Not too long ago, personal finance tools like Quicken and Microsoft Money used to be bound to the desktop. Exchanging information with your banks used to be a hassle. Keeping track of credit card purchases was often a question of waiting for statements to arrive by mail and then entering data by hand. Today, free tools like Mint , moneyStrands and Wesabe make it easy to track all of this information. Thanks to this, you can now get a better overview of your personal finances than ever before. Sponsor Editor's note : This story is part of ReadWriteWeb's Personal Finance series, a weekly, three-month-long look at how the Internet has transformed personal finance. Up until April 15, which is the deadline for U.S. readers to file their taxes, we'll be looking at how personal finance has evolved, analyzing top web tools and posting video of our conversations with the people who are shaping the online world of personal finance. If you are interested in sponsoring the rest of this Content Series on Personal Finance, please contact our COO Sean Ammirati . Mint: Leading the Charge Currently, the two most well-known online tools for personal finance management are arguably Mint and Intuit's Quicken Online . Mint stood out from the pack early on because the company made it extremely easy to keep track of all your expenses. After giving Mint access to your bank and credit card account, the service simply downloads your financial information at regular intervals and organizes it. Mint can even track your 401(k) for you. Mint launched in September 2007 and quickly became the darling of the Web 2.0 world. Unlike most of its desktop-bound competitors, Mint managed to talk to virtually every bank and credit card issuer from day one. In October 2008, Mint came out of beta . Today, the company has more than 1.7 million registered users and sees roughly 700,000 active users every month. In October 2009, the company was signing up 30,000 new users per week. Mint's success didn't go unnoticed by the incumbent market leaders and Intuit acquired Mint in October 2009. In November 2009, Intuit announced that it would begin to phase out Quicken Online in favor of Mint. Microsoft suspended sales of Microsoft Money on June 30, 2009 and doesn't plan to compete in the market anymore . Correction : In December, Microsoft actually announced a plan to enter the personal finance market again with a Mint-like tool it is developing in collaboration with Citi. Beyond Mint While Mint gets most of the mindshare on the web these days, it's by no means the only player in this market. Indeed, the success of Mint has given rise to a plethora of similar tools and legitimizes the efforts of companies that tried to enter this market before Mint. ClearCheckbook.com , for example, launched in May 2006. The company focuses on bringing checkbook management online. A number of other tools are competing more directly with Mint. Wesabe , for example, also focuses on giving users an overview of how they spend their money. Sadly, Wesabe makes downloading your information from your checking and credit card accounts a bit more difficult than Mint. Since acquiring Exepnsr , Strands now also offers its own personal finance tool for setting up and tracking personal budgets and staying on top of your finances. Geezeo - which was founded in 2006, and also looks a lot like Mint, has a very strong focus on budgeting. Most of these tools focus on the U.S. market, but more and more of them are also now available outside of the United States. Kublax , for example, offers a Mint-like service in the U.K. Going Mobile Just like almost every other category of online tools, personal finance tools are also making the move to mobile. Mint and Wesabe , for example, offer both an iPhone app and mobile-optimized websites. Most importantly, all of these services are also able to send out alerts to your phone - either through push alerts on the iPhone or as text messages. Whenever you run the risk of exceeding your credit card limit, for example, these services will send you an alert. Of course, a number of banks have also gotten into this game and now offer their own mobile apps. The Bank of America , Chase Mobile and Wells Fargo apps are currently among the top 10 most downloaded free finance iPhone apps, for example. When it comes to paying your bills, apps like BillMinder and BillTracker make it easy to never forget when a bill is due. What's Next? Over the last few years, the web has clearly transformed the way we use personal finance software. Over the next few months, we will have a closer look at the current generation of personal budgeting and finance tools on the web. We will also analyze the current trends around online finance software. This is the first post in our upcoming series about personal finance. If you are interested in sponsoring the rest of this Content Series on Personal Finance, please contact our COO Sean Ammirati . Discuss

