Building new infrastructure for digital payments may not sound sexy, but it’s an area that’s ripe for innovation. The legacy payments networks in existence today are bogged down with outdated technology, slowing progress. Des Moines-based Dwolla decided that the way to innovate in payments was to essentially blow up the outdated infrastructure entirely and start over by building out… → Read More
A commentator on Bloomberg, Princeton student Evan Soltas, writes that Bitcoin is an “existential threat to the modern liberal state,” a line that can be read in two ways. One reading of his op-ed suggests we are all in danger and that the inability to tax and track bitcoins will result in a thriving black market and reduced fiscal control that will be disastrous for all of us. Taken another way … → Read More
Wallaby Financial, a startup that’s building a cloud-based wallet that will optimize the rewards, points, airline miles, and other benefits consumers earn when charging purchases, has just closed a seed round of $1.1 million. The round was led by Founders Fund Angel and included participation from WI Harper Group, SLP Ventures, Lion Wells Capital and other individual investors, including some… → Read More
Global mobile money transfer service m-Via is officially rebranding as Boom Financial today as it announces the close of a $17 million round of funding, led by mobile operator Digicel Group Ltd. The carrier stretches across 31 markets, including the Caribbean, Central America and South Pacific – all geographies Boom Financial aims to target with its service, which provides immigrants and the… → Read More
BancBox, a startup that’s been flying under the radar over a year, is launching its new payment services platform today. At first, you might think the most apt comparison is that of Stripe, which also offers a developer-friendly way to accept payments on web and mobile. But BancBox goes much further than transactions. The platform lets developers build all sorts of payment services within their… → Read More
YC alum ReadyForZero, an online financial service that’s trying to get people out of debt faster, is today expanding to mobile with the launch of its first mobile app. For now, the experience is designed mainly to give you at-a-glance insight into your current debt situation. However, the mobile app also uses iOS push notifications to alert you to large purchases and payments which could impact… → Read More
SpotMe, a handy little tool for sharing expenses in groups, is now a top 10 mobile app in the finance category and a featured app in Apple’s App Store Rewind 2011. Zornitza Stefanova, the CEO of SpotMe’s maker Boomerang Digital, describes the app as “a social messenger for payments.” What that means is that the app takes over the often uncomfortable job of having to ask your friends for the money… → Read More
Today, online and mobile payments platform Dwolla is launching what may be one of its biggest features yet: instant access to cash. Via the new opt-in setting called “Dwolla Instant,” users will be able to immediately deposit and send cash without the usual wait times associated with the mobile payment platform – typically a few days. → Read More
Y Combinator alum ReadyForZero is rolling out an upgrade to its debt management service today, with new features that will now allow its users to centralize and manage more of their debt using its online application. Previously, the company was focused only on reducing consumers’ credit card debt. Now it’s adding support for mortgages, auto loans and student loans, too. → Read More
Many people lament about how unproductive the traditional “business meeting” is. One or more participants feel the need to assert their opinion at great length, or simply regurgitate the same information multiple times. Most of us sit passively through these time-wasting meetings because … well … I don’t know! But now you can have the facts on your side when you want to remind people that any… → Read More
Mamiya announced their latest large sensor DSLR today, the DM40. Coming in at a memory card crushing 40 megapixel, the DM40 can capture images at up to 60 frames per minute, make it the fastest large sensor DSLR on the market. And one of the most expensive. → Read More
Looks like the recession is helping at least one industry. NPD Group reported that the video game industry turned in $5.53 billion dollars in sales for December, topping the results from last year by 4 percent!
Boring as all these statistics are, the bottom line is people spent a whole lot of money on video games last month. The previous record was set in December of 2008, which was the first… → Read More
You guys use them newfangled corn star machines? Oh, Coinstar – that make more sense. I know I do, and I know longtime CrunchGear reader Johnal does because he sent in this tip.
When you dump in more than $40 worth of change between now and December 6th and you opt to receive your payout in the form of store credit at one of Coinstar’s participating retail partners, you’ll receive a $10 bonus… → Read More
Much is made over the amount of money businesses lose because of procrastination. You know, the Almighty Dollar and everything. There’s a new Dutch Web site out there, cantyouseeimbusy.com (Can’t You See I’m Busy?—HILARIOUS~!), that provides “work-looking” games that you can play without your boss knowing. → Read More
This could quite possibly be the first looped beat. Just listen to how they put all this together. I could take or leave Floyd – I didn’t smoke enough in high school – but this is just beautiful.
I think the most hilarious thing is that we can all basically do this with Garage Band and a cheap Fender whereas even a decade ago you’d have a hard time recreating this piece of audio.
