Who's Developing for "Square" MagStripe CreditCard Reader & Touchscreen Payment Systm
When I first saw a display ad here on XDA for this gizmo around beginning of April, I thought it was an Fool's joke because the gadget was so small, and it seemed "too smart" to be true.
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... but many of you know it's been out for quite a while. Threads here go back to I think September 2010, (though there was zero traction then)...
Website: https://squareup.com/media
FAQ: https://help.squareup.com/customer/portal/topics/4139-frequently-asked-questions/articles
It works on Android phones and iphones...
Then, by the end of April, having poked around a bit, following links, asking questions on their twitter feed and at facebook, I come to find out that SQUARE, the name of this device, new company and payment system, is the brainchild of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, a real visionary, who's been ahead of the curve before, regarding the ways people, and groups of people, interact, and where technology can play a role there.
With this new knowledge -- which is significant -- it completely reframes the way I looked at this device: from a QUESTION MARK about
"who's using it and what do you think of its viability?"
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to
"who's using it and WHAT KINDS OF APPS do you see developing around this system for use by small businesses -- delivering them customized apps with physical credit card transaction systems?
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Very different perception about the entire product and viability as you see in the 3 short posts I made in this thread, how it quickly progresses
So, has anyone here....
• used one? If so, how did the transaction go? Is it smooth sailing, does the card reader work the first time? (if so, it's better than most checkout stands at grocery or drug store)
• bought one? if so, have you used it for a business, or just to try out, or to write an app for?
• developed custom software for it?
From the looks of it, if this works half as well as it appears, it seems pretty darn revolutionary.
Curious to see if there is any feedback.
To be honest it's not something that i would trust.
matt.blackwood said:
To be honest it's not something that i would trust.
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Explain more please. Do you mean as a card holder making a transaction? You mean you would not trust ...
(a) the security of the system to properly authenticate with the credit card company and approve the transaction
(b) the card reader's and software's inherent reliability to firewall your credit card data and isolate just that single transaction, without grabbing your credit card info?
(c) the vendor using the credit card reader and who knows what software has been tied to the reader to grab and suck down all your credit card data, nicely stored for vendor to use another time, another place -- or sell off to some third party?
(d) or the vendor is acting in good faith but someone makes an app for his particular business and sells to him and he is legit, but unbeknownst to him the app is "phoning home" to app maker or some third party with credit card data?
-------- Please explain , don't just pick a, b, c, d .... I'd really like to understand. And these just sprang off the top of my head once you said that.
I've been eyeing them as a company and as a mobile PoS system solution for a while... I signed up today, guess we'll see in a month how it goes.
RADRaze2KX said:
I've been eyeing them as a company and as a mobile PoS system solution for a while... I signed up today, guess we'll see in a month how it goes.
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Great! I hope you'll give us some feedback.
My first impression, as mentioned, upon seeing just the top image, was "what a clever joke" -- because I hadn't really thought something so small was realistic.
Then when I'd clicked through and saw it was tied together thru the headphone jack, I thought: wow, this is clever: Immediately flipped my thinking from joke -- to -- very clever engineering -- with a very smart snap/snug, stable external device mounting method, plus the critical input/output connection.
Then, seeing nothing more my mind wondered but what's the quality of the mag-stripe reader? ---- that's impossible to know... But upon seeing the device was actually in use and had history, I knew it had to work-- and -- my mind instantly flipped again to: How many times had I been to a major chain grocery store or "big-box" store, or ATM machine or parking lot checkout reader, and have my credit card rejected because "not readable" -- only to then have the same card work perfectly fine 10-feet away at another ATM machine? ... Answer: Very often.... And the cashier ends up taking the card and either swiping it in another device, or manually entering the numbers, so, my thought was: hey if it works 75% of the time, it's as good as most industrial strength systems i encounter in every day life... SERIOUSLY.
My mind tumbled out all of these reactive thoughts all in a split second -- like, what about signatures -- and of course, touchscreens, just like in stores. I didn't check to see if they provide a capactive stylus, but i have used about 3 brands of capactive stylusus on my various devices, and they are not bad ---- Put it this way, They are EASILY as good as controlling my signature as the crappy pens provided with almost every touchscreen signature system I have used at grocery stores, drug stores, etc, where my signatures is wildly uncontrolled and yet the system accepts it.
