Although the minimum wage was created to ensure a better life for Americans, it’s not always the exemplary choice in some people’s views. A great deal of Americans struggle to make minimum wage and barely make ends meet.

As a college student I understand how difficult it is to work a minimum wage job, go to school, buy food, buy necessities, do homework, pay rent, buy books, and pay car payments.

Over the past couple years, college students have discovered that the adult industry has been a relief to their money issues. Students have found various ways in the adult industry to pay back loans for school or pay for any other basic need of a college student.  The “Sugar Daddy Solution,” is becoming a fad for college students across America.

It seems as though students looking to find a job in the adult industry most commonly end up escorting or seeking sugar daddy’s. Finding a job in the adult industry is not always on purpose. Chloe, a “pro girlfriend,” states that she found her arranged relationship on “accident.”

Chloe had been working at Buffalo Wild Wings in Las Vegas, when her car broke down and “needed a new alternator and starter which was going to cost about $1500.”

Chloe had found herself on craigslist looking for a more beneficial job. Unfortunately it’s hard to find a job that pays more without a degree. Chloe was embarrassed to say that she wandered off into the adult section of craigslist. She viewed ads for hookers, strippers, and porn stars. She realized she did not want to do any of those jobs.

Although she wasn’t interested in becoming Vegas’s next big strip show, she continued to view the adult section. Soon an ad for a “pro girlfriend,” appeared. Chloe wasn’t completely sure about what a “pro girlfriend,” was exactly, but was open to finding out about how it worked.

Chloe met up with the man who posted the ad on craigslist. While Chloe was 18 and still adapting to life on her own, he was 50. The first day Chloe and him met he immediately fixed her car, after a nice lunch of course.

According to Chloe there are many benefits to her arrangement. Not only is money a benefit, but Chloe has benefited in various ways. Chloe went from being as desperate as looking in the adult section on Craigslist, to earning a 3.8 GPA at the University of Las Vegas and establishing a stable life for herself.

Although her arranged boyfriend does receive sex, it is not the only way he benefits from the relationship. Chloe says she has helped him become a healthier person, supports his ideas, and his over all well-being.

Some might say that having an arranged relationship may be the same thing as becoming a prostitute. Prostitution is pretty straight forward; you have sex for money. Chloe does not consider herself only having sex for money. Chloe and her arranged boyfriend have established an actual relationship, and support each other’s wants and dreams, something most people in a relationship don’t even accomplish.

What’s not to love? Love and Money are things people search for the most and now it’s just a click away on craigslist. It seems simple, become a “pro girlfriend,” make good money, pay your bills, go to college, receive stability. It seems like the perfect fantasy. But is it all it’s cracked up to be?

According to Chloe she’s making over $100 grand a year just by being a “pro girlfriend.”Chloe receives “$1,000 in cash a week, rent for her townhouse, about $1,500 a month, about a thousand a month for a clothing expense, payment of her BMW and her insurance.”

Chloe has created a good savings account for herself,  established rental properties, has no student debt, and is financially stable.

I always hear people talking about how prostitutes make a lot of money. It seems as though it depends on the type of business you are in, within the adult industry. In my opinion being a prostitute or stripper is not the dream job I fantasize about. although Chloe’s relationship with her arranged boyfriend makes me reconsider the aspects of having an arranged relationship.

When I look at all the aspects of the adult industry, I see drugs, violence, and unstable people. When I look at escorts and arranged relationships compared to prostitution, stripping, webcam models, and porn stars, it’s easy to differentiate.

The stability and safety of having a “sugar daddy,” or “arranged relationship,” is far from the position a prostitute working in the middle of the night on dangerous streets would have.

Although I don’t personally agree with the Adult industry overall, Arranged relationships seem like the most logical way to have a job in the adult industry. People in arranged relationships are not prostitutes, strippers, or porn stars. “Pro girlfriends,” hardly consider themselves part of the adult industry. They are people striving to have a better life and perhaps create a lifelong relationship and promote stability within each other.

A huge variety of dating websites for wealthy men and women are sprouting across the internet, and creating a higher demand for wealthy people in the dating life.

Dating is now considered a sub category for the adult industry all thanks to the idea of pro girlfriends/boyfriends, arranged relationships, and escorts. Seekingarrangements.com and sugardaddyforme.com are only a few out of the many growing sugar daddy websites.

To be quite honest, it’s difficult for me to distinguish the difference between having a sugar daddy and an arranged relationship. I would much rather be honest as to why I’m with someone and have them support my decisions, then fake love with someone for their money.

It would be nice to extinguish both options and the sex industry overall, but unfortunately desperate times call for desperate measures, and someone has to keep the porn business going for all those demanding late night viewers.

Perhaps there were other routes a person in an arranged relationship could have taken, but if working in the adult industry is someone’s “only option,” becoming a pro girlfriend seems like the best choice.

1. Chris Pirillo

Ah, Chris Pirillo, technology enthusiast and professional nerd. He doesn’t waste any time wowing you with a special Twitter background, he just lets you know how it is.

2. Wardere

Why is this so funny? See post here.

3. Michael Ian Black

Now I had no idea who this guy was before I saw his Twitter background and I still don’t, but that doesn’t really matter to me. Unicorns and rainbows and dragons, oh my!

4. Jon Pudny

The nerd in me is just forced to love this Photoshop background.

5. Praveen

And another Photoshop background.

6. Steve Agee

I just have to love people who use funny pictures of themselves as their Twitter background.

7. Jason Sweeney

I have been looking at this background for several hours now and I still have no idea what is going on here.

