Quicken is dying a slow death, finally...

For those who have been regular  computer users over the past 10 -15 years, you probably are very familiar with Quicken.  A money management software package from Intuit.  It has been the dominant program for those who wanted to keep track of their finances.  I've never been a fan of these programs.  Don't get me wrong, they work fine and serve the purposes of many people, I've just never thought the software was worth the excessive price tag.  Add in that Intuit would make you upgrade every three years to keep using it, I avoided it.  Well, thanks to Mint (which Intuit purchased), Quicken is dying.  Users turned to Mint, an free online alternative.  It did pretty much everything that Quicken did, without the price tag.  It has been so successful that Quicken sales have fallen off a cliff and Intuit purchased it.  Mint continues to be free and Intuit has indicated that it is the future and not Quicken.  Hallelujah!  For the article with more information, click here.

Do you know what information your wireless carrier hands over to the Fed?

We all have assumed that the government has the ability to spy on us, but are you aware of what specific information your wireless carrier keeps and legally has to hand over to them when requested?  Check out this article from Device Magazine that details, by carrier, what information they keep and how long they keep it for every customer.  The only truly surprising aspect of the information kept is how long they have to keep it.  For a lot, it's YEARS, not months. 

Boy was I wrong about the iPhone 4S

Seems that every carrier has sold out on the pre-orders for the phone.  What this means is that you probably will not be able to walk into any carrier the first week or so and get one.    Maybe it's all the 3GS users upgrading or those who simply want an 8MP camera on their smartphone.  The money keeps pouring in for Apple.  Steve must be smiling somewhere up there.

A great PDF creator program for free

I recently got hired for a position that requires me to create PDF's on a daily basis.  A couple of years ago I installed PDF Creator, a free PDF creation program.  It filled my immediate requirement, it was free.  I didn't use it much, but started to use it this week.  Well, it stinks.  For whatever reason, it is overly complicated and keeps crashing (crashes on two different computers, so it's not me).  I could go to Adobe Acrobat, but a couple of hundred dollars doesn't sit well with me.  After a couple of minutes of googling, I came up with CutePDF.  It's free and it works...you're hired!

iPhone 4S, for some reason I'm blah about it

Today Apple announced the iPhone 4S to much fanfare.  The 4S reminds me of the 3GS when it came out, nothing special.  I appreciate the upgraded processor and better camera, beyond that, there isn't much compelling about it.  I'm actually more excited about seeing (or buying) the Amazon Kindle Fire than I am about upgrading my iphone (and this from someone who has had every generation of the iphone).  Perhaps that is why they did not call it an iPhone 5, not enough to go to the next number.  The built in Siri application is great, but already is available on the iPhone 4.  Siri is a great voice recognition app that you can use to complete tasks.  Give it an instruction and it actually completes it for you.  For example, tell Siri to schedule lunch with Mr. Smith for Thursday at 1:00PM, it makes the appointment on your calendar for you with that information.   Cool, but available already, just download the app.  I guess I will pass, at least I can use that money for the iPad/Kindle Fire.

New Google Maps feature: Helicopter view

Google Maps has added a new Helicopter View to the navigation service, allowing users to preview their journey in 3D. Recognizing that many users want a more indicative – or at least entertaining – way of seeing their prospective route than either plain maps or birds-eye satellite imagery, the Helicopter View could even let you do your sightseeing from home instead.  You’ll need the Google Earth plugin in order for the Helicopter View to work, which isn’t entirely clear from Google’s instructions. To see the 3D button – which shows up next to “driving directions” in the left hand bar – you first have to click the “Earth” mapping option (which shows up when you hover over “Map” in the upper right hand corner.  Happy Helicoptering!