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Twitter cofounder’s new company launches easy mobile credit card sales and payments for anyone

Published on May 11, 2010 in Twitter, business, mobile, technology and video. View Comments

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It’s going to be really interesting to see how this goes. Jack Dorsey’s new startup Square has now launched (just in the US at present) the Square app (iTunes link) that allows anyone with an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android phone to make easy credit card sales.

Anyone can accept credit card payments using the app combined with a small cube that plugs into the headphone jack, enabling credit cards to be swiped. The person paying signs their name with their finger on the touch screen and enters a phone number or email. A receipt is delivered via email or SMS.

The funds are settled with merchants each night instead of at the end of the month, and both the application and swiper are free. The app includes an online dashboard and analytics for the seller. The fee charged for each transaction is 2.75% plus 15 cents.

As far as security goes, users will be notified of any unauthourised use immediately, at the time of the transaction. A photo of the cardholder can also be associated with the account onscreen, so the seller can ID the cardholder visually at the time of purchase. The card number is not kept on file with the merchant, although an email or phone number is required for the transaction.

With so many touch screen devices around, and growing by the day, I think this form of mobile payment system has huge potential if it catches on. There are other companies also attempting to get into the mobile payment space too. Dorsey certainly has a track record of being involved in launching a successful start-up, not that Twitter is a profitable company yet, but tens of millions of people are using it.

Square has managed to get quite a lot of attention so far. It’s certainly got mine. I’m keen to try it out but I don’t expect it will be available in Australia any time soon.

What do you think of this new payment system? Do you think it’s something that you would find useful and would use on a regular basis?

Obama, the iPhone and iPad information age is hurting democracy?

Published on May 9, 2010 in Twitter, blogging, mobile, politics, social media and technology. View Comments

Obama

Image by Sister72

In the context of talking about the importance of education and Thomas Jefferson’s recognition that people must attempt to stay informed to make democracy work effectively, Obama has asserted that information is becoming a diversion and a form or entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment and emancipation.

On the state of the current information rich digital environment, Obama said:

“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,”

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

Obama complained that “some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,” in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.

“All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy.” Obama said.

I think Obama is correct in saying the fact that we are bombarded with all kinds of content is putting more pressure on us, and that it can be a distraction, but only if we let it. The flows of information have certainly increased, especially for those of use who use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, read blogs and use other forms of social media regularly.

Having said that, I now read fewer newspapers and magazines and watch less tv. My tv viewing has become much more selective, and I’m starting to be able to find the video content I want to watch on the web, rather than it being selected for me by tv stations. See my recent post 3 places to find inspiring and intelligent online video.

I am certainly not convinced that the increased flow of information puts pressure on our democracy. What is not stated, at least in this recent statement, and what is the really dramatic change in relation to democracy and the media, is that information is now flowing in multiple directions. It’s not just coming from big media organisations, it’s coming from citizens as well. This may put pressure on us in terms of managing and filtering the information, but surely this is healthy for democracy!

Like Obama, my childhood years were spent in a world without the internet, where information in the media generally flowed in one direction only, principally from large media organisations. Now we have the web and social media. Sure, this has increased the volume of information, and much of the information and arguments leave a lot to be desired, but surely this in NOT a bad thing for democracy?

There is now a plethora of opinions and information on any given subject (including the one I’m writing about now), flowing in multiple directions at any given time. Nobody said democracy was going to be easy, or tidy, did they? Surely those who learn to thrive in these new information rich environments will prosper, both financially and in terms of knowledge, education and empowerment. The digital divide between rich and poor is something that may become more and more apparent in this regard, as time goes by. This is certainly something that needs addressing by people such as Obama.

It is true that there are a lot of diversions on the web to distract our focus, but it’s up to us to filter the information available and do what we want with it. We now have the option to create our own as well.

I must say that one big downside that I can see in all this is the fact that there are now millions and millions of these new devices being produced quarterly around world. Electronic waste is a real and growing problem. The question of how we are going to live sustainably in a world with nine billion people is integral to the aims of education and empowerment that Obama speaks of. Does increased information flow have to mean increased, unsustainable consumption too? But perhaps that’s another post for another day.

