Stories by Al Sacco

This past weekend, as I stood in line at a Whole Foods market in Portland, Maine, waiting to buy delicious Maine beer, I did something kind of sketchy. I'm not proud of it.

Many security experts agree that Apple Pay and contactless payment systems like it are an improvement over traditional credit-card based systems. However, Apple Pay is still new and relatively untested, and it's wise to approach it strategically.

You've likely heard that Apple took its first steps into the mobile payments industry this week with the launch of its Apple Pay NFC-based, contactless payment service.

Last June, Google announced its first set of "Glass at Work" partners, or companies "authorized by Glass at Work for delivering enterprise solutions for Glass." (Find more details on those five companies here.)

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a professional services network, this week released a lengthy report on wearable technology. Though the research focused largely on future consumer uses of wearables, it also touched on a number of enterprise-related topics.

Woe is me.

BlackBerry recently started shipping its new Passport smartphone to customers who preordered it. Though the Passport was unveiled months ago, the company just released it for sale in late September via its online store and Amazon.com. It quickly sold out. As of this writing, it's still not available on ShopBlackBerry.com, and the Passport is selling for $800 or more on Amazon.

Earlier this month Apple released a new iPhone. Well, Apple actually released two new iPhones, but only one of them is getting significant media attention beyond the expected glowing reviews from iPhone fan (iPhan) sites: The iPhone 6 Plus, and it's in the spotlight for the wrong reason.

BlackBerry has officially announced pricing and availability details for its new Passport smartphone, which was previously unveiled and detailed through a variety of blog posts on the company's Inside BlackBerry blog. (Specific pricing and availability information can be found at the end of this post.)

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled the latest additions to its iPhone family, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They're the largest iPhones ever, and according to Apple, they're "better in every way" than its last generation of smartphones. Both of these high-end devices are very similar, but there are five notable differences between them that potential iPhone 6 buyers should consider before making a purchase.

As you may have heard, Apple is expected to announce its new iPhone tomorrow at a press event in its home city of Cupertino, Calif. Based on the popularity of its gold-colored iPhone 5s, it seems very likely that the company will release a gold-colored version of its new smartphone, which is being called the "iPhone 6."

Samsung today unveiled the latest member of its Gear family of wearable devices, the Gear VR Innovator Edition. The headset is Samsung's "first VR experience powered entirely by your cell phone," according to Nick DiCarlo, vice president of portfolio planning and product marketing, Samsung Telecommunications America.

The latest rumors suggest Apple brand spankin' new iPhone will be announced on September 9. If history is any indicator, Apple and its carrier partners will start selling the device very shortly after the unveiling.

Everybody knows Ralph Lauren's Polo line of clothing, with the distinct polo player logo. That emblem has remained the same since the 1960s, but Polo just introduced a brand new garment that's truly unique to the company: A shirt that sports a number of different sensors designed to collect various fitness data and then send it to a mobile app for storage and analysis.

Today Thalmic Labs, maker of the upcoming Myo gesture controlled armband, announced four new enterprise-focused partnerships.