Read more from the original source:
How The Web is Transforming Personal Finance

In a world where emails, phone calls, texts, and Tweets constantly bombard us, it is getting harder and harder to manage the firehose of data and information being thrust our way. For young companies to succeed this environment, it is imparitive they become organized and efficient lest they fall behind and quickly become overwhelmed. While there is no shortage of online solutions, it can be hard to know which one is the right tool for the job, so here's a list of five web applications to help kick-start your company and keep it organized without breaking the bank. Sponsor Google Apps - Google's collection of web apps includes solutions for corporate email accounts, calendars or contacts, but its best use for a new startup is with document sharing. Using Google Docs to collaborate on text documents, spreadsheets or even presentations is far more efficient than sending a file in an email attachment. In recent years, Zoho has become an increasingly competitive enterprise alternative to Google, even adding integration with Google Apps . Zoho has also introduced more features that help it stand out against Google Apps, including their own CRM solution that aims to compete with Salesforce.com . Basecamp - We here at ReadWriteWeb use Basecamp on a daily basis for managing ongoing projects and reviewing edits of our stories. Developed by 37signals , Basecamp offers a great interface with an easily read dashboard of the latest activity, as well as to-do lists, milestones and email alerts. For the on-the-go entrepreneur, there are a handful of mobile Basecamp apps ranging in features and price. Personally, I recommend using Insight for iPhone , which was rebranded from Encamp and recently recommended by 37signals . Dropbox - Whether it's large financial spreadsheets, or Photoshop mockups of your website-to-be, you are going to need somewhere to store all your files. Dropbox makes all of these easy and relatively inexpensive, offering up to 100 GB for $20 a month. But it's not just storage. Dropbox can automatically sync with folders on your desktop, creating an offsite backup of your vital startup files in the cloud, which any member of your staff can access. An alternative solution would be to use Box.net , however their pricing plans are higher than Dropbox's and are aimed at larger corporations. Dimdim - The next time you find yourself struggling to explain an intricate concept to your coworkers through a text document or presentation, check out Dimdim and use the power of screen-sharing to make your point crystal clear. One of Dimdim's best features is that their product works entirely from within your web browser without the need to download or install any extra software. Screen-sharing services like Dimdim can save a young company hundreds if not thousands of dollars in travel expenses by providing a much more efficient way to meet and share information. Also a notable service in this space is Citrix's GoToMeeting . However, like Box.net to Dropbox, its pricing is much higher than Dimdim's. MindMeister - Between the last two semesters of graduate school, I worked on a collaborative ten-week reporting project, and used online mind-mapping app MindMeister extensively to stay organized. The application is a great way to keep those more abstract ideas organized in an easy-to-understand way. Countless startups have mapped out their product ideas and business plans on giant whiteboards, and now the whiteboard has gone digital. MindMeister makes it easy to create and share mind maps and flow charts, and best of all, its free to get started. Photo by Flickr user simax . Discuss

