Plastiq, an online payments startup aimed at bringing credit card payments to industries which tend to shy away from supporting them, has raised a $6 million Series A. The round was jointly led by Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners, and included previous investors NextView Ventures and Greenoaks Capital, along with notable angel investor Harvey Golub, former Chairman and CEO of American… → Read More
When reviewing a new iPhone application called Glyph earlier this week that tells you which credit card to use in order to earn the best rewards, we mentioned that a competitor in this space, Wallaby, was doing something similar. As of this morning, however, it’s not just doing something similar – it’s doing the exact same thing. Today, Wallaby is also introducing its own iPhone application which… → Read More
Glyph is a new mobile application, now live in the iTunes App Store, that will tell you the best credit card to use in order to earn the most valuable rewards, whether that’s cash back, travel or hotel loyalty points, discounts, or any other type of credit card-activated reward. At launch, the company supports over 250 credit cards, including the top 18 credit issuers in the U.S., representing… → Read More
Google Wallet, the company’s NFC-based virtual wallet for Android, got a major update earlier this month when Google started giving its users the ability to use cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Today, Google and Discover announced that they are now making it even easier for Discover customers to save their cards to Google Wallet. Discover now uses Google’s Save to Wallet… → Read More
Ready to enter a cardless future but not quite sure about NFC? The Protean Echo might be for you. This clever project essentially captures your credit cards onto one multi-purpose card that can hold up to three cards at a time.
It works like this: you scan your magnetic stripe cards into a smartphone app using a supplied dongle. You can then “upload” three cards to the Protean Echo and select… → Read More
Wallaby, which is launching its beta today, reminds me a bit of banking startup Simple. Just like Simple automatically manages your finances for you and automatically shuffles your money between the most lucrative debit and savings accounts, Wallaby combines all of your existing credit cards onto one card and then decides which of your credit card accounts to route your transactions to based on… → Read More
Phil Torrone got to look at the new Square iPhone Payment system and he and the daring Lady Ada of AdaFruit industries took some photos and video of a prototype of the new device. To recap, the Square device is a little dongle that lets you swipe credit cards. With a quick slash of the card you can accept payment from anyone for almost anything. → Read More
Do you still have credit? Do you not have a PS3 yet? Would you like one, for less than full price? Lucky day! There’s now a PlayStation credit card, brought to you by Visa. Use it to purchase a PS3 and you’ll save $150. You can either apply for the card and wait for a voucher of sorts, which you can then use at any retail store while buying a PS3, or you can apply online and get the… → Read More
I certainly don’t have anything against giving to charity, but the Salvation Army knows damn well what it’s doing. First, they position a red bucket about a foot outside the grocery store by my house — so close that you have to deliberately walk around it like an A-hole to get in or out of the store — and second, there’s a different person ringing the bell each day so the… → Read More
I suppose this is a good idea, although shoppers are loathe to add yet another step to their transactions. The card has a built-in numeric keypad, and when you put in your PIN, it’ll display a security code like the one sites always ask you for now. That makes spending a lot of money with a stolen card significantly harder if not impossible online, and if retailers would just ask for ID with… → Read More
Guess who’s credit/debit card now has RFID? Yup, apparently I used my old card at a highly insecure location within the past few days, so much so that Citibank had to rush me a new card. And lucky me, this one has RFID, only MasterCard calls it PayPass. I do have the option of disabling the RFID chip by calling the bank, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing that as soon as this post… → Read More
It looks like you’ll soon be able to buy stuff off the PlayStation Store with a gift card. The PlayStation Network card is making its way around to select journalists/writers/deadbeats, a possible indication that they’ll be released to the general public soon. The cards are useful for crazy people who are afriad of using their credit card online (such as my uncle) or for kids whose… → Read More
I swear, I have to get one of these if it kills me. For months now I’ve been watching those Visa and MasterCard commercials that showcase the RFID technology that’s in PayPass. You know, the one where the dude is running late and buys a pack of gum and a banana or something just by waving his credit card at a machine. Well now if you want to take it one step further, you should get a… → Read More
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