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SAN DIEGO--No single company can catapult mobile payments into mainstream use, said American Express executive Dan Schulman, who called for more partnerships between the financial and wireless worlds.

"All of us need to play together," Schulman said today during his keynote address at the CTIA Enterprise & Applications show. "All of us have strengths and capabilities we bring to the table."

Schulman himself straddles both worlds. He is the group president of American Express' enterprise growth unit, which is responsible for mobile payments. Prior to that, he ran Virgin Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel's prepaid, … Read more

A study conducted by the Knight Foundation has found that "students who use social networking daily to get news and information" are more likely to agree that 'people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions'," than those who don't use social networks. And the more kids use social network, the more likely they are to hold that opinion. Fully 91 percent of those surveyed who use social networks daily agree with that premise compared to 82 percent of monthly users and 77 percent of those who never use social media, the study found.

The study included … Read more

Apple's last major connectivity advancement was in the late '90s with FireWire, which was used as a replacement for the SCSI bus on Mac systems; however, the licensing and complexity of the port made it a less attractive option than alternatives like USB for many device manufacturers, especially given the ease of implementation and eventual speed of USB 2.0. While FireWire has extended beyond its initial 400Mbps speeds to offer 800Mbps, and potentially up to 3,200Mbps, in the face of current alternatives the technology does not seem to be advancing much beyond its current implementations.

Given the … Read more

OWC announced today the Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G solid-state drive (SSD), which it claims to be the first on the market that fits inside the new MacBook Air (version 2011) and offers the latest SATA 3 (6Gbps) standard.

Just in case you don't know, the new MacBook Air is known to support the latest SATA 3 (6Gbps), which offers a top data rate of around 500MBps. However, the laptop's stock SSD supports only the slower SATA 2 (3Gbps) standard. This means, despite how quickly the machine currently boots and performs, the drive could be the bottleneck that … Read more

Today, if a woman is considered to be at high risk for ovarian cancer, surgeons tend to want to preemptively remove her ovaries.

That may sound harsh, but of all the gynecological cancers, ovarian has the lowest survival rate--mainly because, without reliable symptoms, it is difficult to detect early on.

Now, researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Connecticut have combined three imaging tools to spot tissue irregularities that signal ovarian cancer at earlier stages of its development.

Describing their hybrid device in the September issue of the Optical Society's Biomedical Optics Express journal, the researchers say they have combined photoacoustic imaging for contrast, optical coherence tomography for hi-res subsurface imaging (called OCT, this is the top image at the right), and pulse-echo ultrasound for deep-tissue imaging (second image) to identify malignant tumors.

The superimposed images (at the bottom of the images) enabled the team to spot malignant tissue (indicated with yellow diamond arrows).

They performed their initial tests on surgically removed pig and human ovarian tissue--but with the device measuring just 5 millimeters across, it could potentially be inserted through a tiny slit to image tissue without having to biopsy it.

The researchers were able to confirm that they'd correctly identified malignant cells by staining the tissue and examining it by microscope. Next step: test the device on live patients using minimally invasive surgery.… Read more

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is planning to launch a new version of its 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station router.

According to the publication, citing "a person familiar with the matter," as-yet released developer notes for the upcoming AirPort Utility 5.6 mention a new AirPort Express Base Station.

"Adds support for the AirPort Express 802.11n (second-generation) base station," the note reportedly reads.

To further bolster its claims, AppleInsider pointed to Amazon.com's listing of … Read more

In the wake of the announcement by Sonnet for its Thunderbolt-based Echo ExpressCard adapter that will allow any compatible ExpressCard to work on a Thunderbolt Mac, peripheral developer Magma has announced a Thunderbolt-based expansion chassis for full-size PCI Express cards that will accommodate anything from audio cards, modems, and connectivity peripherals to video cards for additional displays.

According to a press release, the Magma "ExpressBox 3T" will hold up to three PCI Express cards side-by-side to offer any Thunderbolt-equipped Mac the option to add more functionality, even if the Mac does not have any built-in expansion ports, which … Read more

Apple is heavily rumored to be working on an HDTV with TV subscriptions, Facebook Deals is dead, and Samsung postpones releasing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia due to patent litigation.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

In this day and age, there is so much talk about the cloud solution and how you can share files in a snap. Well, that's great and all and I'm a huge fan, but what if you don't want to share your files in the cloud? For example, my mom loves to send me photos of her outings with her friends and my adorable nephews and niece--except that she literally sends out 10 e-mails with at least 10 photos attached to them. So, how can I help her help me, so I don't have 100 pictures, … Read more