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Want to figure out how to get more-efficient energy usage from your household light bulbs? Care to track your driving skills and see how to be more fuel efficient?

There’s an app not just for that, but for all things green.

The Apple App Store and the Android Market list many apps to conserve energy and find ways to go green. Many are either free or $1 or $2. They’re not as hugely successful as games or entertainment trivia, but then neither is the green movement. The array of green software applications is growing — and helping raise awareness about things all of us can do to be more environmentally friendly and responsible.

A good place to start: The Green Genie app will show you 100 different ways to go green, from bringing your own bag to the grocery store to ways to get paid for reducing your emissions.

“This is an app that pays for itself,” says Green Genie creator Brad Cracchiola, who made the app in his spare time. By day, he’s a sustainability engineer in Los Angeles at BMW Group DesignworksUSA. “Apply just one strategy, and you’ve paid for the app 10 times.”

Cracchiola has tried to add game elements to the app, to make learning fun. “Consuming information can be an overwhelming topic,” he says. “Making it fun makes it easier to digest.”

Smartphones are great tools for learning, in part because of their mobility. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at, as long as you have a cell connection, you always have access to the information,” says Provo, Utah-based Nate Younger. He is the co-creator of the Green Fuel app, which helps find alternative fuel sources for those driving non-traditional cars. “The iPhone knows your position.”

To read the full story: USA Today

In the past four months, caches of customer e-mail addresses, not banking and credit card information, have become the key target of data thieves. The goal: Use the legitimate e-mail addresses and the specific companies their owners have business relationships with to get people to buy worthless goods or to infect their PCs.

The recent theft of potentially tens of millions of consumer e-mail addresses from online marketing firm Epsilon followed a spate of similar hacks in December, USA TODAY research shows.

Web marketing and cybersecurity experts say there are several ways cybercriminals can make profitable use of the stolen e-mail addresses. Just like legit advertisers, criminals can correlate a person’s demographics and shopping patterns “and use that to their advantage,” says Thomas Jelneck, president of Internet marketing firm On Target Web Solutions.

The Better Business Bureau, for instance, has issued a warning about a fake Chase Bank e-mail stemming from the undisclosed number of e-mail addresses that hackers stole from Epsilon. The security breach was disclosed last week. Some 50 Epsilon clients were affected, ranging from Chase Bank and Verizon to Hilton and Target. Those companies, in turn, have been sending e-mail warnings to their respective customers.

Loren Spallina, support manager at anti-virus maker PC Tools, says, “We’re definitely expecting any number of potential malicious actions” making use of recently stolen e-mail addresses.

Dallas-based Epsilon is part of a cottage industry of companies that help major businesses use e-mail to offer promotions and special services to customers. Chenxi Wang, security and risk analyst at Forrester Research, says data thieves are taking advantage of the comparatively “immature” data security practices of those marketing companies.

In late December, Honda reported a hacker stole e-mail addresses to 2.2 million Honda owners and 2.7 million Acura owners. Also in December, data thieves stole 13 million e-mail addresses from the artists website DeviantArt, 1.3 million e-mail addresses from Gawker Media and an undisclosed number from McDonald’s.

By correlating names and e-mail addresses with information about where a person banks and shops, criminals can more effectively bypass spam and anti-virus filters and fine-tune phishing attacks — spoofed messages designed to trick you into clicking on a viral attachment or poisoned Web link. The intruder then takes full control of the victim’s PC. “The No. 1 attack vector today is the human,” says Jose Granado, principal at Ernst & Young’s information security practice.

From 2005 to 2009, most thefts of customer information from U.S. businesses targeted personally identifiable information or payment card data. But in the past four months, several major cyberattacks have targeted valid e-mail addresses for specific customers doing business with specific banks and merchants.

To read the full story: USA Today

Want to go where the jobs are? Check out New York’s tech industry. The city’s second annual NYC Startup Job Fair, held Friday, drew a packed-to-capacity crowd of both job seekers and those looking to hire them.

It was so jammed that the organizers turned away 80 startups looking to attend and recruit.

