Personal Finance Advice and Commentary

BofA is debuting a smartphone-based card-swiping platform similar to Square.

Some small banks are wising up to smartphone check deposits. This week, First Tennessee Bank unveiled a new service that lets its checking account holders deposit paper checks via an iPhone. The service functions like other mobile deposit services you’ve probably seen. Simply take a picture with your iPhone, and send the image to the

Is the traditional bank account checkbook a dead technology? Maybe. Or maybe not. It’s no secret that technologies, loosely defined, sweep by faster today than they ever did in the past. Classic toys that delighted children in the 1950s are ancient history. Once-common items like hotel room keys, user’s manuals, camera film and pay telephones