Having just received my “innerSquare” kit from Square, I felt compelled to write about how their mobile credit card processing is incredibly cool. My experience with Square, Inc.’s software, card reader and service came directly from real-world use during the 2011 Iron Dog Race. 

What is it?
Square is a credit card processing service, software application and magnetic stripe reader for your iPhone or Android smart phone. You can sign up for Free, get the software for Free and they even send you the card reader for Free. So what’s the catch? Nothing really, just like your standard credit card processor they will take a cut of the action. Surprisingly, Square allows you to be non-committal (read: no monthly fees) for a very competitive rate. (Under 3% at the time of writing this article)

So what?
Obviously if you are running a brick and mortar operation with millions of transactions, this is probably not the very best tool for you. If you are a small business, like a screenprinter, street vendor, artist or something like the Iron Dog…you MUST check this out. Here’s a list of the key benefits from my perspective and experience:

1. Dead simple. During the Iron Dog Race we had five of the readers being used by volunteers who were given about 1 minute walkthroughs. Everyone was up and running in no time busy selling T-shirts, raffle tickets, etc. The user interface on the iPhone and Android phone is incredibly intuitive. On the iPad, it’s dead sexy…but that’s another story.

 

2. Works everywhere. For most of our events we were using GCI provided HTC Android phones which worked amazingly well, even out on the frozen ice of Big Lake. We were able to swipe and sell all day long without phone land lines or electricity…try that with your current credit card processor. With very few exceptions (like rural Alaska), we were always able to process credit cards in real-time, any time.

 

3. Fast, simple and easy payment. No contracts or harsh penalties, just incredibly easy credit card processing with payments going straight to your bank account. What’s not to love? The backend tools are pretty slick and can be exported for use in your accounting software. Slick. Did I mention, no paper receipts or imprint machines? Just valid, authorized payments… hallelujah!

 

4. Wow factor. People were probably just as impressed with the Square credit card processing experience as they were in buying something. The user experience is great for everyone involved, I cannot speak more highly of the attention to simplicity in this process. It’s just fun to use.

Using the Square
I won’t bore you with deep details on the steps, it’s really as simple – just swipe, sign and send a receipt. Watch the video, this is just one example of Square in the real world.

 
Get one.
Want a reader right now? If you’re interested in learning more about how this worked for the Iron Dog or just want to check it out in person, come by the Iron Dog office or shoot me a note. I’ve got 50 of them (when I published this article)…come and get one, and start selling, collecting and processing. You can also order one when you sign up at: squareup.com

Found this and you’re not in Alaska? Search for #innersquare on Twitter and find someone in your area that has the innerSquare kit, I’m sure they’ll be glad to share their experiences with you!

Disclaimer. I was not paid to write this, nor was I compensated* by Square to promote their product. I just think this thing rocks. *Okay, I did get one T-shirt that came in my innerSquare kit, but that’s not enough to get me writing about something.

In another installment of Quirky ideas, this one just had to be mentioned. It’s true that Alaskans love their bungie cords and tie-downs, you see them everywhere there’s something going on (snowmachining, skiing, mushing, hunting, etc.) 

With these Quirky Bandits, you can take that strapped down ideology inside and scale it down to smaller jobs like shopping, hiking and office wrangling. For myself, I see quite a few uses for these clever little bungie cords…just like the stock photos, biking, keeping the office cables tidy, etc.

At the time of this writing, the Bandits are in a Pre-order (“In production”) phase with a price of $9.99. Visit Quirky.com for more!

Another cool idea from Quirky is the new Pivot Power, a clever “twist” on flexible power outlets. I can definitely see the application for this in my home and office. It’s amazing how many outlets go unused due to awkward AC/DC converters and ridiculously large chargers for cell phones, etc.

At the time of this writing, the Pivot Power is in the Pre-sale (“Commitment”) phase with a price of $25. Visit Quirky.com for more!

It’s not very often I stumble upon a press release, new product or demo video that truly rattles my cage. What you see in this demo of Time Magazine’s new tablet application is a glimpse of what the future of news and media will look like for the foreseeable future. Watch the video after the jump.

For the first time in a long time – I’m blown away. The copycats will be fast on the heels of this app, and I believe that’s a good thing. Funny…maybe Steve Jobs did know something about the future.

Here’s a “making of” video which demonstrates the app on the Apple Ipad.

1. Time Magazine App | app.time.com
2. Get an iPad locally | www.machaus.net

I recently came across Quirky.com in my search for ways to take something from idea to reality. Having recently moved on from my old company, I had some time on my hands – plus my partner had recently come up with a really cool software idea that had grown into something bigger, better and infinitely more complicated to create (i.e. hardware).

We began our search like many probably do, by reaching out to friends, local contacts and scouring the web for advisors on LinkedIn, etc. What you quickly discover is that turning an idea into a real, tangible and physical product is going to take quite a bit of two precious commodities: Time and Money. So, unless you’re already independently wealthy or have family ready to bankroll a year long development and speculative business – you’re going to get frustrated looking for alternative ways of getting it done.

Enter: The Social Product Development business, aka “Quirky”.

The quick intro.

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How does it work?

The basics.

• Sign up and start engaging the community with ratings, comments and voting on products you think have a chance to succeed.
• Submit your idea (the more you can diagram or describe via a YouTube video, the better) – this will cost you $99.
• Your idea is judged, graded and voted on by a jury of peers, lurkers and professionals
• The process of vetting the idea takes about a week
• If your idea is chosen, it goes through a series of design, marketing and development steps that finalize more about the product name, design, tagline, etc.
• Off it goes to production. Stand by for 8 weeks, give or take.

Making money.

• Based on the idea, the amount of “influence” that each individual has in the process – the revenue per sold item varies.
• Generally, the person with the idea is going to earn about 12 cents on every 1 dollar for items sold via Quirky’s store.
• For products that go “big time” and sell wholesale, the rule is about about 4 cents on the dollar. Not bad at all, considering the investment to submit the idea was only $99.

Protecting the idea.

• At the point of submission and review process, the idea is yours and only yours.
• Obviously, there’s some public exposure here – but that can work in your favor too.
• If your product makes the cut, you DO transfer the rights of that idea to Quirky. After all, they do have to front the costs to prototype, manufacture and build the sales channels.

To get the whole scoop, visit the quirky.com site and read the FAQs under the Learn section.

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My idea.

TBD Product 0032

My concept will be in the Idea Evaluation stage until around Valentine’s Day. I’d love to give away the idea here, but the goal is to get you to visit Quirky and check out my entry under Product 0032. I’ll give you a hint, it’s under my name and the title of the idea is: Dynamo Phone Case.

As this develops and I have more experience with Quirky, I will definitely follow-up with a story or two. Thanks for checking out my idea and I hope I get your vote too!!

-Kevin

First off, the best news about the KTUU iPhone app is – it’s FREE. Giving something away is always a good way to attract tirekickers and followers. So the question is, is it worth it – even for free?

Searching for “KTUU” in iTunes app store was easy and obviously only gave 1 result, the KTUU app. Not putting the app under Alaska news might not have been the smartest decision, but if you already know KTUU – this is not a big deal. Okay, so the free install went as expected, nothing new here.

To some the terms and conditions may not be that big a concern, but this was one of the first apps I’ve installed that came with such a long legal agreement to accept. A minor negative for some and likely a non-issue for most…but what’s in that agreement anyway? So, now that I’ve accepted the terms that will never be read – they want to know where you are. Okay, I gave you my first born and gave you permission to track me…moving on, what do I get out of this deal?

My initial reaction to the interface was, “wow, nice”. Overall I think this off the shelf app from doapps (http://www.doapps.com/) is pretty slick. The menus are well sorted and smooth looking with a nice set of icons to represent the news, weather, sports, etc.

