Technology

Is Square the Future of Mobile Payments?

Last week it was reported that Square, a mobile credit card reader, had opened its doors and was available for download in the app store. Square is the brainchild of Jack Dorsey, who is also co-founder of Twitter.

The app, when used in conjunction with a small card reader that plugs into the auxiliary port, allows anyone to process credit card payments. This takes "mobile payments" to a whole new level as now small businesses and vendors can process payments without the need for a wired or complex point-of-sale system.

All you need is a compatible device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or one of select Android devices), the card reader, and a signal on your device.

So what does this mean for retailers and small businesses? Is it secure to use? And what about the cost? Will this be the new method businesses large and small use? Read more to find out...

Why Does Apple Lead All Tech Coverage?

I can say from first hand experience that there are thousands of tech related stories that come across the wire each day. Sifting through them all to bring you relevant stories for the iPhone allows me to see just how much of a daily media buzz surrounds the Apple world.

The news surrounding Apple is mostly positive and is the most plentiful according to Mashable. Their report shows a study done by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism that has Apple leading the news race with just over 15% of all tech stories including Cupertino as the main topic...

Find My iPhone Leads Police to Another Stupid Criminal

What is it lately with stupid criminals and the iPhone? This week alone iDB reported that a man left his device at the scene of robbery and another instance of a woman texting about her crimes from her beloved phone.

Today's entry comes from my home state of Wisconsin. Madison police report that 19 year old Jamal Jackson heisted two iPhones from the local West Town Mall in the capital city. Both phones were armed with Apple's MobileMe feature of Find My iPhone which led Jackson to be tracked to a nearby PDQ convenience store where he apparently stopped his van to gas up...

Next iPhone Made to Morph?

It has been a relatively slow couple of days in iPhone land, however it's been brought to our attention that Apple is interested in some Terminator material. The newest SEC discovery states that the folks in Cupertino are in the market for some liquid metal. For what? Nobody is sure, however my imagination feels a morphable iDevice would do just fine.

In all seriousness though, the report states Apple has come to terms with Liquidmetal Technologies, whose speciality is amorphous metals. The alloy materials the company produces could have benefits that are, but not limited to, hardness, elasticity and acoustical features.

Not much more to report on this arrangement, but I will leave you with word for word filing. Just so you know, Arnold could not be reached for comment.

On August 5, 2010, Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Liquidmetal”), entered into a Master Transaction Agreement with Apple Inc., a California corporation (“Apple”), pursuant to which (i) Liquidmetal contributed substantially all of its intellectual property assets to a newly organized special-purpose, wholly-owned subsidiary (the “IP Company”), (ii) the IP Company granted to Apple a perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid, exclusive license to commercialize such intellectual property in the field of consumer electronic products in exchange for a license fee, and (iii) the IP Company granted back to Liquidmetal a perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid, exclusive license to commercialize such intellectual property in all other fields of use (together with all ancillary agreements, the “Master Transaction Agreement”).