Articles by Jack M. Germain

Secure contactless transactions will be essential to keep employees and customers safe in the post-pandemic shopping and workplace era. COVID-19 has sped up much of the digital transformation already under development for commerce, online, in brick-and-mortar stores, and within corporate workplaces Some of these contactless procedures are already b...

Desktop as a Service provider Shells offers a new component to virtual cloud computing. It brings Linux distros and Windows 10 to any computer, mobile device, and some game consoles, via any Web browser The U.S.-based startup went online in the first quarter of last year. Since then, CEO and founder Alex Lee has been drumming up favorable responses...

Some cybersecurity experts agree with a report by Cybersecurity Ventures and expect financial damages from cybercrime to reach $6 trillion by the end of this year. Industry studies show that cyberattacks are among the fastest-growing crimes in the United States Cyberattacks are absolutely on the rise. Based on everything we know and every single an...

If you are a vendor and sell your wares online -- how could you not be tapping into e-commerce today? It's time to take a fresh look at your search engine optimization strategy. You might need to tweak your SEO process to drive more customer traffic to your website Once you broaden your understanding of SEO, you will be able to improve your search ...

Foci is a "Focus Wearable" device by U.K.-based company Tinylogics that combines cognitive biometrics with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to help you focus better. That combination of technologies presents an eerie yet intriguing approach to help people easily bothered by mental distractions a way to clear out their brain clutter...

Is your list of new business customers falling short due to issues with their rejected credit approvals? New User Missed Opportunity or "NUMO" is a growing problem for e-commerce vendors. It is caused by false payment declines based on a lack of access to current consumer data by the rating agencies. But you can fix this problem False declines and ...

Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, ramping up the data privacy threats they pose to government agencies and businesses alike. Governments, both domestic and foreign, need to step up efforts to pass legislation that bolsters technological defenses this year, warn privacy groups Stiffer privacy laws are gradually being reviewed and signed into...

Amazon gets a new chief executive this summer. The company's founder, Jeff Bezos, plans to step down from that role and transition into a new job -- executive chair of Amazon, the company announced Tuesday. The chief of Amazon's cloud computing division, Andy Jassy (above, pictured right), will become Amazon's new chief executive. Jassy served in ...

Canonical on Feb. 2 made available Ubuntu Core 20, a minimal, containerized version of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for Internet of Things (IoT) devices and embedded systems This major version bolsters device security with secure boot, full disk encryption, and secure device recovery. Ubuntu Core builds on the Ubuntu application ecosystem to create ultra-secur...

Digital commerce transactions spiked in 2020 as consumers generated spending sprees from smartphones that produced 42 percent of all online shopping. As the pandemic continues to keep shoppers out of brick-and-mortar stores, new shopping behaviors continue to include smartphones to nudge products into consumers' digital shopping carts U.S. consumer...

Do you welcome physical fitness like a fish in water, or does it take a trip to the clothing store for larger sizes to get you moving? If you need a push, perhaps a new motivational tool called KrowdFit will be more to your liking. It pays you cash to put your fitness tracking devices on....

Search-as-a-service company Algolia on Monday announced its acquisition of Google DNI-funded machine learning (ML) startup MorphL to fuel Algolia's new artificial intelligence (AI) offering. The company hopes the new service will eliminate barriers to AI implementation and help businesses drive website conversion and personalization. The acquisiti...

GeckoLinux is a unique distribution that goes a long way towards unifying the often-confusing array of workstation choices available to business and mainstream consumers looking for an alternative to other computing platforms A relative newbie in the overcrowded world of Linux distributions, GeckoLinux debuted in December 2015. But it has made up f...

With the continuing pandemic further short-circuiting the global economy, businesses and consumers are finding more convenient ways of paying with their dwindling financial resources. The pandemic jump-started a shift to online buying. That, in turn, helped to accelerate the adoption of digital, contactless, and invisible payments This new cashless...

If you want to smooth over irate clients and offer more efficient customer services, consider conversational bots instead of a roomful of human company reps. Chatbots could be a better solution to engaging clients and relating to customers According to Myplanet CEO Jason Cottrell, chatbots will transform the way businesses schedule appointments, co...

The last thing George Kramb expected from years of walking surgeons through actual operations using medical machinery was to step into a role that helped guide patients worldwide through their own medical journeys Kramb (above, pictured left) and his partner, Patrick Frank, are listed on the "2021 Forbes 30 Under 30" list in recognition of their st...

Buying Linux-powered laptops should be easy, especially on big-name manufacturers' websites. But it isn't. You must employ workarounds to succeed or spend caches of money! That is why downloading free Linux distributions and installing the operating system onto existing computers is a typical avenue for adopting Linux. Some computer manufacturers s...

Cutting the cord has too long been an item on my to-do list. For those not yet familiar with the term, "cutting the cord" refers to the process of terminating a cable or satellite TV subscription and getting shows and movies by some other means. I finally did it and spent days afterward chiding myself for not making the change a long time ago This ...

An intense knack for technology throughout middle school and high school, where he repaired classmates' phones and gaming devices, set the stage for entrepreneurial success for Adam Zinker, founder and CEO of The Perfect Part. That passion -- and a family loan of $4,000 seed money -- drove his technology logistics company over the last nine years to become the sixth-largest eBay company in North America...

Two new Web browsing alternatives widen the field of browser choices for Linux users. The recent introduction of Microsoft Edge for Linux and the Dec. 8 release of Vivaldi version 3.5 offers the freedom to experience a Google-free vehicle to navigate the Internet I reviewed much earlier versions of Vivaldi several years ago. At that time, I was sea...