Square Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Chrono Trigger screenshots out, with touch controls and redone menus

by Mike Schramm (Nov 21st, 2011)

Square Enix's Members site has posted a few screenshots of the long-awaited release of Chrono Trigger on iOS, and truth be told, they're a little disappointing. Don't worry -- the game is still there, and as one of the best console RPGs of all time, I'm still excited to play through it again on ...

Square adds customer loyalty, printable receipts

by Michael Grothaus (Nov 17th, 2011)

Mobile credit card transaction company Square updated its iOS app this week to include several new features for merchants and customers. Perhaps the biggest update to Square 2.2 is the ability for merchants to reward their regular customers with customized loyalty programs. The app now allows a ...

Square already processing $2 billion in payments

by Mike Schramm (Oct 10th, 2011)

The iOS-based payment system, Square, is blowing up lately, just like we figured it would way back when. The company already handles up to US$2 billion in payments per year, according to the AP, and is used by 750,000 merchants. That "per year" is a little weird to say, especially considering ...

NYC restaurant completely reliant on iPad

by Steven Sande (Aug 23rd, 2011)

When you go to De Santos, a high-end Italian restaurant in New York City's West Village, don't expect to be handed a regular menu. Instead, your waiter will bring you an iPad 2 on which you can select your meal. Inc.com reported on this innovative restaurant that is using iPad 2s, a custom app, ...

Daily Update for August 22, 2011

by Steven Sande (Aug 22nd, 2011)

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline ...

Square Card Case now available

by Michael Grothaus (Aug 22nd, 2011)

Square has released their Square Card Case app today, which allows anyone to open up a tab at a local merchant and pay without having to swipe their credit card. The Square Card Case works by allowing users to enter their credit card details into their Square account. Once at a local merchant ...

Square's name, design influenced by a meeting at Apple

by Michael Grothaus (May 26th, 2011)

For a while now it's been known that the popular iPhone credit card payment system known as Square was originally known by a different name and had a very different look. The familiar white plastic square-shaped plug-in dongle was originally made of wood and shaped like an acorn (no joke) and ...

Square and Apple have plans for Monday

by Steven Sande (May 21st, 2011)

If you follow @jack, otherwise known as Twitter co-founder and current Square CEO Jack Dorsey, then you'll know that at about 2 PM EDT today, he tweeted the cryptic Instagram (a company he's invested in) message and photo shown at right. A square with apples in it -- that's pretty obvious there, ...

iZettle credit card reader offers social networking, smart card compatibility

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 30th, 2011)

A lot of our European readers are disappointed that the iPhone add-on Square credit card reader won't work in their neck of the woods. Square might not, but Europeans will soon be able to accept credit card payments on their iPhones anyway thanks to the iZettle credit card reader. The device ...

Square encryption hinders Visa deal

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 29th, 2011)

Square is running into some problems with its new investment partner Visa. An executive at the mobile payments company confirmed it is re-working its system to encrypt credit card data on the fly. Square now uses a dongle that plugs into a headphone jack and an iOS application to process credit ...

Square gets the backing of credit card giant Visa

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 27th, 2011)

Mobile payment startup Square confirmed it received a strategic investment from Visa. Square produces a credit card reader that connects to the headphone jack of an iPhone, iPad or other mobile platform. The Square application on the device accepts the credit card information from the reader ...

Square's mobile payment card reader now available on Apple's online store, retail stores this week

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 16th, 2011)

Square is one of the coolest accessories made for the iPhone. It's a hardware/app combination that, when the hardware bit is plugged into the headphone jack on the iPhone, lets the user accept credit card payments. Simply swipe the card through the Square device while running the Square iOS app, ...

VeriFone's FUD meets Square's QED

by Richard Gaywood (Mar 10th, 2011)

Yesterday, VeriFone (a $4.2b company) launched a harsh public attack on upstart rival Square (a less-than-fifty-people, $37.5m in funding startup). You may remember Square from previous coverage on TUAW or its impressive advertising last year. So what's going on, exactly? The basic gist of the ...

Square has billboard in Times Square, still slowly delivering card readers

by Steven Sande (Feb 14th, 2011)

If you've been reading TUAW for any length of time, you've probably seen our posts about Square. This startup had the idea to develop a free credit card reader that could be used with an iPhone (later expanded to many phone models) or iPad, and provide a card authorization service with low enough ...

University team is perfecting the art of hijacking power from the iPhone's headphone jack

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Jan 17th, 2011)

The University of Michigan's Project HiJack harnesses power by using bandwidth from the iPhone's headphone port. There are actually some peripherals that do this already -- think Square's credit card reader -- but Project HiJack sees this expanding to produce sensors for blood pressure, glucose, ...