Retailer target did not experience its best holiday shopping season ever. Hackers were able to obtain information on 40 million consumers who used their credit cards at the retailer’s stores in November and December. Now the company faces lawsuits and negative press. But a recent report from CBS Minnesota provides hope: According to the story, technology might soon make such credit-card hacks much less common.

Waiting for smart cards

What would help? CBS Minnesota points to smart cards, which are already popular throughout much of Europe. These credit cards, which store all of a consumer’s accounts on one card, use microchips and PINs, which makes them far more secure than the low-tech cards consumers in the United States use. Smart-card data breaches hardly ever happen. Sadly, it might still be a few years before these high-tech cards arrive in the United States.

Who’s that masked card?

There is also what is known as masked cards, which CBS Minnesota reports are already available in the United States. Whenever consumers use one of these cards, it gives a temporary number that cashiers type in or that consumers can use while shopping online. The temporary number then disappears once a transaction is completed. Consequently hackers can’t use it, even if they steal it.

Why the delay?

Of course, smart cards would be ideal. It might take a few more years, though, for those to arrive in the country. No one knows why smart cards aren’t here already. But CBS Minnesota’s story speculates that one of the factors may be that credit-card companies haven’t yet upgraded to the modern technology that they would need.

We know that the NSA has generated negative headlines for its spying programs. But have these headlines damaged business across the nation? The heads of the country’s largest tech firms believe so. They told Pres. Obama all about it during a recent meeting at the White House. The Washington Post reported on the meeting. The consensus from the tech leaders? The NSA program has the potential to further slow the country’s already sluggish economic recovery.

The meeting

According to the Post’s story, tech leaders offered a unified message: The NSA spying revelations have caused many customers to avoid U.S.-branded products. That’s precisely what one executive from Cisco Systems said in the meeting. Other tech leaders — including those from IBM and Verizon — stated that NSA spying headlines have led to angry shareholders.

Limits

According to the Post, the tech companies advised the president that there should be limits on the degree of spying that the government does. Additionally they requested more transparency in how the NSA operates.

Moving forward

Obama did tell the attendees that he understood their concerns, the Post reported. He also said that he’d keep these concerns in mind as he and the White House continue their lengthy review of NSA and how it operates. The president needs to keep this promise. All things considered, tech companies remain some of the strongest businesses in the country. We need to keep them happy if we want the country’s economic recovery to carry on.

Will technology one day make hospitals obsolete? It sounds impossible. But based on a recent report from CBS Atlanta, an international study on technology and health discovered that a majority of people across the globe believe that traditional hospitals will be obsolete because of tech advances.

The study

The Intel Corporation recently ran a study on the ways that people think technology will transform the medical field. One of the big results? A total of 57 percent of respondents said that they believe that technology will reduce the need for traditional hospitals. And what will replace emergency-room visits and hours spent in waiting rooms? Based on the Intel survey, customized personal care delivered to us through new technology.

Mobile

Survey respondents stated that they are looking forward to a day in which mobile and personalized technology helps them keep track of their own health needs. Instead of spending hours in a waiting room or emergency room, patients can instead rely on technology to cover most of their medical needs. And here’s a surprising result: About 30 percent of respondents said that they would trust themselves to do their own ultrasounds. The study also discovered that such innovative medical advances such as monitoring devices and ingestible technologies were more warmly welcomed by countries other than the United States.

No privacy issues?

According to the CBS Atlanta story, respondents were so interested in personalized, mobile care that they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to get it. According to survey, 84 percent of respondents said they would not balk at sharing personal health info if doing so would result in a more efficient and cost-effective medical system.

Don’t like Windows 8? You’re certainly not alone. Computer users around the world grumble that Windows 8 is too complicated. You might be receiving some good news soon. As per the tech press, there are lots of rumors that Microsoft may soon be trashing Windows 8. As InfoWorld writer Woody Leonhard publishes in a recent column, the company might replace the disliked operating system with a trio of new systems.

A new era?

As Leonhard writes, most of the rumors spring from Microsoft’s supposed Threshold program. This is supposed to be the company’s next round of Windows updates. As Leonhard writes, the updates are meant to improve Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone and Xbox systems. As per the rumor mill, Threshold should enable users to perform activities across all of these platforms.

Three versions

Leonhard cites a writer from ZDNet who says that Microsoft is now developing three primary versions of Windows, all of which should work better than Windows 8. First, there will be a more modern Metro consumer version, a traditional consumer version and an old-fashioned traditional Enterprise version.

An updated Windows 7?

Here’s the hope expressed by Leonhard: The next version of Windows, whatever it is eventually called, will function as an updated version of Windows 7. Most computer users liked Windows 7, and why not? It was clean, efficient and easy to use. Windows 8, on the other hand, is frustrating and features a steep learning curve. A boosted Windows 7, though? That would be some of the best Windows news to come about in years.

Tablets have become hot sellers. Consumers seem to love these devices. As Forbes columnist Ethan Gach wrote in a recent column, consumer experts anticipate that tablet sales will outpace the sales of laptops and desktop computers combined by 2015. But tablets aren’t just a boon to the retailers who sell them. They’re also providing a boost to a somewhat sluggish comic-book industry.

Spider-Man on your tablet

The publishers of comic books recognize just how popular tablets have become with consumers. They know that tablet sales are expected to surpass the combined sales of desktop computers and laptops in 2015. Furthermore they realize that consumers like reading comics on tablets. It’s a natural fit.

Comixology on the rise

Gach takes a close look at Comixology, an online seller of comics. The business has flourished by offering numerous types of comics online, that readers have access to on tablets as well as their personal computers. As outlined by Gach, Comixology achieved over 200 million comic downloads a few months ago. That’s a nice achievement.

More readers?

Because Comixology offers comics in the digital space, the company doesn’t need to be concerned about space issues. That’s a challenge that hits brick-and-mortar comic shops: How do they find room for all of the titles that their customers might want? Comixology, of course, is able to afford to offer lesser-known titles that don’t come from the powerhouse DC or Marvel brands. This is very good news for comics fans, and for comics publishers. Digital reading and comics might just be a perfect match.