CrossCheck Blog

Photo: Rosie the Riveter Museum In 1945 most of Europe lay in ruins. The war devastated cities, bankrupted economies, and left the returning soldiers to adjust to civilian life in hardship. Europe contrasted sharply to conditions in the United States, which had established itself as the dominant world power and was set to lead the world’s economies for decades to come.

There I was in the parking lot walking to my car when I saw it. A beautiful yellow 2014 Camaro parked next to my Honda. It was brand new with a black racing stripe and gorgeous chrome rims. I had to take a peek inside and was impressed by the black interior and the custom sound system. Quite different from the ’71 Camaro that my high school buddy and I cruised around in trying to attract the attention of girls in their Mustangs and Darts. Much has changed in the automotive business since those carefree days in our American muscle cars, but the nameplates that we loved are making a comeback. Chevrolet has reintroduced the Camaro, Dodge has brought back the Charger and Challenger and the old reliable Ford Mustang has been reborn with a powerful new look and more robust engine. The new versions are beautiful, powerful and get much better gas mileage than the fire breathing V8 engines that we used to work on.

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On January 24, 2014 the Apple Macintosh computer celebrated its 30th anniversary. Welcome to the club! Much has changed in the personal computer market since then and the advances in technology have been breathtaking. While not every desk has a Mac on it, the influences of the Mac have changed personal and business computing for everyone and emulating some of Apple’s growth strategies may have a similar positive effect on your businesses’ bottom line.

Ten years ago iTunes came into the picture and music retailing has never been the same. iTunes started with 200,000 tracks available for download when it began in 2003. Today, over 26 million songs are available along with numerous apps, videos, movies and books. Over one billion songs have been purchased from the iTunes store and 50 billion apps have been downloaded for use on IOS devices (iPhones, iPods and iPads).

In 1983 we went to the theatres to see Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Flashdance, Sudden Impact ("Go ahead, make my day"), Scarface ("Say hello to my little friend") and Terms of Endearment. We bought records such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and “Syncronicity” by The Police. If you were young and had an active social life like my friend pictured here you went out wearing your Izod shirt with a cool Members Only jacket. You listened to music on a Sony Walkman with your favorite cassettes.

It looks like 2013 will be chock full of great events for payment industry professionals, ISOs and financial services providers. We've gathered up some dates and locations for these must-attend events and hope to see you there!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we wanted to present 5 websites that we are thankful for. These sites are valuable to the payments industry for the information and services they provide. In the ever-changing payment services industry, keeping up with the changes can be challenging.

Home remodeling activity is currently undergoing a boom, and that's good news for contractors and businesses in the building supply industry. With the trend in home remodeling expected to continue growing, building supply businesses as well as landscaping, flooring, interior and exterior painting, home furnishing stores and roofing contractors are expected to benefit with gains in business.

Woodstock, Watergate, Vietnam, Nixon resignation... those that lived through these turbulent times in the 60s and 70s are getting close to retirement. As they move into the golden years, Baby Boomers are seeing the fruits of their labor as they plan for the changes that lie ahead. Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 and number around 80 million. Baby Boomers are the most affluent group with plenty of disposable income and savings. How then do marketers reach this important group and what values do they need to employ to ensure success?