Square, the company responsible for putting credit card processing into the hands of the masses, gleefully announced the release of their Square reader at big-box retailers across the country, including: Apple, RadioShack, Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart.  With a retail price of around $10, this is sure to be a boon for Square and consumers.  The good news is that you can still get a free Square reader by visiting their website at http://www.squareup.com/.

As someone that has infrequently used their service, it’s easy to see that their business potential could be taking off and when you compare this to some of the other solutions on the market – PayPal for instance – it’s easy to see why people might want to switch.  Don’t get me wrong, I love PayPal, but their swipe service is virtually non-existent and for someone that wants to, from time to time, accept real credit cards with very quick turnaround, the service is excellent.  Definitely worth a look.  Works on all Apple devices and with most Android phones.

geek

I made the trek – not too far mind you – to MacWorld 2011 and found myself wondering whether MacWorld can survive another year and more importantly, after so many came back from CES disappointed, whether the technology trade-show itself can survive. Seriously, how many different iPhone cases does that average trade-show attendee really want to see? Considering how many Blackberry and Droid phones I saw, my inclination would be far fewer then were really there.

Of the products that were there, many seemed to be “coming soon,” and far less than ever before was really available to buy at the show. Overall, I walked away most of the cash that I came with, a couple of stickers, and a feeling of disappointment. I told my wife via text message that MacWorld was a lot like going to Fry’s, same size as the store, a lot of stuff that you would never buy, and shelf space showing stickers for stuff that you really wish you could buy.

If the iPad is going to be singled out as one of the biggest successes of 2010, it’s also important to highlight the biggest flop of 2010, and without missing a beat I’d have to nominate the highly anticipated, completely unsuccessful, failure of Google Buzz.

When Apple says “late April” – as in their project delivery date for the new Apple iPad 3G + WiFi – they apparently mean much more of the late and much less of the April, with deliveries and availability expected on April 30, 2010. Appearing almost everywhere today are messages from people like me that the status on their order has been changed to Prepared for Shipment, leading me to believe that the promised Friday date will be met. What time Friday is yet to be seen, although I’m not holding my breath. At least people that haven’t pre-ordered already know that they may be able to buy one in the retail store after 5:00PM.

Sunday is going to be an interesting day for internet giant Amazon.com and retail giant Target. For Amazon it’s an admission that sometimes consumers really do want to touch and feel a product before making a decision and for Target it’s the chance to market a product that has until now only been available from a web retailer, the Amazon Kindle. Personally, this seems like a win-win to me, even if it goes against everything Amazon stands for.

When I originally ordered my 64GB WiFi + 3G iPad from Apple’s online store, I wasn’t too worried about the “late April” ship date, assuming incorrectly that the release of the WiFi only models meant that those with 3G couldn’t be all that far behind. My mistake was assuming that late april meant sometime after the 15 – not the last day of the month as Apple has just announced.

Apple’s iPad is on the tip of many tongues – good and bad – and the only remaining question is what market is this serving or is the iPad still looking for a market?

Like so many, I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone. So much to love and one very important thing to hate. Read more to find out.

A new look, a new idea, and even a bit of new content to spice up the blog and give me something that might even be sustainable over the long-haul. That’s right, I’m starting over and this time I think that leaving myself room for posting my opinions on technology and what’s going on in the world will make is possible for me to regularly contribute and continually add value for my readers. Wouldn’t that be nice…?

So here we go, post one for a new era – welcome to thegeekchannel.com!

~geek

Everywhere you look retails are starting to prep for the make-it or break-it Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, that, for many, will be the deciding factor of their profitability this year.