Author: Jeffery Battersby

Capturing notes in a classroom lecture or business meeting can sometimes be a daunting task. And, if you’re like me, the race to capture the spoken word and put it on paper can sometimes keep you from listening to what’s being said next, leaving your notes with Grand Canyon-sized gaps that limit their usefulness. The Livescribe 3 Smart Pen and associated Livescribe+ app for iOS are designed to change the way you capture information, helping you take notes while the app and pen track what’s being said in classroom, meeting room, and lecture hall.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

I never thought I’d be a fan of online business accounting apps, but with each new iteration of QuickBooks Online and its related set of apps, I’ve become a true believer. QuickBooks Online has had good iOS apps for accessing your QuickBooks Online data and now they’ve released the QuickBooks app for Mac, a free tool that brings your QuickBooks Online account to an app on your Mac.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Don’t have a Mac you can use to file your personal taxes? No problem. If you own an iOS device, it may be all you need to settle up with the taxman. Both H&R Block and Intuit offer apps for the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch that, depending on your needs, will do the job and do it well.

Taxes on your iPad

If you’re an iPad user, filing taxes on your tablet is no different than filing taxes on your Mac. TurboTax 2013 and the H&R Block app both provide access to all the features of the desktop versions of their related desktop apps, with some subtle differences. TurboTax is a standalone iOS app, while the H&R Block app connects to H&R Block’s Web-based tax filing tool. In fact, if you attempt to log into H&R Block’s Web portal while you are using the iPad app or vice versa, you will be automatically logged out of the other app. The upside to this is that you can start something on your iOS device and continue it on your Mac when you get back to your desk.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

With online accounting applications, there is one truism you can hold on to: No one app is perfect, no not one. All offer essentially the same tools for keeping your business finances on track, but none offer what can be considered a complete set of tools. And none can perfectly satisfy every business’ needs. The reality is that none of these apps are exceptional, but all are serviceable, which, perhaps, is all you need in any business accounting application.

All of these apps do a fine job of the basics: Invoicing, reporting, and automatic import of banking data and reconciliation of accounts. All also offer apps for invoicing and accessing your data with mobile devices and each also offer varying degrees of customization for your invoices and statements.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A few years back a world without Quicken as the mainstay of personal finance apps would have been unimaginable. It was the go to application for managing personal finances on your Mac. Now it’s hard to imagine that world without IGG Software’s iBank 5. iBank 5 is a best of class app that continues to add features and value and which should be your personal finance app of choice.

How easy is it to get iBank 5 up and running and so you can start tracking your current financial status? Let’s put it this way; I had 11 bank accounts and an investment account set up and all transactions imported in less time than it took to boil a pot of coffee water and steep a press pot. This is in large part because of an an optional IGG Software subscription service called Direct Access ($5 per month, $13 per quarter, or $40 per year), which connects directly to your banking institutions using your authentication information and downloads transactions directly into iBank 5.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If this is your first look at the new QuickBooks for Mac 2014 you’re likely to think it represents little more than a change of paint on an app that is substantially the same as its predecessor. While that’s not entirely true, it’s also not too far from wrong. But QuickBooks’ new paint job isn’t the only thing that’s changed about the app. QuickBooks for Mac offers a number of small new improvements that should help enhance the application’s value and give you a better clue as to how your business is doing.

I know the question you’re going to ask first and the answer is, “no.” There is no file level compatibility between the Mac and Windows versions of QuickBooks and, after asking this question of Intuit for more years than I care to count, I’ll be surprised if the answer will ever be, “yes.” That said, Intuit has made it easier to send data to and update data from your accountant.

Earlier versions of the app required that you use QuickBooks’ Roundtrip feature to create a backup of your Mac data file that could be restored in the Windows version of QuickBooks. Unfortunately, while your accountant worked on your file you couldn’t make any changes to the data on your Mac. Now QuickBooks for Mac allows you to import journal entries, which is essentially the debit and credit information for every transaction you create. This lets your accountant make changes to your data while you continue using QuickBooks. When your accountant is done updating your data you simply import the journal information.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here