Daily Tech Briefing: June 26, 2014

A report from Duo Security has revealed that PayPal’s two-factor authentication technology can be bypassed. In response, the online payment company is disabling two-factor authentication for its mobile users.

Two-factor authentication, which requires users to have a second password in order to gain access to their accounts, is often hailed as a strong security approach. Mobile customers will still be able to log in to their PayPal accounts on their mobile devices by visiting the PayPal mobile website.

Anuj Nayar, senior director of global initiatives at PayPal, explained that while two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security, it’s not the only way PayPal protects its customers.

The Google I/O 2014 developers conference opened yesterday and one of its key goals is to help Google app developers get their work out so they can make sales to consumers and businesses and tap more deeply into the Android and Google ecosystems.

To accomplish this, the conference will have many special sessions designed to show developers how they can increase their app sales through efficient distribution.

Microsoft and its business customers recently learned how disruptive cloud outages can be when they impact email. A Microsoft spokesperson explained to eWEEK that this past Tuesday, some North American customers experienced email delays with Exchange Online and that the issues have since been fixed. The spokesperson added that Microsoft is sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Google’s Nest Labs is opening its APIs to other companies like Mercedes-Benz, Logitech and Whirlpool so these companies can work with Nest on improving a wide range of consumer products for energy savings and other benefits.

These APIs will be available through the Nest Developer Program, which will allow more than 5,000 interested developers to meaningfully interact with Nest products and more. Google purchased Nest in January as part of its effort to become a major player in the Internet of things market.