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Moneydance 2006 - cross-platform finance management
Moneydance 2006 (awkward name and all) is a well-rounded personal finance app with a nice selection of features including: online banking and bill payment, budget management, recurring transactions, investment tracking, report generation, Quicken/Money import, database encryption and a whole lot more. It might be missing a few features when compared to big dogs like Quicken 2006, but it's priced accordingly: a license is $30 no matter what OS(es) you need it for, and when I say cross-platform, I mean it: Moneydance 2006 works on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS/2, and Unix.A fully functioning demo is available that allows for entering up to 100 transactions - so what are you waiting for? Go grab a copy and stop making excuses for ending up budget-less and broke every month.
Japanese gamers want TV on their PSP
While us PSP Fanboys want the ability to play PSone games on our PSPs the most, it appears that Japanese gamers (according to ITmedia) want to watch TV on their's. Support for electronic money (ala PayPal) and the upcoming camera attachment ranked pathetically low at 3% apiece, while the GPS functionality garnered 14% of the vote. The rest of the votes (78%) favored the ability to tune into TV using the crazy technology called "1seg" which allows mobile devices to access television signals. The Nintendo DS already has a 1seg peripheral in the works, so shouldn't Sony's multimedia wonder jump on board?If Sony does support 1seg in Japan, it makes you wonder when the rest of the world will get their hands on such cool tech. I mean, Japan already has P-TV (downloadable TV shows), while the rest of us wait for Sony to "figure out" a DRM.[Via Gamespot]
Five Easy Ways to Make More Gold
Your gear starting to smell from overuse? Your weapons rusting up because you can't afford new ones? Your mount looking a little rickety (or nonexistent because you haven't seen 100g yet)? Worry not! We're here to help. Here's five easy (and TOS-compliant) ways to rake in the moolah.1. Get some greedy professions. If I could tell people two things about professions, I would say: always take First Aid asap, and, if you want to make money, get herbalism and skinning. Those two, skinning especially, are your best bet at making tons of cash on the Auction House. Leather is used by almost all the professions (not just leather workers), and as any alchemist will tell you, even though Silverleaf literally grows on trees, there's never enough of it around to make the potions you need. Some people will say enchanting or mining, but for the first, I'd rather auction my green items off seperately, and in the second case, well, maybe that's just my personal taste. Mining seems to sell well on the AH, too. And speaking of the AH,2. Get real familiar with the Auction House. Don't ever sell anything to a vendor unless you really, really need the space in your bags, because even stuff that seems worthless to you can usually find a buyer on the AH. Twinkers are looking for good low level items all the time, and even fish scales are used by Shamans as reagents. If you're serious about making gold, you've probably already done this by now, but make yourself a level one alt, get him or her to a city with an auction house, and park them there, then mail things to them from your other characters. One more note about the Auction House...3. Get Auctioneer. This is a no brainer-- if you haven't heard of this wonderful addon yet, then it's no wonder you don't have your mount. Once you've installed it, run to the nearest AH, let it do a scan, and boom, you've got all the AH prices cached on your computer. Then, when you're out in the world, you've got exactly what every single item in the game should sell for. Plus, when you have things to sell, Auctioneer will tell you the best price to put your items at so they'll sell and you'll make money. Usually, you can sell a little higher than the price Auctioneer puts your items at (especially in the high levels, this can squeeze you a few more gold), but there's nothing easier than just throwing all your extra stuff on the AH, and letting Auctioneer set them up for you. And having Auctioneer around will help you...4. Look for deals everywhere. Don't ninja anything, but there's no shame in casually announcing, as your party makes their way to SM, that you're saving for your mount, and so you'll be rolling on everything that no one needs. When you get quest rewards, most of that stuff is soulbound, so if you're offered a choice of two things you can't use as a reward, always take the most expensive item. And watch vendor prices, too-- every once in a while, Traveling Salesman Antonio Perelli (or any of the other NPC vendors) will be selling a potion that's selling for a few gold more on the AH.5. Play! Finally, the best way to conjure up more gold also happens to be the best way to conjure up experience-- get out there and kill stuff. Any looting at all is better than standing around Orgimmar telling Chuck Norris jokes. Of course, you should choose where you're killing stuff, too. If you're just grinding for XP, pick humanoid mobs-- they drop much more money, and usually better items. And if you can get a group together, an instance run is (literally) a goldmine for hard-to-find items.But above all, the best way to make a lot of gold quickly is just to have fun playing the game. Do what you want, enjoy it, and before you'll know it, you'll have the epic mount you so desperately desire. Just in time to start saving for flying mounts...
