Business

Pay for something with a credit card or use a debit card that is run as credit rather than debit and the odds are you'll have to sign for it. Signatures have become increasingly uncommon in the modern world, but they still exist and MasterCard wants to change that. The company announced plans to get rid of signatures altogether for transactions involving its cards, and that could happen as soon as April 2018.

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2017 is a bit of an anomaly year for Apple. Though we've grown used to receiving two new iPhones each year - one standard-sized iPhone and one Plus model - this year we're getting three new iPhones. One of those, as you likely already know, is the iPhone X - a special release that, at least in part, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone's release.

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Verizon has again delayed its online TV service launch, according to sources, marking the most recent extension of the service's launch date. The Verizon service was first leaked months ago as an online television service that would rival things like Dish Network's Sling TV. This service will differ from Verizon's existing streaming video option Go90, but sources say that Verizon still hasn't finalized distribution deals with the biggest media companies.

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That Google parent company Alphabet has a ridiculous amount of money at its disposal isn't exactly a shocking realization for anyone. Today we're seeing Alphabet throw some of that money around by investing a truly eye-watering amount into ride-sharing service Lyft. Such a huge investment could give Lyft the leg-up it needs to really take the fight to Uber.

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Assa Abloy announced today that it plans to purchase smart lock manufacturer August Home. Though Assa Abloy might not be a familiar name to some, one of the companies it owns will be: Yale. It would appear that August Home is going to be in good company once it joins Assa Abloy's portfolio.

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For reasons that aren't at all clear, it appears Snap, the company behind Snapchat and Spectacles, is selling a dancing hot dog costume on Amazon. The costume is the only product listed under the Snap Inc company's profile page and it is priced at a hefty $80. If that doesn't deter you -- and you're not too tall and have a strong desire to dress as a hot dog this Halloween -- the costume can be yours.

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It isn't exactly a secret that game publishers have gone a little crazy for microtransactions. As the current console generation marches on, more and more microtransactions are appearing in triple-A games, usually in the form of loot boxes. It is any surprise, then, that Activision was just awarded a patent for a matchmaking system designed to help sell microtransactions?

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Dropbox has announced the arrival of a new plan called Professional, a solution the company explains was designed specifically for independent workers. With Dropbox Professional, users are given access to both Dropbox Showcase and Dropbox Smart Sync, ultimately enjoying a single destination where they can store their content, track it, and share it with other people.

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Back in 2013, Microsoft suffered a rather critical security breach. The company's internal bug reporting database was compromised, giving those who hacked into it access to a list of unresolved bugs and vulnerabilities within Windows. That's worrying enough on its own, but then comes the realization that Microsoft actually kept details of the breach from the public.

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One of SoftBank's favorite pastimes seems to be buying up other companies, so it's not really much of a surprise to hear that it might be close to striking a deal with Uber. This doesn't appear to be a Sprint-scale buyout, where SoftBank is looking to acquire a majority stake in Uber. Instead, it could own as much as 20% of the company by the time everything is said and done.

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The teen-centric app 'tbh' has been acquired by Facebook, the company announced in a statement today. The acquisition marks a big success for the tbh team, and highlights Facebook's own attempts at targeting the youngest tech users. While the core Facebook social platform has been losing teenage users for years, others like tbh have been flourishing.

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Amazon, never content with existing as-is, will launch its own line of sportswear in the future, according to sources. These clothes will be made specifically for the Internet retailer, giving Prime subscribers and others an online destination for activity-centric apparel. The sources explain that Amazon has been talking with the same vendor that produces clothes for notable brands like Uniqlo and Gap.

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