Wave Cash App’s Magic Wand to Pay for Stuff
Wave Cash App’s Magic Wand to Pay for Stuff
Cash App 的“魔法棒”：挥一挥就能买单
Have you ever wanted to wave a magic wand at something and make it yours? Well, now you can, so long as you have enough money in your debit account to pay for it. 你是否曾幻想过挥动魔法棒，就能让心仪之物归你所有？现在，只要你的借记卡账户里有足够的余额，这就不再是幻想。
Cash App, the digital payments service operated by Block, has offered its users the ability to use free physical cards since 2017. Now, anyone with a Cash App card can pay $25 to turn that card into a pearlescent, sparkly magic wand. Anywhere you can use tap-to-pay with your phone or card, you’ll be able to buy something with a tap of the wand instead. 自 2017 年起，由 Block 公司运营的数字支付服务 Cash App 就开始为用户提供免费的实体卡。现在，任何持有 Cash App 卡的用户只需支付 25 美元，就能将卡片变成一根闪烁着珍珠光泽的“魔法棒”。在任何支持手机或银行卡感应支付的地方，你现在都可以通过挥动这根魔法棒来完成支付。
The wand is a whimsical way to introduce Cash App Tags, the company’s new hardware product. Tags are NFC-enabled physical devices that will eventually come in an array of shapes and sizes. They don’t have to connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. To link one to a Cash App account, you can just hold the device to the back of a phone, and it will link the wand to the account. (You’ll need to register a Cash App card first.) Then, the wand works like a debit card. Albeit a much more fanciful one that can be clipped to a keychain like a charm bracelet. 这根魔法棒是 Cash App 推出其全新硬件产品“Cash App Tags”的一种奇思妙想。Tags 是一种支持 NFC 功能的实体设备，未来将推出各种形状和尺寸。它们无需连接 Wi-Fi 或蓝牙。要将其与 Cash App 账户关联，只需将设备贴在手机背面即可完成绑定（前提是你必须先注册一张 Cash App 卡）。之后，这根魔法棒的使用方式就和借记卡一样，只不过它更具趣味性，还可以像挂饰一样挂在钥匙扣上。
Courtesy of Cash App 图片来源：Cash App
Making a statement about your payments seems to be the point here. Thomas Templeton, Block’s hardware lead, says that while digital payments have made buying things quicker and simpler, they’ve also made the purchasing process quieter, almost invisible. He thinks buying something should be fun—a conversation starter. Even Cash App’s cards, which he says people just keep in their pockets 90 percent of the time, aren’t flashy enough. The goal of the wand is to keep the payment tool “top of wallet.” 让支付过程变得“引人注目”似乎正是其核心目的。Block 硬件负责人 Thomas Templeton 表示，虽然数字支付让购物变得更快、更简单，但也让支付过程变得过于安静，甚至近乎“隐形”。他认为购物应该是有趣的，甚至能成为开启话题的契机。他指出，即便是在人们口袋里待了 90% 时间的 Cash App 卡，也还不够亮眼。而魔法棒的目标，就是让支付工具始终处于“钱包最显眼的位置”。
“At Cash App, we think payment should be just the opposite,” Templeton says. “It should be visible. It should be fun. And social and expressive.” “在 Cash App，我们认为支付应该恰恰相反，”Templeton 说道，“它应该是可见的、有趣的，并且具有社交属性和表达力。”
What a Wanderful World
奇妙的“挥动”世界
I got a chance to wave the wand around to buy stuff for a couple of days. The product definitely works and grabs people’s attention. “Do whatever makes you happy,” the cashier at a coffee shop told me when I asked to pay with the wand. 我有幸体验了几天挥动魔法棒购物的感觉。这款产品确实好用，而且非常吸引眼球。当我在咖啡店要求用魔法棒支付时，收银员对我说：“做让你开心的事就好。”
My wand was declined trying to buy a bag of gummy bears at a smoke shop, but that’s only because my card hadn’t been properly set up yet. Once I got things going, I was able to tap the wand to pay for coffee, some Taco Bell, and a beer after work. (OK fine, during work. You got me.) I’ve paid my fare on San Francisco’s Muni trains, tapping the wand and watching the entry gates part before me. For just $2.85, I felt like Gandalf. 起初，我在一家烟草店买软糖时支付失败了，那只是因为我的卡还没设置好。一旦设置妥当，我就可以用它来支付咖啡、塔可钟（Taco Bell）快餐，以及下班后的一杯啤酒（好吧，其实是上班时间，被你发现了）。我还用它支付了旧金山 Muni 列车的车费，挥动魔法棒看着闸机为我打开，只需 2.85 美元，我就感觉自己像甘道夫一样。
“It’s just fun,” Templeton says. “Less from a Cash App business perspective, and more from a user perspective, it’s just delightful and fun and whimsical, and people like that.” “这纯粹是为了好玩，”Templeton 说，“从用户角度来看，这不仅令人愉悦、有趣且充满奇思妙想，而且人们确实喜欢这种感觉，这比从 Cash App 的商业角度出发更重要。”
