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A list of people who might need a phone that sprawls as far and wide as the Infuse: Godzilla, Shaq, the Nathan’s hot dog contest winner who isn’t the Japanese guy, people who’d giggle every time they say, “My phone is bigger than yours.” More »

It looks like Square’s little headphone jack-connected credit card reader has some company. The mobile payment startup introduced two new additions to its unique stable of payment options in San Francisco this morning that do away with credit cards, paper receipts, and even the bantam reader itself (to some degree). First up is the Square Register, an app that allows merchants to accept payments by way of the card reader or through a card-less (no, it’s not NFC) tab — like, “put it on my tab” — system, and uses Google-style analytics to keep track of payments, receipts, and trends. The second announcement, the Square Card Case, is a virtual wallet that holds a series of “cards,” each relating to a participating outlet, that let you put your purchases on the aforementioned tab. Each shop has its own virtual credit card, and enables shoppers to make and track purchases with a single click of a button. We got a chance to give the setup a try, and it’s just about as simple as Square would have you believe.

To get started, you make a regular, Square-enabled purchase at a participating store, at which point a text-message receipt is sent to your phone that prompts you to install Card Case — we skipped this step, as this was just a demo. Once set up, we were introduced to the Card Case, holding cards for the participating stores — only 50 spots in five cities, for now — and an “Explore Places” button that offers access to a directory of participating outlets. We selected a nearby cupcake stand, clicked “open tab” and picked our poison: a miniature red velvet cupcake, in this case. The merchant picked our name from a list of open tabs, charged the tiny treat to our card, and a receipt was promptly pushed our way. After the transaction was complete, we went back to the cupcake card in the Card Case, and there was the receipt. All in all it was a painless process, but, then, so is whipping out a real wallet to make a purchase. The new Square setup is available now at 50 different establishments in New York, LA, Saint Louis, San Francisco, and DC, and the company says it will curate the list of participating stores, much like Apple does apps.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Square Register and Card Case hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has responded to developers targeted by Lodsys, a patent holding firm that accused iOS devs of infringing on its intellectual property covering in-app upgrade purchases. In a letter from Apple dated today, the company claims that Lodsys’s accusations are baseless, and explains that devs, or “App Makers,” are “entitled to use this technology free from any infringement claims by Lodsys,” because Apple has already licensed the technology on their behalf. Apple’s response is firm, and as expected, the company is in full support of developers. Jump past the break for the full letter from Apple legal.

Continue reading Apple responds to Lodsys infringement accusations, says developers are not responsible

Apple responds to Lodsys infringement accusations, says developers are not responsible originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For now, Google is restricting rooted Android devices from using its movie rental service on the Android Market. Photo: Duncan Geere/Wired.co.uk

For many Android enthusiasts, having total control is part of the platform’s attraction. But Google is imposing some annoying new restrictions for those who want to be superusers on their own phones.

Google is blocking access to its new Android Market movie rental service for those using rooted Android devices. If you try to access a movie from the Market using a rooted device, you’ll receive a “failure to fetch license” error message.

Obtaining root access to an Android device gives you full administrative privileges, letting you make changes that wouldn’t otherwise be possible running the stock operating system out of the box. That means anything from installing a custom version of your operating system to deleting the prebundled bloatware that came with your device. A minority of Android phone owners do this, but for those who do, the flexibility and control is an important feature and, for some, a right.

On the help menu of the official Android Market, Google gives a vague reason for the holdup, stating that “rooted devices are currently unsupported due to requirements related to copyright protection.”

Ostensibly, the holdup is coming from the end of the movie studios.

“Rooted devices can probably work around the DRM system that they have set up,” says Gartner analyst Phillip Redman. DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems control the uses of digital content — like movies or music — that aren’t intended by the host of the content. It’s likely the studios are worried that if you’re using a rooted device, you could potentially run an app that would make copies of the movies you’re renting on the Android Market’s movie service.

This restriction isn’t unique to Android movie rentals. Netflix has been available for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad for months, yet the streaming video service hadn’t extended to Android until this month. And even now, Netflix is currently available on only five specific Android phone models. The reasoning, according to Netflix, has been because of protestations from movie studios.

“The same security issues that have led to piracy concerns on the Android platform have made it difficult for us to secure a common Digital Rights Management (DRM) system on these devices,” wrote Greg Peters of Netflix product development in a November blog post.

Google had no further comment on the issue.

As Google only recently launched its movie rental service, it is still in its infancy stage. Currently, you can only watch movies from the Android Market on either your desktop web browser, or on the 3G version of Motorola’s Xoom tablet. The Android Market says support for phones and the Wi-Fi Xoom is coming soon.

We may not see movie rentals on rooted devices any time soon, but if Netflix’s foibles are any indicator, we can probably expect more non-rooted devices to gradually gain access. “There are requirements we must fulfill in order to obtain content from major studios for our subscribers to enjoy,” Netflix’s Peters wrote. “Although we don’t have a common platform security mechanism and DRM, we are able to work with individual handset manufacturers to add content protection to their devices.”

The restrictions bring into question Android’s “open” platform campaign. Google’s Nexus model phones — HTC’s Nexus One and the Samsung Nexus S — both come with the built-in ability to gain root access to the phones. And the Motorola Xoom comes with an unlockable bootloader, which also allows for root access. Yet it seems for the time being, you’ll have to choose between rooting your phone and renting movies from the market.

Until you figure out a workaround, that is. “There’s always a lot of content available out there,” Gartner’s Redman said, “but mostly to those that are more technically savvy and can navigate around the roadblocks put into place by the studios.” And according to one user’s comment on Android Central, “all you have to do is spoof your info,” or conceal your phone’s actual identification information.

But however unhappy these restrictions make root users, it may be the cost of doing business. “If you’re going to build a successful platform,” says Redman, “agreements have to be made. I think this one is entirely reasonable.”

This computer mod features a three-piece monitor setup and an impressive green-colored water-cooling system. Oh, and the whole desktop glows a lovely shade of blue.