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Today, Amazon launched a new service which brings the company's payment processing tools to mobile devices. Called the "Amazon Mobile Payments Service," the technology includes a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for mobile developers which will allow them to provide payment options to their customers within mobile websites and mobile applications. The new service also allows for integration of Amazon's "1-Click" checkout, the feature that lets customers make purchases using their credit card information stored within their Amazon.com accounts.

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For Customers: Mobile Shopping Made Easy

Customers using the new Mobile Payments Service (MPS) will first sign-in using an Amazon MPS-enabled phone or mobile application. After this initial authentication process, they'll then be able to make all future purchases from that device without having to sign in again. This includes the 1-Click checkout functionality. 

As the MPS website shows, it only takes four steps for a mobile shopper to complete their purchase using the new technology. First, the customer clicks on the "Pay with Amazon" button which directs them to a mobile site hosted by Amazon Payments. From there, the customer can pick which payment method they want to use from the options they already have on file with Amazon. After the payment is authorized, the customer is then automatically redirected back to the original mobile website where they can then be offered the download they just purchased.

For Developers: No Extra Work Required

Developers and merchants already using the company's Amazon Payments service on their websites won't need to do any additional development work - the service will automatically detect when customers are shopping from a mobile device and will switch over to the new mobile optimized payment interface.

In other words, that means that developers can continue to use Amazon FPS (flexible payment service) APIs they've already been using to build their applications and they don't need to go back and re-code anything to make the apps mobile-compatible.

One of the first companies to launch the Amazon MPS is Handmark, a mobile content store where customers can shop for games and applications across a number of platforms including Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Java devices. The company will integrate the technology within its online store and its on-device channels.

Developers interested in integrating this technology into their mobile applications can learn how to do so via the Amazon MPS website. 

According to new guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), bloggers who fail to disclose that they have received freebies when they write about a product can now be fined up to $11,000 per post. The new FTC Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising argues that any post of a blogger who receives "cash or in-kind payment to review a product" should be considered an endorsement. Because these posts are now officially considered endorsements, bloggers who receive freebies must now disclose this fact on their site.

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Freebies and the Independent Blogger

While the FTC will obviously have a hard time enforcing these regulations, there can be no doubt that marketers regularly approach independent bloggers (and especially mommy bloggers) with freebies. When bloggers accept these exchanges, they may not always disclose them in the posts that result. So, while bloggers who are involved in these schemes often tend to say that they would have reviewed the product anyway or that their reviews are often critical, there can be little doubt that payments and freebies influence these stories.

These new rules and rather large fines should bring some bloggers and marketers into line, though others will surely continue to push the ethical boundaries. And blogging Payola is unlikely to go away completely because of these new rules.

This marks the first time the FTC has updated endorsement and testimonial rules since 1980. The new rules also take on celebrity endorsements. If celebrities endorse a product and make false or unsubstantiated claims, or don't disclose 'material connections' between themselves and the advertisers in ads and outside the context of the ads (talk shows, social media, etc.), these celebrities can be held liable under the FTC Act. Judging from this, it would seem that celebrities who tweet about a product they endorse are now risking large fines.

More than 10,000 usernames and passwords for Windows Live Hotmail accounts were leaked online late last week, according to a report by Neowin.net , which claimed that they were posted by an anonymous user on pastebin.com last Thursday.

The post has since been taken down.