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TAKE NOTE

WHO’S IN YOUR WALLET?

Recent investigations have revealed that data thieves single out stores with strong wireless signals and weakly protected data, then set up somewhere outside with a laptop and an off-the-shelf wireless receiver to pick up the signals being broadcast around the store and use them to gain access to its computer systems.

Once in the systems, the hackers download credit card account numbers stored in the databases. The widespread use of wireless technology by businesses has left merchants’ computer systems increasingly susceptible.

Investigators say these crimes illustrate that while banks and payment processors have been the targets in the highest-profile computers attacks, and have received the most security checks, the system’s most vulnerable points may be the estimated five million merchants where credit cards are accepted.

YOU ARE NOW FREE TO WAIT AROUND IN THE AIRPORT

What are the chances that your next flight will be on time? If you’re flying from Atlanta to Newark, don’t bet on it.

The U.S. Transportation Dept. defines a delayed flight as one that departed or arrived at least 15 minutes late. The department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics says this is shaping up to be the worst year for departure delays since 2000. Through June, nearly one in five flights, or 17 percent, left airports late.

AirTran Flight 576 from Atlanta to Newark has the distinction of being late more often—72 percent of the time—than any other flight in the United States.

TRACK AND TRACE

It’s for our own good, but it sounds a bit quirky: New laser technology soon will be used to tattoo our fruits and vegetables. Instead of reading “Born to be wild,” the tattoos will display names, identifying numbers, countries of origin and other information.

The government-approved process has been deemed safe by the food industry and is part of track and trace efforts to protect the food supply at various stages of distribution.

Miniaturized bar coding also is being tried as well as palettes with radio frequency identification tags that can be tracked by satellite. In the near future, producers, manufacturers and supplier might never again lose a single inventoried item during shipping.