Brian Sweeting

Time to get a better handle on the family finances. I immediately thought of using Quicken, but then I remembered what bugs me so much about the software. Quicken’s business model is to sell a new version of Quicken, with a marginal set of improvements each year. Quicken 2006 is the current version, with Quicken 2007 just around the corner. I did some research on Quicken 2007 only to find that it won’t be a Universal Binary, meaning it will run slower on my Intel-based MacBook. Given this news, I looked into an online version of their software, perhaps something available under a subscription model. Evidently Quickbooks has an online version, but a web-based version of Quicken is non-existent. This prompted me to wonder why no one has created a web-based Quicken competitor. Is it because they are in fear of being stomped when Intuit jumps into the game? Perhaps it’s because the primary financial file exports from most financial institutions are proprietary? Whatever the case I hope that someone tackles this. I don’t want to be tied to a specific computer every time I need to view my financial standing.

Here is my wishlist for a web-based personal finance software:

• Simple interface – I don’t need a lot of features, just something to show me where I’m at.
• Transaction Register
• Support for multiple types of accounts (Checking, Money Market, Savings, Credit Card, Debit Card, etc).
• Budgeting
• Recurring Transactions (both fixed and variable) for both expense and income transactions
• Integration with my financial institution – I really hate having to download a file, and import it into an app, then do the reconciliation. Why can’t software just connect to my financial institution (password protected of course) and securely download a record of my financial transactions? If I can’t have that, it at least needs to be able to import a .csv file.
• Fairly priced – I am willing to pay a subscription fee for this type of service, but it has to be reasonable. I can get Quicken for $70.
• Bottom line, all of the “essential functions” of Quicken with none of the fluff.

Seth Godin hits the nail on the head with 13 things designers wish their organization knew.

Science and Art of User Experience at Google

Never label a button with the word “Break” unless you really intend for the resulting action to break something.

Tonight (June 13, 2006) at 6:30 at the Miller Innovation center in Sandy, Utah. Details

Had this IM conversation yesterday with a friend about font management…

Brian S: I need to uninstall all the fonts I never use
Brian S: It’s been a while since I’ve needed Brush Script, Blackmoor, or Chalkboard
Jared H: I would, but there’s this part of me that can’t throw away any font, no matter how useless. It’s weird, like people who don’t abandon their ugly children.
Brian S: I only feel that way about Cooper Black. I’d probably never use it, but it’s just nice knowing it’s there
Jared H: Yeah. Like earwax. It’s annoying, but if it suddenly goes away, it kind of makes you wonder what’s wrong with you.
Brian S: I’ve got it. I’ll disable those fonts, instead of deleting them. It’s like putting them in the attic.
Jared H: That’s all fine and good, until your children find them. Then it’s, “Well you used Haettanschweiler, and you turned out okay. I don’t see why I can’t. You’re such a hypocrite. You’re the worst dad in the world! I hate you!”

Nuggets of wisdom from Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.

I guess I’m trying to set a record for the least timely write-up of a conference. A couple weeks ago I attended SxSW 2006 for the first time. I have to say that it was basically what I expected.

The Panels

Do not go to SxSW thinking you are going to get a lot out of the panels. I hate to say it, but most panels were pretty lackluster. I think I prefer a speaker vs. a panel. Speakers seem more engaging. The panels just seemed too disjointed.

The People

This was one of the better parts of SxSW. I really enjoyed meeting many people from my blogroll in person. There are too many to name individually, but it is nice to interact with these people beyond a comment on their blog or through email.

The City

Austin is a very cool city with much to do. I doubt it was just because of SxSW, but the place is loaded with venues hosting cool parties, concerts, and comedy shows. It’s a place I wouldn’t mind visiting again.

Things I learned from SxSW

• Take business cards, or something to give to people you meet that will allow them to contact you…the more memorable the better.
• Stay at the Hampton Inn. We were six or so blocks away at the Marriott, and I was not impressed. For a place that charges a couple hundred bucks per night, they offer no perks. We even had to pay extra for internet access.
• Eat local. There were a bunch of great places we ate at that are local to Austin: Stubbs, Daddy’s, The Iron Cactus, Paradise, Moonshine, The Salt Lick. Don’t go to Austin only to eat at Wendy’s.
• Take a small digital camera vs. a DSLR. I took the Canon 20D and basically it was too cumbersome to pack around so I ended up not taking hardly any pictures.
• Unless you have to, arrive Friday Night/Saturday Morning and leave Tuesday night. We were there from Friday afternoon to Wednesday morning and that was just too long.

Wrapping it up

I liked SxSW, but I’m not sure I would attned again on my own dime, unless I had a product/service/business to promote.

I’m off to SXSW this morning. For those of you going, I look forward to seeing you there. For those of you staying, I’ll be blogging as much of it as I can.

When I worked for Novell, I used iFolder to keep my laptop and desktop files in sync. iFolder uses a central server model where it keeps all of your files and then the client, that runs on your computer, continually sends changes to this server. On other machines, the client is continually polling the server for changes so all of your files stay synchronized between multiple machines. Ever since I left Novell, I’ve been needing something to do this.

Enter FolderShare. This is a product that was bought by Microsoft last Fall and made part of it’s Windows Live services. FolderShare works similar to iFolder, but instead of having a central server, it is Peer2Peer. Meaning, that when I change files on my PowerBook at work, it sends notification of what files have changed to a central server. Note that it doesn’t send the files. My PowerBook at home is running the FolderShare client and is continuall polling for changes. When the server responds that files have changed, my PowerBook at home initiates a transfer of files from my PowerBook at work. The files are not stored on a central server, but are distributed between all the clients instead. Therefore storage isn’t an issue for Microsoft, and transfer really isn’t either, because the files are being exchanged between my computers, using my own bandwidth.

Some other cool features of FolderShare is that you can use Spotlight or MSN Desktop Search to search files on any of your computers. It also allows you to share folders with other FolderShare users, and access your files remotely through the web interface. FolderShare authenticates via RSA and encrypted via 256 bit AES over SSL. FolderShare also has no problem working behind firewalls or through proxies.

I highly recommend FolderShare. It is free, so download a client and get syncing!