cards

As of April 8, AT&T is unlocking iPhones. Now, it won't unlock just any iPhone; there are stipulations you'll have to meet before being freed from the carrier.

The requirements, according to a statement issued to CNET, are: "...that a customer's account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies, or paid an early-termination fee."

If your account and device fall … Read more

If you're looking for an easy way to share your contact card, give ContactMonkey a try. By listing your information on ContactMonkey, you'll be provided with a Web page where your contact info will be listed.

Visitors of your page are then able to view your info, as well as given the option to download your contact card by clicking on one of the 19 different devices or programs supported by ContactMonkey. By supporting so many different contact card formats, ContactMonkey ensures your information is available to anyone, even if they're viewing your info on … Read more

Samsung is mass-producing a new series of microSD cards that it says are four times faster than the current generation.

Available in a 16GB version, the new UHS-1 microSD card will offer a maximum read speed of 80MB per second, according to Samsung's internal testings. That will provide a significant bump over today's advanced microSD cards with speeds of around 21MB per second.

In tech terms, the cards are made up of Samsung's 20 nanometer-class 64 gigabit toggle DDR 2.0 devices and use a Samsung controller that supports the ultra fast UHS-1 interface.… Read more

One of the things I love best about my iPhone is that it single-handedly replaces a bevy of other devices. Alarm clock? Gone. Digital camera and camcorder? Gone. Reward cards? Gone.

Now I can add one more item to the list: wallet.

The Poddities Money Clip for iPhone 4/4S adds a metal clip to the back of your handset, allowing you to keep cash, credit cards, and the like close at hand. It also gives you the option of hanging your phone from your belt or the top of pants pocket.

There are, of course, iPhone cases that have slots for credit cards and whatnot, but most of them add bulk ranging from a little to a lot. The Poddities is about the slimmest solution out there. It can hold up to three cards, according to the manufacturer.… Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

I hope Global Payments doesn't strain itself patting its own back for containing a massive breach that occurred on its watch.

The company, which processes credit, debit, and gift card transactions between merchants, banks, and consumers, let a staggering 1.5 million credit card numbers get out in the open as a result of a still-to-be determined attack on its system. Yet it has barely shown any signs of contrition.

Most companies would have shown a bit of remorse for what has happened, but Global Payments has struck an almost self-congratulatory tone for how it identified the problem, alerted … Read more

Global Payments, a third-party payments processor at the center of a Visa and MasterCard security breach, reiterated Monday morning that while customer data may be at risk, the data breach has been "contained to the best of our ability."

Overall, 1.5 million accounts may have been affected.

Global Payments CEO Paul Garcia said that the "diligent work" may take some time, but it will complete the ongoing investigation and identify any changes that need to be implemented.

Garcia said the company will get its record of compliance back with Visa and MasterCard "as soon … Read more

As many as 1.5 million Visa and MasterCard accounts may have been compromised by the recent Global Payments security breach, the payment processor announced this evening.

Credit card numbers may have been exported, but no customer names, addresses, or Social Security numbers were accessed, the company said in a statement. The company believes the breach, which was revealed Friday, was confined to North America.

The nature of the breach, which was originally pegged at 50,000 accounts, has not been revealed. The company also did not say whether it knew of any fraudulent charges resulting from the breach on … Read more

A Visa network update briefly prevented some customers in the United States from using their credit and debit cards to pay for purchases today.

A company representative told the Associated Press that the outage was caused by a recent system update, but that the system was now operating normally. The 40-minute outage began at 11:40 a.m. PT, an unidentified banking industry source told the AP.

A Visa customer told CNET that he tried to use his credit card to pay for a fill-up at a Boston-area gas station around 12:30 p.m. PT but couldn't complete … Read more