Whimsy is en vogue right now, embraced by younger generations as a sort of lifeline to finding decency and playful weirdness in what feels like an increasingly indecent and existentially terrifying world. Whimsy is also an easy thing to capitalize on, as brands adopt fun, lighthearted aesthetics as a way to appeal to audiences who seek that frivolity. You may have seen videos on TikTok of people attaching credit cards to homemade magic wands and using them to pay for things. They’re occasionally found in rave culture, so much so that you can find pages of 3D-printed versions of them on Amazon. “奇思妙想”正当其时，被年轻一代视为一种救命稻草，在日益不体面且充满生存焦虑的世界中寻找体面与俏皮的怪诞。这种“奇思妙想”也很容易被商业化，品牌们纷纷采用有趣、轻松的美学风格，以吸引那些追求这种“轻浮感”的受众。你可能在 TikTok 上看到过人们将信用卡贴在自制魔法棒上进行支付的视频。这种现象在锐舞文化中也时有出现，甚至在亚马逊上都能找到大量 3D 打印的同类产品。
Courtesy of Cash App 图片来源：Cash App
Templeton insists the idea for the Cash App Wand was not inspired by the trend videos, but something Cash App came up with all on its own ages ago. Templeton 坚称，Cash App 魔法棒的创意并非受到这些热门视频的启发，而是 Cash App 很早之前就独立构思出来的。
“We’ve been thinking about this for a little while now, but yeah, the last probably nine, 12 months we really, in earnest, we started working on this,” he says. “我们思考这个问题已经有一段时间了，但确实是在过去 9 到 12 个月里，我们才真正开始认真投入研发，”他说。
The wands are also a limited release, limited to about 10,000 before the company will move on to another “drop.” The idea is to test out different categories of Cash App Tag and see what users and potential business partners want to use them for. The Tags can be built very small, don’t need batteries, and can be resilient enough to go through a washer and dryer. Templeton says Block is hoping to eventually have them woven into clothing or put in jewelry. More drops of different product categories will arrive later this year. 这些魔法棒属于限量发售，总量约为 10,000 根，之后公司将转向下一个“新品发布”。其目的是测试不同类别的 Cash App Tag，看看用户和潜在商业合作伙伴希望如何使用它们。这些 Tag 可以做得非常小，无需电池，且足够耐用，甚至能经受住洗衣机和烘干机的考验。Templeton 表示，Block 希望最终能将它们编织进衣服里或嵌入珠宝中。今年晚些时候，还将有更多不同类别的产品发布。
Wanding Down
魔法落幕
The whimsy does feel a little weird coming from Block right now. Helmed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Block used to be called Square before a name change in 2021. It has made some other changes since then, like slimming down its Square handheld last year. 这种“奇思妙想”在当前的 Block 公司看来确实显得有些怪异。Block 由前 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey 掌舵，在 2021 年更名之前曾叫 Square。自那以后，公司进行了一些调整，比如去年精简了 Square 手持设备业务。
This year, Block also slimmed down its own workforce, laying off 40 percent of its staff and contributing to an office culture that workers have called demoralizing and anxiety-inducing. 今年，Block 还精简了员工队伍，裁员 40%，导致公司内部形成了一种被员工形容为“令人沮丧且充满焦虑”的办公文化。
This made it a weird time to go into the Cash App office to meet with Templeton and see the wand for the first time. We sat there, Templeton, another Block rep, and me—three people at a table that looked like it could fit a dozen. In the main room, just a handful of people were scattered across the many desks in the office. It was all very quiet. 这使得此时走进 Cash App 办公室去见 Templeton 并首次见到这根魔法棒，显得有些微妙。我们坐在那里——Templeton、另一位 Block 代表和我——三个人坐在一张看起来能容纳十几人的桌子旁。在主办公区，只有寥寥数人分散在众多的办公桌间。整个环境非常安静。
I fiddled around with this whimsical magic wand as I talked with Templeton. I couldn’t help but ask how the vibes at Block were these days. Does working here feel as fun and fanciful as the devices they’re building? 在与 Templeton 交谈时，我摆弄着这根奇妙的魔法棒。我不禁问起 Block 现在的氛围如何。在这里工作，是否像他们制造的设备一样有趣且充满奇思妙想？
“Block’s doing great,” Templeton said. “We just had earnings. We’re shipping faster than ever. We’re moving like a startup again; it’s great.” “Block 表现得很好，”Templeton 回答道，“我们刚刚发布了财报。我们的产品交付速度比以往任何时候都快。我们又像初创公司一样在前进；这感觉很棒。”