With Square Up application you can have paperless iphone-based transactions. An iPhone user can easily receive a credit/debit card payment in 5 seconds. The system involves a small plastic card reader which plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and transfers the credit card’s swipe data to the app. The user has already synchronized his Square Up application with his bank account that automatically receives the payment. It looks like PayPal but it is simpler and mobile!

So, you go out with your friends and you pay all the drinks. Your friends don’t have cash to give you and of course you don’t want a check. They just give you their cards, you swipe them and you get the money you want in 5 seconds! Isn’t it cool? You have a garage sale or you sell something through Craigslist. You meet with the buyer and you get the money instantly through your iPhone! No cash, no checks!

It is safe and easy! According to Paul, “Today there many ways to pay with a credit card but very few to receive money with a card.” Square Up solves this problem and makes the money transactions iPhone-based and paperless.

The plastic ‘square’ will cost $1 or so and the application will be free. Square Up keeps a small percentage of the transaction every time you use the app.

(Picture via)

Dear Kodak,

You made a mistake and you named your camera Zi8. It’s ok.. Everybody does mistakes but is this the right way to say it?

Kodak Zi8 is a competitor of the very successful Flip camera and Creative Vado. Boston Globe didn’t like the Kodak’s name and they said:

When Kodak needed a name for its new pocket video camera, its marketing geniuses came up with something dreadful: the Zi8.”

And now Kodak creates a new model and they decided to find a new and better name for this. According to them, maybe they cannot find the name by themselves. What? How can you say this? It sounds like: “We tried to name a model and we failed.. We think that we cannot make it..” Come on.. You cannot say this. You are Kodak and you must be capable to find a name.  For this reason, they created a contest. I totally agree with the contest. It is a great way to create a buzz, involve your community and spread the word. But the post on Kodak’s blog (A Thousand Words) was a fail. This is what Jenny Cisney, the chief blogger, wrote:

You may have seen a recent review of the Kodak Zi8 by the Boston Globe where it received high praise for everything… except it’s name. “When Kodak needed a name for its new pocket video camera, its marketing geniuses came up with something dreadful: the Zi8.”

Woah. Ok. With our next pocket video camera in development we started thinking about the name. A few were run past our discerning CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett who said “Are you serious?” Back to the drawing board. Or is it?

Maybe we don’t have the answer. Maybe YOU do! We are asking people on Twitter and on this blog to tell us… what do you think the next Kodak pocket video camera should be called? What would you call a video camera that is rugged, simple and ready for action and adventure? (Hint – we like the letter “Z”!)

Is this the right way to say it? I guess not. I agree that you have to admit your mistakes and be honest but this is not the right way. Kodak could just announce the contest in a more fun way without mentioning the Zi8 mistake. (At least don’t write it as an introduction in your post)

Google and T-Mobile finally took the wraps off the T-Mobile G1, the first phone to use the Internet giant’s Android operating system.

The phone, the first of several to come, crystallizes Google’s ambition to create an open mobile environment that gives users access to a wide variety of applications and the mobile Internet, which Google hopes to capitalize on through advertising.

It also provides a boost to T-Mobile, giving it a flagship handset that embodies its belief in the power of the mobile Internet.

“We haven’t been able to rely on the integration of the Internet and mobile phone to bring us together,” said Cole Brodman, chief technology and innovation officer for T-Mobile USA. “We’re here to change that.”

The device, built by HTC of Taiwan, takes the shape of the Apple iPhone but offers a slide-out keyboard similar to T-Mobile’s Sidekick. It will go on sale Oct. 22 for $179 with a two-year contract and will be offered with a monthly $25 unlimited data plan with some messaging, or $35 for unlimited data and messaging – plus the monthly fee for telephone service.

Source: SFGate