A simple typo gave Michael Ivey the idea for his company. One day in the fall of 2008, Ivey’s wife, using her pink RAZR phone, sent him a note via Twitter. But instead of typing the letter d at the beginning of the tweet — which would have sent the note as a direct message, a private note just for Ivey — she hit p. It could have been an embarrassing snafu, but instead it sparked a brainstorm. That’s how you should pay people, Ivey publicly replied. Ivey’s friends quickly jumped into the conversation, enthusiastically endorsing the idea. Ivey, a computer programmer based in Alabama, began wondering if he and his wife hadn’t hit on something: What if people could transfer money over Twitter for next to nothing, simply by typing a username and a dollar amount?

A summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, decided to create a new regional bloc excluding the United States and Canada, in what most international media described as an act of defiance against Washington. But there are three big reasons to believe that, despite claims by Venezuela and a few other countries that the new group will replace the U.S.-based Organization of American States (OAS) and challenge U.S. foreign policies, it will be something very different. First, many of the 32 countries that participated in the Feb. 22-23 summit are behind in their annual payments to the United Nations, the OAS and other international institutions, and don't want to create a new bureaucracy.

China called on Google Inc. and other foreign investors Friday to respect its rules and regulations and said no matter what decision the Internet giant makes on its China operations, it is unlikely to affect overall U.S.-China trade relations. Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said the country would continue to support foreign investment in the country, but said foreign investors must respect China's situation. The remarks were the most detailed response by a Chinese government official since Google said earlier this week that it would stop censoring content on its Chinese site and threatened to pull out of the country altogether after attacks on its computer system that it said originated in China.

The official Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission — the group that aims to hold a modern version of the Pecora hearings of the 1930s, whose investigations set the stage for New Deal bank regulation — began taking testimony on Wednesday. In its first panel, the commission grilled four major financial-industry honchos. What did we learn? Well, if you were hoping for a Perry Mason moment — a scene in which the witness blurts out: “Yes! I admit it! I did it! And I’m glad!” — the hearing was disappointing. What you got, instead, was witnesses blurting out: “Yes! I admit it! I’m clueless!”