Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

For the second time in less than a year, Apple has agreed to reimburse its customers for purchases within applications made by children without their parents' consent In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday, Apple agreed to pay at least US$32.5 million in refunds to consumers who incurred charges on their iTunes accoun...

Net Neutrality received a body slam from a federal appeals court Tuesday, but the door was left open for resuscitating the policy In a case brought by Verizon against the Federal Communications Commission, the judges on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the agency lacked the authority to impose antidiscrimination ...

The raft of problems connected to the launch of HealthCare.gov appears to have sunk the fortunes of the private contractor paid for running the site The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, charged with overseeing the health insurance marketplace, announced Saturday that it had awarded Accenture Federal Services a one-year contract for US$45...

Up to now, the malware program CryptoLocker has been king of the ransomware roost, but PowerLocker (formerly PrisonLocker) may present a new challenge. "It has some interesting countermeasures to thwart researchers," Harry Sverdlove, CTO of Bit9, told TechNewsWorld....

Apple and Samsung have set a date on which they'll attempt to iron out their differences in a patent dispute that's headed to trial in March The companies have agreed to meet before a mediator on Feb. 19, according to a document filed with a federal district court in California, to discuss a settlement of their differences over some smartphone pate...

"A more robust entertainment delivery system will be a hallmark of Sony as we move into the future," Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said Tuesday in a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas."We will be offering customers a single source of entertainment that is less complicated, more cost-effective and more accessible than ever before." ...

Managing a household's expenses isn't the sexiest task in our lives. Nevertheless, it has to be done -- so why not add a dash of fun to it? That's what a program by Raj Kumar Shaw of iLifeTouch does for the chore. Called simply "Daily Expenses," the software -- available from the Mac App Store for US$19.99 -- offers a streamlined and colorful way t...

If you're inclined to make resolutions this time of year and you're concerned about your online and offline security, here are some suggestions that can keep you safer in the days ahead At the top of the list: You should vow to change the passwords to your important accounts on a frequent basis....

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em That seems to be what Canon is saying with its announcement Monday of a new PowerShot camera model, the N100, which includes several features popular on smartphones....

Outline is available from the Mac App Store for US$39.99 ...

NewsBar is available from the Mac App Store for US$4.99 ...

For the third time in three years, computers at The Washington Post came under attack by hackers, but this time it seems the paper of record in the U.S. capital was ready for them The intrusion targeting the usernames and passwords of Post employees was relatively short in duration -- a few days, at most -- although the magnitude of the breach has ...

The Obama administration has reached into Microsoft's ranks for the tech talent it needs to fix the Affordable Care Act cock-up The White House on Tuesday named Kurt DelBene, who started at Microsoft in 1992 and most recently served as president of its lucrative Office Division, to oversee HealthCare.gov, the website for consumers shopping for heal...

Smartphones hacked to run unauthorized programs or unlock features are being targeted by hackers and can pose a threat to enterprise networks, warned Marble Security Modifying a smartphone to enable unauthorized behavior -- called "rooting" in the Android world and "jailbreaking" in the iOS realm -- makes the mobile vulnerable to infected jammer so...

Microsoft on Tuesday previewed the third generation of its Photosynth technology, touting it as a dramatic step forward in smoothness and simplicity. Four effects are now available in Photosynth. There's Spin -- which lets you rotate an object in the photo around itself -- and Panorama -- which lets you "stand" at the center of a photo and rotate ...

A malware decline and ransomware rise are in the security crystal ball for 2014 There will be less malware spreading through networks next year as hackers focus on obtaining credentials that allow them to access systems under the guise of authentic users....

Law enforcement officials and mobile phone makers last week knocked heads with wireless carriers over planting "kill switches" in smartphones Led by a district attorney in San Francisco and attorney general in New York, law enforcement would like all smartphones to contain firmware that allows a consumer to "brick" a mobile that's lost or stolen....

Mobile apps for consumers have been criticized for gathering more information from users' devices than they need. It seems, however, that mobile apps from companies fare no better Ninety-seven percent of some 2,000 mobile apps produced by 600 companies accessed at least one private information source on the device they were installed on, according ...

There's a campaign afoot to put a 3D printer in every school in America. MakerBot -- along with education crowdsourcer DonorsChoose.org, America Makes and Autodesk -- on Tuesday announced MakerBot Academy. Individuals and businesses can contribute money to the initiative through DonorsChoose.org. The funds will be used to award MakerBot Academy bu...

Google's mobile operating system Android has been a whipping boy for some segments of the security community, but the latest version of the software may begin to rehabilitate its reputation Android 4.4, or KitKat, contains a number of new and improved features that are garnering the praise of malware fighters. They include improved implementation o...