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Sprint special October event could reveal 4G plans

Sprint is holding a special event in early October that it's dubbed "a strategy update," prompting speculation as to what strategy the carrier will discuss.

The invite sent out to the media says the event will take place in New York City on Friday, October 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. But the agenda teases only presentations by senior management and a Q&A session with no details as to the topic.

So far, speculation is pointing to Sprint's 4G future as the potential subject.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse apparently … Read more

Deus Ex: Human Revolution: More human than human

Eleven years since its original inception, the Deus Ex series welcomes a new entry in the form of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In a world where human augmentations have been commercialized by big business, human beings have the option to upgrade not just their bodies but also their minds. Such an ethical hot topic has created passionate factions on each side of the argument forcing players to find a balance between the two.

A franchise known for mixing RPG and action elements all while giving the player the freedom of choice, we've been anxiously awaiting to see just how such an ambitious collection of mechanics play out on current-generation consoles. Taking a special look at the game on PC is CNET Senior Editor Rich Brown.

Jeff: After just surviving a summer drought of games like the one we just experienced, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a very welcome light at the end of the tunnel. It's an incredibly deep and layered game with a cerebral storyline that will charm even the most jaded cyberpunk enthusiast--a true complement to the game's great Blade Runner-inspired art direction.

The best way I can describe Human Revolution is a cross between Metal Gear Solid and Mass Effect. The team at Eidos Montreal borrowed the best elements from each of these franchises and made it their own, successfully weaving a game that lives up to its series' legacy of giving the player ultimate choice. This concept applies to almost everything Adam Jensen--the game's main character--does, from interrogating a person of interest to infiltrating a testing laboratory.… Read more

Study: iPhone, Android apps store sensitive user info

Mobile apps are still not secure when it comes to storing certain personal information, according to a new study from security firm ViaForensics.

Dissecting a variety of apps for Apple's iOS and Google's Android, ViaForensics found that 76 percent of them store user names in cleartext without encryption, while 10 percent store passwords in the same way, making such data more vulnerable. Running a series of tests from November 2010 through June 2011, the security firm checked out apps from several categories, including financial, social networking, productivity, and retail.

Each individual app received a pass, fail, or warn … Read more

Heartland Payment Systems looks to mobile

Heartland Payment Systems, which processes payments across the country, is the latest company to jump on the mobile-payment bandwagon.

The Princeton, N.J.-based company said today that it was launching a system to allow merchants to accept payments through smartphones and tablets, similar to Square or Verifone. The system, called Mobuyle, includes an Android application and an encrypting reader that plugs into the device's audio hack, allowing stores to expand the number of point-of-sale terminals on the fly.

Heartland is one of many to be lured in by the opportunities that are emerging from the mobile-payments area. While … Read more

Researchers find avenues for fraud in Square

LAS VEGAS--Researchers at the Black Hat security conference today revealed two ways the Square payment system, which turns any iPhone, iPad or Android into a point-of-sale credit card processor, could be used for fraud.

Adam Laurie and Zac Franken, directors of Aperture Labs, discovered that they can transfer money from a stolen card into their bank account associated with Square without having to swipe a card through the Square dongle card reader. To do this, they used code written by Laurie that lets them feed magnetic stripe data from a stolen card into a microphone and convert it into a … Read more

Philip Falcone: AT&T, Verizon are undermining LightSquared

AT&T and Verizon are working "behind the scenes" to stamp out new 4G wireless entrant LightSquared, according to billionaire hedge fund manager Philip Falcone.

Falcone, speaking to CNBC today, claimed the two telecommunications giants aren't competing fairly and are using their power to undermine LightSquared, which is run by Falcone's Harbinger Capital.

LightSquared is attempting to build a nationwide 4G LTE network that it will sell on a wholesale basis to other carriers that want to resell its services. But the company has run into a major hurdle with a coalition of companies reliant … Read more

This Day in Tech: Square handles $4M in transactions a day; Microsoft pulls back access to location data

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Monday, August 1.

Mobile payment company Square is handling $4 million a day in transactions, up $1 million more than the company handled in May. But don't let numbers fool you, Square still has a ways to go to prove itself: credit companies process billions of dollars in payments.

Location data gets a little more private. Microsoft restricts its practice of publishing Wi-Fi locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other devices after a CNET article highlighted privacy … Read more

Square handling $4 million daily in mobile payments

PayPal mobile payment rival Square has said that it now processes approximately $4 million daily in mobile payments, $1 million more than Square advertised it handled at the end of May.

Square has clearly sailed beyond any shadows cast by the nasty volley begun by CEO of competitor VeriFone, Doug Bergeron, and answered by Square's CEO and co-founder, Jack Dorsey that called into question the security of Square's credit-card reading attachment for mobile devices.

Instead, the increased processing numbers reflect Square's booming growth, a rise that has been bolstered by a sizable investment from Visa … Read more

A beginner's guide to telecom jargon, part 3

The mobile world moves at a breakneck pace, and it's difficult to keep up--even without the technical jargon most industry insiders throw around. And they do love to toss those terms about.

Last week, I dabbled in Wall Street-speak after AT&T and Verizon Communications reported their quarterly financial results. But today, I wanted to get back into some of the more technical (read: geekier) aspects of the industry.

So for some light reading, here are a few terms telecom experts throw around with the assumption that everyone understands them.

Spectrum: The term used to describe the radio … Read more

3DS price drop

RIM releases the "more social" BlackBerry Messenger 6 service to share apps, the BBC launches a paid version of its iPlayer service for the iPad, and Nintendo dramatically drops the price of its 3DS handheld game device after lackluster sales.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded: