If you’ve ever heard about Square Mobile, they’re offering one of the coolest payment systems I’ve seen in a while. Take a white plastic cube, slip it in to your iPhone, iPod touch, or Android device’s headphone jack, swipe your card, and Square takes care of the rest. Without need for a merchant account or expensive fees, Square is something I’d love to implement somehow - it’s going completely online sometime this week (previously, its availability was limited). Check out the video after the break.
Square Mobile Payment System Going Live
iPad Wifi Issues Will Be Fixed With a Software Update
Remember when there was so much talking about the iPad having problems with wifi connections and disconnecting from networks? Some U.S. colleges even banned the device due to these problems with wifi. Apple has finally updated a support document about the issue including some “workarounds” to get wireless connections working properly on the iPad:
- Verify your Wi-Fi router firmware is up to date.
- If your router’s security encryption is WEP, try WPA or WPA2, as WEP can cause intermittent disconnects with the iPad which requires retyping a password.
- Make sure the iPad screen brightness is not at the lowest level.
- Obtain a new IP address by going into Settings, Wi-Fi, accessing the settings of the current network, and choosing “Renew Lease.”
- Finally, if these steps do not work, users are recommended to try turning Wi-Fi off and back
Also, the issues will be fixed with a Software Update. I can see OS 3.2.1 coming by the WWDC.
Adobe Called, They got Flash Working
While I generally wouldn’t talk about the possible triumphs of Android on an Apple site, I have to rightfully follow up with this little piece that happens to mention Adobe’s failtastic display of Flash. Deep in the labs of the Adobe underworld, that infamous Nexus One is finally running flash. Personally, I’m intrigued by how they went solving interactions between the browser and flash content - you have to initiate flash content through a gesture.
Apple Tethered to AT&T for Five Years
While AT&T won’t let iPhone owners in the States tether their MacBooks to their iPhones, Apple has been tethered to AT&T for quite a while now. Apple’s contact with AT&T is rumored to last five years, meaning we won’t see anything happening with Verizon for a while. But here’s the kicker: Apple & AT&T may have accidentally invalidated this contact by informing customers that their contact was only exclusive for two years, and had to sign up for an additional three years to keep using the iPhone. Ooops.
Canonical’s Unity looks like a great Netbook OS for Mac Users
I love linux distros. Being fond of the recently released Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (which has replaced Windows XP on my aging Compaq desktop), Unity looks like an excellent Netbook OS for those who still want the Mac “touch and feel” without the mess or performance of Windows 7 Starter or XP editions. For all you netbook toting users who want to run Snow Leopard but can’t, hopefully we’ll start seeing machines soon sporting this nifty, lightweight OS.
[via]
Ars Technica thinks Mac Developers Need Love Too
Usually I’m Gung Ho for anything Apple does, but after shafting Mac developers from the Apple Design Awards, I felt that Apple had removed an important element from the community. Ars Technica apparently feels the same, and will host their own Ars Design Awards specifically for those developing for OS X. Apple, if you aren’t going to recognize great developers and designers for their work, somebody else will.
Android Outselling iPhone means Jack Squat
9to5 Mac reported earlier this morning that Android’s market share is surpassing Apple’s iPhone according to the NPD Group. Suggesting that Android holds 28% of the smartphone market compared to the iPhone’s measly 21%, things are looking great for Google and friends right? Well considering the iPhone is only on one carrier in the United States (and produced by a single manufacturer), compared to the four big carriers Android is on and multiple manufacturers, why hasn’t Android captivated more than 30% of the marketplace? Heck, they should be up there with RIM by now if their phones were really that good.
Book Publisher Lulu Now Publishes to iBookstore
Authors looking to publish their books through Lulu can now get their books in Apple’s iBookstore. Basically, Apple takes 30% from each sale. From whatever’s left, Lulu takes 20% and you get to keep the leftovers. That’s not too bad if you can manage to sell a thousand or so books, and being someone whose considering writing some epic novels of his own, I’d be happy to have Lulu distribute my works.
Connecting a USB Flash Drive to the iPad
So we’ve been able to browse the iPad from the Finder, but what about browsing a portable drive from the iPad. Turns out you can connect a USB flash drive using the camera connection kit and browse its content using iFile (from Cydia, must have file browser).
Check out the video after the break. [via iPadevice]