EA makes a lot of money on the PSP
While it's easy to hate EA, they are still one of the most influential companies in the industry. Their fiscal numbers for 2006 and Q1 2007 were released a few days ago and they reveal interesting information. It's unsurprising that EA makes a lot of money of the PSP: it made $289 million in revenue on PSP sales last year. What is surprising is how much more money that is compared to the Nintendo DS: only $67 million in the same time. Even more surprising is that although EA makes a lot more revenue on the PSP, it has announced much greater support for the DS in the future.[Via PSPWorld]
The mecca of used game stores
You know that old game you loved but can't seem to find anymore? The one you think you may have lent to a friend, but your memory isn't clear enough to accuse them of anything? Well don't yell at your best mate just yet. We think we may have found your lost game, along with every other person's lost game ever.A used game store in Japan has such an insanely large collection of used video games on sale that I can only assume that the owner has a super-large magnet in his basement that can pick up loosely place NES carts by the thin metal connection strip and transport them from as far away as Brazil. You're thinking, "but CDs are made out of plastic, how does he manage to collect them with a magnet?" He doesn't. Two words: Oompa loompas. Trillions of them.[Via Insert Credit; thanks linus]
And the award for 46th most important business personality goes to... Mike Morhaime!
CNN Money has named Mike Morhaime, the CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, as the 46th most important person in a list of 50 personalities that represent Business 2.0. We'll leave out our annoyances with the list as a whole (c'mon, naming "consumer as creator" as #1? Cop out!) so instead we'll use Mike's naming as an opportunity to analyze the importance of Blizzard's crowning achievement, World of Warcraft, to the World of Business.The totality of CNN's tribute to Mike is dedicated to the wild popularity of WoW. The article claims that WoW is more than "just another video game", citing the uniqueness of the game's popularity (6.5 million users and climbing), profitability (WoW brought in $700 million last year) and peripherals (a thriving out-of-game market for virtual goods worth around $200 million) as factors that make Mike a uniquely influential business leader.Big business' attraction to World of Warcraft's is no doubt due to the game's domination of MMO marketshare -- when you own 50% of a subscription based market you're bound to draw the attention of the suits -- so we wouldn't be surprised if WoW isn't the company's last MMO, despite earlier denials by a Blizzard staffer. Still, we feel sorry for Mike. On one side he's got the money crazy suits asking for more, MORE MMOs, and on the other he's got millions of StarCraft, Diablo and WarCraft fans screaming for sequels to their beloved franchise. He deserves an award just for being able to maintain that smug smile!
Advice for wannabe game developers
The days of the bedroom coder are mostly behind us, though casual games and mini-games still provide the opportunity for a single coder to make it big -- not to mention one-man projects like Rag Doll Kung Fu which don't quite fit into the above categories. If you're interested in running your own game development project, Download Squad has some business advice for you. Covering engines, team-building, documentation, project management, testing, marketing and the all-important "making money", this article is a useful starting point and gives a good idea of what's actually involved in a small-scale game development project. Of course, you'll want to do further research before embarking on such a project yourself.
The jacket that says "I can afford a PS3"
E3 is well know for the plethora of free swag that finds its way into attendee's backpacks. Of course, there's also the swag you have to pay for, which technically makes it not swag, but over-priced junk. Why is it that a free t-shirt is a treasured keepsake, while one that costs $20 dollars only makes you think of the downtrodden third worlder who manufactured it for slave wages? At least buying a $200 collectible E3 2006 leather jacket makes it clear to other nerds that you can easily blow $600 on a PS3.
