Jacob Hall, Editor-in-Chief of TapSauce | APPS | 08.16.2012 @ 1:00 pm
Today in “Paying For Stuff With Your Phone”:
Why haven’t any mobile payment systems truly taken off yet? Maybe because Square and Google Wallet and PayPal and Intuit are all directly competing and no one can make the others budge. And now, the waters are getting even muddier: a group of major retailers (including Walmart, Target, 7-11, and Sunoco) have teamed up to create a new mobile app that will allow their customers to pay for their purchases with their smartphones. The app is nowhere near completion, but with those big names working together, mobile payments may be ready to take a giant leap forward. On top of that, there’s the new Dunkin’ Donuts app, which will allow digital payments and surely has Google shaking in its boots.
Today in “Pinterest World Domination”:
Well, it took them long enough: the Pinterest app is coming to iPad and Android after being an iPhone exclusive for way too long (and the iPhone version is getting a redesign). With absurdly high traffic and $100 million (!) in recent funding, Pinterest is not only here to stay, it’s here to stay on each of your various devices.
Today in “Personalized Coasters Made Possible By Apps”:
Have you ever loved one of your Instagram photos so much that you wanted to keep your drink on it forever? Coastermatic is certainly hoping so. For $25, the company will transfer four of your Instagram images onto sandstone coasters, letting your digitally faded images of loved ones keep drink drippage off your office desk.
Today in “Delicious”:
There are a ton of restaurant finding apps available across all platforms, but there is only one made by the Food Network. Naturally, the app is built to skew you toward restaurants endorsed and owned by the network’s pet chefs, but when come one: it’s the Food Network. Surely they’re worth hearing out.
Today in “Watches! Of the Future!”:
Watches powered by smartphone technology aren’t new, but do you know what is new? Watches powered by smartphone technology that respond to voice commands and let you make phone calls straight from your wrist. The Martian watch isn’t a reality yet, but it could be.
Today in “Don’t Die, Please”:
People and text and drive all the time. People also die from texting and driving all the time. AT&T is leading the charge to curb these accidents, starting with this sobering short documentary: