There’s a new app made by a Toronto based company that’s got my attention. Called Lorax, it’s a an app which is available for Android and iOS that allows you to leave your cash at home and instead use it to pay for your coffee or dinner.
Payments are completely secure as they use the Lucova platform which is PCI compliant. But it goes further than that. The other thing that Lorax does is gives participating businesses info about customers who use the app. When a Lorax customer enters a participating business, they are immediately identified by staff members, greeted by name and informed about their recent purchasing history with the business.
Plus these customers get access to exclusive offers. Talk about being treated like a VIP. The other thing that you can do with the app is use it to help discover all sorts of businesses in your neighbourhood that you perhaps didn’t know existed.
I test drove the iOS version of the app today and I found it to be very intuitive and smooth to use. Paying was very easy. After entering my credit card details into the app, I went to a restaurant that I found using the app. When it came time to pay up, the barkeep was able to charge me via the app. I got the notification on my iPhone and confirmed the payment. Quick and painless. You can’t ask for anything more on that front.
So far, a number of businesses in Toronto’s Fashion District have signed up with Lorax and the company will be expanding to other areas in Toronto soon. I look forward to that as I really think this app can be a game changer. I’d keep an eye on it.
Typo In Defiance Of Court Order And Is Looking At A Contempt Charge
Posted in Commentary with tags BlackBerry on August 23, 2014 by itnerdYou might recall that when Typo rose from the dead back in June, I said this:
It’s been redesigned with a look that makes sure that they cannot be sued out of existence by BlackBerry. We’ll see how well that works out for them. In the meantime, if you want one you should place your order now.
Guess what? GigaOm is reporting that Typo may be in trouble. Again:
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick agreed to let BlackBerry proceed with contempt of court proceedings after the Canadian phone maker showed that Typo has been selling keyboards in violation of the earlier order.
“I am very concerned with what appears to be deliberate contempt of the preliminary injunction by Typo,” wrote Orrick, pointing out that the company shipped around 15,000 keyboards despite the ban. The judge imposed the ban in April after finding that the Typo design likely violated three of BlackBerry’s patents.
Well, that isn’t good for Typo. What’s even worse is the fact that Typo’s redesign of their keyboard doesn’t seem to be having the desired effect:
According to Orrick, the existence of a “supposedly non-infringing design” was not relevant to the existing injunction. The judge added that Typo would have to bring a separate court proceeding to get an order related to the new designs.
Thus, if you want a Typo keyboard for your iPhone, I suspect that you should get it while you can.
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