View original post here:
5 Web Apps To Keep Your Startup Organized

Google is holding a press event to showcase the new Nexus One and possibly some other mobile innovations today. We already know quite a few details about the phone itself, but hopefully Google will also have a few surprises up its sleeve. The press conference should get under way at 10am PST and we will live blog the event here. Sponsor We will post updates as they happen. Keep reloading this page to see the latest news. 10:00am As usual, the event is running a bit late. 10:06am Getting started. VP of Product Development takes the stage to talk about the Open Handset Alliance. "We will unveil the next generation of the evolution of Android today." 13 new members will join the OHC - including: NEC, China Telecom and Freescale. Recapping the history of Android hardware (G1, myTouch, Droid) 10:10pm "A year ago we had 1 device, now we have 20 devices on 59 carriers." Google wants to prevent fragmentation - talking about compatibility test suite. "Android today is about getting more users onto the mobile web." Android users search the web over 30x more on Android than on feature phones. From the beginning, Android was always about being developer friendly. Talking about being able to multi-task (a subtle swipe at the iPhone?) The Next Step in the Android Evolution 10:15am "We are only in the early stages of the evolution of Android. Volume and variety of Android devices has exceeded Google's expectations. "But we want to do more. Wants to work closer with hardware partners to showcase the software. Announcing the Nexus One "Where Web Meets Phone" 10:18am Google calls this a new category of phones: "super-phones." On stage now: Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. Talking up the Nexus One: "The Nexus One is one of the best designs from HTC." Outstanding display, fast processor. "It pushes the limits of what is possible on a mobile phone today." Chou leaves the stage after posing with the phone... 10:22am In depth look at Nexus One Erik Tseng takes the stage to demo the phone. Hardware : 3.7 inch AMOLED display - WVGA. "Deep contrast and brilliant colours." 1 GHz processor - fast processor = less slowdowns. Trackball works as notifications tool. Will pulse when you get new messages. 130 grams - 11.5mm thick Sensors : light sensor, proximity sensor. 5 megapixel camera New for Android: active noise cancellation - using two microphones. 10:29am Google will offer custom engraving (just like the iPhone...) "With this hardware, we think we have half of the story. It's the combination of hardware and software that makes this such a great phone." No surprise: Nexus One will come with Android 2.1 10:31am New features in 2.1: Customization More homescreen panels - more widgets Example: weather widget: knows where you are from GPS Google expects to see more widgets from 3rd-party developers Showing live wallpapers. 10:35 3D capabilities of the Nexus One and Android 2.1 App launcher: new twist - 3D scroll-wheel - icons sit on a 3D wheel instead of a flat page New photo gallery - written with CoolIris Everything scrolls smoothly - quite impressive. Looks just like CoolIris on the desktop. Features background sync with Picasa Web Albums 10:39am Voice Commands In 2.0: Voice queries ("directions to nearest Ikea") In 2.1: Every text field is now voice-enabled Voice recognition learns every time you speak a query 10:42am Sneak peek at Google Earth for Android Also voice-enabled. Clearly making good use of the fast processor. Everything scrolls very smoothly. Buying the Phone: Google Hosted Web Store 10:45am How to buy the phone? Google will sell the phone in its own web store Keeping it simple: buy phone without service ($529) - or with service from partners (T-Mobile $179) For now, T-Mobile only. But: "Expect to add more carriers and hardware in the future." Verizon Wireless and Vodofone will join the program. Web Store 10:49am Demoing the store. Purchasing all done in the store - no need to go to the physical store 10:54am Recap First phone of a series of phone - more operators, devices and countries coming in the future Showing demo video right now Q&A 11:00am Question : Why only such a small amount of space for app storage? Answer : soon, you will be able to store apps on SD cards Question : Will it ship today? Answer : Yes. Question : Is this an iPhone killer? Answer : Choice is a good thing. Question : Whose inventory will the phone come from? What will you do to make the App Store more well-known? Answer : Unlocked phone comes from Google. Regarding the Android Market: Marketing for Nexus One and new Web Store will be essentially online. Focused on making the store better. Question : Why was it necessary for Google to design the phone? Why not just have an HTC phone that runs Android? Answer : Google didn't design the phone - HTC did. Google is just the retailer and worked mostly on the software. Question : What would convinces somebody to buy a $530 phone? Answer : That's choice at work. "This is the early stages of a longer journey." Question : Google isn't known for being a retailer. Answer : "We shouldn't focus on retailing." Google wants to offer a complete solution and give consumers choice. Retail part is very important but just another channel - not a channel that will replace other channels. Question : What's the revenue opportunity for Google? Answer : These super-phones are great for accessing the Internet and that's where out business is. Hardware sales are not the big deal - just wants to get more people on the mobile web. "If you want the best possible Google experience you come to the store and get the device." Question : Will it support tethering? Answer : In future versions. Not a strategic issue but just something Google needs to implement. Question : Is the physical keyboard dead? Will Google start to sell more products online? Answer (from HTC): We offer lots of different phones and people can choose what best fits for them. This design is focused on the form-factor and screen. HTC offers other devices for "keyboard-lovers". From Google: The new voice input works very well and Google will soon offer other devices as well. Question : Will other counties support multi-touch on the Nexus One? Answer : It's a software thing. "We'll consider it." Question : When will Google Voice launch publicly? What about the other phones that are coming soon? Will something awesomer come next month? Answer : Other manufacturers will add more devices. "If you need a great phone today - the Nexus is a great phone." (Nothing about Google Voice in the answer). Question : Google wants to do revolutionary stuff? What's revolutionary about this phone? Why does Google get behind this phone if it's pretty average? What not revolutionize the pricing structure with an ad-supported phone? Answer : This is a baby step. Let's get the store going and then we can see what comes up in the future. Question : Will people be able to check out the phone in retail store? Answer : We want this to remain pure and simple. Marketing this online-only and selling online-only. Question : What's the difference between a super-phone and a regular smartphone? Answer : The big differentiator is the openness of the app store. This is as powerful as your laptop was a year ago. Question : Question for Motorola: Will the Nexus One cannibalize sales of the Droid? Answer : We try to deliver the best products we can. Will upgrade software on the Droid. Question : Why does Google feel the need to change the way phones are bought? What's broken about the current system? Answer : We are trying to optimize efficiencies. Just like web store revolutionized the way you buy a camera, Google wants to do the same thing for phones. After there are enough phones out there, you can experience it through using somebody else's. Marketing just increases prices. Sidenote about partners : We would love to sell for Verizon and Vodafone right now - just have to integrate the IT. Question : What can users expect in terms of software upgrades? Users never really know what phone will get the upgrade Answer : HTC wants to upgrade all of its phones (nothing specific). Google argues that some phones simply don't have the hardware capabilities for the upgrade. The intention is to make sure everybody gets some kind of future-proof hardware that can get upgrades for a certain amount of time. From Motorola : Intention to upgrade the device to the best software that the hardware can run. Not every device supports the 3D capabilities of Android 2.1, for example. Backward compatibility slows down innovation. Questions : Will Verizon get unlocked phones? Answer : Unlocked phones are a problem with CDMA phones. Will only be sold with Verizon plan. Question : Will you port Google Voice to the iPhone or will you suppress this to give Android an advantage? Answer : Google Voice team isn't opposed to having its app run on other platforms. Question : Didn't Google say it won't do a phone? Answer : We don't do hardware. 11:43am: And that wraps up today's live blog. Thanks for reading! Discuss

