In the early afternoon on Wednesday, at the midway point of the Consumer Electronic Show’s first-ever all-day event dedicated to cybersecurity in Las Vegas, an attendee got up and asked a group of panelists: “How paranoid should we be?” The rest of the attendees, as well as the panelists, burst up laughing. The feelings of the man who asked that earnest question was likely shared by many of the other roughly 100 attendees, who had just gone through a sort of crash course in all the basic security threats they should be worried about, from phishing to the simple risks …

As autonomous driving technology advances, perhaps the most notable benefit is the promise of a striking reduction in accidents. But fewer accidents will, according to a recent report, turn the entire auto insurance industry on its head. “We think that over the next 20 to 25 years, the number of accidents will fall by 80 percent,” said Jerry Albright, principal of actuarial and insurance risk practice at KPMG, the consulting firm that released the report. “From a consumer perspective, this is a very good thing. You’ll see improved safety, fewer deaths.” At Progressive’s investor relations meeting in 2013, John Curtiss, …

Global payment technology, Visa has partnered with Maybank to introduce Maybank Visa Payband, the first contactless wearable in Malaysia. Maybank Visa Payband enables customers to conduct contactless payments in a matter of seconds, leveraging on Visa’s payWave contactless technology, at more than 1,000 locations across the country. “Visa is pleased to partner with Maybank to launch Malaysia’s first contactless payment wearable. We believe that the adoption of a contactless payment wearable will be well received by Malaysians and be used to displace cash particularly at events, concerts and theme parks, making it easier and more convenient for consumers.

Wearables are one of the most exciting developments in technology, and have inspired the fashion industry in some intriguing ways. But there’s still plenty of skepticism about everything from battery life to appearance. Some even wonder if computers strapped to our bodies 24/7 could have adverse health effects (although, to be fair, it’s hard to see how wearables would be any different from an iPhone in that regard).  Wearables are taking time to gather momentum. Google Glass was disbanded, and Apple hasn't disclosed how many watches it is selling. Even if sales are stronger than analysts estimate, the Watchhasn't exactly gotten glowing reviews. Even the most …

Under Armour is leveraging IBM Watson’s cognitive computing technology to bolster its UA Record mobile health application with a slew of features, including evidence-based sleep coaching and data-backed fitness tips. Under Armour is ramping up to include the latest data-first mobile initiatives in its app by enabling consumers to use their smartphones as personal health consultants. IBM Watson’s cognitive coaching system is set to evolve athlete management beyond its current capabilities as well as aid users in tracking their overall nutrition and food intake with an easier way of logging information.

The Internet of Things is already here and helping people, and it needs lots of companies collaborating to make it work. That's the word from the president of Samsung's IT business, W.P. Hong, who took the stage Thursday at the CES conference in Las Vegas to talk about what the company is doing to make all our devices connect to the Net. Hong said connected gadgets are already giving people an assist with practical tasks, letting them change their thermostats remotely, ask a digital voice assistant if their washers are done running, and check in on their homes when they're …

Visitors to this year's Detroit auto show will get to play a 2016 version of "Pac-Man" -- without the ghosts. That's how the show's organizers describe the way they're using beacons, wireless digital transmitters located around the exhibition hall that can track the movements of show visitors and communicate with them through their smartphones via Bluetooth as they wander the show floor. The technology is growing in popularity as auto show organizers and manufacturers seek more ways for brands to interact with the throngs of spectators on a scale that the product specialists manning the displays never could achieve. Detroit's …

“It isn’t clear what Apple plans to do with Emotient’s technology, which was primarily sold to advertisers to help assess viewer reactions to their ads,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Doctors also have tested it to interpret signs of pain among patients unable to express themselves, and a retailer used it to monitor shoppers’ facial expressions in store aisles.”

Having just inked a deal to serve as a mobile and online payment platform for Walmart, MasterCard is looking to devices to widen its range in the digital payment space and has even launched a new grocery initiative. First, MasterCard is partnering with consumer electronics and financial software company Coin to bring MasterCard payments to a variety of fitness bands, smart watches and other wearable devices. This collaboration builds upon MasterCard’s October 2015 introduction of the Commerce for Every Device program to enable any consumer gadget, accessory or wearable to become a payment device. Atlas Wearables, which designs advanced fitness trackers, Moov, …

The ZigBee Alliance and the Thread Group are doing their part to diminish fragmentation in the Internet of Things (IoT), announcing they will offer an end-to-end solution for IP-based IoT networks later this year. The solution will become part of the ZigBee Alliance's set of product development specifications, technologies' branding and certification programs. It follows an agreement announced in April of last year where the two entities said they would collaborate. Over the ensuing months, they hammered out just how that would happen.