The news content is what you might expect from KTUU. It’s good, it’s local and it’s now inside an iPhone app. I did experience some problems with the app initially, categories not loading and some minor formatting issues that could be easily resolved (story images are too wide for the app).

Pros:

• Nice UI
• Relatively bug free
• It’s local Alaska news under a single button

Cons:

• Free = data mining and banner ads

All said, I would say kudos to KTUU for jumping in and putting it out there. Will I keep or use this app? Maybe, but likely not, only because I can get the same content more timely in most cases from other sources during my regular use of a desktop browser. I still applaud KTUU for doing it.

Get the KTUU app
Download the KTUU app from the iTunes app store.

Looking for a great Alaska iPhone app for travel?
Check out the Alaska HDTV travel app on the iTunes store.

Okay, say you’re creating a new iPhone app or you just want to DEMO an app in a screencast or maybe even in a presentation. Simple right? Try again, it has to be the most cluster ****ed process I’ve ever run into.

Unless you are the developer and have the simulator you are pretty much out of luck if you want to create a nice clean screencast without having to shoot the screen with a video camera. Having considered everything from animating still screencaptures to doing it all in Motion, I was near my wits end when I decided to go outside the protective realm of the Apple-only approach. Enter, the God forbidden realm of the “jailbreak”.

Before you do anything!
Back up your iPhone – iPod Touch data to your Mac.

Let’s get to it. First off you are going to need the following to make this tutorial work:

1. Blackra1n software for PC or Mac
2. iPhone or iPod Touch
3. Synch cable
4. Your Mac OS computer

Step 1: Prepare the computer

1. First things first, make sure the PC has the latest copy of iTunes installed (then reboot).
2. Attach iPhone – iPod Touch to PC via synch cable
3. If iTunes launches, close the app and do nothing to update or synch with the iPhone – iPod
4. Go to http://blackra1n.com – Dowload the file, make a donation to GeoHot!
5. Launch the application and follow the incredibly simple instructions
6. Make sure you choose Cydia after the reboot!

For more detailed how to on the Blackra1n install: Jailbreak Your iPhone With BlackRa1n Tutorial

Step 2: Install Apps

1. Install ScreenSplitr on your iPhone or Ipod Touch using Cydia
2. Go download DemoGod for your Mac and install
3. Start ScreenSplitr (the icon will indicate that it is “On”)
   
4. Launch DemoGod
   
5. Select the iPhone or iPod Touch in DemoGod
6. Confirm the connection to your iPhone
   
7. Voila! You can now see on screen everything you’re doing on the iPhone!

Step 3: Screencapture

There are loads of ways to get this done. I’m not going to attempt to answer this one yet. I am testing different apps right now. So far I am more impressed with Screenium, but you can use the latest QuickTime (assuming you are using Snow Leopard). Example video at the top of the post was created using ScreenSplitr, DemoGod and Screenium.

3G is available throughout Alaska Update: 12 June 2010
Many people ask whether or not their iPhone, Blackberry or Android phones will work in Alaska. The short answer is YES, there is AT&T service most towns around the state of Alaska. AT&T 3G service is available in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Wasilla. For Verizon or Sprint customers, you’ll most likely be able to get access via ACS service.

Update: 26 May 2009:
Reports are beginning to come in that 3G is now active in the Anchorage and Wasilla areas. Karen Whitworth mentioned via Twitter that she is now getting 3G in Wasilla.

The debate (and wild guesstimates for the launch date) rage on about whether 3G will ever arrive in Alaska. We’re approaching the 3rd generation of the iPhone and yet we in Alaska haven’t even experienced the first generation of 3G. Check out the original post and comments here.

I spent nearly the entire day at the Wild Berry Theater in Anchorage today geeking out over amazing high end video cameras. It was also a great time to visit with some great people from around the state and those who are now making Alaska their new filmmaking home. Below are a few snapshots from the Alaska Filmmakers Clinic that included a great presentation by Ted Schilowitz of RED camera and other great presentations by Apple (ProRes), Sony cameras and Fujinon lenses.

