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AGENDA
POWER POINTS
ONE AND DONE
Business in a Box for Square Register, available at squareup.com (starting at $249), includes a Heckler Design iPad stand, receipt printer, and cash drawer in one package.
Name
Platform
What You Can Study
Coursera
(coursera.org)
Internet browser
College-level courses in subjects such as law, biol- ogy, computer science, and finance
Duolingo
(duolingo.com)
Browser, iPhone/ iPad and Android devices
Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian, with more languages being added
Codecademy
(codecademy.com)
Browser
Programming languages: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, and Ruby
iTunes U
(apple.com/ education/ itunes-u)
iTunes U app (all Apple devices)
College-level courses designed by universities, high school teachers, and other qualified individuals
Udemy
(udemy.com)
Browser, iPhone/iPad app
Courses, in the thousands, run the gamut; reviews separate the interesting from the monotonous
lynda.com
(lynda.com)
Browser, mobile site, iPhone/iPad app
Business/tech/design subjects include 3D animation and WordPress; best for learning new types of software
Q3 2013
POWER POINTS
Pocket-Sized Point of Sale
Square Register reinvents in-store payment with small businesses in mind.
THERE’S A CERTAIN CHARM
in retaining a cash-only checkout
policy—if you’re a mom-and-pop still actually run by (aging) Mom and/or Pop. Under any other circumstances, there is, of course, an app for that.
Square Register, created by Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey back in 2010, is a sleek, straightforward credit-card reader that con- nects to your iPhone or iPad. Local mer- chants such as Mix It Up, a “salad boutique” in White Plains, are catching on, ditching the Stone-Age hardware, and giving
up leaving money on the table.
Simply download the corre- sponding app, link your bank account at squareup.com, and receive your free reader— slightly larger than a postage stamp—in the mail. Plug
the plastic piece into your device’s headphone jack, and you’re ready to start accept- ing all major credit cards. (Square Stand, a mount that secures your iPad to a coun- ter, retails for $299 as of July.)
After a credit card is run through your new reg-
Online Learning
They say it’s the future. Here’s how to get involved—for your pleasure, resumé improvement, and maybe even that all- important raise—today.
TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS ANYONE—
even busy professionals—to learn a new skill. So, if you’re going to turn off the TV and use your downtime to make yourself more employable (or possibly even raise your salary), consider using
one or more of the many easy and cheap learning tools available online to add web coding, financial know-how, or foreign-language fluency to your personal asset portfolio. We chose a few of the new- est online-learning options offering quality, variety, and affordability (from free of charge to about the cost of a nice bottle of wine). While most are not currently recognized as US-accredited educational institutions, it's up to you to determine what your new skill(s) might be worth. Dive in—and prepare to show off.
ister, funds are deposited into your account within one to two days. No need to worry about the security of your customers’ account info—Square encrypts each swipe, and offers a choice between an email, SMS, or paper receipt (via iPad only) every time. Purchase data is stored on Square’s servers, and allows you to track sales in real time.
“My son Daniel was con- vinced Square Register would be useful, and it has been very
reliable. Our customers are intrigued by how easy it is to use” says Gil Galli, man- aging partner of Mix It Up. “It’s an incred- ible way of doing business.”
Square gives business owners two payment options for the service: a flat
fee of $275 per month, or 2.75 percent
of each card swipe. One thing to look
out for, warns Galli: “If you don’t swipe the card through the mini card reader, there is a 3.5-percent plus 15-cents-per- transaction fee to manually enter the card information.”
—Scott Simone
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