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Venmo's mobile app can now cash your checks
Venmo has introduced a Cash a Check feature that lets you make deposits without using your bank's app.
Tech companies won’t become banks, but they’ll pretend to
Silicon Valley has already eaten plenty of industries, from camera and newspaper businesses to watches and even flashlights. Now, Big Tech appears to be turning its attention to banking. But don't expect Facebook or Google to launch their own banks. According to the experts, this sudden play for financial services is about your loyalty, not their competition.
Apple's new iCloud tool can show if a used iPhone is stolen
The market for used iPhones is fraught with risk, because you may end up paying hundreds of dollars for a locked off device, or worse -- one that appears legit but can't make calls. However, Apple has just revealed an iCloud tool that lets you check a device's activation lock status. All you'll need is the iPhone's IMEI or serial number, and if you're the rightful owner, you'll get info on how to disable any activation locks before selling. Meanwhile, buyers will be shown how to remove the previous account (with the seller's permission). The tool will be particularly useful at sussing out "doulCi" devices, which bypass iCloud to enable activation but won't actually connect to a cell network. That'll prevent you from being fooled by a stolen or lost iPhone that appears to work, but is effectively... an iPod.
The Daily Grind: How often do you inspect people?
I swear, I'm not trying to examine you for your gear. I really don't care about that. I'm examining you because your outfit looks really nice and I want to see how you did it. I want to find out your vanity-based secrets. I want to build on that outfit to produce something gorgeous the next time I hit the streets. Anyone can play Final Fantasy XIV, but I intend to do so with a fair bit of style. Some games don't really let you do this. I can't find out your clothing from examining your character in The Secret World. Some games reward people who are peeking at stats more than at a character's outfits. And some people really don't care in the slightest. So what about you? How often do you inspect people? In-game, obviously; if you're hovering behind Dennis from accounting and carefully counting the number of threads in his shirt, that's creepy, but not the sort of inspection we're talking about. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Chase Mobile iPhone app update: picture your paycheck deposited, and it's there
While JPMorgan Chase & Co. certainly isn't the first bank to do this -- USAA has allowed its members to deposit checks by snapspot for just under a year now -- it's definitely the first major public bank to bring this stuff to the mainstream. A recent update to the Chase Mobile iPhone app enables customers to photograph the front and back of checks made out to them and then have it deposited directly into whatever Chase account (with their name on it, obviously) they choose. Better still, the service is completely free of charge, though it's limited to Apple's platform at the moment. Too bad you can't just cut checks to yourself and live the life those goofy TV ads push so hard, but hey, at least you're one step closer to pretending. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
USAA's Deposit@Mobile app puts check deposits a mug shot away
The problem with banks, you see, is that they're one of the few remaining weak links in our ultimate goal of eliminating all human interaction. If you've got a check you need to deposit in your account, you've got to trek all the way out to your local branch; sure, granted, you can slip the check in an ATM, but your odds of encountering another living creature in the process of doing that are nonzero. Fortunately, USAA -- which counts military personnel as a significant percentage of its customer base -- is helping to close that loop with its "Deposit@Mobile" service, a component of its just-launched mobile banking app in the iPhone's App Store. The secret, you see, lies in the iPhones magical camera which can "take" a "picture" of the check, transmit it to USAA, and boom -- your cash is instantly deposited. No muss, no fuss, and no pesky people to get between you and your hard-earned cash. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that you've got to get the check from someone in the first place... but, you know, one thing at a time. [Via The New York Times]
Forum post of the day: Check please
As evidenced by zombies and Necropoli, the time of the Lich King is nearly upon us. Most players who intend to have a copy of the game preordered have already done so. Soon we'll be zipping open our prized expansion and ready to install. Well, most of us anyway.Zachriel of Kirin Tor found a surprise today when he checked the status of his preordered game. Without notification the complete order of two collectors editions and two regular Wrath packages had been canclled. He was upset that he did not receive any communication that his ordered had been canceled. Some suggested that it may have been an issue with a credit card or some other technical problem. Most of the posters indicated that their orders were still active. But it's time for Tuesday maintenance; could it really hurt to peek at your order status?
