merchants

Merchants or community managers that sell goods or accept donations through larger platforms like Shopify, Reddit, or Skillshare can now quickly start taking credit cards, thanks to a new system from the online payments company Stripe.

Called Stripe Connect, the new system is designed to make it easy for any online shop or group to process credit-card payments from donors or customers.

At the same time, Stripe Connect is also giving Stripe partners a way take advantage of analytics software, CRM systems, and other financial packages in order to see real-time account data. Indeed, the company is hoping that developers … Read more

Foursquare has taken off the kid gloves and is ready to start making money. After rolling out "Local Updates" last week, letting any merchant allure potential nearby customers by sending out status updates, it launched "Promoted Updates" today.

Promoted Updates, which is still in pilot, takes the idea of Local Updates up a notch. Rather than being available to any merchant using the check-in service, Promoted Updates is only for those merchants willing to pay Foursquare on a "cost per action" model, according to TechCrunch. While in pilot, there are roughly 20 participating companies, … Read more

A little more than a month after Foursquare gave its users a redesigned interface, the location-based social network has unveiled a new way for merchants to communicate with customers in real time.

The new feature, called Local Updates, began rolling out today, providing what is essentially a status update for the nearly 1 million merchants who have claimed venues on the social service. The free-to-use service allows merchants to post text messages, special promotions, and photos to the Foursquare activity feeds of loyal patrons who are in the vicinity.

"The best part is there's no extra work for … Read more

Portal 2 is the follow-up to the 2007 cult-classic original that was bundled inside Valve's Orange Box collection. Since then, Portal has gone on to spawn a loyal following that has been clamoring for a sequel for years.

This week Portal 2 hits the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Steam as its own full-length game, extending the mythology of GlaDOS--the game's maniacal nemesis--Aperture Laboratories, and much more.

Jeff: We listed Portal 2 as one of our most anticipated games of 2011 for good reason. It is by far one of the most unique gaming experiences available, forcing the player to think well beyond the laws of physics. In the process of creating a brand-new gaming genre, Portal 2 also delivers some of the most clever and unique level design around, allowing for an overwhelmingly satisfying experience.

If that weren't enough, Portal 2 doubles the value by adding a fully fledged co-op campaign that is totally different than the single-player mode. The most complex puzzles are found here and the sense of accomplishment and mutual discovery while playing with a friend cannot be overstated.

We got to chat with one of Portal 2's writers, Erik Wolpaw--the 8-minute interview of which is embedded above--about the process of creating the highly anticipated sequel and how Stephen Merchant was brought on as the voice of Wheatley, one of the game's new characters.… Read more

Editors' note: Today's demo of Mortal Kombat features intense scenes of violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

Two blockbuster titles highlight this week's episode of preGame as we demo Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat--we're calling it Portal Kombat!

To celebrate the release of Portal 2, we're also giving away two Portal 2-themed hoodies courtesy of ThinkGeek.com. For your chance to win, follow the show's new Twitter account, @CNETpreGame, and follow the directions found in the video above! The winners will receive direct messages before next week's show.

For more on Portal 2, please stick around at the end of this week's episode for our full interview with one of the game's writers, Erik Wolpaw. Or if you want to jump right to that video, press the play button to the right.

As if these two massive games weren't enough, we've also sneaked in a look at Uncharted 3's multiplayer experience. Check out the newest trailer that gives a taste of what's to come in Drake's latest adventure, due out this November.… Read more

Medici is the iOS adaptation of Reiner Knizia's classic bidding game, a board-game simulation of a dockside auction over the course of three days, in which three to six merchants bid to fill the cargo holds of their ships.

As with adaptations of similarly complex, European-style board games, existing fans of this popular game will have a much easier time with this app--but thankfully, comprehensive rules (perhaps overly so) along with nine different AI choices (each with varying skill levels and tendencies) help to make the learning curve a little less steep. Gameplay is actually very simple once you'… Read more

Ezimerchant Professional is designed to help build Web sites where users can sell their products. While it offers an impressive selection of tools, the program is complicated and frustrating to use and requires Web design skills.

The program's interface deceived us after our first impression. Although Ezimerchant has a professional-looking layout, we needed to revisit the Help file constantly. We were able to quickly build the skeleton of a Web site featuring a Home page, an About page, and more. While we were able to customize text, images, and the design template, we were disappointed by the results, which … Read more