Virtua Fighter 5 only for PS3 next spring
There was a time when Virtua Fighter 5 was considered a strong candidate for an arcade port to the Xbox 360, but that multiplatform hope's been dashed with the official announcement that VF5 will appear only on PS3 in the spring of 2007. Sega's technical fighter is a Sony exclusive once more.While home-console online play remains doubtful at this point, next-gen PlayStation owners can now securely look forward to facing off as El Blaze and Eileen (the new luchador and monkey kung-fu artist, respectively) along with the other 15 fighters, decked out in all sorts of items purchased in the in-game store with prize money earned through in-game matches.VF5 will support up to 720p HD resolution and will be featured in game footage in the SEGA booth at E3 (South Hall, Booth #946) later this week.[Thanks, Matt; also via Joystiq]
Cash card taps into virtual funds
The MMORPG Project Entropia is known for its economic experiments, with pieces of virtual land being bought for high real-world prices. This latest news breaks the barrier between real and virtual money even further, however; a new cash card will let owners withdraw from their ingame balances using real ATMs.Some MMOs entirely shun the idea of converting money earned online to real money, but Project Entropia is taking this to the other extreme. The game's economy is built around real-money transfer, so a move like this simply adds a logical ending to the cashflow pipeline, with developer MindArk sitting in the middle profiting from the whole process.[Thanks, pandlcg]
Breakfast Topic: Cash for Questing
Making money in the endgame isn't as tiresome as it used to be. With the addition in patch 1.10 of an xp-to-gold conversion -- any level 60 players undertaking quests get gold for them instead of xp -- my guild chat is full of boasts about cash rather than complaints about grinding.Farming for specific drops is still an excellent way to ensure lifelong riches, but now you can do some off-the-beaten-track quests and still get rewarded. Have you found yourself seeking out quests more, now there's cash involved? Or are you annoyed because you earned your epic mount "the hard way"? What's your favourite money-spinner?
Petition against XBLM prices
Another day, another online petition yelling into the internet void. This one is complaining about the "ridiculous prices" on Xbox Live Marketplace, and seems inspired primarily by the Oblivion horse armor currently fetching almost as much as a Starbucks Latte. It has 13 signatures so far.[Thanks Corey]
You know your tech lust is bad when...
...all monetary amounts translate into Apple/computer/gadget purchases. Let me explain.A friend of mine told me he lost his wallet containing $300 on the bus the other day (he since recovered the wallet, cash and all). I then told a fellow Mac using friend about this unfortunate event, and the first thing he says is "Yikes! That's almost a mini!" (To be fair, this friend is in the market for a Mac mini.) This dialog got me wondering: how bad can tech lust get?I'm not talking about the Apple fanboys who can't resist the urge to bash Windows and blindly proclaim Apple's infallibility and perfect security track record (even though neither exist) on every blog post and forum thread they invade. I'm asking: what lengths or depths have you or a family member/friend gone to for that *one* gadget, or for the Mac you're reading this on now? Feel free to share your stories of obsession and desperation involving Macs and gadgets - we won't hold them against you (much).
How to get GRAW for $34
Here's how to save a few bucks on your copy of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfigher:The Asian region (Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore) can now purchase Xbox 360s specifically for their region. All of these are NTSC-J encoded, the same as the Japanese 360s. So what’s the difference? It’s actually the software. In an effort to bring as many games to the region as possible Microsoft is bringing English language North American titles over. For instance Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is the same as the USA version and it’s also compatible with US region Xbox 360s. Also all of the Asian version Xbox 360 games are sold at a budget price. Most import retailers are selling them for $39.99, considerably cheaper than the $59.99 price point for North American games.Indeed, Play-Asia.com is selling what appears to be a region-free version of GRAW for $30.90 plus $3.10 shipping. According to their compatibility chart, it's the only "Asian" game so far that will work on your Peoria-purchased 360. Can anyone confirm that it actually works? Update: I'm so used to paying through the nose, I forgot to ask: Why is Hong Kong getting bargain rates anyway? [via SiliconEra]
News Corp thinks you'll pay $30 per flick for on demand HD
That was the gist of a presentation by News Corp president Peter Chernin Tuesday. He said that consumers with high priced home theater systems would be "desperate consumers" of such offerings. Apparently his plan calls for "rental" releases via cable and satellite 60 days after they hit theaters. They think this could create new market for "home premieres" between the theatrical release and typical DVD windows. So wait, you want me to see the movie in the theater, download it, then buy it on DVD? So instead of producing better movies that people want to come out and see, the movie industry just plans on consumers being willing to pay to see the same movie overandoverandover.....sounds like TNT's weekend lineup. This plan seems really bad, Philip Swann at TV Predictions doesn't sound too enthused and neither does Henning at HDBlog. Are we all missing the point and there is actually a huge market for this or do you think it will crash and burn?[Via digg]