“This is the only industry that has a booming number of jobs — and they cannot fill those jobs fast enough,” said Drew Nichols, development manager at career website TheLadders.com.

With 400 employees, his company is looking to expand across all fronts. Nichols is especially eager to hire more software developers.

“The market in New York is very tight,” he said.

SecondMarket business strategy analyst Alex Horn started the event last year to help grow the New York tech ecosystem. “There wasn’t really an opportunity for students looking for jobs in the startup space,” he said.

And as venture capitalists pour money into startups and valuations soar, the hunt for employees has taken off.

Karsten Vagner, recruitment manager at ZocDoc, a medical appointment scheduling startup, said they are “aggressively hiring.”

How aggressive? Think costumes, beer pong, and $100 cash on the spot.

The ZocDoc crew dressed as doctors and nurses, enticed attendees with games of beer pong (ok, the cups were filled with water), and handed out a “resume” on the company — while collecting nearly 300 resumes from job seekers.

They also created a quiz for potential engineers, dishing out $100 cash and an interview invitation to those who passed along.

“Next week, I expect us to make a dozen hires,” Vagner said.

But it’s not just engineering positions that are opening up.

“We’re hiring in everything,” said Nikki Laffel, who runs production atQuirky, a consumer products company. “We’re scheduled to double in size this year.”

Held at AOL’s (AOL) headquarters and co-hosted by the Columbia Venture Community and NYC Ventures, two university-based networking groups, the startup fair drew a steady stream of college students hoping to work at entrepreneurial companies.

Anku Oberoi, a New Jersey Institute of Technology student who will graduate this year, came with a stack of resumes.

“New York is like the finance capital of the world. I think it’s time for another industry to take over,” he said. “Tech seems to be that next industry.”

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn cast the startup boom as a sign of a recovering economy. “These start-ups are evidence that Silicon Alley is alive and well in our city, and that there is so much creativity and economic activity happening right now,” she said.

While there’s talk of a recovering economy, there’s also chatter — and concern — about an increasingly bubbly tech outlook. After all, this is how the hiring scene felt at the height of the dot-com mania, with startups devouring every skilled employee they could find. Then the bubble burst and the pink-slip parties started.

But such dark thoughts had no place at Friday’s packed gathering. Samantha Smith, a student at NYU, sees this as a prime time for entrepreneurship.

“It’s never been easier to start something,” she said.

And for graduating students eyeing the job market, working in a creative environment where blue jeans and hoodies are the standard office attire doesn’t sound like a bad gig.

“The culture of a startup is so much fun,” Smith said. “It’s more open.”

To read the full story: CNNMoney.com

There have been repeated attempts to make old-fashioned plastic credit cards “smart” by putting computer chips on them.  Smart to whom? Even chip-enabled cards can’t tell consumers what the interest rate is on purchases, or when next month’s bill is due.

But how smart would credit cards be if they could actually communicate with card holders? We’re about to find out. MasterCard recently announced plans to help banks issue cards with embedded computer screens to U.S. consumers this year.

The small LCD readouts will ultimately provide a host of useful information to consumers: current balance, available credit, recent transactions, even special messages from banks or coupon codes from merchants.

“It can be considered as the Swiss army knife of payment cards,” said Cyril Lalo, CEO of NagraID Security, which makes the cards.

The firm has been working for years to overcome the practical demands of putting a screen on consumer credit cards, including cost, durability and battery flexibility. The screen must be able to suffer everyday bending that comes with sitting on cards in wallets; the batteries need to last three years or more; and all the electronics must withstand the occasional trip through the rinse cycle in the washing machine.

Those obstacles have been cleared now, Lalo said. While a screen-enabled card is more costly than current magnetic stripe cards, the cost is comparable to other security-enhancing technologies, such as digital tokens issued to some corporate network users.

Some of the cards are already in use by Asian and European banks. Two banks are vying to be first in the U.S., Lalo said. He expects a trial to begin by April, and the cards to be widely available by the end of the year.

Online fraud-fighter
Initially, the U.S. version of the card will offer much more modest features, focused on enhancing security during online purchases.