Google launches Gulf oil spill crisis response and starts crowdsourcing news

Published on May 5, 2010 in Google, clean tech, environment, social media, technology and video. View Comments

google crisis response

Further to my previous post about the Gulf oil spill in relation to social media, Google has launched a Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Crisis Response page. Every day a new Google Earth layer is being produced to track the spread of of the oil spill.

In addition, Google is encouraging people to help by volunteering during the crisis and by donating to the Alabama Coastal Foundation.

Interestingly, they are also attempting to crowdsource news by asking people to upload their own videos of the Gulf oil spill as the situation develops. The videos will automatically be fed back to the crisis page.

There is also a Deepwater Horizon oil spill page developing on Wikipedia, with a substantial and growing number of references. No doubt this will become a significant resource as the disaster continues to unfold.

Skype to add group video chat and now accounts for 13% of all international call minutes. UPDATED: video chat now available

Published on May 5, 2010 in business, technology and video. View Comments

skype

Skype has confirmed the good news that as early as next week, the company will be launching a public beta of a much anticipated group video chat function. The new  functionality will allow up to five people to participate in a video call at once. It will only be available on PC for now, with a Mac version to be released later in the year.

The new feature will be free when it launches, but Skype has plans to start charging for it later on, along with some additional features.

In addition to this news, recently it was reported that during 2009 Skype accounted for thirteen percent of all international call minutes! That’s a jump from eight percent in the previous year. Apparently Fifty four billion of the four hundred and six billion call minutes clocked up were Skype call minutes. Watch out Telcos, voice and video over the internet are starting to catch on, and they are inexpensive.

So there must be a fair few people out there using Skype on a regular basis now; I know I do, along with my family. Do you use it and how often? Is this a welcome new feature for you?

UPDATE: Skype Video Chat is now available (for PC only at present). The new feature is available in a trial of the new version of Skype.

RWW is reporting that to get the video chat running, the instructions are as follows:

“To make group video calls, the people you’re calling will also need to be running the new version, so make sure you let your friends and family know they can also download the beta by posting this on Facebook and Twitter. Once you’re all set up, it’s easy to start a group call – just use the Add button to invite people into the conversation, and click the Video Call button.”

Have fun video chatting!

Gulf oil spill social media response

Published on May 3, 2010 in Twitter, environment, politics, social media and video. View Comments

There seems no doubt that there’s going to be a large amount of social media content in relation to the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill. If the impact of the ongoing spill turns out to be as bad as many are suggesting, there is sure to be a continuing deluge of images, video clips, blog posts and status updates hitting the social web.

The aftermath of the spill could go on for weeks or months and have a devastating impact on the Gulf Coast. In addition to mainstream media coverage, something tells me that as the oil spill reaches the coast, citizen journalism is going to go into overdrive. With all the clean-up volunteers and people living in the area, no doubt people will tell their own stories with cameras, blogs and via Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Unsurprisingly, right from the outset blogs often categorised as “green” such as Grist (a Technorati Top 100 blog) have been covering the spill. However, soon after it became a lead news story pretty much everywhere, I noticed “Gulf” trending on Twitter as people expressed themselves and passed around links to news updates, images and blog posts.

A couple of days ago NASA released the embedded satellite images of the spill, which very popular blogs such as Mashable and The Huffington Post helped to distribute far and wide on the web. The Huffington Post now has a page dedicated to ongoing coverage of the spill, with well over a thousand comments from readers.

Gulf Oil Spill 1

gulf_tmo_2010119_2

ReadWriteWeb reported that a multimedia website has now been set up by British Petroleum, Transocean, (the oil rig owners), the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Department. The site has a Social Media section which links to a Facebook Page, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.

After the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina relief effort, the White House seems keen to communicate via all media that it will do “whatever it takes for as long as it takes to address this crisis”.  Here are a couple of messages that have appeared on Twitter and YouTube in response to the crisis:

obama_oil_spill

This video posted on YouTube was linked from Obama’s Twitter account with the message “From day one, we have launched & coordinated a relentless response to the Gulf Crisis.”

Let’s hope the Obama administration and the companies involved follow through with on their promises to put maximum effort into the clean up. Whatever the case, this is not going to be good.

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