Now Accepting Credit Cards
You can, too!
Accept Payments. Everywhere.
With Square, it’s easy, and free.
Square is a mobile credit card processing service founded by Jack Dorsey (one of the co-founders of Twitter).
One of the original iPad-only apps (and the very first app I downloaded to my iPad on release day in April 2010), it is now available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android devices. The app is free, and once installed, you set up a Square account. Once your account has been activated (now just a matter of days), the small Square Card Reader (also free) is sent to you.
It couldn’t be easier – plug the Square reader into the audio jack of your device, launch the Square app, enter details of your sale, then swipe your customer’s card, and have him sign (with his finger) and enter an email address. The transaction is processed immediately, and an email receipt is sent, which includes the location of the transaction and, optionally, a photo of the item sold.
The Square app for iPhone or Android works well enough, but the version for iPad is still the best experience. You can set up a library of items for quick access, and the larger screen makes the signing process much easier.
You may also enter the card information manually, but the processing fee will be higher (see below).
You don’t have to be running a store, or any kind of business, to use Square. Anyone can sign up for the service and get a free reader. If you want to be able to split a bar tab with friends and have them pay you via credit card, you can get a Square account and reader, and you’ll be ready to swipe your buddies’ cards to get paid.
It’s understandable that you might have security concerns. I certainly did at first. Fortunately, the folks at Square have thought everything through. The actual credit card information is never stored on your device. It goes right from the reader to Square for processing, and everything is encrypted. You can read more about Square security here.
Sure, there were some early problems…
The initial charge limits were far too low – with a daily limit of $100, and a weekly limit of $700, on the rare occasion that I would like to accept a credit card, I would easily exceed the daily limit. Fortunately, Square managed to completely rework their underwriting to get those limits increased. There is now no limit on how many or how large a payment you can accept. The first $1,001.00 per week is immediately deposited to your bank account (and typically available the very next day). The remaining amount is deposited within 30 days of the transaction.
There were also production problems with the first batch of readers. In a letter to users sent on 18 June 2010, “The Home Stretch“, Jack Dorsey stated that the company “released parts of Square before they were fully baked”, and that the whole team was hard at work resolving the issues.
As a result, it took months to get readers shipped out. They started with a small number of hand-picked customers, and worked out the kinks from there. A couple of weeks after I signed up in April, my account page showed that my reader was about to be shipped. A week or so after that, the status went blank, then I didn’t hear anything from Square until the end of August, when they asked to verify my financial information.
My reader finally arrived on 8 October, and worked flawlessly the first time, on my iPad. Not so lucky with my new iPhone 4, however. It seems that the original version of the reader made a metal-to-metal contact with the external antenna of the iPhone 4, and the resulting interference made it unusable. You can’t blame them, really, since none of the existing devices at the time the reader was designed had the metal band antennae of the iPhone 4. I tried a number of hacks with o-rings and small bits of paper, then finally got it to work with some very thin plastic film. It isn’t pretty, but it works.
In the photo below, the original reader is shown on the left, complete with the plastic film insulator. The new and improved version, which works with the iPhone 4 right out of the box, is on the right.
One week after the reader arrived, I found myself teaching a SCUBA class on a Saturday morning, and two of the students had not yet paid the course fee. I said that I could accept credit cards on the spot, and they both jumped at the opportunity to try this. I handed over my iPad to each student, and five minutes later, had done $850.00 in charges, and both had already received their email receipts. The money, less the transaction fees, was in my bank account on Monday. Sweet!
I had started to write up this blog entry in late October, but held off when I got a notice from Square that a new version of the reader was on its way. The new one arrived a few days later, and it works on both my iPad and iPhone 4.
The good news…
- Free App
- Free Card Reader
- No Merchant Account
- No Monthly Fees
- Competitive transaction fees (2.75% for swiped transactions, 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions)
- No monthly minimum
If you do a lot of credit card transactions, you’ll probably already have a merchant account and a dedicated card reader. If, however, you don’t find yourself doing enough credit card business to justify the monthly fees and minimums, Square might be just what you need.
22 February 2011 Update
Starting today, the 15¢ fixed fee on swiped transactions has been dropped (was 2.75% + 15¢ per transaction). The 15¢ fee remains in place for manually key-in transactions.
Posted from Rockville, Maryland, United States.
Doctor Who Christmas Special: A Christmas Carol
Probably the most exciting thing about this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special is that it will actually be shown in the US on the same day as in the UK, rather than the delay of several days or weeks that normally occurs.
