Review: Mint.com beats BofA’s aggregator feature

For the last year or so, I have been using Bank of America’s “My Portfolio” feature to aggregate bank accounts, retirement accounts, loans and credit cards to generate a snapshot view of my finances.  Boy am I broke!

Setting aside the gloom of seeing how poorly my investments have fared and how much debt I have, I’ve been adequately (but not overwhelmingly) pleased with BofA’s “My Portfolio”:

• It is easy to add accounts if you can remember all the different user IDs and passwords (though the accounts error FREQUENTLY, which I suspect is the other bank’s fault more times than not).
• The main page is informative.  The upper left shows your Total Net Worth with the change from one month ago, and on the right is the Net Worth Summary with the name and balance of each account.
• The Budgeting & Reports section is not as intuitive as the rest of the site, and I stopped using that section after a few tries.

Virginia Heffernan, who writes the New York Times Sunday magazine column and nytimes.com tech culture blog The Medium (which, for mysterious reasons, is about to be folded into the ArtsBeat blog even though the magazine column lives on), introduced me to the free account aggregator Mint.com in her May 21 column on, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Mint.com apparently makes its money off credit card, savings account and other referrals, but is almost lazily non-pushy about it.  The interface is simple, and the welcome screen made it a breeze to enter account information.  There are only five tabs:

• Overview shows the accounts down the left, an alerts section at top right that picks up due-date info from your accounts and sets them up as bill reminders, and a month-to-date chart that shows you how you’re doing on the major budget categories.
• Transactions has transactions grouped by day and allows you to easily re-categorize your entries.
• Trends shows you the current month spending-by-category as a pie graph and allows you to compare to a previous month.  (The chart below that allows you to compare your categorical expenses to people in various cities is almost completely useless — everyone categorizes differently, and the results are not bracketed by income.)
• Investments needs work.  The main chart defaults to how your portfolio has performed against the S&P 500 — which is nice — but the other charts don’t provide much useful information for showing the diversification and performance of your portfolio.
• Ways to Save has offers for credit cards, CDs, etc., and shows how much you would save or how much you would earn based on variables like interest rates and the value of rewards programs.  I have not used that feature, but I probably would if I were looking to set up a new account.

My biggest gripes are: (1) the aforementioned underwhelming investment charts, (2) Mint.com’s failure to add a community bank that I suggested more than a month ago and that is available on competitor Quicken.com (which I tried and abandoned for other reasons; it’s not as good as Mint.com by a longshot), and (3) the inability to add manual accounts (like ones that aren’t available online).  All relatively minor and correctable.

Neither BofA nor Mint.com are particularly useful as get-out-of-debt planners, so I’ll continue to use my ridiculously elaborate Excel sheet for that.

iPhone 3 review: A marginal improvement

I looked forward all day long to getting home and updating the firmware on the two iPhones to iPhone 3.0, and here’s my at-a-glance impression of the install and the handful of features I was most looking forward to testing:

Install. No problems at all.  There were a few installaton horror stories earlier today on AppleInsider — see comments here — but the most common complaint was the download and relaunch time.  I set up the download, took the dogs for a short walk, and it was nearly finished 20 minutes later when I got back inside.  The whole refresh took 25-30 minutes tops from the beginning of the initial download in iTunes 8.2 to the end of the reboot on the first iPhone.

Snappyness. Some people are reporting that apps open and close faster on the iPhone 3G after the update.  I’m not seeing that.  Apps are loading and closing the same as before.

Mail. I got an error message on initial launch, but it straightened itself out with the Exchange Server back at the office and my emails came up just fine.  The folders did have to re-download from Exchange Server, but that was quick and painless.

I suspect landscape view will turn out to be the killer feature in iPhone 3.0.  Landscape is available in every window of Mail — folder list, email list, reading individual emails, and writing individual emails — so you don’t have to go back and forth from landscape to upright.  It is going to take some getting used to, but it won’t be nearly as steep a learning curve as typing on an iPhone for the first time.

