Is Apple working on a PayPal killer?

Aug 5, 2009 by Dan Taylor    10 Comments    Posted under: News, Technology

Just about everywhere you go these days, someone’s trying to make it easier for you to pay. Obviously, the driving force behind this is to ultimately make the sale by facilitating the consumers option to pay. And while the internet has seen it’s fair share, some successful, others not, of ways to pay, there is a constant stream of improvements to the method making their way to market everyday. But let’s face it, when it comes down to paying for something via the internet, without a direct credit card charge, my guesstimate would be that 85% of the average internet surfing/shopping consumer could name only one: PayPal.

We already know for certain that facebook has been playing with microtransactions and multiple payment platforms and options via their “Pay with Facebook” system, but as of now, we’ve got nothing but confirmations that something is being worked on. All that might come to a grinding halt if Wall Street gossips have any validity behind them. Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that said gossiper(s) may have had one too many drinks at a lower Manhattan establishment recently, and mentioned that Apple execs have dropped hints suggesting that the primarily hardware focused company is considering creating a service that would allow iTunes users (store account holders, with a valid credit card on file, or course) to use those accounts to pay for things outside the iTunes realm.

Remember, with the introduction of the iPhone OS 3.0, users are now able to spend freely on virtual and subscription goods within third party iPhone applications. In other words, the vast majority of the technology is already there, it’s just a question of opening this tech up to interface with external third-party platforms.

Now again, traditionally Apple has worked on projects that will solely drive hardware sales. iTunes certainly drove/drives iPod and iPhone sales, so why the interest in what basically boils down to a SaaS? Once you’re at the top of the pile, it’s tough to stay there. There are plenty of upcomers, as you once were, that are hungry and eager for your spot. Perhaps Apple is looking at a payment platform as a natural extension of their already easy to use iTunes Store functionality. One could make the argument that via iTunes, Apple effectively brought the microtransaction payment mechanism to the masses via iTunes, so why limit the functionality just to music? Apple has already branched out into providing video, either for rent or purchase, and again, with the OS 3.0 introduction, provided a way for application developers to monetize through in-game microtransactions.

While this is mere speculation and gossip at this point, a three way battle between eBay (parent company to PayPal), Facebook, and Apple would most certainly up the ante for all parties involved. Competition is a time tested catalyst for innovation, and any way you look at this battle, the ultimate winner is both the consumer and the vendor. Let’s see what Cupertino’s got in store (ouch…no pun intended) for us next.

Logitech NuLOOQ increases productivity

Apr 15, 2008 by Dan Taylor    2 Comments    Posted under: Technology

While my shiny new Mac has not yet arrived, some of the stuff that I ordered to go with it has arrived today. 85% of it is Mac specific, so it’s not really doing me much good on my winblows based machine. However, one of the new pieces of hardware that arrived is truly changing my computing experience right out of the box.

At a suggestion from Bottle, I figured as long as I’m making this big of an Amazon.com order, why not just chuck the Logitech NulOOQ in there as well. And oh how I am glad that I did. Logitech bills the NulOOQ as ‘It’s not a mouse, it’s your mouses’ best friend’, and I can honestly say, it’s all that and then some.

Upon installing the software a bunch of popular programs and associated shortcuts are preinstalled (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier Elements, Firefox, etc.). First stop Firefox. A twist of the scrolling wheel is now rolling me through tabs, while and up and down on the wheel is scrolling me smoothly through pages, and a nudge left or right is moving backwards and forwards in browsing history. Could I have done this with a mouse? Sure, but why all the extra motion when, I’ve now got controls all under my fingertips with my left hand.

Another great feature is that in addition to the presets (which you can remap any way you choose) you can also set up your own custom settings. The iTunes settings were not preset, as I can imagine everyone has their own preferences of how they’d like it to work. Well, I’ve been listening to iTunes all afternoon, and haven’t once had to alt/tab to the program itself to change the volume, play, next track, previous track and/or mute/pause. I have them assigned to touch sensitive numbers on the top of the device (see top image above). Square is play/pause, III is forward, I is backwards. Ready for the super-slickness? The entire top of the control pad functions exactly like the scroll wheel on an iPod. In other words, I can now control iTunes volume just by sliding my finger around the top of the device. Nice.

iTunes is already a preinstalled feature device (but commands left blank). The NulOOQ is also programmable to virtually any program you\’ve got on your machine. Simply go to the main menu of the controls, select ‘add program’ and then start adding keyboard shortcuts. The ‘lOOQ then recognizes which program you’re working in and maps key commands specific to that program. In other words, let’s say I’m working in Ableton Live and want to map a twist of the wheel to a filter effect. No problem. I add Ableton to my commands in the NulOOQ menu, and map the specific keyboard command or mouse gesture to a right turn of the NulOOQ wheel. How cool is that?

This settings can also be exported in case you ever switch machine (or work onsite for a client). This works out quite nicely for me, as I’m mapping custom settings today on winblows, and will hopefully by this time tomorrow be working on a mac. No need to remap, just export from winblows, and import on the mac. I also found this site, that’s offering up a bunch of preconfigured mappings (most are specific to <snicker>Vista</snicker>). Hmmm…now to figure out some mapping for WoW for some SERIOUS pwn ftw!

I’ve only used it thus far with Firefox, Word, and iTunes, I’m sure this is going to get REALLY fun when I start working with it in Photoshop (think magnifiers and brush size) and Final Cut (shutteling through video…oh nice!). Is this object necessary for your everyday computing? Probably not. Is it a wicked awesome cool productive time saving the keys glow blow ultimate geek toy? Abso f#*(ing lutly!