bank

Apple icon Justin Long is a very funny gay porn star

In the Apple TV spots, actor Justin Long plays a comfortable and lucrative role. He is cool, slightly superior, but ultimately just clever enough.

In the new movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Long plays a role many actors might have turned down. Moreover, many clients, on hearing the character their main spokesperson had chosen to play, would have attempted to prevent him from appearing in the movie at all. They might even have threatened to cancel his contract.

After all, here we have the most recognizable film personification of one of the world's most recognizable brands, Apple. … Read more

RockYou looks to Asia with new $17 million investment

Investments to the tune of $17 million are a rarity these days, but app-factory RockYou has done just that: the San Francisco-based company has announced that Japanese mobile giant SoftBank and Korean telecom investment company SK Telecom Ventures have invested $17 million to create a new joint venture to build apps for the Asia-Pacific market.

RockYou's Series C venture round, which pulled in $35 million, was in June--with the fresh $17 million, the company has raised $67 million so far.

This marks the entry of RockYou, which is best known for its Facebook and MySpace widgets, into the mobile … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 843: Nine legal uses for BitTorrent

We asked. You answered. Our listeners provided not seven, not eight, but nine real legal legitimate uses for BitTorrent. Plus Apple's getting into an old-fashioned spat with IBM. Just like 1979 all over again. Plus Rafe says stop whining about Windows 7. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 843

National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Trojan virus steals bank info http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7701227.stm http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10079593-83.html

Apple hires top IBM chip designer and blade server guru http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10079494-37.html

Banking security on a USB stick

IBM was set to unveil on Wednesday a prototype USB device designed to protect people doing online banking from having their data stolen or compromised.

The device, which looks like a memory stick with an integrated display, creates a secure channel to a bank's online transaction server. The connection bypasses the user's PC, which could be infected with viruses and other malware that make sending financial information over the Internet unsafe.

The user can log on and validate transactions using the device's display and a smart card can be inserted into the device, providing an added layer … Read more

Mobile phone malware in our future?

Last week, a new report (PDF) on emerging threats from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center mentioned, among other predictions, that botnets were likely to hit mobile phones sometime in the next year. On Tuesday, I spoke with VeriSign CTO Ken Silva about that possibility and why it might happen within the coming year.

"Criminals will go where the money is," Silva told CNET News. "If you start doing things of financial interest with your mobile phone, they will find a way to get your money."

Silva said the mobile phone market is changing. Today's … Read more

World Bank under cyberattack?

The computer network used by the World Bank Group has suffered a series of at least six intrusions since mid-2007, according to a report.

The World Bank Group was first notified of the intrusions by the FBI in September 2007, when the bureau was investigating another cybercrime case involving transactions out of Johannesburg, South Africa. Fox News said it has an internal memo (PDF) describing the initial intrusion to World Bank Group employees.

The World Bank Group did not respond to a request for comment.

The World Bank Group, based in Washington, D.C., is not a traditional bank. It … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 828: Things change, suck it!

Financial markets will collapse, venture capitalists will cause a run on start-ups that will lead to even more financial collapses, companies that try to disable their DRM servers will inevitably reverse that bad decision, and Web redesigns will happen and you can't opt out of them. Live with it. We're jerks today. It's Friday. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 828

An ignoble but much needed end to Web 2.0, marked by a party in Cyprus http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/10/an-ignoble-but-much-needed-end-to-web-20/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10063178-93.html

Sequoia Capital's 56 slide … Read more

New phishing attempt targets bank customers

Many people are wondering what to do now that their bank has been acquired in the wake of the lending crisis. Well, whatever you do, don't click on links in e-mails purportedly sent by your bank.

Security firm SonicWall said Thursday that it has been seeing e-mails that attempt to lure people to fake bank Web sites, where they are asked to re-verify their personal and bank information as part of a merger.

In one example that targets people affected by the Chase acquisition of Washington Mutual, the e-mail asks recipients to click on a link and confirm their … Read more

Will Americans ever call on mobile banking?

More cell phone operators and financial companies are jumping on the mobile financial-service bandwagon, but it remains to be seen if U.S. cell phone subscribers are even interested.

Sprint Nextel announced on Thursday that it will be the latest U.S. wireless carrier to offer its mobile-phone customers the ability to bank from their mobile handsets. The new MyMoneyManager service is a free downloadable application that enables cell phone subscribers to check bank balances, pay bills, and find nearby branches or ATMs from their handsets.

Sprint has initially partnered with four banks, BB&T, Citibank, IBC Bank, and PNC Bank, to provide the application. It plans to add other banks at a future date. And it will eventually bundle the application into some of its handsets.

Credit card giant Visa also announced several mobile initiatives Thursday. Specifically, it plans to enable its customers to transfer money, make payments, and receive real-time account notification alerts on their Nokia phones, as well as cell phones using the Google Android operating system. Visa also struck a mobile deal with U.S. Bank that will enable individuals to make money transfers from one Visa cardholder's account to another.

Initiatives to make bill payments and other banking tasks phone-friendly have been hyped over the past couple of years. Mobile banking is one of several new mobile services, such as music downloading and TV viewing, that have been enabled by faster 3G wireless networks.

And for the past couple of years, financial institutions and cell phone operators have been rolling out new services and applications.

Most banks participating Most of the major U.S. banks already offer some kind of mobile-banking technology, according to market research firm Celent. And the two largest mobile operators in the States have also introduced mobile-payment and banking options.

AT&T launched a mobile-payment application made available through Firethorn, which has since been acquired by Qualcomm, in March 2007. The telecommunications giant has also been running trials with Nokia to turn cell phones into debit cards, allowing people to make purchases with their cell phones. And Verizon Wireless, which also uses Firethorn, launched its mobile-banking application in January 2008.

But despite the fact that there are many options and opportunities for cell phone subscribers to access their banking information and pay their bills on their mobile phones, the uptake for these applications and services has been pretty weak. According to Forrester Research, only about 3 percent of mobile subscribers in North America check financial accounts on their mobile phone at least once a month. This rate of adoption is lower than that of services like music downloading, which 5 percent of mobile users say they do at least once monthly.… Read more

Sprint offers mobile banking application

Sprint Nextel announced Thursday a new downloadable application that will let its subscribers bank and pay bills from their cell phones.

The new application called MyMoneyManager will provide online banking access to accounts with BB&T, Citibank, IBC Bank and PNC Bank. Subscribers with accounts at these banks will be able to check balances, pay bills, and find nearby branches with ATMs using the application on their phone. Sprint subscribers must have a Web-enabled phone and a wireless data plan to access the service.

The MyMoneyManager application is available at no additional charge to Sprint data subscribers. In the … Read more