Cyber crooks attack smartphones

Hackers are adapting tried-and-true computer infections to work on Internet-enabled smartphones that are all the rage with consumers, states USA Today.

Global smartphone shipments topped 54 million in the first three months this year, a 57% jump from a year ago, according to research firm IDC. The cyber underground took notice. Users are warned that downloading the wrong wallpaper app for a Google Android phone could result in the phone being harvested, and data stolen that could be used to reveal their location.

Mobile security firm Lookout discovered 80 such Android Web apps last week, which have since been taken down by Google, says John Hering, Lookout's CEO.

The country's largest cellphone carriers hope consumers want to trade in their credit and debit cards for smartphones, reports ABC.

AT&T and Verizon are partnering with Discover Financial and Barclays to test a system that allows consumers to pay for items and services using their smartphones. T-Mobile has a minority stake in the new venture.

Consumers would wave their phones over special payment terminals instead of swiping their credit cards.

The US government recently revealed progress in a years-long effort to create a Star Trek-like 'universal translator' device, says Tech News Daily.

The developing technology - which runs on a smartphone - could soon enable the military to communicate with non-English speakers in lieu or even in place of a human translator.

The new tests were conducted by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology as part of a program spearheaded by the military's R&D wing Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.