A security hole in a common technology used to manage prepaid store cards could let malicious hackers and other criminal groups bilk FedEx Kinko’s stores, according to a recently published report. ExpressPay is a system developed by EnTrac Technologies, of Toronto. The system uses smart cards from Infineon, but does not secure data on the cards. A security hole could allow hackers to clone legitimate cards or change the value of a card to any amount, according to Strom Carlson, a hardware security researcher at Secure Science in San Diego. The report is just the latest warning about vulnerabilities in cash card technology, which is becoming a popular tool for money laundering.

Adobe Systems announced a partnership with Symantec to offer a free trial and the option of special pricing for the Norton Internet Security 2006 suite to users who are downloading the latest version of Adobe Reader. "Combining Adobe’s broad reach with Symantec’s award-winning PC security software will help make the Internet a safer place for people to access and engage with the information and services they need," said Kurt Garbe, vice president of Platform, Adobe Systems. Both Adobe and Symantec enjoy wide distribution of their software. Adobe Reader has been downloaded over 500 million times, according to the company.

Harry Browne, the two-time presidential candidate who was a pioneer in using the Internet for political outreach, died on Wednesday, according to reports. He was 72. Browne was the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 1996 and 2000 and co-founded DownsizeDC.org, a Web-based network of activists who campaigned for a smaller government. He also served as a director of the Free-Market News Network and hosted a weekly video Webcast for the organization, and contributed to the LewRockwell.com blog.

If a federal judge orders an injunction that shuts down BlackBerry email service in the United States, business customers have the option to switch to another wireless email platform. But migrating to another platform won’t come cheap, according to two consultancies that have analyzed the costs of such a move. Switching from BlackBerry devices and servers to a competitive platform will cost as much as $844 per client, according to a report to be issued on March 1 by the telecom consulting firm Telwares Communications.

Gateway has agreed to pay Hewlett-Packard $47 million to settle a long-standing patent dispute between the parties, Gateway announced Wednesday. As part of the settlement, the computer makers also made a seven-year cross-licensing agreement and dropped all legal claims against each other. The legal wrangling between the companies began in March 2004, when Hewlett-Packard filed a lawsuit against Gateway, alleging six patent infringements relating to its PCs. The legal battle quickly escalated. Gateway filed a counter lawsuit claiming HP violated five of its patents. Then the parties took their legal battle on a global scale, asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban each other from importing computers and components that would violate their respective patents.

CertFX has updated many of their practice and certification tests for Lotus, Domino, Workplace, WebSphere and many other applications, too many to list here. Visit CertFX for more information on their new releases and updated tests.

Demand for PC support services is booming even as retailers and PC vendors pare down their standard warranties. Fed up with pleasant but unsatisfying support answers, PC users are increasingly willing to pay for support from those companies. Third-party PC support is becoming big business, with Best Buy aggressively promoting the services of the Geek Squad and vendors like Dell jumping to provide their own touch. The overall market for Windows support last year was $7.8 billion, which includes everything from corporate server support to consumer PCs.

Collaboration software maker Near-Time introduced a beta of an online version of its applications as it hopes to convince customers that hosted communications and file-sharing tools enjoy benefits over client/server alternatives. Dubbed as Near-Time.net, the online collaboration system offers tools for businesses to use for sharing and reviewing documents, scheduling and tracking work on projects, organizing content and publishing materials to the Web, among other features. Built on Web services technologies, the company claims the system can also be used as an effective bridge between various client-server collaboration software packages from market leaders such as IBM’s Lotus division and Microsoft.

Continuing on its strategy of acquiring key technologies to build out its service-oriented architecture platform, BEA Systems announced that it has acquired Fuego, a maker of business process management software, in a deal worth $87.5 million. Plano, Texas-based Fuego specializes in providing SOA solutions to help companies orchestrate and continuously improve business processes. Sources said the Fuego portfolio will become a part of San Jose, Calif.-based BEA’s BEA AquaLogic product family and will serve as the foundation of the new BEA AquaLogic Business Service Interaction product line.

A variety of interest groups have joined forces to fight a proposed bulk emailing fee they claim strikes at the heart of online communication–a level playing field for rich and poor. America Online plans to introduce a service that would charge businesses and other bulk emailers a fee to route their email directly to a user’s mailbox without first passing through junk mail filters. Another major provider, Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo Inc., in the coming months will test an optional certified email program based on "transactional" messages only, such as bank statements and purchase receipts, Yahoo spokeswoman Karen Mahon said. The alliance protesting the move includes liberal activist group MoveOn, the conservative activist group RightMarch.com, the U.S. Humane Society, labor and environmental groups and online medical communities.