8 MashUp News. Views. Trends. Tools.
MONEY IS
OBSOLETE
Cash is so passé. Now
anyone—from Girl Scouts
hawking cookies to growing
businesses—can accept
credit cards by pairing a Square card reader
with a smartphone or iPad. To get started,
provide Square, Inc., with details about your-
self and your bank. Then the Square team will
send you a free Square card reader. Or opt for
the definitely not-square “Double Happiness”
Square card reader
(above) from designer
Vivienne Tam (US$10;
proceeds go to
charity). Square will
take 2.75 percent
of your swiped
transactions and
3. 5 percent plus
US$0.15 for keyed-in
transactions; there are no other fees. The
service is available in the U.S. for U.S.-issued
credit cards. Square works with a variety
of Apple iOS and Google Android devices.
Download at the Apple App Store or Android
Market.
squareup.com/app.
FITNESS APPS
Nike+ GPS
Endomondo
Runners can map
their routes, record
their pace, track
their progress, and
challenge others
online. Set a music
playlist for extra
encouragement.
US$1.99 (iPhone).
Windows,
and others).
endomondo.com
iPersonal Trainer
This app tracks
time, distance,
speed, and altitude
for running,
hiking, cycling,
skiing, and more.
Design a workout
routine based
on your fitness
level, goals, and
the equipment
at your gym.
Pairs with some
Bluetooth heart
rate monitors. Free
nikeplus.com
(Android, iPhone,
BlackBerry,
Tracks progress
and adjusts as
your fitness
improves. Included
videos make for a
large download.
US$1.99 (iPhone).
brainware.net
Pocket Yoga
Verbal and visual
instructions take
you through three
different flow
yoga routines at
three difficulty
levels and three
durations.
Substitute
your own music
and track your
progress. US$2.99
(iPhone). pocket-
sports.com
GOING GREEN
As an experienced Oracle professional, you’re well suited
to climb the I T ladder—maybe. Increasingly, employers
look beyond stellar resumes for dynamic interests (no, all-
night hacking doesn’t count) beyond work. Need to pump
some vitae into your curriculum Check out Contour GPS, the
world’s smallest and lightest GPS video camera. Mount this 5.3-
ounce high-definition cam to your helmet and capture a complete
1080 pixel A/V story, along with location, route, speed, and altitude,
of your next amazing venture. Gravity sports—skiing, snowboarding,
mountain biking, surfing—all play really well, but you could also tour
your corporate campus or neighborhood and spice up that stale blog
while proving there’s life outside the cubicle. US$349.99; includes integrated omni-
directional microphone, wide-angle lens, 2 GB microSD card (expandable to 32 GB for up
to eight hours of video), and Storyteller video/mapping application for downloading, editing,
and adding text to your video and posting it on contour.com.
bit.ly/omagcontour
EXTRACURRICULAR VIDEO
TIME DRAIN
35 percent of U. S. technology
companies outsource services
or manufacturing to companies
outside the country, do wn from
37 percent in 2010 and
62 percent in 2009.
Source: BDO Technology Outlook
Survey, bdo.com
ONSHORING ON THE RISE
TECH STAYS PUT
Part of green supply chain
Source: IFS North America
Have a green supply chain initiative
Expect to be in a green supply chain
initiative in the next few years
Do not expect to have a green
supply chain
“Compliance used to be the heart of every successful organization, every successful career. Now, though, compliance is no longer a competitive advantage. We need to be nudged away from conformity and toward ingenuity.” — Seth Godin, author of Poke the Box (The Domino Project, 2011)
