Disruptions: Shields for Privacy in a Smartphone World

Smartphones and fast mobile Internet access have transformed nearly all facets of life, but travel has seen some of the most dramatic changes.

Smartphones and fast mobile Internet access have transformed nearly all facets of life, but travel has seen some of the most dramatic changes.

Smartphones and fast mobile Internet access have transformed nearly all facets of life, but travel has seen some of the most dramatic changes.

A free service launched on Wednesday called PrivateSky lets Internet users shield email, Facebook updates, and other online exchanges from hackers or other unwanted snoops.The service from startup CertiVox comes as hackers appear to be rampaging through the Internet, cracking defenses at companies, attacking public websites, and tricking their way into email accounts to spy on contents.PrivateSky works with Internet Explorer (IE) browsers to provide encryption for whatever people type into message boxes and decodes it only for those they chose.

Smartphones and fast mobile Internet access have transformed nearly all facets of life, but travel has seen some of the most dramatic changes.

By Richard Shaw (QVM Group): It is important to be aware of the tendency of stock funds to participate in an up market move or down market move.

By Dana Blankenhorn: The Web has traditionally supported "free" products and services through advertising.Can Amazon (AMZN) or Google (GOOG) turn this into smartphone market share?Take our ads, we'll give it to you. (That's how we do it here, come to think of it.)