Obama

Amazon.com, a technology company obsessed with secrecy, is hiring a former press secretary for President Obama, whose administration has been widely criticized for its aggressive leak investigations. Jay Carney, who resigned as the president's chief spokesman last spring, is joining Amazon as senior vice president for global corporate affairs, a new position, the retailer said Thursday. It's an unusual hire for the Seattle-based company, which tends to groom its talent internally rather than bring in prominent outsiders. Mr. Carney, who begins his new job on Monday, will report to Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO.

Seeking an end to a protracted labor dispute that's led to costly delays in West Coast shipping, President Obama has decided to intervene, the White House announced Saturday. At the president's request, Thomas E. Perez, secretary of labor, will travel to California to "meet with the parties to urge them to resolve their dispute quickly at the bargaining table," according to a statement issued by Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman. Perez will try to mediate a settlement between an association of the major shipowners of the West Coast and the union of longshoremen who unload those ships.

Considering the high-profile data breaches and the very recent Sony email leaks, 2014 could be labeled "The Year of the Hacker." According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans’ No. 1 crime worry is hackers stealing their credit card information. In addition, cybercrime certainly hurts the U.S. economy — to the tune of more than $120 million each year. On Jan. 12, President Obama sent a cybersecurity bill to Congress, saying, "We've got to stay ahead of those who would do us harm." What follows are some payment security best practices that can help all merchants stay ahead of fraudsters:

President Obama on Friday unveiled a series of steps aimed at improving the security of credit and debit card payments, including a pledge to shift government transactions over to the PIN-and-chip system and commitments from major retailers and credit card providers. In announcing the BuySecure initiative, Obama signed an executive order directing federal agencies to phase out magnetic strip credit and debit cards issued by the government, and to implement readers for the more secure PIN-and-chip cards in government retail locations such as national parks. 

No. 1 on the list of chores the Internet has done away with: dragging yourself to the store to stock up on unwieldy items and carting them home. Many e-commerce companies - led by Amazon.com and the sites it owns, like Diapers.com and Soap.com — have made it easy t

Are you ever at a loss for what to include in an upcoming email campaign? Calendars can be a very useful tool to keep your emails fresh, lively and timely. Let's examine what should be in your calendar and how detailed it should be for the short and long term.