(NOSTALGIA NOTE: The argument has long been had about resistive vs capacitive screens -- I've been in on those for several years. The feature I miss the most on my post-windows-mobile phones is stylus-based drawing and handwriting and character recognition and "handwriting to text"... The entire industry took a giant 10-year step backwards with capacitive screens when that incredible advancement -- poof - just went away, got buried -- and most post-iphone-world consumers today don;'t even know that it was ever possible... oh.well. .... )
So, when I posted this thread, I was pretty psyched.
THEN came the first reply -- and his was the only reply before yours -- saying
To be honest it's not something that i would trust.
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And that lead me to immediately examine everything I'd ignored while I marveled at the technology. I never got a reply back from matt.blackwood
which is a real drag
because he raised the issue, and at the very least I wanted to know if the factors I then took apart were the factors bothering him -- or if it was just an overall intuition he hadn't really examined in the detail I did.
In the end, there is NO WAY THIS CONCEPT CAN FAIL ultimately... whether this particular company solves all the problems of security or someone else does... whether they get bought out by paypal, or whatever may happen. It's TOO SMART TO FAIL and I would consider investing money in the company.
Let's face it, the Apple Store uses clunky mobile credit card transaction devices, and they swipe the cards -- and the whole thing is very smart... But I recall asking a guy at Apple store in San Francisco a year ago
"Hey, how come you guys haven't hooked up an external card reader device to an iphone to do this same function? It seems kind of foolish to be touting the iphone's "there's an app for that" only to then have this dedicated terminal that seems way bigger than it needs to be to perform its function"
And the guy looks at me... You know that semi smug look you get with their cool blue t-shirts and tags around neck with the general attitude of "I know all" and "there's nothing you can possibly know that apple hasn't altready thought of" ...
And he starts to speak about "well I am sure they are working on..."
And I pull out my HTC Desire and say "But I'm just saying.. it's a pretty simple concept, anyone could do it, it's not that hard, they could do it to THIS phone, right?...So I'm just kind of surprised it's not even in prototype stage"
And the smug look has evaporated with no place to go... I wasn't being smug at all. I was just being correct. And he says "You're right. We should have that by now" ....
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So, *I* had envisioned an add on that was, of course, credit card sized, and was flat, and would butt-up flat to the bottom of a touchscreen device. That seemed so obvious.
Which is why I was initially baffled by this gizmo and thought it was a joke, because it seemed so unrealistic .... Until I clicked through and saw --- wow, *I* was wrong. Very very smart product design. They should change the external design to look less plastic and cheap, so as to convey a more durable and serious, secure product.
Please let us know what you think.
I think the main issues are definitely B, C and D on your previous post. I'm sure A has been solved by now, otherwise this wouldn't even be a product.
People are very paranoid about their credit cards, and with good reason. Anything remotely "new" will have a tough period of adaptation and the fact that this is portable and so ad-hoc (clever though it is) will only fuel people's doubts. It's great from an engineering perspective but its more of a risky bet when you take marketting into account. But not to worry, there's a lot of places that could pioneer these devices. Cyber cafe's with iphone-armed waitresses and such would be ideal. From there on it would spread. (I would NEVER use it on a hot dog stand like the ad photo suggests though, no way XD)
The signature thing caught my eye as well. Its gonna be really awkward to sign with your fingers. They should DEFINITELY package an iphone-compatible stylus with each reader.
Wow, didn't know SQUARE is from inventor of Twitter, his next "vision"
This quadruples my interest in this gizmo and belief in its destiny to take over the credit card terminal business:
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/04/jack-dorsey-201104
Frankly, now with this information, I'm really surprised XDA-devs is so slow to get onboard with this. My god, people are dragging their heels on this? It's completely nuts. This is a homerun. If someone has an app to develop for android or windows7, or even iphone, or vendor-by-vendor custom apps, this is going to be a huge huge money maker for app developers customizing apps for SMALL BUSINESSES.
He or she who drags feet will be like Microsoft dragging feet after the iphone flipped the UI for touchscreens to finger-based navigation.
CptAJ said:
I think the main issues are definitely B, C and D on your previous post. I'm sure A has been solved by now, otherwise this wouldn't even be a product.
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Thanks for replying. Here's what their site says about security. I would love to see the XDA-dev security experts scrutinize every aspect of the security issues, and pick apart any shortcomings -- simply for identification purposes. I want to see this succeed, and as you can see in the way I have reframed the way I see the product, I am certain it will. I can't see it failing to gain significant traction in X years' time. It will probably be way faster than it took paypal to build user trust -- because that was a different time in the internet curve of adoption by consumers.
https://squareup.com/security | VeriSign Secured seal | PCI Compliant link
Physical & Network Security
Sensitive data is encrypted using industry-standard methods when stored on disk or transmitted over public networks.
