Process payments with new Nexus S

Processing mobile payments via an external dongle? That's so early 2011. Charge Anywhere has a less troublesome idea, and if you're the lucky owner of a Google Nexus S, you could soon be accepting cold, hard virtual cash via NFC. For those already familiar with the space, you'll know that this very company already has applications out for the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices, but all of those obviously require a credit card swiping mechanism to be connected. According to CNET, the latest version will include support for the NFC module embedded within the Nexus S, enabling it to be a full-on mobile payment terminal with no additional hardware required. Both MasterCard PayPass and Visa Blink payments could be ingested, but don't go searching for the update in the Android Market; the company's done with the new build, but it won't be let loose to the public until it's ran past larger customers first. We don't get the impression that the NFC-compatible version will run any more than the $9.99 per month, but it's obviously a wait-and-see affair for now.

Courtesy of endgadget

Android 3.0 Honeycomb SDK preview goes live

It's still going to be a little bit before you can get your hands on a Xoom, but if you'd like to start playing with the Honeycomb SDK right now -- and hey, developers, we'd encourage you to do just that -- Google's now made it possible. A version of the Android 3.0 SDK billed as a "preview" is now available for download, featuring "non-final" APIs and system images that will help would-be Android tablet devs get their feet wet as they prepare for an inevitable onslaught of these things over the next few months. So go on, get it while the gettin's good.

courtesy of Endgadget