Details are still coming in, but we do know that this episode will air on 25 December 2010, on BBC One in the UK, as well as BBC America in the US.
The following synopsis has been posted on the BBC web site:
Amy and Rory are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way The Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser, in a festive edition of the time-travelling adventure, written by Steven Moffat. But is Kazran Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve?’
Joining Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Michael Gambon plays Kazran Sardick and Katherine Jenkins plays Abigail.
Also, a preview trailer was shown during the Children In Need appeal on 19 November (see below, available in HD). It includes a cool tag line, “Time can be re-written. People can’t”. Producer Stephen Moffat stated, “Oh, we’re going for broke with this one. It’s all your favorite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters. And the Doctor. And a honeymoon. And … oh, you’ll see. I’ve honestly never been so excited about writing anything!”
My Final Farewell to Sun
I spent 17 years at Sun Microsystems, and while it had its ups and downs, I never had any doubt that it was the best job I ever had. So, one of the things that saddened me about being caught in the layoff 9 months before the acquisition of Sun by Oracle was that I couldn’t be there to say goodbye at the end. Sun was extremely generous to me, and I bear no grudge.
Suddenly, though, a couple of months ago I got a call from an Oracle Sales Rep looking for help with one of his Financial Services customers. Turns out that the customer wanted to buy Sun Grid Engine (a product in which I had specialized), along with a support contract and some consulting to help them get everything set up. Unfortunately, there was nobody left to sell the product, support it, or teach them how to use it.
So, here I am in Austin, Texas for a week of doing what I used to do. I’m building a computing grid for a customer with some very technical and complex workloads, and wearing the old Sun shirts again. And after 15 months away, it really doesn’t seem strange to be traveling again, and things are going quite smoothly. At the end of the week, the customer should be self-sufficient, and probably won’t need me to come back.
I fully expect that this will be my last time setting up Grid Engine for a Sun customer, so…
Goodbye, Sun! It was great to know you.
Maryland Earthquake Largest in 30 Years
I was awakened this morning by a very mild earthquake.
Even though it was magnitude 3.6, and the epicenter was about 10 miles away, it just barely woke me, and I wasn’t really sure at the time if was a quake or if a particularly heavy freight train had just passed. After all, I live pretty close to the railroad tracks, and have learned to sleep through quite a bit of rumbling. Also, it’s not unusual for pictures on the wall to rattle a bit when a big train goes by.
Still, I had a vague sense that this was not just a train. Checking the USGS web site, I discovered that this had, in fact, been the largest earthquake in Maryland since the 3.1 Hancock, MD tremor in 1978.
There was no damage anywhere that I could see, and although Twitter traffic didn’t show anything, I soon found quite a few Facebook statuses mentioning the quake ( the majority seem to have slept through it).
No car alarms, no sirens, and a lot less shaking than in the San Francisco area quakes I’ve experienced.
Still, it’s something to talk about. Almost worthy of a blog post.
The USGS places the precise epicenter at 39.167°N, 77.252°W:
View July 16, 2010 Earthquake in a larger map
Traces from the Maryland Geologic Survey
Opening Night at Meridian Pint
Meridian Pint – about three blocks from the Columbia Heights Metro station – opened on Thursday, 1 July 2010.
I quickly discovered that I wasn’t the only one who had been waiting for this opening. When I arrived at about 7PM, it was very crowded both upstairs and down (and extremely noisy downstairs), with quite a waiting list at the Hostess’ station.
I was expecting some friends to be there ahead of me, so I wandered around looking for them and got my first beer – a Cask Conditioned Oliver’s Ale (Baltimore, MD). Upon discovering that my friends weren’t going to be there, I inquired with the Hostess about the approximate wait time for a party of one, and was delighted to find that Meridian has a communal table, and there was one vacancy. Brilliant! Not only was I seated immediately, but I also got to meet several other diners and see more of the food.
My first neighbors were just finishing Half Smokes with Pork Chili and some French Fries with Rarebit Sauce (both of which they recommended). On the other side, another new friend was just receiving her Burger with Blue Cheese, Bacon, and Grilled Onions, which was also rated a winner.
I had been looking at the menu online since early May, and already knew what I would order: The Double Cut Brined Pork Chop with Rhubarb-Hard Cider Sauce. It was served with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Braised Kale, which I paired with a Trade Winds Tripel, from The Bruery (Orange County, CA). My order arrived in a very reasonable time, as I chatted with my fellows at the communal table. The Pork Chop was tender and moist, a very generous serving, nicely set off by the sauce. I would highly recommend this to anyone with a good appetite.