Only standard, well-reviewed cryptographic protocols and message formats (such as SSL and PGP) are used when transferring data.
Symmetric cryptographic keys are required to be at least 128 bits long. Asymmetric keys must be at least 2048 bits long.
Security updates and patches are installed on servers and equipment in a timely fashion.
Security settings of applications and devices are tuned to ensure appropriate levels of protection.
Square’s website and API are accessible via 128-bit, extended-validation SSL certificates issued by VeriSign.
Networks are strictly segregated according to security level. Modern, restrictive firewalls protect all connections between networks.
Card-processing systems adhere to PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), Level 1.
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Web and Client Application Security
Card numbers, magnetic stripe data, or security codes are not stored on Square client devices.
Applications developed in-house are subject to strict quality testing and security review. Web development follows industry-standard secure coding guidelines, such as those recommended by OWASP.
Card-processing applications adhere to the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), Level 1.
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Organizational Security
Access to sensitive data, including application data and cryptographic keys, is strictly controlled on a need-to-know basis.
Two-factor authentication and strong password controls are required for administrative access to systems.
Security systems and processes are tested on a regular basis by qualified internal and external teams.
All access to secure services and data is strictly logged, and audit logs are reviewed on a regular basis.
Security policies and procedures are carefully documented, and are reviewed on a regular basis.
Detailed incident response plans have been prepared to ensure proper protection of data in an emergency.
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Research and Disclosure
We want to encourage responsible reporting of problems with our service. If you believe you have discovered a problem with our service, please contact us at [email protected].
Square will respond to all reasonable reports of potential security problems, usually within 24 hours. If you report a problem, we will:
Acknowledge your report, and provide you with contact information for our team as we investigate;
Work with you to ensure that we understand the issue, and consult with you about the best way to address it;
Work with other organizations, if necessary, to ensure that other services are protected too;
Keep you informed as all of this takes place; and
Give you credit, if you wish, for helping us.
Security is critical to Square. By reporting problems to us in a responsible manner you enable us to address issues and protect our users in a timely fashion. We also recognize that legitimate and well-intentioned researchers are sometimes blamed for the problems they disclose. In order to encourage responsible reporting practices, we promise not to bring legal action against researchers in response to a disclosure, provided they:
Share the full details of any problems found with us.
Do not disclose the issue publicly or to others until we have had a reasonable amount of time to address it. We will try to act quickly, but some aspects of our system are complicated and may take time to patch and test.
Do not intentionally harm the experience or usefulness of the service to others.
Never attempt to view, modify, or damage data belonging to others.
Do not seek compensation or reward for the report, either from Square or a third party.
This pledge is intended to balance the protections and guarantees necessary to encourage responsible disclosure against our own requirements and responsibilities for data security. It is not an invitation to test the security of our service without authorization. If you have any questions about this, or have any doubts about whether your tests are appropriate, please contact us before proceeding.
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***
*** I want to actually respond to your post's points that I can respond to in next post. This was to isolate the security info into one post.
I have one of these and have used it, the transactions have gone smoothly. I haven't used it often, but I've had it since they first launched (I was one of the first people to get one of them), and it works great as a swipe card reader as well as a manual input card device if you need to take a credit card number over the internet or phone. I'm not planning on using it in place a normal merchant account (I'm in the process of getting one set up for online transactions), but for in-person transactions I'd feel just as comfortable using this as I would any other card-swiping solution.
Just my two cents.
FORGET ABOUT ALL DOUBTS in Square payment system: VISA investing in Square
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42783124
For all those who were marginalizing SQUARE with a "wait and see" approach, you might as well sprint ahead and get into adoption mode, and start developing for it. With this VISA partnership, hard to see SQUARE needing any more validation. It's going to clean up big time.
Square Partners with Visa, Gaining Advantage in Mobile Payments Race
Source: squareup.com
Startup Square just secured a major advantage competitive mobile payments space — a strategic investment from Visa which will put one of its executives on the company's advisory board.
This isn't about the cash — earlier this year Square raised $27.7 million in financing, led by Sequoia capital — this is about validation from Visa, a leader in credit card payments.
Considering that all of Square's rivals, including Quicken and PayPal, have been looking to partner with a giant like Visa, this gives Square a huge advantage in getting merchants to adopt its service.
