paypal
Latest
PayPal sues Pandora over confusingly similar logos
Back in October, Pandora donned a new look and launched a new logo that looked very familiar to anyone who's ever used PayPal before. Now the online payment system is taking Pandora to court, accusing it of ripping off its iconic logo to ride on its popularity. It had some savage words for the music streaming service in the lawsuit it filed, telling the court that Pandora decided on a logo design similar to its own to overcome "serious commercial challenges that threaten its very survival." After all, the filing reads, "Pandora has no obvious path to profitability" as a streaming website known for free service, and it also faces "overwhelming competition from Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music."
Android Pay can soon dip into your PayPal account
Now that Android Pay is gaining steam around the world two years after its debut, it's become a convenient way to check out without reaching for your credit or debit card. For people who don't have plastic, however, making use of Android Pay just got a bit easier. That is, if you're a PayPal user in the US. Thanks to an update announced today, you'll soon be able to activate your PayPal account in Android Pay and use it online, in apps and in physical stores.
Square's payment service arrives in the UK
When Jack Dorsey isn't preoccupied with his CEO role at Twitter, he's also busy running the other company he founded, Square. It's all about money, and is primarily known for little devices that, when paired with its mobile app, quickly get small businesses set up to take card, contactless and mobile payments. Today, the company made its first move into the UK (and Europe, in fact), launching the latest iteration of its Square Reader for £39 (plus VAT), so hopefully you needn't go hungry next time when you walk into your local cafe with a wallet full of plastic.
Tech titans back transgender student's Supreme Court case
Apple has officially signed an amicus brief in support of Gavin Grimm's case that's hitting the Supreme Court later this month. In addition, Cupertino has successfully helped convince other tech titans to support the transgender student's fight for the right to use the bathroom that matches his gender identity. According to TechCrunch, the company worked with non-profit org Human Rights Campaign to reach out to potential signatories in the tech industry. Their crusade was so successful, tech corporations ended up dominating the list of 53 companies that signed the brief.
Apple, other tech giants will support transgender student's case
Several tech titans plan to sign an amicus (friend of the court) brief in support of a 17-year-old transgender student's fight in court, according to Axios. Apple, Microsoft, IBM, PayPal, eBay, Airbnb, Box, Yelp, GitHub, Salesforce, Slack and Tumblr are expected to back Gavin Grimm's legal battle against his school board for the right to use the bathroom that matches his gender identity. The amicus brief, created by LGBT organization Human Rights Campaign, will be filed in favor of Grimm for the Supreme Court hearing scheduled to take place on March 28th.
Transgender protection rollback sparks opposition from tech
On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that it would roll back federal protections for transgender citizens and require states and local school boards to decide how (or, more accurately, whether) they would enforce these people's civil rights. Given that Silicon Valley tech companies routinely portray themselves as paragons of diversity and tolerance, these companies would surely be equally incensed at the government's current attempts to regulate where children can pee. However, the responses so far have failed to directly address the president's recent actions, instead generally relying on passive statements that extol their valuation of diversity and inclusion.
Jaguar and Shell partner for in-car fuel payments
Luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Shell to make fueling up a touch more convenient. That's because everyone who owns a vehicle equipped with the company's InControl Apps will be able to pay for gas without ever leaving the driver's seat. All you need is the Shell mobile app, either a PayPal or Apple Pay account and at least $40,000 for one of the supported cars and you too can take advantage of the new feature.
PayPal's Slack bot makes recouping the office bar tab easy
Slack is a popular way for teams to communicate in the office and bots make the app a lot more helpful with a number of tasks. Thanks to PayPal, there's a simple way for you to send money to a colleague or friend if they grab your coffee or pick up a bar tab after work. With the PayPal Slack bot, all you have to do is type "/PayPal send $5 to (insert username here)" and the funds will be on their way.
You can now tell Siri to send money via PayPal
Siri is still very much a walled garden, but Apple has slowly begun opening its voice assistant to third parties. At its WWDC keynote back in June, the company confirmed app makers could let iPhone and iPad users send and receive money via Siri, with Square Cash and Monzo becoming the first to tap into that functionality. Now, bigger players are tapping into hands-free money transfers, after PayPal announced it too now lets users in over 30 countries send and request money via using only their voice.
Why the Internet fell apart today
If you were on the internet on Friday morning, congrats! You were one of a lucky few who maintained their connectivity in the face of a massive, nationwide DDoS attack against part of the Domain Name System (DNS), a crucial piece of digital infrastructure which, when offline, cripples our ability to access the internet. But despite its importance, the DNS is often overlooked -- much like the rest of the behind the scene mechanisms that make the internet work. So before you go resetting your router to see if that clears things up (hint: it won't), let's take a quick look at what the DNS does and how it managed to break so spectacularly earlier today.