Read this article:
Live Blog: Google's Android Press Gathering

It's not easy to migrate to Windows 7 from Windows XP. Core incompatibilities just make it inherently difficult. In the next year, it is likely that the enterprise will face the challenges of this migration, especially as new workstations are purchased. The challenge is compounded by the fact that Microsoft does not offer a clear migration path to Windows 7. Further, a number of legacy applications will not work in Windows 7, no matter how well the software is moved. Sponsor Virtualization software such as that from ZInstall can make the process of switching to Windows 7 a bit easier. ZInstall offers two "TV stations," meaning the company uses virtualization so the user may see both Windows 7 and Windows XP on the desktop. This gives the user the ability to move to Windows 7 at their own pace. ZInstall migrates all applications, settings and files from the old system to the new one, with no reinstalls. The virtualization technology means every application works on Windows 7 just like on Windows XP. ZInstall supports two main scenarios: Migration between two personal computers from one with Windows XP to a new one with Windows 7. Migration to Windows 7 on an existing personal computer. Virtualization is proving to be highly popular in the enterprise. Companies such as Citrix and VMWare are making small fortunes selling its virtualization technologies. ZInstall is banking on this trend with its virtualization technology designed to take the headache out of switching from Windows XP to Windows 7. Discuss

See the article here:
Migrating to Windows 7? Virtualization Can Make it A Bit Easier

Opera just released the first pre-alpha version of Opera 10.5. While most users generally only think about Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome as the major players in the current browser wars, there can be no doubt that Opera is working hard to push browser development forward as well. This latest alpha version shows that Opera has worked hard to speed up the browser. Carakan , the new JavaScript engine in Opera 10.5, is up to 7 times faster than Opera's current engine. The new version of Opera also adds a number of new features like an enhanced private browsing mode and a new graphics engine that can be hardware accelerated. Sponsor The new alpha is currently only available for Windows and OSX users - a Linux version will follow soon. Download links can be found at the bottom of this page . New Features New Features: private browsing better integration with native systems notification messages are now non-modal improvements to the search box and the address box new and improved highlighting new inline page search and password manager Besides the focus on speed - an area where Opera used to lead before WebKit based browsers like Safari and Chrome became popular - the company also included a number of other enhancement in this early version of 10.5. Windows 7 and Vista users, for example, will notice that the browser is now closely integrated with the desktop environment and makes use of features like Aero Glass in Vista and Aero Peek and Jump Lists in Windows 7. On the Mac, Opera can now make use of multi-touch gestures like the 3-finger swipe and Growl notifications. Other new features include a new "private tab" and "private window" mode that actually works far better than similar features in other browsers. You just have to right click on the tab bar and select "private tab" to start the private browsing mode in this new tab, for example. Opera also updated the look and feel for the browser's inline page search and password manager. It's All About Speed The focus here for Opera, however, is clearly not so much on bringing new features to the browser (the current Alpha doesn't even support O pera Unite , for example), but on testing the new JavaScript engine. When we spoke to Opera's CEO Jon von Tetzchner about the state of the browser during LeWeb earlier this month, he stressed that the company was very focused on improving the speed of the browser. He did stress, however, that the JavaScript engine was only a small part of this effort and that the company was also looking at other bottlenecks that are slowing the browser down. The fact that that new image rendering engine is already pre-wired for hardware acceleration is a good example for this (though the feature isn't turned on yet). We will bring you more of our interview with von Tetzchner after the holidays. In our own tests, Opera performed remarkably well and this new version clearly shows that it would be unwise to underestimate Opera in the browser wars. We should note, however, that this is still a very early alpha version and that the browser is likely to crash occasionally. Discuss

Read more from the original source:
Opera Feels The Need for Speed: Releases First Pre-Alpha of Opera 10.5