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more in link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42783124
And from GigaOm:
Visa is making a strategic investment in mobile payment provider Square, providing the start-up with an undisclosed sum of money as well as a new advisory board member. It’s a nice boost for Square, which is on a roll as it tries to ramp up payments via a smartphone. But it also highlights the growing role of credit card companies as they try to prepare for the growing mobile payments boom.
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Kaessa said:
I have one of these and have used it, the transactions have gone smoothly. I haven't used it often, but I've had it since they first launched (I was one of the first people to get one of them), and it works great as a swipe card reader as well as a manual input card device if you need to take a credit card number over the internet or phone. I'm not planning on using it in place a normal merchant account (I'm in the process of getting one set up for online transactions), but for in-person transactions I'd feel just as comfortable using this as I would any other card-swiping solution.
Just my two cents.
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Kaessa, would love to get more anecdotal information about how customers are responding to this form of payment -- what questions do they ask... and even procedurally -- walk me through it, do you in fact hold the phone in your hand, as pictured, and they swipe it? Or do you turn phone sideways (90-degrees) so they can swipe card more like at cashier terminals?
Then what, do you keep the reader plugged in and flip phone around for people to sign?
Do people have an okay time with finger?
Is there a reset/ try signature again?
Just curious! Thank you.
I really want to get one of these to play with, but they are not available outside of the US. I don't want to use it for payments, just as a mag-stripe reader.
I was wondering if anyone in the US would be willing to buy one and send it over? I heard you can buy them over the counter from apple stores...
crazy stuff
MOD note: After going through the thread, indeed it's related to phones and shall be moved back to general shortly.
It might have been misinterpreted by ORB, even we moderators are humans and can make mistakes.
So, I suggest OP and everyone relax.
Also, if OP you have any further issues address them to me via PM ( not rant threads - like the one I shut ).
That is correct, initially it seemed to be an iphone only related thread, now OP edited and included other OS´s.
@OP, Next time please contact Moderator instead of creating rant threads please
orb3000 said:
That is correct, initially it seemed to be an iphone only related thread, now OP edited and included other OS´s.
@OP, Next time please contact Moderator instead of creating rant threads please
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OP only edited it to make it more apparent that it was about phones. No image was changed. No information was changed re OS. It was about Android from Day 1.
quicksite said:
Kaessa, would love to get more anecdotal information about how customers are responding to this form of payment -- what questions do they ask... and even procedurally -- walk me through it, do you in fact hold the phone in your hand, as pictured, and they swipe it? Or do you turn phone sideways (90-degrees) so they can swipe card more like at cashier terminals?
Then what, do you keep the reader plugged in and flip phone around for people to sign?
Do people have an okay time with finger?
Is there a reset/ try signature again?
Just curious! Thank you.
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I've only done it a couple of times, so I'm probably not the best one to ask. One was online, as an eBay transaction... PayPal had screwed up his account so I just took his Visa over the phone. There is a "card not present" option, just like with any other credit card machine.
As far as swiping the card, I would take the card from them and swipe it. It's a fairly delicate device, not like a grocery store card reader, and someone getting over-enthusiastic with it could break it or your phone's headphone jack. I don't worry about breaking it myself... I carry it around in my purse in the same pouch I carry my headphones in.
As far as the signature goes, the finger signature works fine... just turn it around and either give it to them, or put it on a flat surface and have them sign. I don't know if there's a "try again", but there probably is. It's a well developed piece of software, really slick. Looks like they thought of everything when they put it together. I haven't had anyone hesitate to use it. Now that Visa is in on it, I'm sure there won't be any problems.
I'm thinking of using it at my next yard sale. Should get all those looky-loos that "forgot to bring enough money".
I'll try to keep this brief, however summing up one's station in life is normally not such a task that lends itself to brevity. If you want to skip all the background and go to the reason for this thread, start at the paragraph that begins with an asterisk.
I'm almost thirty, doing the whole wife and kid’s routine, and I find myself truly perplexed on what course to take in my life. I've always loved tech, I can remember my first real fascination with something was when I was in my early teenage years and my Dad bought a computer. It was Hewlett Packard, with only dial-up, AOL at that, and I wanted to know how it worked. My very first book I ever purchased with my own money was "DOS For Dummies". I was enthralled; I went through all the commands learning what each one did. I can't count how many times I had to format that computer and start over, and the frustration it caused my Dad as each time I broke it he thought for sure, that was the end. Yet every time, no matter how bad it got, you could format it and start over. I always liked that, most people dread a system format, but for me it was so liberating, I was never afraid to break anything because I knew I could just wipe it all and start over. Things like installing drivers and resetting system configurations totally engaged me, and still do. Either way with this DOS book, I was hooked, I loved being able to manipulate the computer from the command line, show off the "cool" things I could do. I should have known right then that this is what I wanted to do with my life.
