‘Square Dashboard’ Gives Businesses Ability to Track Sales in Real-Time
Square today launched a new app called “Square Dashboard,” which aims to provide business owners with complete overviews of their businesses thanks to real-time data read-outs of various sales and analytic figures (via TechCrunch). The app sees Square’s continued expansion away from its simple start as a third-party payment processor, and into a more widely used enterprise-focused software company.
The app will allow business owners to track the sales figures of their business, and is even able to distinguish between individual locations for a franchised business. Users will be able to set dates and goals to meet, and compare items for sale, categories, and gross sales. Thanks to the app’s ability to go back and see sales from previous weeks, months, and years, business owners can more easily track their busiest seasons or discover the cause behind a bump or decline in profit.
Speaking with TechCrunch, Sidecar Coffee owner Andy Fuchtman noted the new app succeeds in keeping him up-to-date on the daily goings-on of his business, and even provides useful glimpses into the most popular items on sale at the shop.
I use the data to help me build the schedule, to see if my ideas for the shop are working, and to help me understand the identity of my business. For example, it turns out that vanilla lattes were among our top five selling items almost every day this spring so I had my staff make and taste a vanilla latte every time they started their shift. I tried a cappuccino happy hour to promote our favorite drink to make, then I watched to see if it worked.
Business owners interested can download Square Dashboard for free today from Square’s official website, after first creating a free Square account with the company.
Apple Music, Beats 1, iTunes and App Store Experiencing Issues During VMA Nominee Announcements
A growing number of users on Twitter are reporting issues with Apple Music, Beats 1, iTunes and the App Store as nominees are announced for the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) exclusively on Beats 1. MacRumors can confirm that many of Apple’s cloud-based services are currently not loading or displaying error messages in the United States and Canada.
Apple has updated its System Status page to reflect service disruptions for some users for the App Store, Apple TV, iBooks Store, iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match, iTunes Store, iTunes U, Mac App Store, OS X Software Update, Beats 1 Radio and Volume Purchase Program. The issues have been ongoing for several users since approximately 10:15 AM Eastern.
iOS and Mac musicians can ditch wires with Bluetooth MIDI device
Zivix has a new wireless MIDI device for Apple-centric musicians, but unlike the original WiFi Puc, this time it’s using Bluetooth 4.0. The Puc+ is the “first Bluetooth MIDI interface that universally supports any MIDI controller,” according to the company. It can handle multiple controllers at once, connect to old-school 5-pin or newer USB MIDI devices, and work with any audio workstation running on a Mac, iPad or iPhone — including GarageBand, ProTools and others. The company claims it has sub-15ms latency that’s on par with cabled solutions, and can control devices up to 40 feet away.
If you’re thinking, “wait a minute, doesn’t Zivix already have a wireless MIDI controller?” Yes, but the Bluetooth model apparently offers a few advantages over the original WiFi Puc. Since it’s designed specifically for iOS 8.2 and OS X, it supports Apple’s new Bluetooth MIDI connectivity, letting you hook up multiple controllers (you’ll need a Puc+ for each one, mind you). It works with more setups, thanks to new bi-directional USB and MIDI in/out support. It also has “exceptionally low latency,” and Zivix said testers felt “it leaves our original Puc standing still in terms of performance.”
If you want one, you’ll need to have at least an iPad Mini, iPad 3 or newer, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, or an iPhone 5, all running iOS 8.2 and up. Most Mac devices will work, provided they can run OS X 10.10 Yosemite. If that’s all good, you can order one from Indiegogo starting at $89, or get up to eight for $729. (The devices will cost $130 retail once the crowdfunding campaign is over.) So far, the company is a quarter of the way to its $20,000 goal with $5,000 pledged. If you’re justifiably worried about buying on Indiegogo, bear in mind that the company’s original Puc campaign was a success, and the product generally received good reviews.
Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless
Source: Indiegogo
Apple Watch Launches in New Zealand, Russia and Turkey on July 31
Apple has announced that the Apple Watch will be available for purchase on the Apple Online Store in New Zealand, Russia and Turkey starting July 31 after 7:01 AM local time.
Turkish customers should also have the option of in-store pickup at one of two physical Apple Store locations at the Zorlu Center and Akasya Shopping Center in Istanbul.
