Tag Archives: Square’s

What Square’s rise means for the startup ecosystem

Like Google and Facebook before it, Square is set to transform the startup ecosystem. [Read more]


CNET News

Square’s Jack Dorsey reconsiders the term ‘user’

In a blog post, the Twitter co-founder hashes out his beef with the tech vernacular — most specifically the word “user” — and rules that Square remove the term from its vocabulary. [Read more]


CNET News

LevelUp Now Has $21M To Take On The Squares Of The Mobile Payment World

screen-shot-2012-06-07-at-10-26-55-amMobile payment service LevelUp, an off-shoot of Boston-based SCVNGR, announced this morning that it has raised $ 9 million from T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom. The investment is the second tranche of a larger funding round and brings the total raised to just over $ 21 million. SCVNGR itself has raised over $ 31 million. As a result of the investment, T-Venture Senior Manager Randeep Wilkhu will join the startup’s board as an observer.

As for some context: Every day there’s a new headline about mobile payments solutions. It seems that every carrier and credit card company has its own system, while all the big mobile players are working on one or have one already on the market (Google Wallet). The rumors indicate that the iPhone 5 will have NFC functionality to enable Apple’s entry into the mobile payments game. The point is: It’s easy to be skeptical of new solutions, especially when it comes to long-term viability.
TechCrunch

Custom clock pays homage to CPU, separates geeks from the squares (video)

Custom clock pays homage to CPU, separates geeks from the squares (video)

Pop quiz: Can you tell what the device pictured above is? If you answered “a clock that represents the essential building blocks of a CPU while using binary and HEX numerals to display time,” then you’re certifiably crazy — and correct. The brainchild of tinkerer extraordinaire Lior Elazary, the “CPU clock” mechanically emulates the application of computer concepts — codes, instructions and checks — to create a “simple” wall clock. To display the time, the middle register uses binary numbers read from bottom to top to indicate the hour (a reading of “0010″ indicates 2 o’clock, for example). For minutes, the clock uses the HEX numerals on the outer edge of the device, so “05″ represents “5,” “0A” indicates “10,” and so forth. Keeping the clock up to date is a ball that goes around and activates the various levers to change the time. Given all its geeky goodness, this one easily takes the nerd cake from the wordy QLOCKTWO W and super flashy Sci-Fi watch. For a more clockwork-like explanation about its inner workings, check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Custom clock pays homage to CPU, separates geeks from the squares (video)

Custom clock pays homage to CPU, separates geeks from the squares (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack a Day  |  sourceLior Elazary  | Email this | Comments
Engadget

Square’s Card Case rechristened ‘Pay with Square,’ is first to bring geo-fenced hands-free payments to Android

Image
You might know Square for accepting payments on your smartphone via a cute dongle, but you’re probably less familiar with its second offshoot, Card Case — a separate app that has enabled hands-free and NFC-free payments at over 70,000+ merchants for more than a year now. That effort is getting a complete overhaul today, cumulating in an entire rethink of the app and experience, in addition to its more-apt new title: Pay with Square. The redesigned UI loses its former card and leather-based garnish, opting instead for a simplified list of merchants sorted by distance and relevancy. Also making its debut is a search box, a spiffy map view and the ability to share merchants to friends through text, email or Twitter. We’re most excited, though, for feature parity across iPhone and Android, which means formerly iOS-exclusive features like the auto-creation of tabs at pre-approved venues (thanks to iOS 5′s geo-fencing APIs) are now present to green little robots everywhere. That’s no small feat, as the company’s had to roll their own geo-location API to pick up where Google’s left off. We’re still waiting for the Google Play listing to update, but we’ll have a fresh link for you when it does.

Square’s Card Case rechristened ‘Pay with Square,’ is first to bring geo-fenced hands-free payments to Android originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePay with Square (iOS), Pay with Square (Android)  | Email this | Comments
Engadget