The visual difference while typing is more than I expected.  Your eyes have more territory to cover than before, so you may need to hold the iPhone a little further away while typing.  Reaching the letters in the center of the phone is a little awkward, but it beats having to pinch the side of the phone to thumb-type the letters near the sides.  It may take a couple of days to find your rhythm, but I have a feeling typing in landscape is going to be a major improvement over iPhone 2.2.

Zombie fire ants! On the loose in Texas!

Peter is our chief zombie correspondent, but I couldn’t resist this one:

It sounds like something out of science fiction: zombie fire ants. But it’s all too real.

Fire ants wander aimlessly away from the mound.

Eventually their heads fall off, and they die.

continued…

I want (the Apple version of) a Kindle DX

After seeing all the buzz last week about the Kindle DX, I kinda sorta want one, but the functionality and price do not quite match yet.  Amazon is marketing the new, bigger Kindle as as a reader for books, textbooks, newspapers, magazines and to a lesser extent for blogs and PDFs.  I would love it for all of those things — but not for $489.

Amazon introduced an an iPhone app in March that allowed iPhone and iPod touch users to view (but not actually purchase) Kindle books on an iPhone or iPod touch, and introduced an update today that allows you to purchase books.  (It’s just a web site with an icon and not as good as the Amazon app, so I assume this is a transitional step.)  I’m not going to read books on a 2.5-inch screen, so I’m not terribly excited about the app.

The New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post later this summer are going to offer readers the Kindle DX at a reduced price with a monthly subscription.  That would be a great idea if the subscriptions were less than $9.99 a month — and $13.99 a month for the New York Times? — and/or if you couldn’t get the same content online for free.  The $1.49-$2.99 a month pricing for numerous magazines titles seems more reasonable even accounting for the fact that the content is free online.

I’ll wait for the rumored 10-inch Apple tablet.  A $499-$699 Apple tablet would presumably compete with netbooks (Safari), book readers (Kindle app), and MP3/portable video players (iTunes Store).  If this is Apple’s answer to the Kindle — basically a 10-inch iPod touch — sign me up.

SugarSync is now absolutely free

Until about a year ago, I had searched the Internet far and wide for a free, uncomplicated service that would let me keep a folder on my home Mac completely synced with an identical folder on my work PC and backed up online.  I found SugarSync, which allowed me to do just that for $2.49 a month.

And now it’s free.  (Actually, up to 2 GB is free.  SugarSync makes its money on packages ranging from 30 GB to 250 GB of storage.)

You can also access your files on a mobile browser or with an iPhone app.

Doh! 3G May Not Be Available for That New iPhone.

You’re counting the days, ain’t ‘ya?  In just a few short weeks, you’ll have that shiny new iPhone, all tricked out with the latest 3G technology.  Oh, yes… you’ll be blazing through the Internet at screaming near-broadband speed.  Or will you?

I was cruising through the AT&T website, and stumbled across the 3G vs. Edge Network coverage map, and one thing jumps out – if you’re not in an upper-tier market, that new iPhone may not be running any faster, because 3G may not be available.

AT&T tells us they are rolling out 3G at breakneck speed.  I’m sure that’s true.  But, on July 11th, some fairly large markets will still be waiting.  A quick look shows towns like Omaha, Savannah, Wichita, Shreveport, and even artsy Santa Fe are 3G-less.  Similarly, if you’re anywhere in Iowa, Vermont, Wyoming, or Alaska, you’re out in the cold.  And, the website gives no real idea when all that is going to change.

So, if you’re planning to feed on the faster Internet that the new iPhone promises, and you’re going to pay for it, it would be smart to make sure that you are getting serviced.  For a short time, anyway, if you can see cows anywhere near where you live, 3G is still in your future.

I live in Memphis.  I’m good.  But, I’m buying the new BlackBerry.  And, that’s another post, entirely.

