PayPal To Unveil New Payments Platform For Merchants, Will Include Location-Based Offers And More

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... ? Learn More

PayPal held an event today in Los Angeles for merchants to get a early look into the eBay owned payments giant’s new technologies. As CEO Scott Thompson says in a blog post, PayPal is re-imagining money and making it work better for merchants and consumers – whatever device you’re on, wherever you are in the world, and however you prefer to pay (whether that’s cash, credit, or installments).

The company says it will be rolling out a one-stop shop for merchants, both online and local businesses, to manage payments from customers. Details are sparse but PayPal says that new features will include location-based offers, making payments accessible from any device and offering more payments flexibility to customers after they’ve checked out.

So in the video included in this post, you can see that PayPal will allow local businesses to accept PayPal payments from customers via their mobile device using scanning technology, and QR codes. eBay CEO John Donahoe referred to an in-store PayPal experience earlier this year. You’ll also be able to use PayPal in physical payments gateways at stores as well (where you would normally complete the credit card swiping process).

And users will be able to access realtime store inventory, receive in-store offers, and real-time location-base advertising from stores.

Sam Shrauger, VP of Global Product and Experience for PayPal, tells us that this new platform is not just about payments. These services will allows merchants and consumers to better connect, from the search process to the post-purchase time period.

He explains that nation and international merchants are already integrated this platform, and 20 merchants will be live with this by next year.

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Apple Offers Refurbished iPad 2 Models At $50 Discount

Jordan Crook studied English Literature at New York University before entering the tech space. Prior to joining TechCrunch, Crook dabbled in mobile marketing and mobile apps as well as doing device reviews for MobileMarketer and MobileBurn. Crook is fascinated with alternative energy production and greentech. She is now a writer for CrunchGear. ? Learn More

There isn’t much about an iPad 2 that would lead you to hesitate before buying, except maybe a glance down at the price tag. Today, that’s slightly less of an issue. Apple has started to sell refurbished iPad 2s in its online store, although it looks as though the 16GB models aren’t currently available. The refurbs are only discounted $50 from the original pricing, but a discount is a discount.

All of Apple’s return and warranty rules apply to refurbished models, according to MacRumors. The units will have a brand new back cover and battery, while the rest of the device is cleaned and tested for any issues. If something’s amiss, Apple will replace that particular component.

The 32GB WiFi + 3G model is going for $679, and is available in both black and white for both carriers. $649 will get you the 64GB WiFi only model, while the 64GB WiFi + 3G unit will go for $779 (also available for both carriers). If you don’t care about the iPad 2 and just want the cheapest possible iPad, Apple is also selling refurbished models of its 16GB Wifi + 3G original iPad for just $399.

A little online scavenging would probably find you an iPad 2 with savings that beat $50. But Apple support is pretty crucial when it comes to such an expensive device, so we suggest the refurb route if you’ve got the cash.

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...

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Kayak Offers Deals On One-Way Fares From Separate Airlines In Roundtrip Flight Search

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... ? Learn More

Most power airfare searchers know that buying two one-way tickets on separate airlines can sometimes be cheaper than buying a roundtrip ticket on the same airline. But on most travel search portals you have to do a little digging to find these one way fares, and sites like Kayak wouldn’t pair two one-way fares from different airlines. Today, Kayak is integrating these fares, which the company has dubbed ‘Hacker Fares’ into flight search.

So if you are looking weekend roundtrip flight from New York to San Francisco, and the best price is $600 for an economy ticket on Airline A, you’ll also see the price options for two one-way fares on Airline A and Airline B, which may be cheaper. Kayak calls these Hacker Fares because searching and matching separate airline and travel sites for these cheaper one-way fares requires a bit of hacking.

Kayak has even trademarked the term and filed a patent for the technology. CMO Robert Birge says that airlines won’t be upset over this because the company is simply searching what’s already out there via flight data on the web.

While Birge won’t reveal how often a roundtrip fare on the same airline is more expensive than two separate one-way fares on different airlines, he did say that Kayak expects the addition of Hacker Fares to impact a ‘significant percentage of queries’ on a daily basis.

Kayak, which filed its S-1 nearly a year ago, appears to be holding off on its plans go public. As the company reported in its most recent filing, revenue is up but net income is down. Kayak could be waiting for Google to launch its own ITA-powered flight search tools and services that will directly compete with Kayak.

Kayak is a travel search engine. It indexes hundreds of global travel sites to help you find the right flight, hotel, rental car or cruise line. Once...

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