However as I got older, I didn't stay in computer land; I ventured out and found girls! Sex, drugs, and... well techno actually. I spent a lot of time partying, and only went to college as a last resort like a lot of kid’s do, to get their parents off their back. When I graduated, computers still being a hobby, I was obsessed with being a millionaire. I saw quickly money could get you things that made you happy, and I remember distinctly looking at the tech industry and thinking "there's no money in that". I floated around aimlessly, even managing to start my own company, which was short lived and closed after a year. I'd worked a lot of jobs, but nothing that made me really happy. I had found becoming a millionaire quickly was no easy task, and with the wife and the baby was not something I could afford to gamble on anymore. I needed to find work that fulfilled me, that I enjoyed.
So two years ago I decided to go back into something tech oriented. I had a small background with HTML and tried to masquerade as a web designer. I got a job through a friend of the family, only to find I was severely out of my depth. With no formal training and close to 10 years passed, web development had changed a lot! It wasn't just HTML; it was CSS, and PHP, a lot of other acronyms and two or three big software programs you needed to understand. Not feeling too thwarted because I knew my heart wasn't in web design, I answered an ad for a "Junior Developer", "no experience needed, will train". I thought this is it! Programming was like my DOS books I started with so long ago. I could actually learn to TALK to computers and make them do what I wanted.
While the company that hired me had the best of intentions, they had never taken on this task before, of hiring a programmer with no experience and teaching them. The owner was swamped with his own projects, and within a month had paired me with another Access Database Developer. She herself only had a few years’ experience, and was NOT the teaching type. She was cold and impatient. She also gave off this threatened vibe, like the owner had hired me to replace her. As you can imagine it didn't last long either, after three months of that I was brought into a conference room and told "we just don't see you progressing to the level we'd need you to be at for this to make sense." Imagine that, a guy with no programming experience, was paired up with an employee who'd never taught anyone, and herself had a full workload of clients to satisfy, who needed to teach me not only programming but database design concept and implementation with ACCESS! Looking back on it now, I see how unreasonable it was for them to think I could be a competent programmer in three months’ time. However at the time I really beat myself up about it. After all this is what I wanted to do, the owner was such a smart guy, and I studied every night. Maybe it was me that just wasn't cut out for programming. It actually still bothers me now.
Thankfully, they saw a passion in my heart for tech. It just so happened their hosting manager was a one man band, and was having a tough time getting his job done with all these lower level phone calls and emails he had to deal with. So they created a Help Desk position for me, which I've thrived in. I have almost a decade of customer service experience working for call centers, and I love solving problems, so the position was a natural fit for me. This was about eight months ago. Since then the hosting manager also introduced me to the networking side of things, how to work with servers and hardware etc. I found all that equally as fascinating, he was nothing like the girl who had "tried" to train me before. He was knowledgeable, smart, and patient; he had a great sense of humor, but was ex-military and had a way of dropping the hammer when he had to. Right as he was beginning to open this whole new world to me, last month I found he's leaving the company. He's a giant whale of a fish in a tiny pond and he's got to move on. Before he did, he got me on a path to work on my CompTIA A+ Certification. I feel very prepared and I'm sure I'll pass it.
* Here's where my problem comes in. Ever since starting the Help Desk job I've loved it. For the first time in my life I'm not watching the clock. I'm not waiting for lunch time to come, and quite often I'm even staying hours past my punch out time because I'm so into my work. However I've handicapped myself. While others have had fifteen years to be doing this work, I'm just now getting started at thirty. My two greatest traits are my knack for dealing with people and my tenacious problem solving skills. When I don't understand something, or can't figure it out, I'm not a pass the buck kinda guy, I'll spend hours on it until I can figure it out. I enjoy the satisfaction of giving the client a great product, and the "eureka" moment when I figure out the issue is like a drug for me! I LOVE the sensation that comes with understanding.
The thing is after my A+ I want to move on to my next cert and start tackling it. Not just to say I have the cert, but to gain the knowledge that comes with it. Problem is I don't know what my next move should be. The "tech industry" is so wide open. In my heart, I think I want to go back into programming. I like the idea of speaking with computers, making them do what I want. However I have the bad taste of the failed Access Programming job fresh in my mind, I wasn't "getting it". Was it that I needed to give it more time or was three months long enough to understand the foundations? What's worse, where I was comfortable with the command line, now I'm intimidated by it. I seem suited for networking, talking with people and tracking down problems. Or do I just feel that way because I had a better teacher in that field and had a more positive response?
