| MasterCard spent $1.8M lobbying
MasterCard International Inc. spent $1.8 million in 2007 to lobby on Internet-related issues and on fees merchants pay when customers use credit cards. The Purchase, N.Y.-based company spent $880,000 in the second half of 2007 to lobby Congress, according to a disclosure form posted online Feb. 13 by the Senate's public records office. It lobbied on gambling regulations and the use of credit cards to purchase illegal material on the Internet. The company spent $880,000 lobbying in the first half of the year on financial literacy, data security, microchip technology and fees banks pay to credit card networks. Congress is weighing tighter regulations on the credit card industry. The industry came under fire in December, when a Senate subcommitee issued a report denouncing practices that include raising interest rates for customers whose credit ratings decline, even if they make their card payments on time.
the has-been
That makes the president an honorary soccer dad, too late to win back any suburban swing voters. Bates Motel: Flyer and Fryer have flown off to greener, Barney-free pastures in Disneyland. They don't know how lucky they are. With no help from Washington, some states are finding their own ways to reduce the turkey retiree burden. The Montgomery Advertiser reports on Alabama's solution: coyotes. Every November, Bill Bates, a leading Republican who runs the largest turkey farm in the state, brings the best bird from his flock of 20,000+ to Montgomery for the governor to pardon. Bates, who has been doing this since segregationist days, doesn't need an online naming contest. He gives his best bird the same name every year: Clyde. While a pardon may be the dream of every turkey worth his salt, the Advertiser's account suggests it's not easy being Clyde.
Apple secretly tracking iPhone IMEI numbers? [U]
Apple is keeping abnormal watch on the identity of iPhones making use of online services, some hackers suggest. Buried within the binaries for the Stocks and Weather widgets is code that hands over a user's IMEI number -- the unique identifier for each phone. While IMEI numbers are common to all GSM cellphones, and are regularly used to authorize presence on a network, they are normally unneeded for accessing individual web services. Furthermore, it is impossible to modify the binaries' URLs to omit IMEI data and still retrieve any data from the widgets. Why the information would be needed is unknown, but proposed reasons include the likes of targeted advertising, consumer research, or guarding against unauthorized devices. It is reportedly very easy to spoof an IMEI number however, by using a hex editor to replace the variables in the URLs with any two-digit number, such as 00.
Lenovo unveils ultrathin ThinkPad X300 laptop
Lenovo on Monday launched the much-anticipated ThinkPad X300 ultraportable, challenging Apple's MacBook Air as the lightest and thinnest notebook available today. Weighing started at 2.93 pounds (1.33 kilograms). Lenovo claims ThinkPad X300 is more feature-rich than Apple's 3-pound MacBook Air. Lenovo has included three USB ports and an ultrathin DVD burner, while MacBook Air has only one USB port and no optical drive. With a DVD-RW drive, the X300 weighs 3.13 pounds, Lenovo said. The laptop measures 0.73 inches (1.85 centimeters) at its thinnest point by 0.92 inches (2.34 cms) at its thickest point, bigger in comparison to MacBook Air, which measures 0.16 inches (0.4 cms) at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches (1.93 cms) at its thickest part. Targeted at business users and consumers, the laptop uses 25 percent less power than previous ThinkPad models with a 64GB solid-state storage drive for data storage, a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display and use of a lithium-polymer battery, Lenovo said.
Pastor's flier used to 'incite tensions'
The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, released a statement in Atlanta Monday condemning the flier, saying, it "makes an outrageously false claim about Jews' attitudes toward Jesus, and it attempts to drive a potentially dangerous wedge and incite tensions between African-Americans and Jews in Memphis." This is the most recent incident in which Cohen opponents have claimed a white man cannot adequately represent the interests of the predominantly black 9th District. Last August, the Black Baptist Ministerial Association took Cohen to task for his support of the Hate Crimes bill vote he'd cast months earlier. When he was given an audience before the group, one minister, Robert Poindexter of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, asserted, "He's not black and he can't represent me." Cohen was one of three white candidates in a 15-candidate field when he won the Democratic Primary in 2006.
O2 Tube trial takes mobile payments underground
O2 has today launched a six-month pilot of NFC (near-field communications) wallet phone technology in London, describing it as the "largest and most comprehensive trial in Europe" of a technology that's already big in Japan. But even as the 500 guinea pigs get their hands on the Nokia 6131 NFC clamshell handset being used in the trial, O2 admitted there's no prospect of an imminent rollout of mobile wallet NFC as a business model. The 500 mobile wallet testers will be able to use the phones to pay for travel across London, as well as for other services such as accessing smart posters at The O2 to download information or ringtones. A smaller number - 225 - also have access to a Barclaycard Visa application preloaded with 200, which they can use to pay for low-value goods at selected retail outlets.
Scam artists avoid jail time, enjoy 'custody'
Certain kinds of crime stories elicit different kinds of reactions and emotions. The shooting in Turlock that left two robbers dead probably didn't generate much sympathy for anyone involved. After all, they were committing a crime, and it's hard to feel sorry for someone who pays the ultimate price for doing something so illegal. Most readers, I suspect, reacted with a nonplussed, "Oh, well ... ." At the other end of the spectrum is the case of Lonni Ashlock and Ronald Buhler, two men who last year pleaded no contest to six felony counts of ripping off troubled and vulnerable homeowners. This one is a blood-boiler. Sentenced in September to a year in the county jail, these con artists have spent no time behind bars. They haven't had to eat jail food or even pick up trash as part of a work crew.
First Look: SplashMoney finance manager
To get started, SplashMoney helps you create one or more accounts to track your credit card expenses, checking account balance, or cash balance. Each time you spend money, record the amount, the class (such as Business or Personal), and the category (such as from your checking or savings account). .
|
