Apple Pay coming to 11 Marriott Hotels

Marriott Hotels will be accepting payments via Apple Pay in the countries that support it (i.e. not Canada). Just in time for the Apple Watch release on April 24, the hotel chain plans a staggered rollout this summer that will allow check in and payment using your iPhone 6 (or Apple Watch). This will be confirmed with a beep and a vibration signifying that the transaction is good. You will similarly use your iPhone to access your room. Marriott is will offer the service in 11 hotels in the US.

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Square offers Chargeback Protection to Canadian sellers

Square is looking to help out sellers on their platform with a new Chargeback Protection feature. It is available to Canadian and American sellers for free. If you receive chargebacks and you followed best practices, Square is willing to cover up to $250 a month. Like any chargeback, you will still go through the investigation. If your chargeback is covered, you won’t be liable for chargeback amount, regardless of the outcome. It, however, doesn’t cover times when you decide to issue refunds.

IBM opens new SoftLayer cloud centre in Québec

Hoping to service Canadian customers with local SoftLayer cloud services, IBM has opened its second cloud centre in the country. Located in Drummondville, just outside of Montréal, Québec, it helps keep data in country, which clients prefer. This centre allows clients to store, compute, and back up data locally. The centre offers a full-range of SoftLayer and IBM Cloud infrastructure services such as bare matel servers, storage, virtual servers, networking, and security services. These can be deployed on-demand with full remote access and control through the client’s Web portal or API, leaving you to create your ideal public, private, or hybrid cloud environment. The first cloud facility in Canada was opened in Toronto in August 2014.

Source: IBM

Major museums around the world start banning selfie sticks

If you love carrying your selfie stick around with you everywhere, you might want to keep those at home or at the hotel room when you plan on visiting museums. Some of the museums that have banned the use of these selfie accessories include the Smithsonian, Louvre, MOMA and Met museums in New York, Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art, LA’s Getty Center, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and Seattle’s Museum of Art. Aside from that a formal ban is pending at Versailles palace and Centre Pompidou in France. Perhaps it’s time you wean yourself off them, right?

Source: Engadget