I guess that's why I wrote this beast of a thread, to give you a little background. I'm hoping there are some more seasoned professionals out there who can say "you sound like you'd be a great _____ " or "your mindset sounds geared toward _____ ". Again there are so many specialties, maybe there's some other field I haven't even considered. I don't know many experienced tech professionals, so I don't have anyone to talk with about this. All I know is I LOVE technology, I love problem solving, I'm about to have my A+ and 1 years’ experience as a Help Desk Analyst... where do I go from here?
Okay well it doesn't have to be all about me. If someone wants to share their tech career stories, how they started of in the business and where they are today. I could really use some kinda discourse on the subject.
me too
Thanks for Sharing your story, man. After reading, I am moved to share my position in life as it is increasingly similar to yours; I'm thirty, I love Tech and my career is at a crossroads as well...
It is a bit late right now so I will update this tomorrow and.. who knows maybe you'll have some advice for me.
I just wanted yo to know how bad the Microsoft support is. It's totally unacceptable.
Here is all my case summarized:
JAN - 5: My Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has a factory defect. 2 white spots on the screen, they are quite annoying. It is not my fault, I saw several surfaces with light leakage over the Internets.
I Contact Microsoft and they are REALLY kind, they don't put any objection, and they tell me to send my surface and they will send me a replacement. Awesome.
JAN - 6: I send my Surface to Microsoft. UPS takes it, no problem, they make me a package and help me with everything (Actually Mail Boxes Etc. does). Very good.
JAN - 9: Microsoft Germany tells me that they are sending my replacement. It's a bit on timing limits regarding what they told me, but I understand, it's ok. I get my UPS ship number, but I don't check since I just trust them.
JAN - 13: I receive my package. It's EMPTY. Nothing inside. The security red belt is cut, which looks like someone stole it. I really don't mind, It's not my fault, and my provider, Microsoft, should solve this. If it's UPS fault is not my problem, I didn't choose them, I didn't pay them.
After contacting Microsoft they see I'm angry, and They try to flatter me saying that now I'm high priority and more stuff I believe is stupid since it's not true.
Actually they sent me a mail which is a template as a personal mail, and they forget to fill some <enter issue here>. REALLY HORRIBLE.
But well, now I have to wait for 8-15 days to clear the investigation. That is really wrong.
Dear Microsoft, if you lost my Surface, send me one RIGHT AWAY and then solve the case, I don't give a **** about your really bad logistics.
But OK, I accept. And then I wait, and wait, and wait.
UPS calls me and make me clear and quick that they will try to solve this as soon as possible. I think UPS is doing the right thing.
JAN - 16: Surface Care Team send me a mail. They don't know anything yet. OK. I don't care.
JAN - 20: Seven days later, they decide to send me another device. They "received" the trace results, but they don't inform what happened. I reply right away asking some questions. They don't answer any of them, they don't want to tell me what happened. Nice caring team.
They tell me I will receive my Surface within 2-3 days over night priority. Good. It looks it's ending happily. At least I'll have a new Surface wink emoticon
JAN - 25: I keep looking at the shipping trace on UPS. They only say "A UPS shipping label has been created. Once the shipment arrives at our facility, the tracking status--including the scheduled delivery date--will be updated." So after a week, they didn't even receive the package. What the **** are you doing, Microsoft? are you kidding me?
JAN - 26: I call Microsoft. This is not admissible. They play the same game again. "You are a priority now, we understand this is not acceptable". I DON'T GIVE A ****. I miss my Surface, I use it a lot, and I don't have it for already 21 days. I think that's too much time for something that is not even my fault from the beginning.
Now the cycle started again. They ask for my patience. They say my package will arrive in 2-3 days (again). Meanwhile, the UPS trace system keeps saying that they don't have the package.
I think this is unbelievable.
This is horrible, I spent the last 4 or 5 months saying that Surface pro 3 is the best device you can buy in your life including phones, computers and whatever. I was really excited about Windows 10, I was thinking about moving to Windows mobile phones in a year or 2. I even thought about buying an Xbox One (And the people that know me think that's a really huge change for me) because I think Microsoft is doing really good with the system integration and unification. But if the support service is like this, I cannot accept it, I cannot embrace the new Windows philosophy, I just cannot do it. And it makes me REALLY sad.
