paypal

I've written before on PayPal's reliance on open source, but came across this article that takes it one step farther. Not content to admit to deriving benefits from open source, PayPal's Matthew Mengerink (VP, Core Technologies, PayPal) lists four things that any IT department can do to derive maximum benefit from open source:

PayPal transacts more than US$1,500 every second of every day, with millions of people around the world relying on the robustness of its system.

It comes as a surprise to many people that PayPal runs such a large financial services company on an open source platform, but that's precisely how we're able to deal with the two competing demands our business model places on us: security and innovation.… Read more

If you use Yahoo Mail you should be seeing a significant reduction in the number of e-mail scams purporting to be from eBay and PayPal very soon.

Yahoo will be upgrading its system beginning on Thursday with technology--dubbed "DomainKeys"--designed to block phishing spam and other fraudulent e-mails that look like they come from eBay and PayPal but don't. The system works by verifying the domain of the sender of the e-mail, allowing ISPs to block messages they deem illegitimate.

The upgrade is expected to be accomplished globally over the next several weeks.

Typically, the phishing scams … Read more

The old way was to spend a lot of money on limited software and hardware. The new way, as PayPal's CTO (Scott Thompson) of three years found, is to scale out with lots of low-cost hardware and software. Open source enables this, and to marvelously good effect, as Thompson describes:

PayPal runs thousands of Linux-based, single-rack-unit servers, which host the company's Web-presentation layer, middleware and user interface. Thompson says he quickly saw the economic, operational and development advantages of open source and [Red Hat Enterprise] Linux technology. He now sees no other way to do it.… Read more

The days of PayPal's dominance over casual payments online are changing rapidly. A little over a year ago, Google unveiled its Checkout service, which has become an increasingly popular way to purchase items from various online retailers using a single account. Today, Amazon.com is unveiling its own payment program that lets Amazon.com users purchase items or services using their Amazon.com account credentials and billing information.

The new program is called "Flexible Payment Service", or FPS, and is launching with an invite-only API for developers who want to integrate the new payment service. What does … Read more

Category: Productivity

PayPal was one of the first services to enable people to exchange money online. Popularized--and later purchased--by eBay, PayPal is one of the most widely recognized payment systems on the Internet. It's used in online auctions and stores as a way to control and manage payments.

PayPal has survived over the years by charging fees to its sellers. Buyers in online auctions and those making donations via the service aren't charged these fees.

One of the reasons people choose to use PayPal over other services is its buyer protection and anonymization services, which offer some protection … Read more

PayPal launched on Friday its security key fob, a little device designed to thwart password-stealing bad guys who are out to pilfer your online payment account.

PayPal, owned by online auction behemoth eBay, says its PayPal Security Key will generate a new security code every 30 seconds, which people will enter along with their log-in and password for their eBay and PayPal accounts.

PayPal, which initially announced in January plans to increase security via a password-generating key fob, will charge $5 to PayPal and eBay account holders in the U.S. The plan will be expanded internationally.

Various versions of … Read more

Google is hosting a party at the eBay Live customer event in Boston on Thursday night for eBay sellers who are angry that eBay has forbidden merchants from offering Google Checkout as an online payment option.

The "Let Freedom Ring" Google party will be held in the Old South Meeting House in Boston, which was a key meeting place for participants in the American Revolution.

eBay and its PayPal unit added Google Checkout to its banned transaction provider list last summer, claiming that the service, which was launched in June 2006, did not have a proven track record … Read more

Skype launched a new paid-by-the-minute service last night called Skype Prime. Like competitor Ether, Skype users can set their own per-minute rates that get charged to the caller. Skype Prime takes 30 percent of the fees to pay for the service, which is double Ether's 15 percent. The service is aimed mainly at consultants and other professionals looking for an easy way to monetize their phone calls.

Skype Prime users can set up as many types of paid-for calls as they want, with short descriptions and custom pricing. Each one is listed on your Skype profile for others to … Read more