Apple Watch will now be available in over 20 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
New Zealand
– Apple Watch Sport: NZ$599 to NZ$699
– Apple Watch: NZ$949 to NZ$1,949
– Apple Watch Edition: NZ$17,500 to NZ$30,000
Russia
– Apple Watch Sport: 23,990 RUB to 27,990 RUB
– Apple Watch: 37,990 RUB to 78,990 RUB
– Apple Watch Edition: 660,000 RUB to 1,120,000 RUB
Turkey
– Apple Watch Sport: 1,249 TRY to 1,399 TRY
– Apple Watch: 1,999 TRY to 3,899 TRY
– Apple Watch Edition: 34,000 TRY to 56,000 TRY
(Thanks, Vladislav!)
Silicon Valley giants side with Samsung in a dispute with Apple
Apple and Samsung have been arguing in court over various patent infringements for years now and the proceedings are still apparently ongoing. In the latest development, a number of Silicon Valley’s top firms, including Google, Facebook, HP, Dell and eBay, submitted a “friend of the court” brief on July 1st in support of Samsung, according to a newly sourced document.
For a little background, Samsung was initially order to turn over all of the profits from its Galaxy devices that the court decided were infringing on various Apple intellectual property. Patents ranged from tap-to-zoom, finger scrolling and edge-to-edge glass design, just to name a few.
The original case would have cost Samsung close to $1 billion, but the amount was reduced to $548 million following an appeal. Samsung wants the decision completely reversed.
The document signed by numerous tech giants shows support for Samsung because other companies are worried that the ruling sets a precedent and could have an impact on their own incentives to invest in future research and development. Particularly, that the current ruling could “lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components.”.
“Under the panel’s reasoning, the manufacturer of a smart television containing a component that infringed any single design patent could be required to pay in damages its total profit on the entire television, no matter how insignificant the design of the infringing feature was to the manufacturer’s profit or to consumer demand.“
Essentially, the concern is that expensive and inclusive nature of these type of patent disputes could stifle innovation. Even one small and seemingly insignificant component can apparently lead to all of the profits generated from a bigger product being surrendered.
Apple has reportedly asked for a dismissal of Google’s involvement in the briefing, as its Android operating system powers Samsung’s handsets. We will have to wait and see if the intervention of Silicon Valley’s finest can tip the balance in Samsung’s favour.
Silicon Valley companies back Samsung in infringement case against Apple
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The patent infringement lawsuit between Samsung and Apple has gone on for as long as anybody can be bothered to remember. Most recently, Samsung was ordered to pay $548 million USD, their total profits from Galaxy devices that were deemed to have infringed on Apple patents. However, an interesting twist has been thrown into the mix: a number of Silicon Valley companies have backed Samsung in a “friend of the court” briefing which involved the likes of Facebook, Google, eBay, HP and Dell. Their argument is that enforcing that Samsung pay Apple, the court would essentially be “stifling innovation”.
“If allowed to stand, that decision will lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies, including [the briefing draftees], who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components.”
There’s a lot of truth in that statement, as it could have been anyone instead of Samsung – Samsung just happens to be the biggest target. But of course, Apple sees differently – Apple wants the briefing dismissed, arguing that since Google is part of the movement, it can’t possibly be impartial as a “friend of the court”.
You can kind of see where each side of the argument is coming from, but ultimately this is a matter for the courts to decide – even so, what are your thoughts about who is right? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: MacRumors via SamMobile
The post Silicon Valley companies back Samsung in infringement case against Apple appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Big tech companies back Samsung in court case against Apple
Just like Taylor Swift in Bad Blood, Samsung has also found a powerful group of backers in its fight against Apple in court. According to a document unearthed by Inside Sources, Google, Facebook, eBay, Dell, HP and other big tech corporations have submitted a “friend of the court” brief on July 1st, supporting Samsung’s stance. The two companies have been embroiled in legal fisticuffs for years, ever since Apple first filed a lawsuit against Samsung for violating various intellectual properties, such as tap-to-zoom, sinle-finger scrolling and two-finger zooming, as well as edge-to-edge glass design, among other things.
Samsung was eventually ordered to turn over the total profits of the Galaxy devices the court decided were infringing on Apple’s IPs, worth almost $1 billion. Earlier this year, the Court of Appeals lowered that amount to $548 million, but the Korean electronics maker is still fighting for the decision to be reversed completely. See, the companies that filed the friend-of-the-court briefing believe that having Samsung turn over the total profits of those devices sets a bad precedent. They think that if the decision is allowed to stand, it “will lead to absurd results.”
