Google’s dream of creating a mobile payment facility is one step closer with Google close to finalizing a deal with MasterCard and Citigroup that will see Android powered devices embedded with technology that allows customers to make purchases directly through their phone at the check-out.

By using near field communication technology (NFC), Google hopes to make credit and debit cards a thing of the past. If the deal goes ahead then customers with a android powered phone will simply wave their phone in front of a small reader installed at the cash counter and the payment will be processed. The idea is to turn the phones into a kind of electronic wallet.

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Security organization McAfee has professed that 2011 will see increased attacks on Apple merchandise like the iPhone and iPad, largely due to their in the business sector. McAfee said that Macs had thus far not been often targeted by malicious attackers, because they are not widely deployed.

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Starbucks is giving customers one more reason to stop in, and to stick around, with Starbucks Digital Network. In a partnership with Yahoo, its taking exclusive content and free downloads that are only available to customers tapping into the wifi at one of its thousands of retail locations. (more…)

Let us pause our frantic pace for a moment and consider those ancient times when supercomputers occupied entire rooms. If you are curious as to the future of computing, well rest assured, the future is safe — in your hands! With everyone and their pets on Facebook today, is it any surprise that Facebook might choose to foray into the world of mobile computing with their very own handheld device? No, it’s not going to be called the FacePad or FacePhone (or it just might). Though it just might find itself a place in every teenage girl’s handbag right next to her compact. I’m pretty certain the killer app on such a device would be a mirror!

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I bought the new Samsung Galaxy S Android Phone from T Mobile yesterday.

I think the thing is that the mac and iphone are designed for each other. Hours and hours and hours and hours go into making sure that these two devices work together flawlessly. There is only one phone and there is only one mac. Well, not literally, but you get the idea. In a closed environment things can be tested and retested and retested and retested to make sure that the devices stand up to Apple’s litmus test of “just works.”

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The mobile and local search markets have seen immense growth at rates never seen before over the last three years. Yet still, they are on the verge of taking off to a higher level with huge growth forecasts for the mobile industry just released recently. All indications point that we are still on the early development stage of mobile development, in spite of the massive number of new mobile technologies being offered from left to right today. Industry analysts tell us to brace ourselves to the mobile boom that has begun.

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Android’s appeal, at least to me, is its integration with Google services. As I wrote on Tuesday, this includes not only synced services like Gmail and GChat, but also web-apps like Google Reader and Google Docs. They might not have their own dedicated applications, but the mobile sites are well-designed and make for easy browsing and reading. But my web habits certainly extend beyond Google. I’m sure many faithful Gmail users also use other services for webmail. Yahoo! Mail is one of the most popular email services, and since it predates Gmail I’m sure many faithful Gmail users also have Yahoo! Mail accounts. If you do, you’re in luck. Yahoo has released a Mail app for Android.

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(UPDATED) AT&T is replacing its $29.99 per moth unlimited data plan, popular with iPhone and iPad users, with $15 (200MB) and $25 (2G) plans. While a reported 95% of mobile users do not currently exceed the 2G limit, increased use of new video and music in the cloud applications could lead to additional charges.  

Unlimited mobile data has long been considered an unsustainable model by some analysts, and it is believed that other cell services will also set limits. That’s not good news for a growing list of companies delivering data heavy music services like downloads and video or music streaming to smartphones.

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Five years ago, penning a MediaPost piece that feels like it was written far more recently, I asked, “Is all mobile local?” That question would have been a more fitting title for the column rather than the wonkier one I used, “The Mobile-Local Redundancy,” which sounds like a rejected name for a Jason Bourne movie. The question and the column answering it remain relevant, making me wonder if so little has changed in sixty-one months.

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Google’s Android mobile operating system continued to shake up the U.S. mobile phone market in the first quarter of 2010, moving past Apple to take the number-two position among smartphone operating systems, according to The NPD Group. Based on sales last quarter the Android  moved into second position at 28% behind RIM Blackberry at 36% and ahead of Apple iPhone at 21%. (more…)