The attendance was very strong and I believe this event ignited the “real” filmmaking industry in Alaska. Time will be the judge, but it really felt like Alaska may be breaking into the what-was-once-only-Hollywood kind of productions.

After the Clinic, hands-on with the cameras (including the amazingly Transformer-looking 3D rig) and presentations, many more people crowded into the theater to catch the “premiere” of Evergreen Film’s release of ICY KILLERS. This great movie about Alaska’s salmon sharks can be seen on National Geographic channel, check it out.

There’s lots more to say, but I wanted to share the photos right away while the rest of the experience sinks in. I’m personally grateful for the Alaska Film Office, Alaska Film Group, RED, Sony, Fujinon, Evergreen Films, AlaskaUSA (my credit union, yay!) and all the rest who made the event possible. Truly inspiring, thank you!

(Plug: We use Apple and Final Cut Studio for all our editing and are extremely grateful for the support that MacHaus has shown us over the last year. Seriously, if you are in Alaska and want help with your Apple and Mac products, you really need to visit MacHaus. They’re in Anchorage, Wasilla and Fairbanks. Thanks, Ben!)

Just a few weeks ago, my sister-in-law finally traded up from a dying Toshiba (Windows XP) laptop after about a year of cajoling and incessant praise for the Apple computers that we have in our home/office. Fast forward to the day she takes home her shiny new Apple Macbook (unibody) – everything is as beautiful and flawless as expected, until later that night.

10:00PM
I get the call later that night from a very frustrated and obviously disillusioned new Macbook owner. As she’s telling me how the mouse won’t move and one of the keys has popped of the keyboard, I’m thinking to myself, “Great! She finally makes the investment and it turns out to be a turd.” Now, it’s up to me to convince her that it’s a fluke, this never happens and I’ll find a way to make it right. Nothing ruins your new purchase experience more than having to immediately pack it up and mail it off for service!

The next day, I pick up the Macbook from her hoping I’ll find some magical solution to fix the broken keyboard without having to send it all back to Apple. (The mouse was fine, she was just getting used to the multitouch trackpad.) After taking a look at it myself, I immediately called MacHaus to see if someone was available to look at the Macbook and gauge whether or not they could do something about it. Their service tech quickly answered my questions and suggested I bring it by to see what they could do.

2:00PM
Stopped by MacHaus to see if they could fix this day old Macbook with a broken keyboard. The service tech was super friendly and sympathized with the situation while trying to evaluate the root of the problem. As it turns out, the key was in fact broken, likely due to manufacturing issue. Normally, this means a round trip flight to some Apple repair facility and a further delay in gratification for a new Macbook owner.

2:10PM
Problem solved, permanently. I won’t give you all the details on how he managed it, but MacHaus just happened to have what was needed to make a permanent fix to the broken key! This had to be one of my single most painless visits related to any sort of repair.

Okay, so maybe it was luck or maybe MacHaus really is that good. What dawned on me at that moment was the real value of supporting a local business that has the products, the know-how and positive attitude. Had MacHaus not been around, the overall experience would have been significantly marred for someone brand new to Apple products.

Mostly I wanted to just say thank you to MacHaus for making an otherwise blemished Macbook feel new again! I also think this example illustrates the value of supporting local businesses that take pride in their service and support. This experience has definitely restored my interest in supporting the “Buy local” ideology.

On that note, be sure to check out Buy Alaska’s website: http://www.buyalaska.com

You can search for almost anything here and find a local company in your area. Look them up, buy local – it really pays to keep the business in Alaska!

Disclaimer: We did order this Macbook from an online retailer, only after we had shopped every store in town to find they didn’t have this model in stock. Even then, MacHaus took the time to make it right regardless of where it was originally purchased.

MacHaus
Alaska’s Apple Specialists
www.machaus.net