As some folks moved on, I acquired new neighbors at the table, who ordered the Pork Quesadilla, Grilled Trout, and Braised Short Ribs. Once again, I heard no complaints.
As I was finishing my meal, Chef David Shewmaker dropped by and chatted for a few minutes. I introduced him to some of my new friends, and we all complimented and congratulated him.
I rounded out the evening with a pint of Old Rasputin Stout from North Coast Brewery (Fort Bragg, CA).
I’ve seen several restaurant openings, and they usually start out well enough, but crash and burn before the evening is done because they are simply not fully prepared. Not so at Meridian Pint – everything appeared to be running smoothly my entire time there, and the word from some of my new friends was that it continued to do so well into the night.
Congratulations to the team at Meridian Pint on an excellent opening night. I hope to be returning often and for many years to come.
Meridian Pint – http://meridianpint.com/ – 3400 11th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20010
Posted from Rockville, Maryland, United States.
A Tale of Mermaid Tattoos
In 1983, I decided to get a tattoo.
In part, it was a social experiment. I had recently completed a contract which had me living with Navy SEALs for a few months, and had begun to see the differences in how others reacted to the guys with and without tattoos. It was long before tattoos had gone mainstream – in fact, tattoo parlors were still illegal in New York City, as well as many other places. Still, I felt a tattoo fitted who I was at the time, and decided to get one which could easily be covered by a short-sleeve shirt, and which could also be partially or fully exposed, if I so desired.
I commissioned the artwork from Dawn Wilson, a well-known Science Fiction illustrator, and was very pleased with the design she came up with. Then, I set out to find a tattoo parlor and learn more about what was involved. I ended up visiting every tattoo artist I could find from New York through Virginia, and met a lot of interesting characters. That story will have to wait for a much longer post (or series of posts).
Early in 1984, I settled on Great Southern Tattoo in College Park, MD. Charley And Sandy Parsons were (and are) talented artists, and they sterilized all of their needles in an autoclave. I felt safer there, and I liked them personally. This was, incidentally, just a few months before my daughter was born.
Having found the tattoo parlor, I sat for a 2 1/2 hour session, and then the social experiment started. The details of this will also have to wait, but I feel confident that I would not get similar reactions if I were to do it today. I have also never regretted having the tattoo. I’m still looking for old photos of the actual tattoo, but haven’t found any so far.
Original artwork for my tattoo
Fast forward 22 years. I was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and underwent surgery and radiation treatments. My Radiation Oncologist tattooed a grid of dots on my body to ensure that I was lined up exactly the same in the beam every day.
This gave my darling Goth Princess daughter the idea to have a tattoo done in my honor (by this time, she already had three). Over the course of the next couple of years, Maeve had a friend design the tattoo, and worked in a number of features referring to me:
- It’s a Mermaid
- Her shirt is made from a torn-up Diver flag
- She is holding a Chaos symbol
- Hidden in her hair are my initials
Maeve had her tattoo done at Read Street Tattoo Parlor in Baltimore, MD. All in all, it took 3 sessions and a total of 4 1/2 hours. It was supposed to be a surprise, but when the time came for her first appointment, nobody else was available to sit with her, so she called me. With the cat out of the bag, I accompanied Maeve for all three sessions Here are photos taken at the end of each one.
The folks at Read Street were interested in seeing my “old school” tattoo, and until I found myself having to explain what it was, I hadn’t realized just how much it had faded over 26 years. So, I went back to Great Southern (at their new location in Alexandria, VA), and had mine touched up. It took about 2 hours, and came out great. What’s more, they did it for free, explaining that their work is guaranteed, and that includes touch-ups. You can’t beat that for customer service.
Once I find an old photo of my tattoo, I’ll add it here. Here is a before and after, though. The first was taken the day before my touch-up, the second as soon as it was done.
If you’re in the Baltimore-Washington area and looking to have a tattoo done, consider Read Street Tattoo Parlor and Great Southern Tattoo.
17 December 2010 Update
My story was featured on the cover of the December 2010 issue of The Beacon Newspaper.
Posted from Groveton, Virginia, United States.
