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Square, the popular business technology platform known for its Point of Sale (POS) systems, has launched a new device designed to allow sellers to ring up various kinds of purchases and perform other tasks without carrying around the extra weight of bulkier hardware. The Square Handheld, with a screen that is slightly bigger than a cellphone, is less than an inch thick, thin enough to fit in your back pocket. Handheld card readers currently on the market are bulkier, requiring sellers to use lanyards or handstraps to carry them around. The Square Handheld frees up hands for a more seamless integration into the user’s workflows. The device supports a full range of payment options, includes a camera and barcode scanner, and is designed to last. The device is IP54-rated, meaning it can handle water splashes and dust. Users can further protect the device by purchasing a case, offered on the Square online shop and developed in partnership with Belkin. [Photo: Square] At a product event in New York City last week, businesses that have already trialed the Square Handheld discussed both the devices functionality and the connection to customers that the device helps facilitate. Staff at Cisco Brewers, originally established in Nantucket, Massachusetts, use the Square Handhelds barcode scanner to verify customers IDs. Other restaurant owners say the device makes placing orders easier. Its tremendously helpful to place orders instantly at each table instead of waiting at a counter and entering multiple tables orders at once, said Trevor Ledergerber, owner of La Mediterranee, in Berkeley, California, via a press release. Sellers also say they appreciate the connection it creates between businesses and clientele. Maricia Du Plessis, owner of Pollys Cafe in Brooklyn, says that the device operates as a conversation starter as well as being convenient. It helps to be able to be superclose to our customersquite literallyand connect more deeply with them and really understand who they are and what drives their behavior and how we can observe them over time, Du Plessis said. The device is supported by Squares Point of Sale app, which features seven different modes of functionality, including Bar mode, Quick Service mode, and Retail mode, with the option to expand and customize features as a business grows. The Square Handheld includes customer profiles that businesses have already made with Square, and according to a press release, it can fit into any in-store workflow and is especially suited to restaurants and retailers. “Square Handheld fuses Squares industry-leading design with powerful commerce software to deliver a dynamic device that empowers sellers to keep pace with the breakneck speed of modern business, said Thomas Templeton, head of hardware for Block, Square’s owner, in a press release. The device is currently available for $399 on Squares online store, with the accompanying Belkin SheerForce cases available for $39.
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In recent years, Khan Academy founder Sal Khan has been most visible promoting the organization’s AI learning assistant, Khanmigo. But a second nonprofit he founded, called Schoolhouse, focuses on connecting students with their peers for human-centered educational interactions. Since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schoolhouse has connected students with trained and certified volunteer tutors, often around their own age, who help them understand a variety of academic subjects. Now, through a pilot with the College Board, these tutors also help students prepare for the SATs. “It was a very utopian idea that frankly a lot of people were very skeptical ofthat you could attract volunteers, and vet them, and train them, and give high-quality tutoring at scale for free to other folks,” says Khan, who is also CEO of Schoolhouse. “But we built that first prototype, summer of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, and it worked.” As of Tuesday, Schoolhouse is publicly launching a new program called Dialogues, which connects students aged 14 to 18 via Zoom to respectfully discuss a variety of often-controversial cultural and political topics. Developed with experts in civil discourse, the program offers students discussion guides on subjects like immigration, gun control, climate change, universal basic income, and artificial intelligence. Ultimately, though, it relies on students to engage respectfully and learn from one another. “It’s not a debate,” Khan says. “You don’t have to convince the other person, but you do want to be able to give your point of view in a thoughtful way, and you want to be able to listen and be able to understand the other side’s point of view.” During sessions, students are identified only by their first names and last initials. While video is optional, Schoolhouse reports that about 75% of students in the pilot opted to keep their cameras on. After each conversation, students complete surveys reflecting on their experiences. Dialogues offer not only insights into differing perspectives but also teach students how to maintain respectful, productive conversations. “I often end up being the one who sort of leads the question, as in answers first,” says Claire, a participant in the program. (Schoolhouse requested that Fast Company only identify student participants by their first names, in keeping with Dialogues privacy practices.) “And I’ve learned how to do that in a way where I’m not running over the other peoplewhere we really share our own different thoughts, and we dig a little bit deeper.” Sample data shown here [Image: Schoolhouse] More than 600 students have participated in the pilot phase, holding over 2,000 Dialogue sessions. Participants can also start Dialogues clubs through Schoolhouse to help organize sessions. Its our dream that one day, Dialogue Clubs will be just as common as Debate Clubs, Khan wrote in a blog post. Students can also receive official portfolios from Schoolhouse documenting their participation and peer feedback. By connecting students across geographic regions, Dialogues expose them to viewpoints and ideas they may not encounter in their everyday lives. [Image: Schoolhouse] “In my daily life, I really thought I met a lot of different people, and I was kind of tapped in with a bunch of different areas of the community,” says David, a participant. “But once you go into Dialogues, you realize that there’s a lot more breadth to the world around you.” Zoom offers a more intimate, one-on-one setting than typical internet message boardswithout the cost and complexity of travel. “We had two American students talking to two Chinese students in China about free speech,” Khan says. “I don’t know how you pull that off in person without some super-expensive exchange program.” Several collegesincluding the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, MIT, Vanderbilt University, Columbia University, Colby College, Northwestern University, and Washington University in St. Louishave said they will officially consider Dialogues portfolios as part of admissions applications. Students who volunteer to tutor through Schoolhouse can also build similar portfolios. Khan says his team has, with student permission, shared transcripts and recordings of Dialogues with school officials to help them understand the program, and the response has been positive. “Their consensus is, this is incredible,” he says. “Like, these are kids that we would want to accept.”
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E-Commerce
A new paid internship program, set to begin this summer, will allow select college students to work on the reconstruction of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed last year.The program, which was announced Monday, is the result of a partnership between The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC). Interns will be hired as temporary state employees and get hands-on experience in areas like project management, environmental and construction management, as well as community outreach activities for the historic project. Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible. The goal of the internship program is to strengthen collaboration skills among interns, foster community engagement, and help students build professional networks that will serve them well in their future careers, Maryland Transportation Secretary and MDTA Chairman Paul J. Wiedefeld said in the announcement. The unique internship opportunity is fairly selective. More than 80 students from the University of Maryland College Park, Morgan State University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Johns Hopkins University applied for the inaugural session. Only 10 were selected. Those interns will work alongside engineers and other experts involved in the construction from June through August 2025. As the Key Bridge project develops, the MDTA and MHEC plan to continue bringing on more students to participate. Per the announcement, the internship program will run until construction is complete. The Maryland Department of Transportation, says the bridge could take four years to rebuild, and cost up to $1.9 billion. Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapsed in March 2024 after a cargo ship lost power and slammed into the structure. Six construction workers, who were making repairs on the bridge at the time, died in the incident. The bridge, which took five years to build, opened in 1977. Around 34,000 vehicles crossed it every day in the years leading up to its collapse. The new bridge will be taller than the original, to accommodate larger ships, and will have other structural improvements. The cable-stay design was released to the public in February. “Maryland’s first cable-stayed bridge will rise, not just replacing what we lost, but revealing what we have foundstrength and unityin this state,” Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller said of the new design at the time. We stand here today united stronger than ever before, ready to rebuild, ready to show the nation what Maryland is made of. . . . This bridge will stand as a beacon of perseverance.”
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