Demand for cloud-based storage and backup is creating some lucrative opportunities for companies servicing large telecommunications providers. We are seeing a number of carriers offering cloud-based services. Orange Business Services announced today that it will be offering cloud storage and other cloud-based services for its customers. Verizon announced earlier this month that it is offering a number of cloud-related services. Telecommunications companies are partnering with services like Nomadesk to give customers the ability to do their own cloud-based online backups. Sponsor Belgium-based Nomadesk is an online backup and syncing service for small business owners and personal users. It provides unlimited storage and sharing. The company announced this week a partnership with Bell Canada to provide its millions of customers with online back up for their mobile devices. Nomadesk is a virtual hard drive on your desktop. It's very simple. We downloaded the application, made some simple configurations and immediately had the ability to drag and drop files into the virtual hard drive that sits on the desktop.The hard drive is connected to the cloud and syncs when updates are made. Your data is secured and encrypted. It can be shared with any number of users and synced across the community. Applications can be backed up. Access to documents are available online or offline. Nomadesk CEO Filip Tack is touting the service as a better alternative to Box.net and Mozy . We agree that Nomadesk is easy to use, but as a collaboration platform it has some way to go. For example, Nomadesk does not have an advanced search capability like Box.net. We view enterprise search as a key feature for collaboration services. Tack said the company will offer search as a feature in the first part of 2010. Companies in this space are showing big market gains as larger providers seek revenues from the petabytes of data being produced every day. Mozy, for instance, just announced a partnership with Cox Business. Mozy is also partnering with China Telecom, McAfee and Vodafone to deliver cloud-based backup to customers. What is the amount of data that is produced every day in the enterprise? We know this can vary wildly but even small businesses are starting to produce exponential amounts of information compared to just a year ago. As this amount of information continues to grow, services like Nomadesk should stand to do very well as providers for large telecommunications companies. Nomadesk service for small businesses starts at $15 per user, per month. Discuss

See the rest here:
Nomadesk: Cloud-Based Backup Providers Doing Quite Well

When I called Twitter out on my post of the top 10 failures of 2009 for "failing to innovate," what I probably should have said was this: Twitter has done a decent job of implementing features that we first saw being used by third-party apps. The concept of user lists? Sawhorse Media introduced those . Retweet functions? That was a user idea that had already been implemented formally by many mobile and desktop applications. And the hot Contributor API is something that CoTweet has been doing for a while. The geotagging API is hardly new, either. But instead of saying that Twitter failed to innovate, let's instead name a few features we love from third-party apps that we think they should integrate themselves - maybe with a key acquisition or two. Sponsor Autocompleting Usernames Third-Party App That Does This: Twitdroid , DestroyTwitter It's a rather simple feature, but it would make our lives a lot easier. When typing an @ reply or cc'ing a user, it helps to have a cheat sheet in the form of an autocompletion feature that remembers all your friends. Allow Multimedia Uploading and Embedding Third-Party Apps That Do This: PowerTwitter , Twitpic The convoluted process of uploading media to a third party and getting your content synced up to your Twitter account can be frustrating, especially when bugs arise. And not being able to preview images or videos before clicking through is a pressure point, as well. Threaded Views for Conversations Third-Party Apps That Do This: Twitdroid , TwiToaster Being able to see what an @ reply is all about can turn into a trail of digital breadcrumbs ten tabs long. Seeing a threaded conversation in a single click would be much more convenient. Management & Analytics Third-Party Apps That Do This: Bit.ly , TwitterCounter , Tweetmeme , DoesFollow , Twitter Karma I'm obsessed, you're obsessed, we're all obsessed with follower counts! Not to mention clickthroughs, reciprocity, retweets, and all the metrics that make up the statistical side of Internet fame. Real-time measurement of Twitter activity would be worth paying for. Official Mobile & Desktop Applications Third-Party Apps That Do This: Tweetdeck , Seesmic , Tweetie , Twitdroid , TwitterBerry The single greatest opportunity for Twitter innovation (and yes, we're resisting the very strong urge to make a portmanteau from those two words) is perhaps in the desktop and mobile app space. It's one of the most clearly monetizable avenues for Twitter to pursue, and the "official" stamp of approval on an application would guarantee that app's success. Moreover, there would probably be clear opportunities for an official app to come pre-loaded on laptops and mobile devices. Clearly, there's a universe of features for Twitter to choose from. From social gaming to DM schedule reminders, oneforty is like a catalog of what Twitter could - and perhaps should - be doing next. What do you think - what Twitter features would you like to see launched in 2010? Give us your opinion in the comments. Discuss

Continue reading here:
5 Features from Third-Party Apps Twitter Should Integrate