Learn how EMV chip card payment technology will affect your small business

EMV chip payment technologyThe SBA has resources to help small businesses with a payment technology revolution that’s coming soon – EMV chip card payments. Here’s what they say about it:

For merchants and financial institutions, the switch to EMV means adding new in-store technology and internal processing systems. To get chip-enabled for your business, contact your acquirer or payment services provider.

The switch to EMV also means a change in liability for credit card fraud. Today, if an in-store transaction is conducted using a counterfeit, stolen or otherwise compromised card, consumer losses from that transaction generally fall back on the payment processor or issuing bank, depending on the card’s terms and conditions. read more

Have we become a society of grandmotherly news clippers?

news clipping

news clippingMy grandmother and aunt used to read several newspapers each day and clip out articles they wished to share with friends and other family members. I would occasionally open up an envelope delivered by the postal service and find an article inside with a very brief note written on or paper-clipped to it …

“Isn’t this a fascinating development? Love, Aunt June” or “Thought this would interest you. Love, Nana”.

This morning, I realized that the internet and social media have turned us into a society of article-clipping grannies and aunts. The cost and ease of tech enables article sharing on a scale and volume that neither Nana or Aunt June dreamed possible. I do this myself, many times every day. Wouldn’t they have loved Facebook and Twitter? read more

Columbia prof asks: “Where did the benefits of technology go?”

Sometimes people ask such good questions they blow me away. I know I’m going to be asking myself this one for quite few days and I’ll be reviewing in my mind snippets out of Columbia Professor Steve Unger’s Feb 10, 2012 article and other answers I think of myself. It’s a great question!

As a young engineer, a half century ago (Wow! Time does fly), I was fascinated by the ideas I was wrestling with, mainly dealing with various aspects of what is now called computer engineering. I greatly enjoyed my work in research and development. But I did have concerns over possible misuse of what we were developing, particularly about possible military applications. I dealt with this mainly by avoiding work on military projects. read more