square

Jack Dorsey tells '60 Minutes' Twitter, Square creation stories

It might be hard to believe that emergency dispatchers in St. Louis were the inspiration for Twitter, but that's exactly the case, Jack Dorsey told "60 Minutes" recently.

This Sunday, Dorsey -- who co-founded Twitter and later co-founded Square, the mobile payments company -- will appear on "60 Minutes," recalling how listening in on radio calls between emergency dispatchers fueled his interest in the idea of very short-form communications (see video below).

During the episode, which will air Sunday evening on CBS (CNET's parent company), Dorsey will talk about growing up in St. Louis … Read more

LG spoofs Galaxy S4 ad with Times Square billboard

LG is aiming to steal some of Samsung's Galaxy S4 thunder with a copycat billboard in Times Square.

In the heart of New York City, LG has updated its traditional billboard to tout its Optimus G phone. But the billboard is a virtual duplicate of the one for the Galaxy S4.

LG's billboard is a bit larger than Samsung's and towers above it on a Times Square building, potentially stealing the attention of busy New Yorkers.

Even LG's ad copy takes a swipe at Samsung.

The Galaxy 4S billboard tells people to "Be ready 4 … Read more

The 404 1,225: Where the first issue is a gateway drug (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Baauer of "Harlem Shake" sued over unauthorized samples.

- Surprise hit "Harlem Shake" was a shock for artists heard on it.

- "Sweet Brown" sues Apple and radio stations for unauthorized interview.

- SXSW: Marvel to give away 700 first-issue digital comics.

- Marvel giveaway crashes Comixology's servers.… Read more

Former Square COO Keith Rabois lands at Khosla Ventures

Keith Rabois, the former Square COO who resigned last month amid sexual harassment allegations, is joining Khosla Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's leading VC firms.

Khosla Ventures was founded by former Kleiner Perkins partner Vinod Khosla and was an early investor in Square, the mobile-payments company. According to TechCrunch, Rabois had been considering an offer to join Airbnb as an executive before deciding on the Khosla position. Clearly, the cloud of scandal hanging over his head did nothing to cool the ardor the tech industry felt for him.

That might have something to do with the fact that on … Read more

Making sense of the PS4 game lineup

NEW YORK--So the world didn't exactly get what it wanted out of Sony's PlayStation 4 debut tonight. There was no sight of the actual console itself and details about its specific release date and price were also nowhere to be seen.

Sony's team-up with Gaikai is sure to net some interesting ideas and implementations with cloud streaming, the sharing of game screens, remote play, and other concoctions, but the games themselves were what made the biggest impact.

Those pondering the PS4's gaming prowess were served an interesting dish. Ten or so major developers were represented in … Read more

Square unveils 'Business in a Box'

Square today unveiled its "Business in a Box" package, a bundle including all the components needed for a small business to start taking payments on the company's Square Register platform.

With Square Register, almost any business can accept payments wirelessly from customers' mobile devices. The system lets businesses use an iPad instead of a cash register, and gives them an accompanying set of analytics tools, while customers download the app, sign up, register a credit card, and then pay automatically at any of the hundreds of thousands of merchants running Square Register.

The new bundle includes two … Read more

Study: People don't use or understand digital wallets

The digital wallet has been anointed by many as the future of payments. In the present, however, virtual-pay apps remain largely untouched and misunderstood.

Only 51 percent of U.S. consumers are even aware of digital payment providers other than PayPal, and a teeny-tiny percentage of people -- 12 percent spanning all brands -- have actually used applications such as Google Wallet, MasterCard PayPass Wallet, or Square Wallet, according to a new study from analytics firm ComScore.

ComScore analyzed data from a panel of 1 million U.S. consumers and two separate surveys of U.S. Internet users in November … Read more

Verizon Wireless to sell Square's credit card reader for $9.97

Verizon Wireless today became the latest company to sell Square's credit card reader, giving business owners another way to obtain the mobile gadget for credit card processing.

The carrier will offer the Square Card Reader at its stores across the country for $9.97, with a $10 rebate to a Square account. After plugging the reader into the headphone jack of a smartphone or tablet, users can swipe credit cards through the device to be read and processed.

Square has quickly been gaining popularity with small businesses and larger corporations. Starbucks supports Square's mobile payments in thousands of … Read more

How I quit worrying and learned to love Vine

mixing gnarly basslines today vine.co/v/b55LOA1dgJU

— The Glitch Mob (@theglitchmob) January 23, 2013

I'll admit it, I misjudged Vine. Here's why.

One of the first things I read about Vine, Twitter's new stand-alone video app for iPhone and iPod Touch, was Jack Dorsey's gushing tweet about the service.

"Vine is the most exciting thing I've seen in a while," Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder (and also founder of Square), tweeted yesterday morning. "Not just because of the team, because it brings an entirely new art form to the world."

I … Read more