jacking

Square's Jack Dorsey reconsiders the term 'user'

One of George Orwell's famous rules of writing is "Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent."

It seems Square's founder and CEO Jack Dorsey was channeling the famous "Animal Farm" writer in a Tumblr blog he penned today. Known for ruminating on concepts and ideas, Dorsey called into question the tech world's use of the word "user."

"It's time for our industry and discipline to reconsider the word 'user,'" he wrote. "We speak … Read more

At Square, Jack Dorsey said to preach external code of silence

At Square, the white-hot mobile payments company, someone must take notes during any meeting involving more than two people, and then distribute them to the whole company. Yet despite that process, instituted by co-founder Jack Dorsey, the company is airtight, with few leaks, especially involving key news.

In a new Forbes profile of Dorsey -- who also co-founded Twitter -- we learn that despite this "astonishing" system, even the most sensitive news has remained safe inside the startup's posh San Francisco digs.

It doesn't matter what the meeting is about: bug fixes, new partnerships, pending contracts, … Read more

New 'Jack Kennedy' line in VP debate tops reaction on Twitter

For the second time, JFK may have been the star of a vice presidential debate, and Twitter was all over it.

During tonight's debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the two got into a brief skirmish over former President Kennedy, leading Biden to say, disbelievingly to Ryan, "Now you're Jack Kennedy?" The line brought to mind then Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen's famous moment in his 1988 debate against Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle, who had compared his level of experience to that of JFK prior to Kennedy becoming … Read more

Tech dominates Fortune's 40 Under 40 list

Silicon Valley makes a good showing on Fortune's 40 Under 40 list, with the top five slots filled by tech execs like Larry Page.

Page, the CEO of Google, leapfrogged Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg for the No. 1 spot on Fortune's ranking of young business stars.

The publication notes that since Page returned to the CEO role last year, he has "been bent on proving Google still has its mojo." He closed Google's acquisition of Motorola, streamlined management and closed failing projects. All of that has pushed Google's stock to an all-time high.

Facebook … Read more

SF's tech entrepreneurs promote a smarter city

San Francisco's governing digerati and politicians like to think of the City by the Bay as the innovation capital of the world and the capital of Silicon Valley (see "San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee banks on tech startups").

The video above, titled "This is How Technology Will Create a Smarter San Francisco," promotes the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation (sf.citi), a nonprofit that has the support of more than 330 local companies.

Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square, Biz Stone of Twitter and Obvious, Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman, and … Read more

Jack Dorsey: Here's why I really stepped back from Twitter

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey struck back at a New York Times report that he'd lost his operational role at the company after Twitter employees had found Dorsey "difficult to work with."

In a post on his personal Tumblr, Dorsey wrote that while he'd taken an operational role overseeing product, brand and design in the spring of 2011 at the request of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, the two executives had always intended to shift those functions back to Costolo "as soon as possible." This past January, "[w]e moved all my reports back to … Read more

Square's Jack Dorsey to tech founders: Question everything

SAN FRANCISCO -- Square and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey said today that founders must be willing to accept new ideas -- which can come from anywhere -- if they want their companies to evolve and to keep disrupting existing industries.

Opening his keynote address at TechCrunch Disrupt here today, Dorsey noted that he didn't grow up wanting to be an entrepreneur. Now that he's helped start two of the most important companies in Silicon Valley, though, Dorsey said he wanted to share some of the lessons he's learned during his career, ideas that he clearly thinks can … Read more

Get a Panasonic three-handset phone system for $29.99

Have you switched over to a voice-over-IP phone system like MagicJack, NetTalk, or Ooma? Now's the perfect time to replace your crummy old corded phones with a spiffy new wireless system.

Or at least a spiffy refurbished wireless system, like this one: today only, and while supplies last, Tech Woot has the refurbished Panasonic KX-TG4023N cordless phone system for $29.99, plus $5 for shipping.

The KX-TG4023N comes with one base station and two additional handsets that connect to it via DECT 6.0 wireless technology. You can expand the system with up to three additional handsets (for a … Read more

Starbucks aims to take Square, digital payments mainstream

The partnership between Starbucks and Square may accomplish what even tech giant Google hasn't been able to pull off: taking mobile payments into the mainstream.

With Starbucks, Square has a large and visible pulpit from which to tout its fledgling "pay with Square" mobile payment service. Best known for its small mag-stripe reader and ability to quickly handle transactions for small businesses, the company is pushing to get consumers to use Square as a digital wallet.

"The ubiquitous nature of Starbucks' national footprint can do a lot to raise awareness," Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said … Read more

Square's new $200M makes Dorsey a billionaire, report says

Square has once again raised a ton of money, closing a $200 million round of funding that will make CEO Jack Dorsey a certified paper billionaire, according to those watching the industry.

Although neither the company nor its lead investor -- little-known private equity firm Rizvi Traverse of Michigan -- would confirm the matter, news of the dollar figure has been swirling around today.

Rizvi Traverse other investments include Playboy, Facebook and Twitter, according to the company's Web site.

The funding, which is twice the amount the company raised last year, puts a valuation of $3.25 billion, an … Read more