Linked List: March 10, 2011

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Square Founder Jack Dorsey Responds to VeriFone ★

Jack Dorsey:

Any technology—an encrypted card reader, phone camera, or plain old pen and paper—can be used to “skim” or copy numbers from a credit card. The waiter you hand your credit card to at a restaurant, for example, could easily steal your card details if he wanted to—no technology required. If you provide your credit card to someone who intends to steal from you, they already have everything they need: the information on the front of your card. [...]

Our partner bank, JPMorgan Chase, continually reviews, verifies, and stands behind every aspect of our service, including our Square card reader.

MLB.com at Bat 11 for Android ★

MLB At Bat 11 is available for $15 (same as the iPhone and iPad apps) on Android Market:

Opening Day 2011 is March 31. Additional features and functionality for the award-winning At Bat 11, including mobile access to live streaming video on select Android devices for MLB.TV subscribers, will be released for Opening Day.

How does one find out which Android devices are “select”?

Josh Topolsky on the iPad 2 ★

On the cameras:

Let’s just put this out there: the iPad 2 cameras are really pretty bad. They’re not unusable, but it’s clear that the sensors employed are not top shelf by any measure. If you have a fourth generation iPod touch with cameras, you can expect the same results. In fact, it seems to us that these are the SAME cameras used in the iPod touch — there’s an “HD” lens around back (which means it’s roughly a single megapixel shooter), and on the front you’ve got a lowly VGA cam. Neither one of these produces remotely satisfying results for still shots, and in particular (when compared with something like the Xoom), the back camera just seems utterly second rate. For video duties and FaceTime calls, the cameras are reasonably useful — but we would never trade a dedicated camera (or at least a smartphone with a 5+ megapixel shooter) for this.

On GarageBand (and, unlike me, Josh understands music):

Overall, this is a groundbreaking piece of software for tablets. It wasn’t without issues — in fact, we had some major, system-stalling crashes which required a reboot of the iPad. It’s clear that there are bugs to be worked out, and that despite that A5 CPU and increased memory, a music tracking and arranging app remains a fairly heavy piece of code. Still, we found ourselves completely fascinated by GarageBand and unable to put it down. Whether you’re tinkering, writing, or recording, this software’s value will be clear right from the start.

He includes two original songs created entirely on the iPad with GarageBand.

iPad 2 Available for Order Online Starting at 1am Pacific, 4am Eastern ★

Can’t help but think that pre-orders (such that they’d arrive in customers’ hands tomorrow) weren’t available because Apple wants to see lines outside Apple Stores around the country.

Jason Snell on the iPad Smart Cover ★

I think Snell is the only iPad 2 reviewer to pull the Smart Cover out into its own separate review. It’s that clever.

Pogue’s Review of the iPad 2 ★

Love his opening.

Apple Set to Open ‘Popup Shop’ in Austin for SXSW ★

Two-week lease on a store at 6th and Congress in Austin, so they can sell iPads to SXSW attendees.

RIM and HP are going to lease stores next door, and put up “Coming Soon” signs.

More Than 30, Including ‘Snoop’ Actress, Arrested in Drug Raids ★

That’s a shame, but I’m glad to see her alive.