innovation

Self Edge, a new denim retailer in NYC, is currently testing out a new payment system that replaces cash registers with iPhones. Codenamed "Square", it involves a small plastic cube that plugs into the headphone jack and can read swiped credit cards, which it then transfers into an app.

Atif Shamim, a PhD student at Carleton University in Canada, has stumbled on what appears to be a breakthrough in the energy efficiency of mobile devices. He created a module that replaces all of the wires connecting a phone's electrical circuits and the antennae, making them communicate wirelessly. What's so fascinating about this is that it makes the device's efficiency 12 times over, drastically improving battery life.