PayPal Here Credit Card Reader Ready to Compete With Square?

March 29, 2012August 13, 2012 by BrothaTech

Love it or loathe it, a large number of small businesses already depend on PayPal’s merchant services. It makes sense that the eBay-owned company (that also has its hands in a ton of online merchant’s pockets) would release a mobile credit card reader, called PayPal Here for small businesses looking to step away from the cash register.

PayPal Here is similar to, and in direct competition of, services like Verifone’s PAYware, Intuit’s GoPayment, and of course, Square’s popular dongle. One of the main differences between PayPal Here and the others is immediate access to funds versus waiting for several days to access funds with the rest. That is one of the things in my mind that keeps PayPal on top of eCommerce pyramid, despite it’s issues. Read More

Square Register is the best Point of Sale for iPad

March 29, 2012August 13, 2012 by Justin Alcon

Point of sale software on the iPad is nothing new, but it’s definitely worth a second look now that Square has released Square Register, their app for accepting both card and cash payments via your iPad.

The new Square Register should be ideal for a small business owner. Once you sign up for Square, you get a Square “Card Reader”, a little dongle that allows you to swipe credit cards. As long as you have a place to stash your cash, you can also take cash payments with just a tap of your touch screen. Read More

What are you UpTo? Shared Calendar App Set to Revolutionize Business

March 29, 2012August 14, 2012 by Justin Alcon

What’s the hottest new thing imported from Detroit? UpTo, the new calendar sharing app. A couple of days ago, I had a chance to speak to founder and CEO Greg Schwartz about UpTo, his new motor city venture. UpTo is the social calendar sharing app that has been out for about two weeks. Already, Greg has noticed that his main users are small business owners, people who were really needing something more modern from their calendar apps.

In the recent past , small businesses used Google calendars almost exclusively. Google Calendar is fairly utilitarian: you either share your whole calendar with someone, or you share nothing at all. And, the interface is just Google’s traditional minimalist set. UpTo has an advantage over Google Calendar in that it lets you control what you share through a rich, modern interface. UpTo also adds social features that really enrich the calendar experience by easily sharing the activities that are relevant, while keeping private those events that are for your eyes only. Read More

NFC Action is Heating Up—Who Wins? Consumers!

March 23, 2012August 14, 2012 by David Egger

David Egger is Lead Marketing Manager for AT&T’s IRU (Individual Responsibility User) Mobility Programs. You can find more blog content from David and other experts on emerging technologies and mobile application on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

When I last wrote about NFC (Near Field Communication) the technology was in its absolute infancy and was little more than a dream for a boy holding his wallet and phone, wishing they could merge. Fast forward less than a year and we have two functioning NFC systems live in the United States, and devices arriving with the capability to take full advantage.

Google Wallet was the first out of the gate with a limited solution. Google Wallet works with Citi Mastercard PayPass only at this time. It is also only available on the Nexus S device. It integrates with the Google Offers deals platform.

Right now the other big player is ISIS, a platform collaborated on between AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile to bring NFC to the mainstream. This Summer we can expect to see a wide range of devices supporting ISIS, and the pilot that is currently ongoing in Austin and Salt Lake City already has support for multiple credit cards. ISIS also integrates a wide range of loyalty programs, enabling you to combine the functionality of a mobile wallet app and an app like CardStar. Read More

What’s Good? Mobile Device Management Tools with Military-Grade Security

March 16, 2012August 14, 2012 by Justin Alcon

In case you’ve been under a rock, modern mobilty is all about being productive everywhere. As we also know, one of the greatest concerns in any business is security. It’s obvious that these two forces work against each other in some ways. Empowering your staff to be productive while on the go means the increased potential of exposing your company secrets.

For a long time, RIM’s Blackberry had a stranglehold on this market segment. If you wanted secure email on the go, Blackberry was the answer. However, the Canadian mobile maker has lagged behind the tech curve, and it looks like the market is finally catching up with them. Increasingly, employees want to use their personal device for mobile productivity, but using personal devices for work presents a security risk for the business. So, how can employees stay secure without having to carry a bunch of devices around with them, doing tasks based on which device can get the job done?