To display real-time information such as account balance, the card has to be connected to the bank’s network. European merchant payment systems are wired for that, but U.S. systems are not.

Still, the U.S. cards will be able to generate a code that’s precious to fraud-fighters here — a “dynamic CVV.”

Most online and telephone merchants now require consumers to reveal the CVV code (CVV stands for card verification value) printed on the back of the card. For Visa and MasterCard branded cards, that’s a three-digit number designed to help the online merchant prove the buyer is actually holding the piece of plastic originally issued by the bank to the account holder.

“Most fraud doesn’t come from someone who steals the card now.  It comes from people who make a copy of the card,” said Lalo.

The CVV code, distinct from the account number, initially provided an added layer of security and helped prove a criminal wasn’t simply using a stolen account number to make an order. But over time, its effectiveness has drastically diminished, as computer hackers learned how to steal CVV data stored with transaction data. Advantage criminals.

The screen on the NagraID card restores the usefulness of the CVV because it generates a new code for every purchase. Criminals who steal codes in databases of old purchases — their current method of choice — will find the data can’t be used for online crimes. In other words, a dynamic, one-time CVV will go a long way towards proving the online shopper is really holding the original bank-issued plastic.

Initially, it won’t do much to stop in-person fraud, as few brick-and-mortar merchants bother asking for the CVV.  Still, Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said screen-enabled cards could be simple way to take a bite out of Web fraud.

“I think the addition of the dynamic-one-time password to the display is a great idea since it enables strong cardholder authentication without having to invest in much more costly chip technology,” Litan said.

Most proposals to upgrade U.S. card security involve smart cards with computer chips that will require merchants to purchase new card readers.  With dynamic CVV screens, merchants can use their existing technology.

That’s why Sebastien Pochic, a MasterCard product manager, thinks the screen-enabled cards will succeed where so many attempted credit card upgrades have failed.

“The main difference with this product is it doesn’t impact the infrastructure,” he said. “All the acquiring infrastructure is already there. As a bank, you only need to validate this dynamic value.”

Ultimately, the screen cards will add the other whizzy features — some models even double as tip calculators! — but not until merchants add the ability to read so-called Near Field Communications chips in stores. Then, each time a NagraID is read, it can download balance information and other useful data.

Banks may not fully understand the implications of putting such information in the hands of their customers, however.  At a recent computer security conference, NagraID representatives were proudly telling observers that the new screens would lead to additional revenue because consumers would be more willing to use their cards after checking their balance. (In surveys, consumers say they often don’t pull out cards when they were afraid of being rejected.)

But copious other research shows that when consumers are aware of exactly how much they are spending, they usually spend less.  Consider this: When was the last time you underestimated last month’s credit card bill?  Staring at your current balance is a big buy buzz kill.

To read the full story: MSNBC.com

It won’t be long before our cars “talk” to each other, keeping tabs on everything around us and alerting us to threats we aren’t aware of. Several automakers are developing these nanny cars, and the government is seeking ideas to advance the technology.

Ford has shown the technology works, rolling out a crash-avoidance system that allows cars to communicate with each other at distances of more than 900 feet. It uses GPS and wi-fi signals emitted 10 times a second to provide a 360-degree view around the car. When the system detects a risk — say, someone running a red light at the next intersection — it warns the driver.

“Ford believes intelligent vehicles that talk to each other through advanced wi-fi are the next frontier of collision avoidance innovations that could revolutionize the driving experience,” said Sue Cischke, Ford’s group vp of sustainability, environment and safety engineering.

Several companies are developing this technology, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says could address as many as 4.3 million crashes, or about 80 percent of accidents that don’t involve drunk or stoned drivers.

Volvo, for example, recently participated in the first successful test of a “road train.” Road trains, also known as “platooning,” feature vehicles fitted with sensors that monitor the distance, speed and direction of the car in front and mimic its actions. The semi-autonomous cars are “tethered” and follow a lead vehicle driven by a professional driver.

“Platooning offers the prospect of improved road safety, better road space utilization, improved driver comfort on long journeys and reduced fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions,” said Tom Robinson, leader of the project dubbed Safe Road Trains for the Environment.

