When not humblebragging about the fact that he–a millionaire–still takes the bus to work, Square cofounder Jack Dorsey enjoys the holidays the only way a nouveau tech founder truly can: by frolicking around with a model on a yacht in St. Bart’s. Read More
Lala Land When you plunk down $18 million in hard-won settlement earnings on an 8,000 sq. ft. manse with “a jetliner view of L.A.” you don’t just around on the couch watching Bravo. Especially not if your names are Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
The strapping venture capitalists recently hosted two parties at their new Hollywood Hills home. The first was feting Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell, cofounders of the fashion startup Hukkster, which recently scored a $1 million seed round from the duo. Guests included actor Jason Lewis (Samatha’s boyfriend to the rest of us). Read More
With all the excitement over last week’s decision to test out taxi apps in New York City, another technological step forward got overlooked. During a meeting at its Beaver Street headquarters last Thursday, the Taxi and Limousine Commission also unanimously voted in favor of new rules for those credit card swipers and “entertainment systems” (scare quotes necessary) in back of your cab, referred to as T-PEP. Read More
Square is now offering gift cards, redeemable anywhere Square is accepted. You’ll need to use the company’s wallet to send a card, but not to redeem one. [Fast Company]
For a use case look to Jack Dorsey, who’s using the product to send gifts like $100 worth of tacos. [Twitter]
No more Instagram photos in your Twitter feed, fostering FOMO among your followers. [AllThingsD]
Several big-name tech companies are making another attempt to stifle patent-trolling. Firms including Google and Facebook have filed an amicus brief in a case currently being argued in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals, asking that the court set a precedent against lawsuits based on patents for things like “an ecommerce platform.” [TechCrunch]
The World Conference on International Telecommunications just got underway, and already nations including China and Russia have attempted (and just as quickly abandoned) a push for the Internet to be considered composed of government-controlled networks. [ZDNet]
The next step in what we assume is Jack Dorsey’s Bruce Lee-inspired plan to take over the world: Square will soon launch in Canada. [TechCrunch]
Speaking of can’t stop won’t stop, Lerer Ventures has closed its third fund, clocking in at $36.15 million. [PandoDaily]
Mathematician Zachary Harris received an unexpected email from a Google recruiter. Wondering whether it might be a spoof, he did a little digging and discovered it was actually pretty easy, cryptographically speaking, to fake an email from a Google corporate address. He promptly faked one from Sergey Brin to Larry Page, thinking the whole thing was a deliberate puzzle. [Wired]
This is what it looks like when something posted on Facebook goes viral. [Fast Company]
With the debut of the Surface–i.e., a hardware device that’s harder to pirate–could Microsoft finally make some headway in China? Maybe, but it’s rare to lose money betting on the ingenuity of IP infringers. [Reuters]
Earlier today, The Verge published a pretty damning report alleging that Uber was essentially shutting down its taxi service in New York City. The worst allegations involved the claim that multiple drivers received messages calling them into headquarters to get paid a cash bonus, only when the cabbies got there, “Uber surprised them by asking for the device back, informing them that taxi service was no longer available in New York.” Another driver told the Verge that Uber offered $1,000 to sign up for its black car service instead. (As earlier screenshots obtained by Betabeat show, Uber has offered cash rewards to drivers in the past.)
Not long after, Uber admitted on its blog that UberTAXI has shut down operations in New York “for now,” emphasizing that no changes have been made to its black car service. With yesterday’s news of Square shutting down its pilot program in New York City, this is the second setback of sorts as technological advances to the taxi-riding experience try to make their way into the market. Square also promised it would try again soon–but unlike Uber, its program had official approval.
“We invested a fair amount of money in the UberTAXI in New York after initially getting a verbal greenlight from the TLC,” CEO Travis Kalanick told Betabeat of the amount Uber spent on its month-long test run, which involved a week of free rides to every New Yorker at $25/piece–for those who actually managed to find a cab on the app. Read More
Ouch, we think we just got whiplash. A couple weeks ago, Mayor Bloomberg was photo-opping in the backseat with Jack Dorsey, founder of the mobile payments company Square.
But this afternoon, the New York Post got its hand on a letter from Square to the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) announcing that the company has suddenly pulled out of its pilot program in yellow cabs, which the agency recently stated was going swimmingly.
The pilot run in 13 cabs was testing Square’s service–featuring iPads in the vehicle’s partition and iPhones in the front–as a replacement for TPEP, the agency’s internal moniker for the TV screens and credit card swipers currently run by an exclusive contract with Verifone and CMT that expires this coming February. Read More
Groupon has launched its own iPad payment system in hopes of rivaling Square. Good luck with that. [The Next Web]
Kids these days don’t want a stupid computer, ’cuz they’re for old people. [Wired]
A court has ruled that book scanning counts as fair use, much to the chagrin of the Author’s Guild. [Ars Technica]
Google has launched a large online museum called the Cultural Institute, boasting 42 different exhibits. [The Daily Dot]
A 25-year-old female Redditor has made it her mission to publicly out those she calls “Predditors” who post sexualized photos of women to r/creepshots without their consent. [Jezebel]
For the last time, please stop giving your startup meaningless, baffling names. [Wired]
In a recent New York Times profile of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, a rather interesting piece of information surfaced about Twitter and Square cofounder Jack Dorsey. The Times wrote that Mr. Dorsey’s role at Twitter was diminished “after employees complained that he was difficult to work with and repeatedly changed his mind about product directions.”
Understandably, the office gossip led to some confusion over his current role. To clear up any misunderstanding, Mr. Dorsey took to his Tumblr today to defend his work schedule, proclaiming that he’s had a backseat role at Twitter (he’s currently a chairman) since January: Read More
All-natural candy lover Jack Dorsey announced on his Twitter today that Square, the payment service seeking to disrupt credit card systems, has acquired 80/20, a design agency based in New York. “Square acquires 80/20, one of the best design agencies in the world, and with it, an office in SoHo,” he tweeted. “We believe in NYC.”
