Be a Square

Have you heard of Square yet? It is a free piece of technology that reads credit cards. It can be attached to an iPhone, iPad, iTouch or an Android phone, and it runs credit cards wherever you are. I'm sure that Square readers will be all over the place very soon. In fact, it is completely free to get one. You can sign up to receive your own Square directly on the Square website. And then all you have to do is download a free app to go along with it on your phone/iPad and you are ready to go.

What's really interesting about this card reader is that it gives individuals more opportunity to accept and earn money on the go. Think babysitters, artists, musicians on tour, clothing retailers, fashion designers, food cart owners and the like will all be able to easily and quickly be paid via credit card through their phone. The device itself is just a small, plastic square that plugs into your phone or iPad -- it's that simple. The design is clean and chic and unassuming. But what is even more interesting is that the designers asked fashion designer Vivienne Tam to design a limited edition Square all her own. The black and red patterned design stands for "double happiness" and is available to buy through her website. You can also stay current with all of Square's interesting updates via their twitter.

 Since style and design are obviously important to the company, I wonder who will be designing the next limited edition version? I even wonder if, at some point, users will be able to design their own Square readers? They have done such a good job at keeping the process uncomplicated, that I bet designing other versions would be easy to do. Until then, be on the lookout for this tiny new wonder. I can't wait to see what all they will be used for, and what the next generation of readers will look like.