Corporate and legal

At Square, an obsession with the 'magic' of hardware design

SAN FRANCISCO -- After eight years as director of engineering for iPhone, iPod, and iPad accessories at Apple, Jesse Dorogusker could have gone just about anywhere he wanted for his next gig.

He chose Square, the mobile payments company that, among other things, gives away its signature credit card reader for free.

By Dorogusker's own admission, that's a "terrible hardware business" model. So what inspired someone with a solid gold resume to leave a company that makes billions on hardware for a place that gives away his work for nothing?

For Dorogusker, it was the opportunity … Read more

Will iOS 7 make my old iPhone like new?

Apple has given the operating system for its iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches a new look with the introduction of iOS 7. But is the software alone enough to satisfy eager Apple fans who are constantly looking to upgrade to the next generation of iPhone?

In this edition of Ask Maggie I take a look at some of the new features available in the software. And I explain how the iOS 7 could make older iPhones feel like new. Ultimately, I offer my opinion on whether users should upgrade to the next version of iPhone hardware or just upgrade the … Read more

Electric car price war? Chevy chimes in with Volt incentives

Chevrolet is offering a sizable price incentive in the face of price slashing in the electric car market.

The 2013 Volt now comes with a $4,000 cash-back incentive and the 2012 model ups that to $5,000, according to Michelle Malcho, a Chevrolet spokeswoman.

That's the largest Volt cash incentive that Chevy has offered to date, Malcho said.

Alternatively, a Volt can now be leased for $269 a month for 36 months with a $2,399 down payment.

The Volt is a plug-in hybrid (GM refers to it as an extended-range electric vehicle or E-REV) with a range … Read more

Clearwire's board backs Dish takeover proposal over Sprint

Clearwire's board has recommended its shareholders accept Dish Network's takeover offer over a rival bid by majority owner Sprint Nextel.

The wireless broadband provider announced Wednesday that its special committee had unanimously recommended Dish's offer of $4.40 per share in cash. Clearwire has scheduled a special meeting of stockholders for June 24, where a vote on Dish's offer is planned.

Dish welcomed the decision, asserting that its proposal offered the best value to Clearwire shareholders.

"We appreciate Clearwire's recognition of the superior value that our tender offer provides to its shareholders," Dish … Read more

Yahoo buys iOS photography shop to improve Flickr

In a maneuver to improve Flickr, Yahoo has purchased GhostBird Software, makers of iOS camera apps, for an undisclosed sum. The buy comes less than a month after the media titan released an overhauled version of its photo service that wasn't greeted with the warmest of welcomes.

Today we acquired @ghostbirdsoft for @flickr. Get ready to see your mobile photos in a whole new light! bit.ly/11zOvNY

— Yahoo! Inc.(@YahooInc) June 12, 2013

Yahoo announced the acquisition with a tweet Wednesday and told Flickr users to expect to see their mobile photos in "a whole new light.&… Read more

Bill would force you to give police phone after accident

You may feel that everyone wants to peek inside your cell phone just at the moment.

Please, therefore, allow me to make you a little more insecure.

State legislators in New Jersey would very much like to make it easier for the police to go through your cell phone, should you be in any way involved in an accident.

The wording of their proposal -- Bill S 2783 (PDF) -- is quite precise in its breadth:

Whenever an operator of a motor vehicle has been involved in an accident resulting in death, bodily injury or property damage, a police officer … Read more

Former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein calls sale to HP 'a waste'

Nearly three years after Palm sold itself to Hewlett-Packard, the mobile device maker's former chief executive expressed regret about the deal, calling it "a waste."

When asked if there was something he have done differently with the rollout of the WebOS mobile operating system, Jon Rubinstein told Fierce Wireless in a story published Tuesday that the HP acquisition spelled the end for Palm's mobile OS. And if he had known then what he knows now, Rubinstein said, it's very unlikely he would have agreed to the deal.

"Talk about a waste," said Rubinstein, … Read more

Twitter's flattery of ad creatives has bottom-line agenda

The Vine is pretty clever. It shows, in six rapid seconds, how to quickly and easily put up a simple bookshelf.

Done in the stop-motion technique that has been the hallmark of most of the best Vines to surface so far, the video is an ad for Lowe's home improvement stores, and is part of a series called, appropriately, #lowesfixinsix.

Published more than three weeks ago, the video got a fresh life today when Twitter featured it as the inaugural poster child for its new #CreativeFavorites program, an initiative that aims to celebrate the best work being done on … Read more

Google to be banned in Pakistan if it doesn't clean up YouTube

With YouTube already shuttered in Pakistan, Google is now reportedly facing an all-out ban in that country, according to The Times of India.

The country's new IT and telecommunication minister, Anusha Rahman Khan, announced that unless Google removes "blasphemous and objectionable material" from YouTube, the country will block access to all Google sites.

"It all depends on our negotiation clout," Khan said, according to The Times of India. "If they persist with their stance, we can block Google in Pakistan as a last resort as there are many alternative search engines available on the … Read more