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Square just bought Tidal and your guess is as good as ours as to why
The two companies share a love of really boring logos
Square, the company that makes those little portable payment machines you use when you're in a small restaurant or paying for a caricature, is buying Tidal, that music streaming service that's obsessed with audio quality. If it seems like an odd match, consider that musicians often need to get paid in non-traditional ways—that's how it's being pitched in the official announcement, anyway.
Cash App, Square's mobile payment app, is currently experimenting with short-term loans of up to $200. Given the state of the economy right now, this might come in handy for some. That said, the interest rates start stacking up pretty quickly if not paid off after a month.
Square, of point of sale/payment processing fame, has just pushed out a new application onto the Play Store for handling invoices. The functionally named "Square Invoices" will allow Square customers to create and fire off invoices and estimates, track payment statuses, and set automatic reminders for unpaid invoices. This is all without any monthly fees — though you still have to pay card processing fees.
Slowly but surely, Google Keep is adding more features that bring it closer to the powerful note-taking application we all want it to be. A recent change made it possible to indent items in lists, and another note form is getting a small update now. If you like drawing or using handwriting for your notes, you can now replace the white background with grids or lines to improve your accuracy.
Square, the company that makes those little headphone jack credit card readers, would like you to use their services more. Of course they would - that's kind of the whole point of commerce. But at the moment merchants using Square are limited to the dedicated Square app, which by default is a sort of digital cash register. The company is hoping to expand itself a bit with its latest API, which allows developers to integrate Square payments into their independent Android apps.
There are many ways to send money to a friend using your phone. PayPal, Venmo, Facebook, Google. Not long ago, Square introduced Cash as its own personal method for you to take money that's in your bank account and stick it in another's. Now the company is introducing a feature that lets you set aside money specifically for this purpose.
Square's square readers go into a phone or tablet's headphone jack and let the device accept payments from a credit card. Its original model, anyway. The company has a new one that's rolling out to over 100 small business owners across the US starting today.
Final Fantasy Tactics was an oddball when it was first released for the PlayStation in 1997 - ostensibly a member of the never-repeating (at the time) Final Fantasy series, the game broke from the familiar turn-based battles with a new isometric system that put a huge emphasis on tactical positioning and strategic use of classes and attack ranges. While FFT never got the attention of the standard numbered RPGs in the series, it became a sleeper hit, and the original was kept alive with a few sequels and remakes. It remains a popular game for PS1 emulators.
The biggest Android gaming news of the month was certainly the release of NVIDIA's SHIELD Android TV, and it brought with it quite a few high-profile PC ports. But since the vast majority of readers don't have one, I've decided to restrict this month's top picks to more general smartphone and tablet games. Fear not, SHIELD early adopters: you get your own picks down there below the honorable mention section.
Writing great, high-quality software is hard work. No matter how well we know a platform or how long we spend on code, there are bound to be bugs. Memory leaks are among the most common problems, and they can be particularly disruptive on mobile devices. Square set out to make memory leaks easier to track down and fix with a new library called LeakCanary. It makes leak detection almost automatic and presents results in both logcat and an easy-to-read interface.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got an endless runner with shooter elements, a unique adventure game, another unique adventure game (but an old one this time), and Square's latest IAP-filled role-player. Without further ado:
Square released Cash a while back to make it easier to send and receive money on your mobile device, but now it's even easier with "$Cashtags." Get it? It's like a hashtag, but for money. You know some marketing manager was giddy after coming up with that. It's not all fun and games, though. Cash now also supports businesses with an option called Cash Pro.
Square's app for ordering food and drinks ahead of time won't be helping people consume meals much longer. Square has removed the app from the Google Play, and it plans to shut down the service in just a matter of days.
You're sitting at home or in your office, hungry, ready to gnaw at anything, really anything, then you remember that you would absolutely love those special donuts you usually grab on your way to work. The problem? They don't deliver. Your craving is turning into a focused need for donuts and it's evolving at an alarming speed into dangerous territory. What do you do? You pick up your Android phone and launch the Caviar app.
The next time you're sending lurid photos to people on Snapchat, why not make things interesting by putting some money on it? No, wait. I'm sure that'll never happen. Snapchat's new Snapcash service was designed with help from Square to make sending money as easy as sharing photos. Unsure? Just watch this super-weird 2-minute song and dance explainer.
Before we start: Square's Order service is still only for eateries in San Francisco and New York City, because those are the only two places where people use smartphones. If you fall paradoxically outside of the service area (like all but one of Android Police's staff), you can stop reading now. For everyone else, check out the sizeable upgrade to Square Order, now rolling out in the Play Store. The app, which allows you to order and pay for food at restaurant tables, gets a fresh new look and some other goodies.
Pardon me, readers. This is usually where I make a distinction to point out the fact that most of the world calls its favorite sport football. (We do that in America too, but it's a different football, and we call everyone else's football "soccer.") That isn't important. What is important is that Square Enix thinks that the image below is the best way to advertise its new game, Champ Man 15.
[Game Roundup] Our Top Seven Picks For The Best New Games Of September 2014
A look at our best games from September 2014.
September was an unusually good month for high-end Android games, especially those that are ported or simultaneously released on other platforms. The latest entry in the Anomaly series is sure to please tower defense fans, Mage Gauntlet will make action RPG players happy, the original Dragon Quest is available for those who appreciate the classics, and the much-loved Goat Simulator is there for... well, for gamers who like goats, I suppose. Here in no particular order are our picks for the best games of September, along some notable extras.
Android is becoming a veritable haven of classic RPGs, and Square Enix's mobile ports and re-releases are a big part of that. In addition to no less than six of the original Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, and the fourth and eighth entries in Enix's Dragon Quest series, the company published the original Dragon Quest to the Play Store last night. You can get the 1986 NES title for a reasonable $2.99.
In July, Chrome Beta was updated with a new interface that more closely adhered to Google's new design vision - material design. Fitting with Google's occasional habit of stripping things down during major refreshes (see Google Maps on the web), many elements of the interface were sliced, rearranged, or simplified, including the tab indicator in the top right corner of the screen. Previously, the indicator showed users how many tabs were open, but after the redesign it simply displayed a square (or two stacked squares if you had multiple tabs open). This was a thorn in the side of many users, who missed the helpful bit of information.