed to backing the standard.
MS Buys ID Management Firm Alacris
Microsoft on Monday announced that it had acquired Alacris, a move aimed at strengthening Redmond's offerings in identity and access management solutions.
Alacris' technology uses smart cards to give users access to protected data. Microsoft hopes that the new technology will enable it to strengthen its security solutions on top of currently available technologies such as Active Directory and Microsoft Certificate Solutions.
Microsoft Issues IE Developer Toolbar
Microsoft over the weekend released a beta version of its developer toolbar first mentioned at PDC 2005 last week. At a session detailing what's new within Internet Explorer 7, IE lead Chris Wilson said the toolbar was intended to assist developers in creating Web pages that adhere to standards.
The toolbar works on Internet Explorer 6 and above on Windows XP and Vista operating systems. The toolbar will allow developers to perform such functions as validating CSS and HTML code, and previewing how pages appear in various screen resolutions. No release date was given for a final version. The toolbar beta can be downloaded from FileForum.
Report: Mashboxx May Acquire Grokster
Mashboxx is in talks with file-sharing service Grokster over a possible puchase, a move that could be seen as an attempt to keep the embattled file-sharing service alive.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the deal likely surrounds some kind of revenue sharing model for the current owners of Grokster, as the service itself is of little financial value.
Microsoft Files Eight Anti-Piracy Suits
Microsoft on Monday announced that it had filed eight lawsuits against companies distributing pirated software in five states. The suits were filed thanks to tips to Microsoft's anti-piracy hotline as well as "secret shoppers." Legal action taken against MicroCity4Less.com of Torrance, California actually relied in part on information submitted through Microsoft's new Windows Genuine Advantage program.
Microsoft says that counterfeit activity continues to be a threat, citing a study that claims $200 billion worth of software will be pirated by 2010. "Microsoft does not take legal action lightly. We remain very serious about protecting honest software resellers and consumers from the illegal activities of software counterfeiters," said Mary Jo Schrade, senior attorney at Microsoft.
Sprint Unveils Windows Mobile 5 Phone
Sprint on Friday announced the availability of the Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device, which it calls the first PDA/phone combination in the US to feature Windows Mobile 5.0. Made by UTStarcom, the CDMA device will allow users to take advantage of Sprint's next generation EV-DO high-speed network.
The PPC-6700 will also include WiFi capability, Bluetooth, a full QWERTY keyboard, and 1.3-megapixel camera with the capability for recording video. The device bundles Microsoft Office Suite for Windows Mobile, as well as ActiveSync and support for over-the-air synchronization with an Exchange 2003 server.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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