As the mobile payments market heats up with entries like MasterPass from MasterCard, mobile payment player Square continues to forge new ground.

Last November, Square, the brainchild of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, scored a coup by getting Starbucks to accept mobile payments in some 7,000 locations. Users of Square Wallet could also browse menu information and store hours, gain access to their transaction history and even explore nearby businesses. Now Square is adding new features to Square Register so it is all the more attractive to quick-service restaurants.

The move by Square is significant. For the most part, the brand's customer base is comprised of individual merchants, including taxi drivers, food truck owners and people who provide personal services. By adding features such as the ability to modify orders and customize kitchen tickets, Square is hoping to further penetrate the food business.Continue reading...

Retailers are trying to cope with the challenge of an increasingly mobile consumer who conducts life digitally. This means meeting consumers' expectations on a whole new playing field: the mobile device.

According to Interbrand's just-released Best Retail Brands 2013 report, "retailers are mobilizing to address the larger issues around digital: Where and how does it fit into the organization? How can development teams be reorganized and silos lowered to accommodate a multichannel approach? How will the brand's culture change in response?"

While mobile sales are insignificant now, they are growing rapidly. In-store mobile payments almost quadrupled last year, and PayPal alone processed around $14 billion in mobile payments in 2012, according to Business Insider. That means mobile payments need to be a key part of future retail strategy. Just last week, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report, "Paper, Plastic... or Mobile?" The FTC cites a KPMG survey that found that 83 percent of executives in retail, financial services, technology and telecommunications believe mobile payments will see widespread consumer adoption by 2015.

Another recent study, by JPMorgan, divides the current state of the mobile commerce market: mobile acceptance (any mobile-based payment solution), mobile wallets (applications that enable consumers to use mobile devices for payment instead of credit or debit cards) and mobile commerce (e-commerce via any mobile device).Continue reading...

Politicians love to talk about taxes, but pretty much nobody else does. Except, of course, those tax-happy preparation companies, who will do anything to show you just how easy and fun they’ll make the process if you want to bring your shoebox full of numbers to their light-filled, homey offices filled with smiling employees.

Whether tax-prep ads equate with reality or not, they are out in full force in the final weeks of tax season. Ace Metrix rates TurboTax’s work to be the most effective tax ads to debut this year. In fact, TurboTax has hammered its competition and placed eight of its ads on the Top 10 list.Continue reading...

H&R Block urged those who had filed taxes with other preparers over the last few years to bring in their returns for a free “Second Look” to try and find mistakes other places may have made and bring their customers more dough. It turns out the company may want to use the service itself.

The Kansas City-based company is now offering up apologies because up to 600,000 of the tax forms it filed in February could be delayed up to six weeks due to a filing mistake made by H&R Block associates.Continue reading...

Hostess liquidation sees opportunists stock up on Twinkies as future of its brands hangs in balance and unions cling to hope of a buyer.

BP seen as takeover target now, as valuation slides.

GM opens $1.3 billion China plant for Baojun budget brand.

Ben & Jerry's turns fans' Instagram pictures into ads.

CCTV ad haul for Chinese television bodes well for economy.

Cisco to buy networking-hardware company Meraki for $1.2 billion.

Citigroup to cut more jobs.

Dish Network is frustrated in dream of breaking into wireless.Continue reading...

Like any massive corporation that has a lot of dough and a lot of interests, Coca-Cola has tangled itself in plenty of politics, though your average soda drinker couldn’t likely care less. However, there are some that do and Coke doesn’t want to lose their dollars.

That may be why the company has ditched out of the conservative lobbying group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that denies the existence of climate change, helped author a law in Florida that some believe helped cause the Trayvon Martin situation to arise, and is pushing for voter ID registration (which critics deem a form of voter suppression), according to TriplePundit.com.Continue reading...

Adobe acquires web marketing firm.

AT&T and T-Mobile explore joint venture as Plan B to merger.

Burger King launches QSR fries battle as Wendy's moves closer to topping the chain in market share.

BMW and Toyota will cooperate on diesel engines and green research.

Boeing makes peace with labor.

Coca-Cola gets frosty reception for white holiday cans; partners with (RED) for World AIDS Day.

Foursquare rolls out new buttons for publishers.

Google+ enhances brand pages.

Intuit to offer free tax advice on the phone.

McDonald's finds way around Happy Meal toy ban in San Francisco.

NBCUniversal plans second Harry Potter theme park.Continue reading...

Don't be fooled by that cute kid bearing a box of cookies and a big smile: the rebranded Girl Scouts are social marketing ninjas.

Consider that there is a standalone website, YouTube channel, a Flickr group, and Facebook page for Girl Scout Cookies. No wonder today’s digitally savvy 9 year-old Girl Scout can sell 400 boxes of Thin Mints in an hour.

Using Facebook, an iPhone and e-payment service Square, Facebook global policy manager Jud Hoffman’s daughter Greta and a few friends did just that.Continue reading...