Video after the… → Read More
Once again it’s Tax Day here in the United States of America. (Unless, of course, you’re with the Anti-Tax Tea Party brigade. Have fun you guys, and don’t do what the French are doing in this picture. Violence only begets violence!) This is the part where we ask you if you intend to spend your tax rebate, provided you get one, on any “cool” tech. A monitor? A couple of video games? One or two… → Read More
ExtremeTech, using an advanced scientific method called “math”, has reduced the price of RAM down to the cost-per-megabyte level, revealing some interesting information. According to their crack squad of investigators, “DDR3-1600 kits triple channel kits offer a lower cost-per-gigabyte than dual-channel kits.” But wait before you rush off to stuff triple channel kits into your Core i7 system, and… → Read More
Over the next two years, Intel plans to invest in 32nm manufacturing plants at a cost of $7 billion. The current plan is to upgrade facilities in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico, and the company estimates that they’ll be able to create 7,000 new jobs. Intel’s 32nm production focuses on Westmere in 2009, with more chips to follow in 2010. → Read More
It’s tremendously snowy outside—not unlike that level in Donkey Kong Country. So the urge to go outside and snap, snap, snap away, taking photos of the lovely scenery, must be palpable. You might want to wrap your camera around in a plastic bag to protect it from the elements (that’s an old trick I learned in a class once), or, to look more middle class, slap this plastic shell on it. You… → Read More
What a time to be alive, friends! New York’s governor David Patterson (above), who owes his job to Elliot Spitzer’s private stupidity, has proposed a budget that includes 88 new fees and taxes. Among the newly taxed items is the iPod (and other portable media players) as well as “digitally delivered entertainment services.” Should the budget pass, expect lawmakers to interpret that… → Read More
Leaving the PS3 plugged in and turned on all the time could add as much as $145 to your electricity bill every year. That’s what the Natural Resources Defense Council has concluded in a report issued this week. Nearest we can tell, the report means that leaving your console in standby mode—not merely “on’ as in you’re actually using it—doesn’t do you any good. The… → Read More
Here’s a piggy (piggity?) bank of Glenn Quagmire sitting atop a zebra-striped blanet on a black leather couch. I’m not quite sure where you’re supposed to stick the coins (ewwww) but I think I see a little slit on the top of the sofa, so hopefully that’s it. It’s $40, plus whatever your therapist charges you per hour after the thing finally creeps you out. After a while, it’s gonna… → Read More
Outside of Xohm, what does Sprint have going for it? According to some sort of investor advisory group, Glass, Lewis & Co., Sprint is also home to America’s most overpaid executives. Now that’s something it can brag about! Reuters lays it out simply: “top managers [were] awarded pay valued at nearly $74 million last year when the company struggle.” Sprint defends itself by… → Read More
The Chevy Volt, Detroit’s answer to the Toyota Prius, just became a lot more advantageous, tax-wise. That is, of course, provided you can afford the $40,000 price in the first place. Tucked in that bailout package that Congress passed last week is a $4,000 tax credit for cars that have a 4 kWh (or greater) battery. Right now, the only car that meets that is the Volt. Such tax credits top out… → Read More
A little over a year ago, we brought you news of a space hotel to be opened in 2012. A space hotel! Well even though the thing’s not set to open for another four or so years, 38 people have already made reservations. Interestingly, eight of those people are the same people who bought I Am Rich for the iPhone. I kid! Seriously, I kid. The trip takes about four days and costs a ball-busting $4.46… → Read More
Luckily, my electric bill is covered by the building (I pay for gas), but those of you who have to pay your own way, take heed of this advice: turn off your video game console, and make sure they’re not in standby mode. A recent study shows that a PS3 plugged in and on standby pulls five times as much electricity as a refrigerator similarly plugged in. Other electronic devices, like plasma… → Read More
Get this. You know how when you have to confirm your bank account with, say, Paypal or Google Checkout or any number of online services that want to make sure the bank account that they’re going to be depositing money into belongs to you? So you’ll generally receive two small deposits — pennies each — that you’ll have to confirm, right? Well some guy used an automated… → Read More
Wow, that’s MUCH better than a stupid alarm clock or gold fountain pen. Royal Bank of Canada is giving away 2G Surf Eee PCs when you open a new account. Sure wish I lived in Canada. Is there a catch? Of course! There are only two eligible accounts to choose from; one’s $14 per month and one’s $30 per month. But hey, free Eee. Well played, Canada. RBC Royal Bank [RBCRoyalBank.com]… → Read More
Get this. It turns out that various parts of the music industry are very, very greedy. I know, I was shocked too! The Music Business Group (the UK’s version of the RIAA, basically) is proposing that music creators and rights owners should be entitled to profits from anything that facilitates you ripping a CD to your computer — anything used for “format shifting,” as… → Read More
[photopress:wowcos.jpg,full,center] Flickr’d And who said World of Warcraft was a waste of time? Turns out you can win a couple of ducats if you’re good enough. Starting in April, Blizzard will start a contest where players will compete for a grad prize of $75,000. It’ll be a 3v3 Arena contest where players will try to out-PVP each other. To make things intersting, the contest… → Read More
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