Square: Making Cash Look Squarer Than Ever

Of all the civilized things about Paris, I always thought the height of sophistication in the City of Lights involved its waiters swiping customer credit cards right at the table after a meal. Now, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is introducing Square, a new device that lets you accept all credit card payment right to your cellphone and does away with any excuse for restaurants to let the most dreaded part of a meal survive.-

Not only does Square simplify credit payments, it does away with paper receipts (sending them right to your phone), lets you verify the payer through photo identification and encourages an automatic rewards system for repeat customers at businesses using the system.

Think of the implications. Square will nearly eliminate that out-to-dinner dead zone where you're uncomfortably full, possibly drunk and definitely out of talking points and are left with little to do but dread the bill. Your perpetually cash poor friends will no longer have an excuse to keep you waiting for that loan reimbursement. Your drug dealer will no longer get antsy as you and your friends fumble through your wallets looking for the proper bills.

Just as everyone wonders how the people behind Twitter are making a buck out of that ad-free social engine, they come along with Square and let the rest of it rake it in with more ease than ever.