In a survey of 2,000 consumers in the U.S. and the U.K. last summer, Gartner extrapolated that 71 million U.S. adults use online banking regularly. In the U.K., 14 million adults, or more than a quarter of the adult population, regularly bank online.

"The current usage levels in both countries show that adoption is now taking place within the mainstream of consumers, among people who use new channels and services if, and only if, they see intrinsic value from the new technology," Gartner researcher David Schehr said in statement. "Online banking has clearly made this transition in consumer minds."

One new frontier in online banking is accessing accounts via a smartphone. AT&T, for example, launched late last year a mobile banking application that allows the carrier's nationwide subscribers to view account balances and pay bills on their cell phones.

AT&T collaborated with Wachovia and SunTrust Banks, as well as mobile banking and payment provider Firethorn Holdings and its partner CheckFree.

said by TKJunkMail :

And all this growth coming despite the incessant attacks by criminal groups trying to steal people's money and info.

said by BabyBear :

In other news people still continue to buy cars all the while others are stolen!

said by TKJunkMail :

But when paying bills or doing other banking, you can still do all that the old way(by check and by going to the local branch office). So, the growth of banking on the internet is still impressive given all the hacking news that makes the press on a regular basis.

said by TKJunkMail :

the growth of banking on the internet is still impressive given all the hacking news that makes the press on a regular basis.

said by Boricua65 :

And...

Two Detroit pension funds have filed a shareholders lawsuit against Yahoo in the Delaware Chancery Court, according to reports Friday.

The lawsuit, filed by the a Detroit public employees pension fund and a Detroit firefighters and police pension fund, accused the Internet search pioneer of stonewalling Microsoft's unsolicited buyout offer, initially valued at $44.6 billion on February 1.

"Yahoo's directors cannot 'just say no' indefinitely to legitimate acquisition offers when the effect of that decision is to deny shareholder choice in the face of non-coercive and economically beneficial bid--especially where, as here, the bid may yet be improved through negotiations," the lawsuit stated, according to MarketWatch.

Earlier this month, the Wayne County Employees Retirement System sued Yahoo in a Michigan court.

said by laserjobs :

Why give a gift card when cash is never rejected

The hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC) this week released a tool that turns Google into an automated vulnerability scanner, scouring Web sites for sensitive information such as passwords or server vulnerabilities.

The new tool, called Goolag Scan, is equally provocative, making it easy for unskilled users to track down vulnerabilities and sensitive information on specific Web sites or broad Web domains.

The tool is a stand-alone Windows .Net application, licensed under the open source GNU General Public License, that provides about 1,500 customized searches under categories such as "vulnerable servers," "sensitive online shopping information," and "files containing juicy information."

The results are displayed as a list of links that can be opened directly in a browser. Example results include tell-tale error messages and Java applets for the remote control of surveillance cameras, according to CDC.

said by NOCMan :

Causing the democratic canidate to lose does not serve independents purposes unless independents are suddenly all right wing.

said by Jeffrey :

I didn't know that insurance will not cover that.

A deadline for Google Inc to turn over documents in Viacom Inc's $1 billion copyright lawsuit against the Web search leader has been extended by two months by a federal judge.

Google's attorneys had asked that a March 7 deadline for both sides to turn over documents be postponed by three months because it was wading through 4.5 million documents.

Last March, Viacom sued Google for copyright infringement on its popular YouTube online video sharing service, demanding over $1 billion in damages.