Another Great Easter Weekend on BBC One
Make no mistake, I’m very pleased that Fringe returned on 1 April, and Stargate Universe comes back from a 4-month hiatus tonight (2 April), but I’m even more excited with what’s in store on BBC One this weekend
The biggest one first, even though it comes second (as they both involve time travel, it doesn’t matter). On Saturday, 3 April, the eleventh Doctor (and the youngest one ever), Matt Smith, arrives for his first adventure in “The Eleventh Hour”:
The Doctor has regenerated into a brand new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover. With the TARDIS wrecked, and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, the new Doctor has just 20 minutes to save the whole world – and only Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) to help him.
And on Friday, 2 April, Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes return for a final time in the time-travelling drama Ashes To Ashes:
The third and final series of Ashes to Ashes is back – and it’s a real slap in the face for DI Alex Drake. Time travelling copper Alex thought she’d made it home to the present day, but wakes to find herself in a hospital bed back in 1983, having been shot by her boss, DCI Gene Hunt, three months ago.
Back in CID a lot has changed; with Gene on the run, Ray Carling has been promoted to DI and is running the show, while DC Chris Skelton and WPC Shaz Granger have ended their romance and new Discipline and Complaints officer, DCI Jim Keats, is breathing down everyone’s necks.
6 April 2010 Update
The new Series of Doctor Who will have its US premiere just two weeks later, 17 April, on BBC America.
Also, while the US won’t see Series 3 of Ashes to Ashes for a while, Series 2 starts 11 May on BBC America.
Posted from Rockville, Maryland, United States.
It’s been a year? How is that possible?
It was one year ago today that I received my RIF notice from Sun (and started this blog). It seemed inconceivable that I could go a year or more without finding a new job, but here I am, still hunting.
IT jobs, and probably all jobs, were incredibly scarce in 2009. I’m beginning to see signs that the situation is improving. I’ve been getting more interviews in the past couple of months, but that doesn’t mean a lot until I can actually land a position somewhere.
While it is somewhat depressing, the experience hasn’t been all bad. I had the opportunity to get some up-to-date studio training and set up my Voice Over business, and have been doing some long-overdue work around the house.
Also, thanks to the very generous severance package from Sun, I’m still paying the bills, and I’m not desperate (yet).
Anybody need a slightly used Technology Evangelist?
Oracle Wins Unconditional EU Approval for Sun Acquisition
As reported by Reuters, the go-ahead has finally been given for Oracle to acquire Sun Microsystems.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I’m happy that the end of uncertainties stemming from over a year of this acquisition process (first with IBM, then with Oracle) will allow things to finally move ahead, and for customers to begin making forward-looking decisions for their computing hardware purchases.
On the other, the culture at Sun is about to be irreversibly changed, as Sun sinks below the horizon and becomes part of the largely-soulless software giant.
I will also miss the huge number of friends I made in my years at Sun (at the time of my RIF notice, I had been there almost precisely 1/3 of my life), and being part of a company where, as Scott McNealy said, we “Kicked Butt, Had Fun, Didn’t Cheat, Loved Our Customers, and Changed Computing Forever”.
Being Human, Series 2 Begins
I almost missed this one. Being Human returned for its second series last Sunday (10 January 2010) on BBC Three. It picks up about a month after the end of the first series, with new bad guys to replace Herrick.
After seeing both Russell Tovey (George) and Sinead Keenan (Nina) in the final David Tennant episode of Dr. Who, I found that I was more than ready to get back to this brilliantly written show.
Being Human is a comedy-drama series about three twenty-something housemates trying to live normal lives, despite struggling with unusual afflictions – one is a werewolf, one is a vampire and the other is a ghost. They face a human threat in the form of the mysterious Professor Jaggat and the cold-hearted Kemp. Jaggat and Kemp are fundamentalist Christians who have discovered the existence of vampires, werewolves and ghosts – and are determined to destroy them or carry out brutal experiments upon them. They believe that vampires are the Devil incarnate and must be destroyed; that werewolves contain an evil gene that can be removed by violent scientific experiments; and that ghosts must be forced over to the other side whether they like it or not.
1 February 2010 Update
Series 2 will be ending later this month, but BBC have already announced that a third series has already been commissioned, so we can expect new episodes at about this time next year!
21 May 2010 Update
Series 2 will come to BBC America starting on Saturday, 24 July.
12 January 2011 Update
Series 3 will begin 23 January on BBC Three.
17 February 2011 Update
Series 3 will begin 19 February on BBC America, following a marathon showing of every episode so far, including the Pilot.