Audi, meanwhile, is launching a three-year project called “Audi Urban Intelligent Assist.” The German automaker, through its Electronics Research Laboratory in Silicon Valley, wants to link drivers to the road via connected cars to ease congestion, increase safety and save time in traffic.

“Technologies that help motorists become more aware and efficient are a crucial step toward solving some of the biggest transportation challenges on the horizon across the world,” said Dr. Burkhard Huhnke, head of the ERL. “Audi is confident that this initiative will provide an important insight on the future of urban transportation and produce innovative concepts that promote efficient, pleasant, and safer mobility.”

To read the full story: Wired.com

Facebook is giving app developers access to some of the most sensitive personal data it possess: Members’ addresses and phone numbers.

The company slipped the change in quietly, announcing it late last week in a post on its developer blog.

Facebook members will need to explicitly grant permission for apps to tap into their contact information. And they’ll only be able to grant that permission for their own data — users can’t choose to allow access to their friends’ contact information.

But that may not be enough of a shield. Facebook frequently comes under fire for its constantly changing privacy policies, and many users find the tools it makes available for adjusting privacy settings very confusing.

Privacy researcher Christopher Soghoian thinks Facebook botched the message by publicizing the change on its the developer’s blog.

“They should have had an announcement: ‘This is why were doing this, and is why it’s not a privacy problem,’” he says.

The blog Inside Facebook, which obsessively tracks news about the social networking giant, says the new addition doesn’t provide users with enough context.

“The biggest problem with access to contact information is that the permission requests for these highly sensitive data fields are not distinguished from requests for more benign data like a user’s Event RSVPs or privileges like publishing to their stream,” Inside Facebook writer Josh Constine says.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been vocal about his view that information wants to be shared.

To read the full story: CNN Money

This time, Apple (AAPL 348.48, +2.80, +0.81%) gets some kudos for telling investors, employees, customers and everyone else who obsesses over the company, that Jobs is taking another medical leave.

The sudden news on the Martin Luther King holiday in the U.S., though, was likely shaking up investors who are unable to trade Apple’s stock until Tuesday, which is also the day Apple will report its fiscal first quarter earnings. At least they will have a day to digest it, but the stock will probably take a hit on Tuesday when the market opens again.

The company has a bad record of disclosing information about the health of its legendary leader, who survived pancreatic cancer, but then in 2009, had a liver transplant. In both cases, the company told investors after his surgeries took place. When Jobs took a six-month medical leave in January 2009, after rumors about his wane appearance in 2008, he cited “hormonal imbalance” issues. He ended up having a liver transplant which saved his life.

To read the full story: MarketWatch

Social media addicts, brace yourselves. Cyber criminals will be targeting you on Twitter and smartphones in greater numbers this year, security experts say.

Expect the attacks to come hidden in those shortened URLs of random letters often used on Twitter, according to a report from McAfee Labs. It’s not a new method, but it will escalate as social-media users divulge more personal information.

Instead of the typical, vague, “Hey is this you?” or “Check out this funny link,” information shared on social networks lets scammers attach malicious links to messages about stores you frequent, the city where you live, they place you work or the movie you just commented on. And that makes users more likely to click the malicious link.

“We’re starting to see so much less e-mail spam,” said Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee Labs.

That’s because social media just makes it easier: The response is immediate, people are trusting and click-happy, and disguised short links are part of the norm.

The short URLs were designed to take up less space in a Twitter message and redirect users to the actual URL.

“It just begs to be abused,” Marcus said.

To read the full story: The Miami Herald

But GM (GM) might have a bigger goal in sight. The deal with Powermat offers the possibility that someday soon electric cars could be recharged without plugging them in.

GM will take a $5 million stake in Powermat, a company that sells cordless charging units for home use. It is making the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The nation’s largest automaker plans to install the Powermat units in its new Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car. It’ll start showing up in vehicles in about 18 months. GM will eventually make it available to other models. The plug-in Volt will have a center compartment for both front- and rear-seat passengers where electronic devices can be placed for recharging.

To read the full story: USA Today