Amazon Local Register falls so short it's sad.

I spend quite a bit of money annually at Amazon, for virtually everything.  In general, their service is world class.  I heard they were offering discounted fees over square, so I gave it a try. 

At every turn, there's been SO much I've had to forgive.

- The app is HORRIBLE. (ugly, slow, unintuitive)
- Mutes phone when you quit the app. (No reason - just to annoy you)

- The reader is goofball - longer than it needs to be and unreliable.
- The service can ONLY be managed from the phone - you can't get anything via the web.
- They don't email the merchant after each transaction, only the consumer.  There's no way to have it email the merchant.
- You can't sign up for the service with an existing Amazon account - you have to sign up with a NEW account. Ridiculous!

And the worst thing of all - A 14-DAY HOLD on manually entered transactions.  For me, that's a DEAL KILLER.

Sorry, Amazon.  I'll pay a little more and get VASTLY SUPERIOR service from Square.

4/13/2015 - UPDATE: It's more than six months since I've posted this and the app is STILL hideous, and the service still is WAY BEHIND Square.  Sorry, Amazon.  I love your retail operation, but the card processing service is a failure.

Nite-Ize cases

I needed a case to hold my iPhone 4 when working. Since OtterBox still doesn't have anything, I originally bought a handful of generic "sideways" holster pouches from a few mall kiosks. Some worked okay, but none of them felt quite right.

I've been using the Clip Pock-Its XL for a while now, and it works well. The clip is designed to stay on your belt no matter what. I figured I'd look and see if they made something that would work for the iPhone 4. I'm glad I did.

I picked up the Nite Ize Universal Clip Case Sideways Medium and it's working pretty well so far. I'm still awaiting an Otterbox case, but until that time, this is a worthy substitute.