Let's get ready to rumb-- err, raid
B Dazzld over on Livejournal has posted her guild's minimum stats required to enter Karazhan, and it should serve as a great guide to those of you wondering if you're ready to start raiding the endgame.I've reposted them all past the jump, so click the link below to see if you're epic enough to join the raid. Truthfully, these stats are considerably lower than you'd need to actually beat all of Karazhan-- Curator is a nice gear check that would probably blow a raid like this away. Of course, the great thing about raiding is that the more you win, the better your gear gets, so even if you can just down the first few bosses every week, you're well on your way to gearing up your ten raidmembers.This kind of thing tends to attract the hardcore people who like to brag that they had +1000 healing at level 60 and if you have any less than that, you're a noob. That kind of thing's not too helpful, because not everyone has hours a day to grind away on gear. But I'll tell you-- my gear sucks compared to most of the people I'm rolling through Karazhan with, and I'm still better than this listing, so it shouldn't be too hard for you, just running 5mans and the occasional heroic, to get to this point at least. So if you haven't been able to join up with a raid yet, or don't feel that you're helping on the raids you're going on, here's an easy guide that can give you something to aim for. And since I know you great commenters will anyway, by all means provide your own thoughts about these gear minimums in the comments below.Update: B Dazzld is a girl, shame on me. Also, updated stats are in the comments. Thanks, B!
Check your PC for Blu-ray & HD DVD compatibility
We understand if you're just a bit confused about Blu-ray and HD DVD playback on your PC. Forgetting unreleased operating systems for the moment, if you want to check your current Windows XP PC for compatibility and get more information on what you can expect from next gen discs, Cyberlink has a FAQ up and also an automated tool for you to download and run, that will let you know if your computer is HD DVD and/or Blu-ray-ready. While the specs aren't guaranteed yet, it is obvious that on top of HDCP for any digital outputs, compatible disc player and plenty of memory, they think you'll need either a Intel Core Duo, Pentium EE/D or AMD Athlon 64 processor and plenty of memory to power those next-gen codecs without a problem. You'll also need a recent graphics card from ATI or NVIDA, PureVideo HD support should ensure the power necessary. As you can see from the picture above, this PC is going to need quite a bit of work, maybe revision two will include an automatic calculator to figure out the cost of the necessary upgrades.[Via CDRinfo]
Widget Watch: Widget Update
Tired of checking countless blogs and news sites just to find out whether one widget or another has been updated? Widget Update might be just what you need, as it can check up to four widget directories for new versions of all your widgets. Once it runs its check, Widget Update displays a list of the widgets that have new versions available, complete with which version is installed, what the updated version is and a link to one or more directories where you can get it.This thing is pretty handy, especially if you're a widget user like me who has quite a few widgets installed, but not always running. Widget Update is available for free (and yes, it can check for its own updates) from DashboardWidgets.
Mac Geekery debunks Dashboard 'phoning home'
JC (yes, the Ungenius guy) at Mac Geekery has used some UNIX tricks to do some digging into the whole 'Dashboard phoning home' topic that's been heating up the Mac web lately. After all is said and done and JC lays out exactly what is happening, he concludes that not only is Mac OS X 10.4.7 not sending any personal data (which we've already been told), but you actually give Apple more data about yourself simply by visiting Apple.com. Here's hoping those worried about Apple trampling their privacy can sleep a little better at night.
Apple responds to privacy concerns over Dashboard phoning home
One only needs to brush up on the Windows Genuine Advantage debacle over at Download Squad (a sister blog) to get a recent example of the trouble a company can get into for making their software phone home (let alone adding an alleged 'kill switch' for the OS, but that's a different story). You can probably imagine, then, the uproar that has been caused when Mac users discovered that, after updating to 10.4.7, a little utility called 'dashboardadvisoryd' started calling home to Apple every eight hours or so. Immediately (of course), allegations of privacy invasion and Apple going the way of the devil began appearing, when (Gruber hit it on the head) Apple could have simply pre-publicized this as nothing more than the security feature that it is. CNET News has an article quoting an Apple statement as saying: "Apple takes protecting user privacy very seriously. The Dashboard Advisory feature is a security tool that ensures that the correct version of a widget has been downloaded from a third-party site and no personal information is transmitted back to Apple". The daemon is simply helping Apple check to make sure that you're running the same widget that is advertised in the Dashboard section of their downloads site.Sounds like the crisis has been averted; nothing more to see here kids. Move along.
Widget Watch: TUAW
A widget author known as tuc11 over at DashboardWidgets has produced one of the best, most useful, productive, and important widgets you could ever download: a TUAW news widget! It's pretty simple, and it checks our headlines (I believe) each time you refresh Dashboard. This way, our headlines stay front and center, so you never have to worry about where they went.Good work tuc11, and nice use of both our logo from the site and C. Robin Osborn's logo he created for our video podcasts.
