Americans’ on-again, off-again love affair with cars is definitely back on. New car sales jumped 17% last month, to 1.5 million, the highest level since the beginning of the Great Recession. Consumers are buying cars even while they remain reluctant to spend on other big-ticket items, and it makes sense [Keep reading]
Federal regulators said Thursday that banking giant JP Morgan Chase must refund $309 million to 2.1 million credit card holders for alleged deception in credit card “add-on” services like credit monitoring and ID theft protection. The “abusive practices” took place during a seven-year span from 2005 to 2012, according to [Keep reading]
Cross-promotions are where it’s at, but this is kind of remarkable. I just received an e-mail pitch via the Yankees that reads: “The right call. Every time.” Then, there’s the pitch: “Protect you Stuff and express your Yankees pride with Norton Internet Security — New York Yankees Edition.” Team-branded credit [Keep reading]
You’d be hard pressed to find a sadder story of life in the digital age. The picture of a Canadian girl who committed suicide earlier this year after a horrific cyberbullying incident was used in a singles’ advertisement shown on Facebook. Facebook has apologized and the firm responsible for the [Keep reading]
Perhaps you are drawn irresistibly, as so many in America are, to the story of Huguette Clark – the rich heiress and daughter of a robber baron who died leaving behind a set of Empty Mansions and a big pot of money people are fighting over. My friend and long-time [Keep reading]
Consumers can now get a peek under the hood of the secretive database that marketing companies use to profile them, under a new initiative launched last week by data warehouser Acxiom. U.S. adults who visit AboutTheData.com can sign up and get a general idea of the dossier that marketing firms [Keep reading]
Apple’s biggest contribution to the technology world has been its ability to bring order to chaos. The iTunes music service is the best example of this: before iTunes, the world of music downloads was the Wild West. There were outlaws, like Napster and its rivals, who ran clunky attempts [Keep reading]
Once upon a time, Labor Day was a chance to take a break, and to honor those who fought to create the proper work-life balance. Sounds like a fairy tale now. For many Americans, Monday was just another day to labor — if not at an office or factory, through [Keep reading]
Rusty and I had just a fantastic time at Progressive Field this week. For Rusty, there was Puppypalooza, including a chance to walk across the field just minutes before a Royals-Indians game. They wouldn’t let him on the grass…at least this time. But he did make plenty of friends. The [Keep reading]
Yes, Virginia, people do care about their privacy. Pew research released this week showed than fully 86 percent of U.S. adults had done something to try to protect their privacy…and 1 out of 5 had suffered either a social media or e-mail account hijacking. I discussed the study on various [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan