Sorry Firefox, but Internet Explorer is making a comeback. The Microsoft Web browser grew its market-share in July, while rivals lost ground incrementally. Net Applications has estimated Internet Explorer's July market-share at 60.74% -- an increase from June's 60.32%, followed by Firefox with 22.91%, Chrome with 7.16%, Safari with 5.09%, and Opera with 2.45%. Chrome dropped 0.08% from June, after months of quality gains, while Firefox declined 0.9%. "But Microsoft is also facing questions about Internet Explorer's priorities with regard to privacy," notes eWeek. "A widely circulated Aug. 1 article in The Wall Street Journal suggests that …

Challenging the likes of Visa and MasterCard, AT&T and Verizon Wireless are effectively planning to turn consumer smartphones into credit cards. Sources tell Bloomberg that the two largest U.S. mobile carriers may work with Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc to test a system at stores in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities that would let consumers purchase products with the contact-less wave of a smartphone. "The trial would be the carriers' biggest effort to spur mobile payments in the U.S. and supplant more than 1 billion plastic cards in American wallets," writes Bloomberg. To date, "Smartphones …