The CSG Ascendon digital services platform now supports a "new membership-based service" available in the U.K., CSG said in a news release Tuesday. CSG's platform allows users to add "up to 10 compatible devices" with a subscription and watch movies and TV shows and read books in up to five languages, it said.

Henry Schein Practice Solutions will pay $250,000 to settle FTC allegations the provider of office management software to dental practices "falsely advertised the level of encryption" to protect patient data, the agency said Tuesday in a news release. The commission voted 4-0 to issue the administrative complaint. The FTC said it will publish a description of the consent agreement, which will be subject to public comment through Feb. 4, in the Federal Register soon. The agency alleged the company marketed "deceptive claims" for two years that its Dentrix G5 software provided industry-standard encryption of sensitive patient data as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The FTC said the company was aware its software "used a less complex method of data masking to protect patient data than Advanced Encryption Standard," which is the recommended industry caliber. “If a company promises strong encryption, it should deliver it," said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich. Under the settlement, Schein "will be prohibited from misleading customers about the extent to which its products use industry-standard encryption or the extent to which its products help ensure regulatory compliance or protect consumers’ personal information," the FTC said. Schein must also notify all affected customers that the software doesn't provide industry-standard encryption. The company disagreed with the commission about how "we used the word 'encrypted' in Dentrix G5 marketing from early 2012 to January 2014," and the "product works, and works well," emailed a Schein representative Tuesday. "We have always communicated to customers that the ultimate responsibility for data security and HIPAA compliance resides with each practice." The settlement doesn't "represent an admission of wrongdoing regarding the Dentrix product," said the representative. "We made a decision to settle with the FTC to avoid long and costly litigation," she said. "We continuously upgrade and improve our product and service offerings, and advise our customers that they also need to take steps to protect the security of their data."

Lumos Labs, which created and markets the online and mobile "brain training" program Lumosity, agreed to pay $2 million in consumer redress to settle FTC allegations that the company deceived consumers with "unfounded claims" that its games could help reduce or delay cognitive impairment, the agency said Tuesday in a news release. The order that the release describes imposes a $50 million judgment that will be suspended due to the company's financial condition after it pays the $2 million, the FTC said. “Lumosity preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease,” said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich, saying the company didn't have the science to back up its ads. Lumos Labs in an emailed statement said "neither the action nor the settlement pertains to the rigor of our research or the quality of the products -- it is a reflection of marketing language that has been discontinued." The company said it continues to invest "heavily" in research and game development.

Harman said it’s buying auto cybersecurity firm TowerSec. Harman will integrate TowerSec’s technology into its security framework, which will “ensure that we remain one step ahead to protect existing and future connected systems,” said Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal in a Tuesday news release. “While we have been partnering with HARMAN as a supplier, now we will leverage the Company’s scale, network and deep connected car domain experience to meet the demands of our target markets, including providers of gateways,” said TowerSec CEO Saar Dickman.

Broadcom is sampling what it called the industry's first 64-bit quad-core processor for high-end routers, it said in a Monday announcement. Its BCM4908 SoC enables OEMs and service providers to deliver the extra CPU power needed for smart home and IoT applications at the higher broadband speeds now coming into the home, it said.

Yahoo shut down its online video distribution service Yahoo Screen, the Internet company said Monday. The video platform, which began as a video-sharing service, ended Wednesday, the company said. In a statement, Yahoo said the Yahoo Screen video content "has been transitioned from Yahoo Screen to our Digital Magazine properties so users can discover complementary content in one place."

Coldwell Banker found older Americans are transitioning to some smart home technology more quickly than younger consumers. Some 40 percent of those surveyed over 65 who own smart home products currently have smart temperature products, compared with 25 percent of those 18 to 34, it said. The real estate firm said Monday that 45 percent of Americans either own smart home technology or plan to invest in it this year. Of those, 36 percent don’t consider themselves early tech adopters. The most popular type of smart home technology that people already own is smart entertainment (44 percent), followed by smart security (31 percent) and smart thermostats (30 percent), it said.The survey was done in October by Harris Poll with 4,065 adults ages 18 and above, including 1,009 that owned at least one smart home product.

Twitter said it's restoring Politwoops access to its application programming interface, resolving a more than four-month dispute with the Open State Foundation (OSF), which can begin again to publish deleted tweets by politicians (see 1508240020). OSF, the Sunlight Foundation and Access Now met with Twitter several times over the past two months before reaching an agreement, OSF said in a Thursday news release. The groups met with the social media company, which also blogged the announcement, after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said at its annual developer conference in October that the company has a "responsibility to continue to empower organizations that bring more transparency to public dialogue, such as Politwoops." OSF Director Arjan El Fassed said the organization's "next step is now to continue and expand our work to enable the public to hold public officials accountable for their public statements." OSF plans to expand Politwoops beyond the 30-plus governments -- including the U.S., U.K. and Holy See -- that it now monitors.

Microsoft already lets users know whether their Outlook.com email and OneDrive accounts have been targeted or compromised. But it will now tell them if a state sponsor is responsible for the attack. Scott Charney, corporate vice president-Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing, wrote Wednesday in a blog post the company is doing this "because it is likely that the attack could be more sophisticated or more sustained than attacks from cybercriminals and others." But he said the company doesn't plan to provide any more detailed information about the attackers or methods used. If users get such notices, it doesn't necessarily mean their accounts are compromised, he wrote, but it does mean there's evidence their accounts have been targeted. He listed several steps users should take to strengthen the security of their accounts.

The Jan. 14 FTC PrivacyCon conference will feature 19 presentations of original research on consumer privacy and security matters, said its agenda. The commission said in a news release Tuesday that the conference will present numerous discussions on policy implications of some of the research, and be divided into five major topic areas: the state of online privacy, consumers' privacy expectations, big data and algorithms, economics of privacy and security, and security and usability. Some of the original research will address consumers' understanding of their online privacy compared with the options they're provided, tools that analyze how consumer data is shared and used online, and effectiveness of programs that monitor security weaknesses, the FTC said. Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Commissioner Julie Brill and FTC Chief Technologist Lorrie Cranor are to speak at the conference, which will be webcast live.