consumers

As noted by the New York Times, new technologies have become so powerful that protecting individual privacy may no longer be the only issue. With the Internet, wireless sensors, and the capability to analyze an avalanche of data, a person's profile ... can be drawn without monitoring him or her directly. (Source: nytimes.com ) Every time you use your credit card to make a purchase, you give up your privacy. When you use your credit or debit card, a record of that transaction is logged into a database of information collected by your credit card issuer. (Source: creditcards.com ) Tracking systems ... (view more)

Despite the popularity of Blu-ray players, iPhones, iPods, and games like Rock Band 2 and LittleBigPlanet, the tech industry has not been impervious to the slings and arrows of a declining U.S. economy. According to a recent report, even Black ... Friday tech sales were down this year. Business trackers NPD have released figures for this year's Black Friday score, and results for the technology industry are not good. This year, consumers spent just over $2 billion on electronics at retail outlets, down significantly from last year's $2.21 billion mark. Although the number of sales online seems to ... (view more)

Trivia time: which was the first U.S. city to offer area-wide broadband access? We now have an answer for you -- Baltimore, Maryland. When visiting the storied metropolis you won't need to be on the lookout for "WiFi available here" signs anymore, ... because the entire city has become one enormous hot spot. Mobile WiFi is a fourth-generation (4G) wireless technology also known as WiMax, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Wireless telecommunications giant Sprint has teamed with Seattle-based carrier Clearwire to offer WiMax service to thousands of potential consumers. ... (view more)

These days, it seems as if cash payments are settled using every medium but cash itself. Gone are the days of fumbling around in a purse or wallet to find the exact change needed to make a purchase. While cash is always an accepted tender, many now ... prefer to use debit or credit cards to alleviate wasted time and hassle. Several major banks and mobile operators all over Europe have come together to ensure that one more method of payment will be offered to consumers in the near future. The group assembled to talk about the possibility of enabling future cell phone models to act as a wireless ... (view more)

Watch out. As industry marketers and publishers turn their attention to providing mobile content, spam and the web's unscrupulous are following suit. Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, estimates that 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages will ... be received by American consumers. That doesn't sound like much when you take into account that 48 billion text messages were sent in December of 2007 alone, but if you are a cell phone consumer that pays 20 cents a message, that can add up to big bucks! (Source: nytimes.com ) According to Juniper Research, $1.7 billion of "mobile adult content" ... (view more)

Since the launch of the highly successful AdSense campaign, Google has been synonymous with online advertising. Thanks to a new initiative that will merge online and print ads, Google is making the leap from the screen to the printed page and ... hosting ads in a newspaper near you. Google's new Print Ad program will allow organizations with an existing AdSense account to convert their campaigns to print format with just a few mouse clicks. Advertisers will be able to search for ad space within over six hundred international newspapers. Linking online ads with print media could cause a ... (view more)

Ebay, made famous for selling everything from Pez to Picasso, is planning to launch its very own social networking service and promises to offer even more customer-friendly features by the end of 2007. The service will be called "Neighborhoods" and ... encourages all users to post photographs, product reviews and miscellaneous shopping tips for others to peruse at their leisure. The service is intended to create a far more visual and interactive experience compared to the standard text-based discussion forums currently found on the eBay website. (Source: usatoday.com ) While the introduction of ... (view more)

In what appears to be an attempt to end sluggish sales, in June Microsoft reportedly began quietly letting PC makers offer a "downgrade" option to consumers who buy Windows Vista Business or Ultimate machines that want to switch to Windows XP. Who's ... taken up the new initiative? Fujitsu started to include a Windows XP disc in the box with its laptops and tablets. "That's going to help out small and medium-size businesses," Fujitsu marketing manager Brandon Farris told CNET News.com. Lenovo is offering Windows XP Recovery CDs as a way to downgrade on "qualified systems" for an additional fee ... (view more)

The iPhone can finally be purchased in China! Unfortunately, Apple Inc. refuses to endorse the product, it does not function properly, and sells for more than double the price of the North American model. Those enthusiasts willing to pay 8,800 yuan ... ($1,170 USD) can pick up their new iPhone at electronics markets all over Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. In the United States, the iPhone can be purchased for as little as $499 in some areas. (Source: technology.canoe.ca ) Overshadowing the inflated price tag is the fact that the product does not function properly. The Chinese model can ... (view more)

Two recent court rulings indicate that judges are paying closer attention to how corporations conduct online and technological transactions with their customers. This is good news for consumers. (Source: Wired.com ) End User License Agreements ... (EULAs) are usually lengthy and full of all kinds of legalese. Almost all of them are one-sided and oppressive, offering consumers no choice but to take it or leave it. The first case of Gatton v. T-Mobile (PDF) involved a California Appeals Court that over ruled a provision in the EULA that required consumers to go through arbitration if they wanted to ... (view more)