PayPal's Mastercard deal brings its payments to more stores
PayPal wants to be your go-to payment option online and in stores, but it has a problem: banks and credit cards aren't a fan of its free bank transfers and other attempts to push online payment over the conventional variety. However, it's trying to make amends. In the wake of a Visa deal from July, PayPal has forged a partnership with Mastercard that gives the credit card firm higher prominence online in return for more of a retail footprint. PayPal will make Mastercard a "clear and equal" payment choice in its wallet (complete with an image of your card), let you set the card as a default payment method and will "not encourage" you to link a bank account if you're a Mastercard customer. In exchange, you can use a linked Mastercard in your PayPal wallet to make in-store purchases at contact-free terminals.
PayPal won't refund a Twitch troll's $50,000 in donations
An Australian teen is learning one of the many reasons why you shouldn't cause grief for Twitch streamers. PayPal has refused to refund Anthony Archer after he made a total of $50,000 in donations to several well-known Twitch users (including LegendaryLea and NoSleepTV) as part of a trolling scheme. He'd intended to cancel the transactions through PayPal a month after making them, leaving the streamers high and dry, but PayPal wasn't having any of it -- he's on the hook for the full amount. And given that he appears to have used his parents' credit card, he's in more than a little trouble with them, too.
Turkish law forces PayPal to suspend operations in the country
Turkey and the tech world's relationship is infamously contentious, and the country has crippled another company: PayPal. Starting this June 6th, the secure payment service is closing up shop, according to a statement (Turkish) spotted by TechCrunch. Paypal users in the country will be able to transfer any balances to a Turkish bank account after that, but that's about it. Sending and receiving money -- you know, PayPal's main attraction -- via the service will be off the table.
PayPal is killing its Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Amazon apps
On June 30th, PayPal is forcing all its Android and iOS users to update their apps to version 6 if they haven't yet. Notice how Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Android Fire users aren't included in that list? That's because the company is killing its apps for those platforms on the same day. PayPal didn't explain why it decided on shutting down its non-Android and non-iOS applications. In her announcement post, PayPal VP Joanna Lambert only mentioned that everyone can still access the mobile website and that it's still possible to send P2P payments via BBM or to send money from their inbox on Outlook.
Peter Thiel is the one behind Hulk Hogan's Gawker lawsuit
Confirming rumors that had grown over the past few days, Paypal cofounder Peter Thiel admitted to the New York Times that he is financing Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media. Its Gawker blog published an article in 2007 titled "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people" (before later publicizing the sexuality of Apple CEO Tim Cook, and a Conde Nast exec) which kicked off this whole revenge-by-proxy legal saga. Hogan's involvement comes after the site posted a video of the wrestler (real name: Terry Bollea) having sex with the wife of a friend, clipped from a tape with other interesting details. He sued the site and won a $140 million award, which Gawker is appealing.
PayPal stops protecting you when crowdfunding goes bust (updated)
PayPal won't be so crowdfunding-friendly in the future. The payment giant is dropping Purchase Protection for crowdfunding projects as of a user agreement change coming June 25th. From then on, you back efforts at your own risk -- if a campaign goes bust or otherwise doesn't deliver what you were promised, you can't dispute the PayPal charge to get your cash back. You might not want to take a chance on that too-cool-to-be-true gadget, then.
PayPal Credit comes to the UK with interest-free plans
PayPal wants to be the method that everyone naturally defers to when buying goods and services online. Instead of grabbing your debit or credit card, the aim to make you naturally hit the PayPal button whenever you reach the checkout. To incentivise this, the company is rapidly expanding PayPal Credit in the UK, which helps you make purchases even when you don't have the funds in your bank account. You'll need to apply for the privilege online, but if you pass the company's credit check you can get zero percent interest on orders over £150 for the first four months.
PayPal nixes North Carolina ops center following anti-LGBT law
The passing of HB2, a law that denies protections for people who are gay or transgender, is proving to be very expensive for Governor Pat McCrory and the state of North Carolina. In the weeks following Governor McCrory signing the anti-LGBT bill into law, a number of companies, production studios and even the federal government have spoken out against the legislation. Some are pulling money and business ventures from the state, and one of the most recent is PayPal. The financial transaction company announced plans to build a new operations center in Charlotte just before HB2 passed. Today, the company killed those plans, withdrawing the project that would've brought 400 new jobs to the area.
PayPal's redesigned mobile app makes money transfers easier
If you're a fan of sending money with PayPal while on the go, a new version of the company's mobile app aims to make the task easier. As you might expect, handling transactions is the most popular task for the software, and the redesign makes those controls the main attraction. The home screen now shows recent transactions, recent contacts and allows you to quickly resolve any pending requests. In fact, separating transactions based on what's pending and what's completed is a welcome change that should make keeping tabs on your finances a bit easier. It's also easier to pay for things like Yelp Eat24 orders with the app. For Android users, PayPal says it improved fingerprint scanning for more devices, too.
PayPal shoots self in foot while 'white knighting' for Netflix
With the recent rollout of Netflix Everywhere, the company has been on a tear trying to track down and lock out users who rely on VPNs to bypass its regional restrictions and access the US programming list -- or any other country's local selection of shows. Doing so hasn't been as easy as Netflix initially anticipated so it called in PayPal for backup.