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Features

• FAQ: What you need to know about chip-embedded credit cards

  Banks have been sending millions of Americans credit and debit cards equipped with computer chips to improve the security of in-store purchases.

• The worst thing about tech bubbles isn't what you may think

  You may recall how the last tech bubble 15 years ago resulted in staggering market losses, numerous failed start-ups and increasing IT unemployment. Less noticed was the bubble's eerie correlation to undergraduate enrollments in computer science.

• Wearables for workplace wellness face federal scrutiny

  Federal regulators are weighing reforms to widespread workplace wellness programs that could affect how personal data from consumer-grade fitness bands and smartwatches is kept confidential.

• Apple Watch won't boost Apple Pay payments by much

  The Apple Watch supports Apple Pay, but it's unlikely that the smartwatch, coming April 24, will significantly boost the number of mobile payments made by U.S. customers.

• 10 cool network and computing research projects

  If you think the latest enterprise and consumer network and computer technologies rolling into your data center and being snuck into your offices by end users are advanced, wait until you see what's cooking in the labs at universities and tech companies. Much of well-funded research is aimed at security, simplifying use of current technology and figuring out how to more easily plow through mounds of big data. Here's at peek at 10 projects. 

• Why we live in an anti-tech age

  Though it seems as if we're sourrounded by innovative products, services and technologies, there's a growing counter argument that we're living in a dismal era. Science is hated. Real technological progress has stalled. And what we call innovation today really isn't very innovative.

• ‘Unlawful' WiFi hotspot blocking ruling highlights academic IT headaches

  Managing the wireless environment at the average college or university can be a difficult task at the best of times, and when students and staff start using personal hotspots the sort that provide wireless data access from the same -- it's not the best of times.

• For half, STEM degrees lead to other jobs

  The truth, when it comes to computer employment data, is almost always ugly.

• Pirates, cheats and IT certs

  Some ne'er-do-wells steal test questions and answers, and cheaters buy that information, share answers in chat rooms, pay other people to take tests for them and bring a range of technologies and techniques into test centers to gain an edge.

• Amazon's expected smartphone already faces skeptics

  If Amazon announces a smartphone on Wednesday, as is widely expected, it will face an avalanche of skeptics.

• CIO not the only one to blame for Target breach

  That someone had to take the fall for the massive breach at Target is neither surprising nor unexpected. The only question is whether more heads will roll in the aftermath of one the biggest data compromises in retail history.

• After Target, Neiman Marcus breaches, does PCI compliance mean anything?

  The recent data breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus have once again shown that compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is no guarantee against an intrusion.

• The worst tech predictions of 2013 -- and two that hit the mark

  From the social network in business to the 'success' of the Chromebook to the launch of iTV, the pundits got it wrong, wrong, wrong

• Cell phones on planes may be heading for the US, but will anyone use them?

  In-flight cellular in the U.S. may be closer to reality than some consumers realize, with foreign airlines poised to extend services they already offer elsewhere. But evidence from overseas suggests the odds of being trapped next to a chronic caller are slim.

• Top tech stories of 2013: Big Brother, wearables, and the struggles of aging tech giants

  Politics collided with the world of technology this year as stories about U.S. government spying stirred angst both among the country's citizens and foreign governments, and the flawed HeathCare.gov site got American health-care reform off to a rocky start. Meanwhile, the post-PC era put aging tech giants under pressure to reinvent themselves. Here in no particular order are IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 tech stories of the year.