So, What Do I Do With That Old iPhone?!

Apple Zombies around the world are awaiting the Big Day, July 11th.  That’s the day when the new iPhone, the one that operates G3 and has other enhancements, makes its entry into the market.  That day, people will line up to replace the iPhones they bought just months ago with the newest, shiniest object from Cupertino.

So, this begs the question, “what do I do with my old iPhone?”  Excellent question!  Up to now, there has been a bit of an aftermarket for those Apple gadgets.   eBay is full of 8 and 16 gig units (I said “units!”) “loaded” with music and even a few movies.  Sure, even when deactivated, the WiFi on the older phones will still work.  It’ll still make a really nice (though slightly larger) iPod Touch.  But, let’s face it – the old iPhones will be yesterday’s news – like used cigarette butts on the ash heap of history.  And, who wants that?

FireFox 3 for Mac: A Zombie’s First Look

Perhaps I haven’t been keeping up.  I was surprised to read today that a new version of my favorite Mac web browser, Firefox, just became available.  Dubbed “Version 3,” it claims a new look, some enhancements, and a few goodies I have yet to try.

Despite my obvious status as an Apple Zombie, I really prefer Firefox to Safari, so I loaded it right away.  At first blush, I am liking what I see.

The first thing one notices is a slick, silvery new appearance; it looks a lot like Safari, to be honest.  It’s cool lookin’, especially when you start typing an address in the toolbar (Just try that.  Go ahead; I’ll wait.).  But, is there any more power under the hood?  It would appear so.  Firefox 3 seems quite a bit quicker, due in large part to better memory management, loading pages noticeably faster than its predecessor.

Set-up was easy, of course.  And, gosh, the price is right.

I see no reason not to try the new FireFox.  The software can be found here.

A full review will come once I have become better acquainted with the new browser.  I am sure the review will be positive.

peterbaskind@gmail.com

New BlackBerry vs. New iPhone… Who’s on First?

So, now we know a firm date on the new iPhone, the race is on. New BlackBerry vs. iPhone… which hits stores first?

July 11th will see the minions of Apple Zombies lining up for their latest fix of brains – and a new toy. But the exact date for the new BlackBerry is less certain. Pricing and release date info say that the new BlackBerry Bold, the name picked for the RIM smartphone, will be in AT&T stores in “July.” No exact date is offered. Release dates for other providers will follow AT&T.

While Apple Zombies are a mindless, obedient bunch, buying whatever they are told, I am not sure CrackBerry addicts are quite so motivated. They do, after all, have jobs and lives (not “un” lives), so time is limited. Still, it ain’t called “CrackBerry” for nuthin’.

Cost for the new BlackBerry will actually come in slightly higher than the new iPhone. So, guys like me, who really like their BlackBerrys, are saving pennies.

Brains…

Chris Crocker? Dang. Not a zombie.

I’m a bit disappointed.

OK; I’m a Republican. But, still, I am amused by self-made Internet celebrity and Brittany Spears aficionado, Chris Crocker. I find the fellow Tennessean, who’s fame is now well into its 16th minute, oddly funny, and very occasionally insightful. Sometimes, anyway.

I just assumed that someone who seems so Internet savvy would dine on the same brains as the rest of us Apple Zombies. But, nope. I was just watching one of his angst-filled videos, and noticed a PC running in the background. A PC! Even if Mr. Crocker had an SUV (and, come on… he drives something far more fabulous), it would not sport a white Apple sticker. Dang.

So, Chris doesn’t dine on brains. But, then again, he has been quite open about eating other things.

‘Hope you have a few extra hundred bucks. Steve needs it.

Apple Zombies unite! Camp out in line. Lie to the wife. Whatever!

July 11th – the day before my birthday – the new iPhone is out! Slimmer, faster, better, or so Steve tells us.

The new phone will boast G3 technology, better browsing, and promised longer battery life – hopefully enough to satisfy the hungriest zombie who endlessly wanders the Earth in search of brains. And, Steve.

