Stories by Marco Tabini

Wallet no more: How the tech behind Apple Pay can change our lives

Despite the fact that it is, at least so far, a U.S-only affair, I think it's fair to say that Apple Pay has become a rousing success. With dozens of partner banks, thousands of merchants, and millions of credit card enrolled in the program, the folks from Cupertino seem to have pulled off a feat that has, so far, eluded every last one of their competitors: Creating a digital wallet that is as easy to use and widely accepted as the traditional payment methods it replaces--and much more secure at that.

Marco Tabini | 01 Apr | Read more

Review: 1Password 5 for Mac offers state-of-the-art protection for your passwords and more

If you're a frequent Macworld reader, the topic of "good" passwords is unlikely to be new to you. My colleagues and I never seem to tire of recommending the use of a password manager to help you keep tabs on your digital secret handshakes--alongside other bits of private data like credit card numbers--and avoid falling into bad practices that can have dire consequences on everything from your job to your finances.

Marco Tabini | 05 Nov | Read more

Five things you should know about iOS security

Security is an extra-hot topic these days, as all sorts of government agencies short on letters but long on budgets keep getting accused of spying on their own citizens, and debates rage on whether what look like accidental bugs may actually turn out to be quite intentional.

Marco Tabini | 28 Feb | Read more

How smartphones can reshape the way we pay

Target; Nieman-Marcus; Michaels. Lately, it seems that a week doesn't go by without some major retailer being forced to inform customers that their payment systems have been compromised, potentially affecting millions of cardholders and their finances. Of course, that's on top of the myriad scams that happen every day on a smaller scale and end up costing both consumers and businesses billions of dollars every year.

Marco Tabini | 07 Feb | Read more

1Password 4 for Mac: State-of-the-art password management for everyone

Canadian developer AgileBits has always positioned its 1Password password management software as a premium product, focusing on a combination of performance, portability, and ease of use to command a premium price and develop a significant following. Such continues to be the case with 1Password 4 for Mac (Mac App Store link), which the company released at the beginning of October.

Marco Tabini | 15 Oct | Read more

Passwarden review: An interesting but flawed password manager for OS X

If you like to keep your information private, there's never been a better time to save that info on your Mac and iOS devices: The Apple market is chock-full of products that help you securely store--and easily retrieve--everything from passwords to credit-card numbers, including one, dubbed iCloud Keychain, that Apple itself is busy baking right into OS X and iOS.

Marco Tabini | 10 Oct | Read more