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This is my last chat I had with them, today, JAN 30: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vxHlIXpHmrD7YQ-6GHzVb_dNLGlm2BozYhTBMvJ_Xow/edit?usp=sharing
I just wanted to let you guys know about how amazingly horrible the support is.
Try going to a MS store next time, if you can. Service there is excellent.
Wasn't to certain on where to stick this so Mod please feel free to move if needed.
I think when we look at motivation these days we find ourselves to get. a little more unmotivated. There's just no true value anymore it seems. Well, today I wanted to take some time out to write to every Dev and anyone inspiring to be one and I hope it reaches out to some of you as an influence rather than motivation. I feel being influenced will drive you to do what you love, influence is the foundation of what motivation derives from. I shouldn't have to feel motivated because I am influenced self-motivation is already there and established. I can't tell you how many times I have stayed up for 2 days straight coding away, and refusing to accept 'No' as the only possible answer has paid off.*
When I first started I heard a quote, and a man came on through the audio of my computer while watching youtube and the man quoted in the video and it goes as follows.
"The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry our their dream." -Les Brown
Thinking about that made me realize that if I was to be truly happy in life, I'd first have to be influenced as self-sustained happiness should always come from within first or you will only do more bad than good with those around you. I guess bad and good are self-opinionated definitions and argument able through the eyes of each individual dependent on terms. The moral of it is, *if you can always give a happy version of you than those around you will always want to be around you and in turn hoping so, they may also be inspired.
Before I get too far down the topic I want to say I worked multiple jobs, Real Estate, Cellular, Insurance, Medical and at first they were all great. What I found out is I got burned out. The last thing we look at a mostly atlas to me Is what I love to do. What I love to do has been plagued by society as something not of true work, unless you build multi-million dollar companies from home, I am sorry to say a job like being a full-time Dev reliant on income from people via unlocking or rooting or device customization services isn't exactly eye-popping, After hearing that quote I looked at my wife and I told her "I'm going all in on something, I want you to trust me, and I will never work for another man again." I got tired of protocol from HR groups who didn't even step foot in the office that builds and structures the corporate foundation.*
I started with getting my hands on an HTC MyTouch and following that an HD2 running Gingerbread. I soon needed my service unlocked and I ended up than meeting with a guy named Jeff who a year later would be sentenced to prison for unfortunate reasons. While working with Jeff he should me how the Windows CMD and Os terminal operate and how just by reforming command arguments you can create exploits in the smallest of areas and depend on what you're doing bigger ones as well. I was inthralled with the logic from it and my immediate response was "This was way too technical." right there I determined my success or failure and for months went with no break through and hating the 9-5.*
I decided I'd pick it back up only after being unemployed a bit, I was bored, tiredness and needed something to do while the wife slept. I hopped on and I started watching and reading guides via youtube and XDA and really the one thing I think I least looked at or kind of refuse to because of being lazy was the tools provided to do a lot of the work for you. Ask yourself that before you even decided to code something, or before even knowing how. We viewed it in a term of having to manually write it line for line, we never seen the tools first. The moment I got my hands on those tools and the understanding of relative arguments and manipulating arguments to produce the opposite response I was hooked. I was so driven even now I still love to just pick apart a room and it's OS even if I feel it may be a dead end I can find myself lost for hours in building.