PlayStation 3 estimated to cost $800 per unit [Update 2]
A team over at the investment firm Merrill Lynch took the liberty of breaking down the component costs of the PlayStation 3, concluding that the PS3 will cost Sony $900 per unit at launch. The figures which are based upon estimates and predictions, show that the lion's share of the parts costs come from the Cell processor and Blu-Ray drive, which total $580 alone. Fortunately for Sony, the firm has also estimated that the console's cost after 3 years could drop to $320.What these figures show is that the fate of Sony's console lies in the circuits of two components: the Cell processor and the Blu-Ray drive. It's in Sony's interest to make sure that Blu-Ray drives and Cell chips are sold in vast quantities, which will lower prices and limit the amount of money that Sony will lose on each console. Of course we still don't know how much Sony will be willing to subsidize PS3s. Previous rumors have hinted that the PS3 will launch at $500. In other words, a $400 loss on each console.For a little perspective, lets take a look at a similar example in the same industry, the Xbox 360. Earlier estimates suggested that the Xbox 360 costs $715 to make which means Microsoft is willing to lose around $350 per console sale based on a $299-399 retail price. If Sony wants to remain competitive with Microsoft (does it?) and rival the Xbox 360's price, it could lose as much as $500-600 on each PS3. Finally, it's worth noting that these companies have money to lose: as Yahoo finance indicates, Microsoft and Sony both have mountains of cash at their disposal. Although Microsoft happens to have a lot more.[Warning: PDF link. Via engadget, thanks to everyone who sent this in!][Update: fixed incorrect statement regarding finances of Microsoft and Sony.][Update 2: apparently Merrill Lynch didn't have their calculator handy as their figures for the PS3 add up to $800, not $900 as shown.]
iBiz updated, goes Universal
iBiz is a great time and billing management app for those who are self-employed or otherwise might have a need for keeping track of their projects, right down to the minute and dime. It integrates well with Address Book and iCal for all your contact and todo needs, which is great, for example, if a client would like to see a published calendar of the time you've spent on their project.iBiz also acts a bit like a file/project management dashboard, as you can associate files with a project in iBiz and automatically start timing you work when you open the file from within the app. Once a project is done, iBiz also offers a healthy array of invoice options, ready for print, PDF and/or email. Networking capabilities are also baked in, with an iBiz Server edition available, but I don't work in that environment so I don't have much to say on that end.It looks like we haven't mentioned iBiz on TUAW before, but I can personally vouch for it as a great app since I've been using it for a couple years now. This latest update brings it to version 2.5 with better iBank integration and bug fixes, and also adds Universal Binary goodness. A 10-day demo is available, while a single user license will run you a mere $29.99.
Apple now worth more than Dell
MacDailyNews is reporting that, just yesterday, Apple's market worth (price of shares multiplied by number of shares outstanding) has hit $72,132,428,843, surpassing Dell's $71,970,702,760. This sounds like quite the feat for a computer company that has only ~6% of the market. Nice work Jobs, Ive and company. Just don't let it go to your heads. The day you start cranking out $300 Macs with underpowered power supplies and a whole bunch of "sign up now!" spyware pre-installed is the day you'll have a revolt on your hands.
The history of real money trading in MMOs
There have been some hefty discussions going on recently at WoW Insider concerning buying gold and accounts, and the subject of gold farming's fast becoming a favourite amongst MMO commentators. However, the phenomenon of real money trading (RMT) is not a new one, and Terra Nova have been digging into its history.An interesting comment is that powerlevelling another character wasn't originally a service done for cash: "Men did it for women in the hope or expectation of some kind of emotional or physical relationship." Nice work if you can get it. According to Richard Bartle and Jessica Mulligan, selling items for money dates back to about 1987, and character sales have been happening since at least 1989. However, both were on a much smaller scale than the items available to purchase through eBay today; the universally-known auction site has certainly helped RMT take off and attain a much higher profile than it had in its early days.
iPod plus iTrip = FM payment system?
Ok I realize innovation is great and all, but innovation with a purpose is even better. Unfortunately, this new "iPod-based payment system" that Engadget found doesn't quite seem to reach the "hey I'd use that!" mark.Ingenico, a French company, has devised a way of embedding payment information in an MP3, and they're even working on boarding passes and biometric information. Now I don't know much about the inner workings of FM, but isn't it a broadcast technology? Meaning: wouldn't anyone be able to receive anything you transmit out through your iTrip?Minor complications aside, at least Ingenico recognizes the pointlessness of this, as stated in a press release: "While this demonstration may not be a sign of what the future holds, it certainly proves Ingenico's ability to innovate for the benefit of its current and future customers." Translation: "This is completely useless but hey, aint we%uFFFD cool?" Hopefully, we won't hear anything like this out of Apple again anytime soon (*ahem*, ROKR).