Enter Good for Enterprise. Good for Enterprise is a suite of mobile device management tools with military-grade security for data loss prevention. Their collaboration features for iOS, Android, and Windows phone enable productivity without keeping your IT team up at night. Read More

Crowdfunding is hot at this year’s South by Southwest: Here’s Why

March 13, 2012August 14, 2012 by Shy Mukerjee

Crowdfunding isn’t a particularly new idea—ever since it was possible to take payments over the Internet, organizations and individuals have been using their online audiences to fund myriad projects, from entertainment like movies and theatre to tech products like solar energy. But websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo provide platforms that really change the way people thought about crowdfunding projects. No longer do entrepreneurs and artists need to create their own web sites and manage their own credit-card processing. Now with an idea, a great video, and some promotion, a great idea can go from pipe dream to fully-funded reality. Read More

This Time I Am Getting the 4G

March 12, 2012August 14, 2012 by Justin Alcon

I’m not known for being an early adopter; I usually like to hunker down and wait for the perfect upgrade opportunity. The new iPad, however, has me so excited that I even considered doing something that I’ve never done before: pre-ordering technology.

So why am I so excited? Well, there are a lot of great things about the new iPad, the most obvious being the great new display. Though the idea is simple, great-looking images can be a powerful draw. Also, the processor been upgraded, and the new cameras are really impressive. While all of this is exciting, the really exciting upgrade for me is the move to 4G LTE technology. You may remember that a while back, I wrote about how my father insisted on a 4G tablet for his Christmas gift. I told him to get an iPad, but he insisted on having 4G. He ended up with a Galaxy, which I tried out over the holiday at his home way out in the boondocks of North Carolina. When I attempted to use his satellite wifi (since he’s so far out in the country that cable and DSL internet isn’t available), I realized why the 4G was so important to him. The 4G speed was wildly faster than his home internet service.

So, this morning I was sitting on my couch with the wife, discussing our next batch of gadgets while digging through the Apple iPad site. By habit, she had picked out a white 16 gig Wifi model. Remembering her experience with her father’s Android over the holidays, and thinking of our propensity to travel, I told her I think it’s worth the extra money to get the 4G model. After reminding her of the same thing, she agreed, the iPad really is about mobile productivity. So we’re now gunning for the 4G model and upgrading yet another of our household’s data services. I’m really excited about it, because I think that with the extra speed we’re going to increase our ability to be productive, connected, and entertained no matter where we are.

Are you going to get the new iPad? If you’re even thinking about it, hit AT&T’s website and sign up to be notified when sales start. Your thoughts in the comments.

How to Justify the New iPad for Your Business

March 9, 2012February 1, 2014 by BrothaTech

I must admit, the “New iPad” features are really impressive. The 2048 x 1536 resolution alone is enough to have most people justifying the purchase. Add that with a quad-core processor and 4G/LTE connectivity, and the New iPad will practically sell itself.

There are a ton of features that make the New iPad a no doubt “buy” if you’re a small business owner who hasn’t quite bought into the whole tablet craze. But the “Resolutionary” features alone won’t make you a on-the-go productive whiz on the device. You still need a solid suite of business apps to uncover just how productive you can be on the New iPad.

Now, if you’ve been following Small Biz Go Mobile, all we do is identify resources, services…and apps that can help you stay at work, even when you’re not at work (did I just blow your mind?). Now, we don’t want you to just go out there and download tons of apps without knowing how you can use them for your business, so here are just a few ways you can close those deals on your New iPad…cause we all know you’re getting one.

Document Management

If you’re not in the cloud, or don’t have a way to retrieve important documents from your office computer, you might as well stop reading now. There is nothing like leaving an important document on the printer because you rushed out the door to a meeting with a client, or to catch your flight. That’s one of the reasons why I suggest any small biz invest in the cloud to at the very least, make sure you have access to all your documents on any device, whenever you need them. A good document creator/editor is needed as well. If a client or team member wants to adjust some numbers in a spreadsheet and you’re not nowhere near a computer, you still need to capability to open and edit that document from your email, then send it back to them lickity-split. Read More

Mario Armstrong

TV Host and Motivator for the Modern World

Category: Small Biz Go Mobile