Jan 27
Ever wondered if the site that you’re typing your credit card details in can really be trusted? Well, a new report reveals how well 1o0 top retail sites look after your details.
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Nov 20
Square’s updated Register apps tout simpler interfaces, make it easy to tip
Posted in: Today's Chili
Both stores and their customers want to handle payments as quickly as possible, and Square has just updated its Register apps for Android and iOS to accommodate that need for retail speed. The new versions share a simpler, quicker interface that’s designed around the typical flow of real-world transactions. They also seamlessly integrate tips — guests can now reward their servers without interrupting the payment process. You likely won’t need to download one of the updated apps for yourself, but you’ll likely appreciate the time they save during your next lunch break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet
Via: Square, Android Police
Source: App Store, Google Play
Nov 12
Apple quietly put the new iPad Mini with Retina display on sale early this morning, with orders set to arrive for US customers from November 20-22. Prices start at $399 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model, and scale up from there. If you’re not caught up, here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s tiny new tablet.
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Aug 28
Sears should have morphed into Amazon.
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Aug 07
Carrying cash can be a drag, but it’s often an even bigger nuisance for shopkeepers with iPad point-of-sale terminals. Because of a focus on swiping plastic, storage solutions for your dollar bills take a back seat. The WindFall Cash Drawer is Heckler Designs’ stylish US-made option that, according to the company, offers the smallest footprint of any drawer currently available — it’s probably the brightest, too. Cash Drawer follows the aesthetics of the Arizona designer’s other pieces; namely, heavy-duty steel construction, rounded corners and minimalist design. Is your storefront already rocking a WindFall stand for Apple’s slate? Well, you’re in luck, as the nouveau till sports a secure mounting and cable management system for it. Sure there’s a slight bit of irony surrounding its current lack of pricing, but don’t let that get you down. When it launches this fall, it’ll be available exclusively from ShopKeep POS.
Source: Heckler Design
Jul 30
Adventurous foodies are likely familiar with the concept of snout to tail dining, which incorporates the entire animal — even the exotic bits — into recipes that stray from the norm. Soon enough, OpenTable may offer a different take on start-to-finish dining by incorporating payments into its restaurant reservation platform. The system is said to still be in testing, which would require that diners merely open the OpenTable app, select a tip amount and hit the payment button. As a boon to restaurant owners, OpenTable isn’t planning on taking a cut from the transaction; instead, it’s looking to attract and retain users, and perhaps stay ahead of emerging competitors such as Groupon and Yelp. According to The New York Times, OpenTable will use an in-house payment system that it acquired this year from JustChalo. If all goes well, the new feature will be introduced to San Francisco by year’s end, with other markets to follow. Apparently, OpenTable is still hammering out its notification system, so as to avoid unpleasant scenarios such as accusing paying customers of skipping out on the bill.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: The New York Times
Jul 23
Move over, NFC. Uniqul is getting ready to unveil a new payment system that utilizes facial recognition to process payments. You can set aside your credit cards, debit cards, and checkbooks, too, because all you’ll need to pay for stuff when you shop is your face…and that’s already attached to your body.
Uniqul’s payment system links a person’s face with their bank account so that they’ll only have to gaze into a camera when they want to pay for something. No muss, no fuss, and no worries that come with lost or stolen cards.
Here’s how it works: stores are provided with a Uniqul tablet for their check-out counters. These tablets will take the customer’s photo and analyze the biometric data to locate the person in the database. After pressing an “OK” button, the payment is processed and the customer can go on his or her merry way.
Uniqul’s system is protected by military-grade algorithms, so nothing to worry about on that end. The system will be launching soon in Helsinki, Sweden.
[via Dvice]
Jul 23
As much as we enjoyed the decade we spent vegging out in front of the shopping channel, we had hoped that the internet had put such days behind us. Not so, thanks to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has developed its own Smart TV OS, separate to Aliyun, in the hope of pumping even more cash out of our wallets. Developed in collaboration with Wasu Media, the duo will launch a set-top box later in the year, and are in talks with companies like Cisco, Haier and Allwinner to produce compatible devices. While customers will be able to use smartphones to stream media and control their TVs, they’ll probably be strong-armed into buying apps, shopping at the Alibaba-owned Juhuasuan and even making utility payments via the company’s Alipay platform. Looks like we’ve got no choice but to finally buy that noiseless karaoke microphone we’ve been avoiding all these years.
Via: The Next Web
Source: Alizila
Jul 04
Bitcoin fans are familiar with using cloud computing to generate a commodity — but what would happen if cloud computing was the commodity? The Deutsche Börse should find out when it opens its newly-unveiled Cloud Exchange in the first quarter of 2014. The independent market will let organizations buy remote computing and storage in respective 8GB and 1TB blocks, with traders agreeing on when and where the number crunching takes place. Theoretically, this creates a neutral, competitive space for exchanging server power: buyers can easily spot the best value, while sellers can efficiently offload their unused cycles. Whether or not the Cloud Exchange works that way in practice, we’re just hoping that it isn’t as volatile as an old-fashioned stock exchange.
[Image credit: Dontworry, Wikipedia]
Filed under: Storage, Internet
Via: Reuters
Source: Deutsche Börse Cloud Exchange
May 01
PayPal and Discover expand partnership, will reach 2 million stores by year-end
Posted in: Today's Chili
When PayPal saw Square for the first time, we’re fairly sure its CEO glumly stared out of the window, said “we’re going to the mattresses” and promptly called the CEO of Discover to talk about an alliance. That unholy union has now brought PayPal into 250,000 retail outlets in the US, and the pair is now promising that the figure will be closer to two million by the end of 2013. Merchant acquirers such as Vantiv, WorldPay and TSYS have also signed up, presumably begging the pair not to let Jack Dorsey take the shirt from their backs.
Filed under: Misc
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