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Intuit buys Cha-Ching after hiring developers
We've been pretty big fans of Cha-Ching, both the OS X app and the iOS version, over the years. Turns out Intuit liked the app a lot, too -- the financial juggernaut has acquired Cha-Ching and its code after hiring the app's developers a little while back. The website currently points to both Quicken for Mac and Mint.com, so presumably this is the end of the app -- its functionality will be brought into Intuit's other properties, used to smooth out Quicken for Windows, while Cha-Ching Touch's functionality will eventually show up in the Mint.com iPhone app. Too bad for users of the app currently -- I know the app was sold in at least one MacHeist sale, so it's definitely out there and fairly popular. There's no word on any upgrades at all. The Mint.com app is great (and free), but of course Quicken is $50 just to get started. Looks like if you depend on Cha-Ching for your financial planning but want upgrades in the future, you'll have to look elsewhere.
Cha-Ching Touch now available
Last month, we got a sneak peek at Cha-Ching Touch, the finance app for the iPhone and iPod touch from Midnight Apps. Now, it's ready to go. We haven't played with it yet (a full review is coming), but I definitely see the appeal of a quick and easy mobile finance tracker (which is a long-winded way to say "money app"). Years ago, I had a great check register application on my Palm and I loved it. It simply monitored money in and out with some basic categorization. That's what we're after, and Cha-Ching sounds like it's going in the right direction.You can monitor your budget and enter location-aware transactions. There's good news for owners of the desktop version, too. Namely, transaction histories will sync to the iPhone client via WiFi. Neat.There's a demo video here. It's a nice looking app, that's for sure. You can currently pick it up from The App Store for an introductory price of $2.99US. Again, we'll let you know what we think after we've put it through its paces.
Cha-Ching 1.0.3 released with better performance, searching and download support
Cha-Ching, the streamlined money manager that aims to put the fun back finances, has made a minor update to v1.0.3 with some truly useful new features and fixes. At the top of the list is a database migration to Mac OS X's built-in SQLite to boost performance, as well as search enhancements for using multiple tags and searching both To and From fields, but that's not all. Included in the update are: OFX and QFX support added Can now sort transactions in Print Panel Printing now uses already filtered list of transactions Source pane can now be expanded much more The update can be had either by running Cha-Ching (chose Check for Updates from the app menu if it doesn't check automatically), or by heading over to the Midnight Apps site.
Cha-Ching on reverse sale until 1.0 debuts Friday, a new feature announced each day this week
Midnight Apps, as promised, has announced Cha-Ching 1.0 is landing Friday, April 20th, 2007. Cha-Ching is an excellent personal finance management app that I feel safe calling a Quicken killer, at least for many people's needs. Since its beta days, Cha-Ching has featured things like a simplified UI, tagging and other goodies to bring a little fun to tracking one's cash and credit flow, but this final 1.0 promises even more new features. So many new features, in fact, that the company will be announcing one big one each day this week until Friday, when 1.0 will be released for download (in light of this promotion, I tip my hat to their site designer for the sketchup and 'not quite finished' touches on the site). Today's feature: Spotlight Integration - users will be able to search for any transaction or tag from the comfort of a Spotlight window, which means they can also create things like Smart Folders to get a quick glance at transactions without even having to open Cha-Ching.Stay tuned to Midnight Apps all this week to hear more about the great new stuff coming in Cha-Ching 1.0, but if you're on the fence with whether to purchase, you might want to act sooner than later: now that the app is all growed up, it's going on a 'reverse sale' that ends Friday. Through its time in beta, Cha-Ching has cost $20 and is still at that price - but only for today. Each day this week, Cha-Ching's price will be raised by $5 until Friday, where it will take on its full price of $40. If you ask me, a happy user of Cha-Ching since January when I attended the developer's presentation at the Apple Store during Macworld 07, Cha-Ching is a great value even at its full price, so any day you buy this week will be a bargain. But you don't have to take it from me: you can download a demo of Cha-Ching in its current 0.5.2 beta version to get your finance on and decide for yourself.
Cha-Ching update brings fixes, 1.0 by April
Cha-Ching, Midnight Apps' handy Quicken-killer that takes the pain out of managing your money, has received a minor update to v0.5.2. While the notable changes like UI improvements, bug fixes and confirmation dialogs when deleting items aren't much to write home about, the third change from the emailed press release is what has me excited: "upgraded database in preparation for version 1.0." I spoke with Juan Alvarez, lead developer of Cha-Ching, about an ETA for 1.0, and it's apparently slated to land before the end of April with some rocking new features and changes. Cha-Ching itself has received a major overhaul in preparation for the big 1.0, so stay tuned for more details and some pre-release screenshots as soon as we can publish them.
