Innovation of the week

Sending even small amounts of cash to someone you know remains a “tedious and slow task,” said Walt Mossberg in AllThingsD.com. It often entails doing “what you would have done in 1957—writing a check and mailing it.” A new smartphone app from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey seeks to change that. Square Cash lets users instantly send money to a friend or relative for free, with no login or password required. Simply enter the amount (say, $20), the recipient’s email, and your debit card info (which you fill out only once). He or she will receive an email from Square with a link that when activated deposits that $20 directly into a checking account. Other options for transferring money online exist, said Salvador Rodriguez in LATimes.com. But if you don’t want to wrestle with fees or create another online account, “Square Cash is the way to go.”