Officials at eBay are telling users to change their passwords after they said hackers were able to penetrate a database that stored encrypted passwords about two months ago.
The company says that following “extensive” tests, there was no evidence – so far, at least – of any unauthorized activity on the site and no evidence of any unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which eBay says it holds separately in encrypted formats. They also added that online payment service PayPal, which eBay owns, was not compromised by the hackers. But just to be safe, they’d like you to change your password. And please don’t use the word “password.”
The Dubai police force is famous for their high-tech arsenal of pursuit vehicles, which include a Lamborghini, a Bugatti Veyron and even a hopped-up Camaro, but now, officers are testing some other new tech in the field: Google Glass. The police force director general says their test program will include two custom apps for Glass; one that uploads photos of traffic scofflaws and another that will bring license plate recognition to the nerdy headset.
If a plate comes up as suspect, Glass will alert the officer. License plate reader technology is currently used by many police forces but it’s usually based on tech mounted on patrol cars, not police officers heads. If the test program goes well, Dubai police say they will expand the use of Glass in the future.
So who’s the king of the mountain when it comes to brand value? For the past three years, it’s been Apple, according to BrandZ, which ranks companies each year.
But now there’s a new champion, and not surprisingly, it’s Google. BrandZ says that Apple’s slowing pace of innovation puts it in second place, with IBM in the third spot. Microsoft is number 4 with McDonalds rounding out the top 5. So what are the brands worth? BrandZ says Google is worth $159 billion with Apple slipping 20 percent to $148 billion. So what’s Google’s secret? Partly, innovative projects like Glass, autonomous cars, social media, maps and more.
Elsewhere, Nike was the top apparel brand and Toyota was number one for cars, although a resurgent Ford was right on their heels. Twitter and Facebook? Way down the list. For now.
Your host today is Genelle Padilla.