So, I wonder. Will we see those scenes on TV July 12 (did I mention that’s my birthday), as Apple Zombies triumphantly walk out of the Apple Store, fists in the air, proving that they have heeded the calls from Cupertino to pony up more cash? Stay tuned, folks.

Oh, and bring an extra $100. While the base 8 GB model is black, the swankier 16 GB version comes in white. And, all good Apple Zombies will want to show that off, right? It’ll match that little Apple sticker on the back of the SUV.

Brains…

Eddie Izzard Plays Memphis. “Stripped” to an Apple Zombie?

Eddie Izzard, the brilliant, executive transvestite comedian played the Orpheum here in Memphis last night on his “Stripped” tour. The sold-out show was insightful, irreverent, and just plain funny – the sort of show one expects from Izzard.

What I wasn’t expecting was to find out that Eddie may be an Apple Zombie. He, too, seemingly worships at the alter of things beginning with “i.” Some have reported that Eddie has appeared on-stage with his iPhone, which he uses to read Wikipedia. While I didn’t see it here in Memphis, he made references to it, between observations of Noah’s Ark, giraffes, and appendices.

“Ever notice the GPS feature in the iPhone is a bit dodgey, “ he asked. “You try to find your position, and it gives it to you within a 6-mile radius. Well, F&*%; I know that much!” Um. Yeah.

Eddie is off to Dallas next, and returns to Tennessee in a couple of weeks to play Nashville. Eddie Izzard live at the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman? That is a bit surreal, now isn’t it?

Looking for brains in all the wrong places…

Imagine. You’re young. You’re bored. You’re an Apple Zombie. And, you have no place to go.

Sadly, that seems to be the predicament for two Bay-area teens, Daniel Fukuba, 17, and Eric Vicenti, 16. According to these brain munchers, they have been banned from the Palo Alto Apple Store for downloading third-party software onto an iPhone on display there. A big no-no, it seems.

The local paper has the full story – a horror tale for those us of who meander through our local Mac outlet, mindlessly trying to give money to the Grand Collective. But, at least for now, it may be that young Daniel and Eric will need to get their brains take-out.

Did I say “brains?” Yum.

Review: BlackBerry vs. iPhone. An Apple Zombie’s Perspective.

I am an Apple Zombie, a brain-numbed follower of all things that come from Cupertino. So, I should be carrying an iPhone, right? Well, not so fast.

I have written extensively about my iPod Touch, the entertainment device, identical to the iPhone, without the phone. So, before deciding on a smart phone, I became quite familiar with the iPhone platform. Still, I bought a BlackBerry.

To be sure, I love my iPod touch. When I bought it, I was using a Motorola KRZR phone, which had almost no ‘net functionality, so the ability to use WiFi on my iPod was revolutionary for me – almost life-changing. Finally, I was able to keep up with the world – away from home. I learned every public and non-public WiFi site in Germantown, and visited them often to pull email or read the Drudge Report. And, I could even listen to Kanye West at the same time (and, yes, I realize I just referred to Drudge and Kanye in the same paragraph).

So, can we call it the Eye-Phone?!

You know…  it’s tough to be Bill Gates.  You think the iPhone is really cool, but, alas, carrying one around the party circuit in Seattle just wouldn’t be cool, now would it?  So, what’s a multi-billionaire to do?  Make your own!

At the “D: All Things Digital” conference on the West Coast, current MicroSoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, unveiled what MS calls a “snipet” of the new Windows 7 OS, coming out in the next year, or so.  Among the Widgets Gadgets is a neat-o new touch screen feature that allows one to move objects, stretch them, and otherwise just play.  A demo can be seen here.  Look familiar?

Look — I love touchscreens.  But, I’m thinkin’… maybe MS should work on stability FIRST, and new Mac-like features second?  I’m just sayin’…

Perhaps Bill enjoys a tasty brain now and then?