Inside Sources quoted this relevant part of the document to illustrate what the companies mean:
Under the panel’s reasoning, the manufacturer of a smart television containing a component that infringed any single design patent could be required to pay in damages its total profit on the entire television, no matter how insignificant the design of the infringing feature was to the manufacturer’s profit or to consumer demand.
Software products and online platforms face similar dangers. A design patent may cover the appearance of a single feature of a graphical user interface, such as the shape of an icon. That feature-a result of a few lines out of millions of code-may appear only during a particular use of the product, on one screen display among hundreds. But the panel’s decision could allow the owner of the design patent to receive all profits generated by the product or platform, even if the infringing element was largely insignificant to the user and it was the thousands of other features, implemented across the remainder of the software, that drove the demand generating those profits.
As for Apple, it has reportedly asked for the dismissal of Google’s involvement in the briefing, since it’s the company behind Android, the platform loaded on most Samsung devices.
[Image credit: Janitors/Flickr]
Filed under: Misc, Apple, Samsung, Google, Facebook
Via: The Verge
Source: Inside Sources
Facebook, Google and Other Silicon Valley Companies Side with Samsung in Patent Case
Facebook, Google, eBay, HP, Dell and other Silicon Valley companies weighed in on the ongoing Samsung and Apple patent case, siding with the Korean company in a “friend of the court” briefing filed on July 1 to the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and first spotted by Inside Sources [PDF via AppleInsider]. The companies argue that the court ordering Samsung to turn over profits would lead to stifled innovation.
If allowed to stand, that decision will lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies, including [the briefing draftees], who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components.
The companies contend that technology like smartphones, which include thousands of different components in both hardware and software, is too complex to award profits, like Samsung is being ordered to do, based on individual component infringements. They argue that any company could then be opened up to patent infringement cases for insignificant features like a specific user interface creation that only appears on a single screen of an app, therefore stifling innovation.
After the companies submitted their thoughts to the court, Apple responded by arguing their thoughts should be dismissed. The Cupertino company specifically called out Google, pointing out that the company has a strong interest in the case because its behind the Android operating system used by Samsung and that the Mountain View company cannot be an impartial “friend of the court”.
In mid-June, Samsung asked the court to reconsider a central part of a recent ruling that ensured Apple would receive $548 million in damages, with Samsung wanting the court to rehear the case with a full 12-judge roster rather than the 3-judge panel it used in the previous ruling. That previous ruling reduced Apple’s reward from $900 billion to $548 million.
Apple hires Chrysler’s quality lead to help make its electric car
Apple isn’t done hiring top talent for its electric car project — in fact, it just scored one of its biggest hires. The Wall Street Journal understands that 1 Infinite Loop recently recruited Doug Betts, the manager for Fiat Chrysler’s global quality efforts from 2007 to 2014. It’s not clear what role he’ll take, but his former position suggests that he’ll help Apple put everything together in a solid piece of machinery. Let’s just hope that the result is more reliable than Chrysler and Fiat cars — neither brand has performed well in recent dependability rankings.
Not that Betts is the only one to come aboard as of late. Apple has also picked up Paul Furgale, the deputy director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s Autonomous Systems Lab. Given that he’s also hiring other computer vision and robotics gurus, it doesn’t take much to see that he’s working on self-driving tech for Cupertino’s EV. The car isn’t even expected to show up until 2020, assuming it pans out, but it’s evident that many of the necessary puzzle pieces are coming into place.
[Image credit: Theo Wargo via Getty Images]
Filed under: Transportation, Apple
Source: Wall Street Journal, LinkedIn
Instagram Brings Search to the Web for the First Time
Instagram has offered access to images uploaded to the Instagram iOS app on the web for several years now, and as of today, the site’s gained a new highly desired feature – search. Prior to today, Instagram users could not search for content on the Instagram website, with search being limited to the company’s apps.
With the new website search feature that’s rolling out today, it’s possible to search for hashtags, locations, and user accounts directly from a web browser. The new capabilities are designed to make the web experience better complement the mobile browsing experience.
Searching for a location will bring up images from that location alongside a map, while searching for a username will bring up individual accounts and searching for a hashtag will bring up a landing page that shows all images tagged with that label. Search pages display both top posts that have received the most likes and most recent posts.
Today’s new web search feature follows a major June iOS update that made it easier to discover content within the Instagram app. That update expanded the “Explore” tab with curated collections of images and enabled the ability to search by location for the first time.
Instagram for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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