Car buyers chose function over flash in auto Web sites

Use iPhone app to identify no-fee ATMs

Want to save money when you travel? Sure, you can look for cheap airfares, budget hotels and discount car rentals. But here's a simple change that can save you big bucks over the long haul: Stop paying ATM service fees.

After all, why should you pay a few dollars to withdraw money from a machine just because your bank doesn't have a branch nearby?

Fortunately a handful of apps can help you locate ATMs that won't charge you fees.

I tried two on my iPhone, and both were free. So it costs you nothing to save some dough on the road or even in your hometown.

The first app I tried is from Allpoint. It's a network of about 37,000 ATM locations around the world. A few thousand are in the United Kingdom and the rest are in the U.S.

The ATMs are usually in drug stores, retail outlets and the like. The network charges you zero to withdraw money — though your own bank might charge you something for using an out-of-network ATM.

The app is easy to use. You can search from your current location or by address. It shows nearby Allpoint locations on a map or in list form with distance noted. I used it awhile back to find an ATM close to work. It turned out that machine was even closer than the bank I'd used occasionally at $3 a pop.

Allpoint's app works seamlessly with the iPhone's map function to give directions to whichever location you choose. The network also offers apps for BlackBerry and Android smart phones.

I also tried CO-OP Network's app. It bills itself as the largest credit union-only ATM network in the country. For those with credit union accounts, the app serves much the same function as Allpoint.

It has fewer locations than the first app. And it was a bit slower on my iPhone. There were fewer locations as well. The credit union app offers a link to the location's website and shows it on a map or in list form. But it didn't offer step-by-step directions like the Allpoint app.

But either one can save some serious money over time. Consider that a $3 surcharge to withdraw $20 is like paying a 15 percent fee to withdraw your money.

BANGALORE - Som Mittal, President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) has said outsourcing business in India has witnessed more than nine times growth, from 1.6 billion dollars to 14.7 billion dollars in the last decade.

Addressing media persons here on Wednesday, Mittal said: "In this last decade, from 1.6 billion, we rose to 14.7 dollars."

He further said that India's back-office outsourcing business would post a growth of 15 to 16 percent in 2010 to March 2011 on growing demands from overseas clients.

There is a growth in the employment sector as well, as far as the BPO industry is concerned.

He pointed out that even two-tier cities have become the hub of IT industry and software development.Today, BPO industry is in 50 cities and towns. I think that's very significant, so, a large part of the business did come from top six-seven cities, but the fact that they are already in 50 cities, is very significant," he added.

"Several new upcoming areas such as procurement services, healthcare outsourcing and knowledge services, which include services such as research and analytics, legal services outsourcing, financial research and data management, are expected to aid the growth of the BPO industry in the future," Mittal said.

NASSCOM is the premier trade body for the IT-BPO industries in India. (ANI)

AT&T hole exposes iPad users' e-mail addresses

SAN FRANCISCO — AT&T Inc. on Wednesday acknowledged a security weak spot that exposed the e-mail addresses of apparently more than 100,000 users of Apple Inc.'s iPad, a breach that could make those people vulnerable to precision-targeted hacking attacks.

The vulnerability only affected iPad users who signed up for AT&T's "3G" wireless Internet service.

It involved an insecure way that AT&T's website would prompt iPad users when they tried to log into their AT&T accounts through the devices. The site would supply users' e-mail addresses, to make log-ins easier, based on unique codes contained in the SIM cards inside their iPads. SIM cards are used to tell cell-phone networks which subscriber is trying to use the service.

The hacker group that claims to have discovered the weakness — the group calls itself Goatse Security — said it was able to trick AT&T's site into coughing up more than 114,000 e-mail addresses, including those apparently of famous media personalities and important government officials.

A representative for the group told The Associated Press late Wednesday that the group contacted AT&T and waited until the vulnerability was fixed before going public with the information. AT&T said the problem was fixed Tuesday but that it was alerted to it by a business customer.

Gawker Media Inc.'s Valleywag website earlier reported on the breach.

AT&T said it will notify all iPad users whose e-mail addresses may have been accessed.

"We take customer privacy very seriously and while we have fixed this problem, we apologize to our customers who were impacted," the company said in a statement.

AT&T noted that the only information hackers would have been able to steal using this attack were users' e-mail addresses. But that can be enough to launch a highly effective attack, since the attacker also knows that the person receiving the e-mail is an iPad user and an AT&T customer and would expect to receive e-mail from Apple and AT&T about their accounts. Criminals could use that knowledge to trick them into opening e-mails that plant malicious software on their computers.

An Apple representative deferred requests for comment to AT&T.

Apple has sold more than 2 million iPads since they went on sale two months ago. The iPad comes in two different flavors — one that only connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and another that also can connect through AT&T's "3G" cellular network. The Wi-Fi-only models aren't affected by the breach. Apple hasn't specified how many of each model it has sold.

Flashy Army recruitment center in Pa. mall closing

PHILADELPHIA — The Army is shutting down a flashy, high-tech information and recruiting center inside a mall, calling it a successful marketing experiment even as it attracted protesters and video-game enthusiasts as much as potential soldiers.

The Army Experience Center will close July 31 after nearly two years at Philadelphia's Franklin Mills Mall, military officials said Thursday.

"It's been a great success," Army spokesman Brian Lepley said. "Basically it's mission accomplished."

The $12 million center opened in August 2008 with interactive video exhibits, nearly 80 video-gaming stations, a replica command-and-control center, conference rooms, and Black Hawk helicopter and Humvee combat simulators.

Since then, the center has hosted about 40,000 visitors and enlisted 236 recruits, Lepley said.

It was also repeatedly targeted for protests by those who said the Army's use of first-person-shooter video games desensitized visitors to violence and enticed teens into the military. Incase CL59156B Slider Case iPhone 3GS White. Anyone over 13 could play games, though the most graphic ones were restricted to those 18 and older.

Lepley said the demonstrations had nothing to do with the decision to close the center, but activist Elaine Brower, of Staten Island, N.Y., said she was thrilled. She had been particularly galled by the center's mall location, between a skateboard park and an arcade.

"We really consider this a major victory for us," Brower said. "We are happy that they are not going to be in the mall."

Billed as more than a recruiting station, the center was designed to teach any curious mall shopper about the Army.

Officials initially said it might be replicated in other parts of the country. But as the recession set in and unemployment rose, enlistments increased and the Army began spending less on marketing.

Yet the Army Experience Center provided valuable information on how to connect with a generation used to getting information from computers and mobile devices, Lepley said.

Touch-screen kiosks showing the location of global Army posts and a "career navigator" displaying the service's jobs and salaries proved popular and will likely be used at recruiting stations and ROTC schools, Lepley said.

"We can't just print brochures anymore," he said.

The Army had closed five traditional recruiting stations when it opened the center. It's now planning to open a pair of more modern recruiting offices in nearby Levittown and northeast Philadelphia, Lt. Col. Chris Belcher said.

The offices will have some elements found at the Experience Center, including gaming stations and a more casual atmosphere with informal seating, as opposed to the old-fashioned desk with chairs on either side, Belcher said.

Online:

www.thearmyexperience.com