Banking Story - Maybe it is time to upgrade

Bad things happen. Yep, they do. This week one of those bad things happened to me. I’m not writing this to solicit sympathy (although it is always nice to find out who has empathy) rather, I am telling you about this as a warning and to talk about this cloud’s silver lining.

I was distracted after making a deposit at the ATM and left my card behind. It was still in the machine and whoever arrived behind me took advantage of the situation. They immediately made a significant cash withdrawal and then ran into the MUNI and bought about $400.00 worth of Clipper cards.

The loss is almost inconsequential. The bank will give me my money back and I will get a new ATM card. After which, life will continue on as normal. The big issue will be re-setting up all of my automatic payments when I get the new ATM card. That is the real work in all of this.

But, I still had a problem and needed a solution. All of the activity above overdrew my checking account and any deposits I might make would go against the deficit. I would not be able to use those funds. I didn’t have a second business checking account and my credit union does not accept third party checks. Yikes… I have checks that I can’t deposit and use. That hurts.

So, I did a little research and opened a business account at my credit union. They accepted my checks and made the monies available immediately. Hurray. But wait, it gets better. The credit union has an Android application that I can use on my phone or tablet that allows me to make deposits without going into a branch or to an ATM. All I have to do is log into my account from my mobile device, take a picture of the front and back of the check, and it is deposited and immediately available. How cool is this?

So, if you are looking for a better way to do your banking and something friendlier than one of the Big Banks, check out your local credit union. No ATM withdrawal fees, a low monthly fee, better online banking and even better customer service, how can one go wrong. I think it will not be too long until I tell the big banks bye, bye.

Verizon's MiFi

A friend sent me an email referencing the two articles below:
http://www.ofb.biz/safari/article/551.html
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/personal-hotspots/#more-1037
The articles are interesting and reference a new cellular wireless router (Verizon) that is a little smaller than an iPhone. But the same result can be achieved using a Nokia cell phone on the AT&T network using free software. So, I'm wondering what is the big deal?
It seems as if Verizon is using the iPhone to sell their new toy. It has been rumored that you will be able to use their iPhone as a hot spot in the near future as well. Verizon is just doing a good job of marketing by throwing their little MiFi up against the iPhone. But, they should really compare it to a Nokia N series phone with a program called JoikuSpot. The premium program supports sending email is 15.00 EUR from the Joiku.com site. But, you can purchase it from Handango.com with a theme for your phone for a little more than $10.00.
Just a thought,
Ken

Aviary.com

Check out Aviary.com. Really. They offer online image, vector, and color editors. Some of the images on their site are truly amazing. It is like having Photoshop and Illustrator on line. I think all of these tool based websites such as Google Apps, Zoho, Toodledo, Time Tracker, and many more represent the next evolution in software.

Eventually it will not matter where you are or what computer you’re using you will always have access to your documents and the tools you used to create them. Some of these things will be accessible via your mobile phone and others will require a computer but the high price of software will no longer be an issue.

Another site to check out for online collaboration is Huddle.net. Do you need to share files and communicate with people who are geographically dispersed? Huddle.net might be your answer with project management and file sharing online.

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