What stops people is other peoples opinion, not just friends but the real important ones. How many of you without looking at your family first have had a stranger or someone not too close to you tell you "you can't-do something" I think we all have, now how many times can you see in that light, that those closest to you told you that you can't-do something? For most of us, the ones we care more about have the most affect. They are no different then a strangers opinion, self-happiness is yours to have in the most selfish right and with that comes sacrifice, if your wife is going to leave you because she can't accept the time it takes to build a dream, let her go. It's selfishness, see because her personal happiness would have a based upon the value of you removing yours to increase hers. Not that in that point in time it would hold much weight but it does add up, and that negativity mounting faster than your Hard disk to your computer after a late night computer software sabotage from rage. I am happy to say my wife has stuck by mysids on sometimes days with no sleep and damn near losing my mind. We both continue to smile and be happy because our love is depended on the pretense and communication of one another and she knows I can go all the way and get the dream job or build the dream company one day when my reputation reaches that level.*
What I'm getting at is code has forever changed my life, XDA and it guides and it's such humble, kind and trust user base has kept me going. I know I haven't been active and this looks like a new account, but I never leaked, I only helped people physically learn. I used it as the dictionary to my new found passion. I decided to join here to repay that honor, to teach those wanting to learn and to provide roms and builds to some devices that go unnoticed. I know what it's like not having much and not a great phone and wanting a great phone. To create software to give even the slowest of phones that boost or that drive or that deadening it needs to adhere to the persons wants and needs in relevance to speed or performance is important.*
So lastly I thank you, and I want you all to know that I am still here working, I own my own work from home company, intact 3 of them just this one is developing so I stay busy but it pays off. Don't forget to make time for those who give you encouragement, you will need someone there to pick you up when no alternative option has been presented within yourself. My wife and my friends and not to be cheesy have seen me to the point where being behind on the bills and getting evicted has done to me, but I kept going. In my head I would wake up on day's where I felt suicide was a peace of mind, it wasn't I was just tired, I was emotionally drained. I stepped back a few days, worked to make some money on other services I naturally was good at and I paid the bills because I learned from that eviction. *I went back to coding a few days later with a clear mind. To all of you, do not trust your emotions when you are tired or angry, you will only do things that you naturally wouldn't do. As an example thing of what creates an argument with someone and what makes someone laugh. 9/10 that argument will be a topic that has been an issue and just like issues it gets worse the more you talk about it. Learn to leave things alone also it's not a bad thing, just take a break. With all that done, doing this job has never been so amazing. I look forward to meeting all of you and I hope this acts as a letter to those experienced to keep going, your work is appreciated very much. I get to read scripts and learn more things and more work arounds then I KNEW. Have the power to accept you haven't mastered anything and you still have everything to learn.*
God Bless
TheCodeDev
I need away to gain root privileges for the purposes of recovering deleted data. Unless there is another way to go about it? There are 3 phones involved all At&T carrier, Burner 1 is a Samsung S9 Plus (1st sp) , 2nd Burner is a Samsung Note 10 Plus and her everyday phone is a Apple 11 Max Pro. Apparently file recovery software is very limited without root access. When I read the guides it appears to root it is to lose everything. Is that true? Plus I dont really understand what I am reading most of the time.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am being gaslighted to the point I had a psychotic break, and even now everyday is a struggle to exist. May pride be her fall, she is very proud of herself. she whispered in my ear "i already won, you will look crazy. I have seen to that". Help me take her down a notch. I am also willing to pay if it is allowed on this board. I need to prove she has done some this to our kids too. She would rather them think they saw or heard something incorrectly than be found out. Evil. But I digress, Sorry for airing my dirty laundry, but I am desperate.
I am open to any and all suggestions. to include recommendations for hiring someone/a company.
All 3 phones are legally mine. The 1st 2 are my old phones that were supposedly discarded and the iPhone 11 is on my account, under my name and the loan related to the phone is in my name too. I could provide AT&T documentation as proof of ownership to prove legitimacy .
Thanks
Steven Beau ********
you say you want to retrieve data on the phones but what exactly are you trying to get back (calls/txts or photos/videos) ???
Xceeder said:
you say you want to retrieve data on the phones but what exactly are you trying to get back (calls/txts or photos/videos) ???
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All of the above. I am really hoping she discussed the various ways she duped us. For example my 6 year old saw her do this: I could not find my phone I checked a 1k times in my car. She recorded herself ( at a strange angle i might add) hiding it in my car but my little one in his stealth like ninjas ways, saw what she actually did. She used her free hand and pulled it out and placed it in my passenger seat in plain view as she panned from the floorboard to the seat and low and behold there was the phone. She then spent the next hour screaming and telling me I was crazy and losing my mind again. Once she figured out I was on to her, her phone use went from a few k with of texts and 20 plus GB of data used a month down to 4-500 text 1.5GB used. She saw I was researching spyware via my browser history and told me to research commsec, though I thought she said commsex. I was expecting to find some freaky alternative lifestyle, unfortunately is was just a security term the military uses,. Its crazy this woman is using these type of terms. Anyway
I want to capture as much as I can,
If you want to find out the truth, sometimes your only choice is to spy on someone. If they’re lying to you or keeping the truth from you in some way, spying on their phone activity can help you discover critical information.
What you need is a way to spy on the target phone without them knowning. That way, the chances of you getting caught are nonexistent. Also, it’s much more convenient to spy on them remotely.
Is there a way to spy on someone’s phone remotely? You just need to use a spy app that works without target phone! It’s fast, safe, and easy, in case you’re wondering.
Many Android Spy apps exist. GIYF ...