8. Ed Shull

Our very own Ed Shull has made the funny twitter background list. Now, you may not be able to see it at first but if you have a wide enough monitor or you zoom the page out enough you may just spot a friendly little bunny on the right hand side.

9. Jim Carrey

You have to love Jim Carrey, he does everything with style. His Twitter is no exception. I give you what I like to call the Jim Canary.

10. Chris Cooley

Chris Cooley is a professional football player that also owns a pottery shop… I was a big confused when I saw his Twitter, football on one side, pottery on the other. At least he is not afraid to show he has a softer, more sensitive side.

11. Paul Scheer

Paul is a pretty funny guy and while his Twitter background is just an advertisement for NTSF:SD:SUV:: I find it amusing, finger gun and all.

12. Michael McKean

Doesn’t even need a description.

13. Megan Amram

What a disaster. I could imagine this being one of those backgrounds you posted when you accidently selected the bad picture instead of the good one.

To be honest, I never appreciated the iPod Touch.  It’s basically an iPhone without the phone.  If someone wants an iPhone, why not just get one?  I had a good talk with several people while at the last SXSW who had iPod Touch’s and they all had a good excuse.  They are required by work to have a Blackberry, but they love the App Store.  I have also talked to some younger people, with less accommodating parents than I, who would love an iPhone, but their parents won’t pay for it.  Damn near child abuse if you ask me.  But it looks like this is bound to be the case for a while, until IT people start loving Apple the way they should, and child protection laws finally protect a teen’s right to an iPhone.

But I have been watching a trend that has me thinking that it may be time for me to look into purchasing an iPod Touch.  The latest reason comes from Chelsea’s earlier post about the VooMote One, which turns the iPhone as a universal remote.  The VoomMote is just the latest in a line of devices that let you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote.  These devices run about $100, which when combined with the iPod Touch as $230, gives you a $330 remote.  Sounds a bit steep until you really look the price of other remotes.  A decent Logitech Harmony remote is going to run you about $200 – $250.

But then there is the other things you can do with an iPod Touch.  First off, you can obviously check your email, which is pretty cool when you think about doing that from a remote.  Want to update your Facebook status, or maybe check-in to a show with GetGlue?  You can’t do that with most remote controls.  Twitter is another obvious feature.  This isn’t counting the tens of thousands of other apps, including games, sharing photos and videos, video chat, web browsing, etc… that you can now do on your remote control.

Let’s also add the ability to control even more devices.  For example, you can use Airplay right from your iPod to send music from Pandora or Spotify to your stereo, so you now have unlimited music.  I have a Sonos system, which has it’s own iPhone/iPod app to control all the music in every room in my home.

And let’s not forget about old school X-10 devices.  X-10 has been around for decades, and with the proliferation of iPhone and other devices, it’s become a popular choice for people in home automation.  With the X-10 iPhone app, you can control the lighting and heating/air in every room, and even set timers for true automation.  There is even an alarm system module so you can activate security protocols from your iPod.

The more options like these, the more the iPod Touch becomes an excellent choice as a complete remote control for your home.  And with AirPlay mirroring  coming out in iOS 5, the benefits will only increase.

Of course there is one thing the iPhone can do which the iPod cannot, take calls.  But this is not completely true.  Just install Skype on your iPod Touch and your off and calling.  And if you use Google Voice, like I do, you can set it so that it rings your Skype phone as well as your mobile number.

There is one more note I want to add to this idea.  As more and more people are dumping land lines in favor of a mobile phone only house, there is a problem.  Sometimes you don’t have your iPhone in earshot in your home.  It’s not like you will always walk around with it.  For that the iPod Touch/Skype idea is great, but there is another option that will allow you to return to the old days of actual phones in your home.  Check out the Panasonic KX-TG7645M DECT 6.0 Link-to-Cell via Bluetooth Cordless Phone.  This excellent phone system allows you to connect your iPhone via Bluetooth, which then allows you to pick up the cordless phone and make call, using your iPhone in place of a landline.  And since the phone system comes with 5 handsets, you can have these all around your house, and never miss a call again.

So finally you can keep your iPhone plugged into the charger while at home, leaving home duties to the iPod Touch.  If I wasn’t convinced before, I just talked myself into this idea.  Let me know if you try this and what experiences you have.

So what is the inches in facebook status trend? Well women are actually posting their shoe size i.e. 6 followed by the inches sign “ and then an unhappy face after. So my status might read something like 8” . Of course this only gives men and anyone else who doesn’t know the meaning behind it the wrong idea.

What is with all the women on Facebook thinking it is proper to confuse all the men by putting random things in their status like the color of their bra? And I know the rumor going around is that this is all to raise awareness for breast cancer. How exactly does that work? I do not see how putting the size of my feet in inches raises breast cancer awareness. Who comes up with these things?

These trends are driving me crazy. They are hard to keep up with. I think it’s time for men to make their own trend.

Originally Sonos sold a product that just allowed you to hook up to your own stereo.  They then put out  a couple nice powered bookshelf speakers, which I’m sure sounded good, but still didn’t really feel like an elegant solution.  But then Sonos put out the Sonos 5, which was a portable all-in-one speaker solution.  You simply installed the Sonos Zone Bridge, which cost $99, and then place your Sonos 5 where you want music, and viola, you got tunes.

This was a great solution for my mother, who I set up with an iPad, a Napster account and a Sonos Bridge and Sonos 5 speaker.  She then had a simple way of getting any music should would want on to a speaker.

The Sonos 5 originally cost $400, and the Bridge was another $100.  So the base system would start out at least $500, if you had an iPhone or iPod Touch to play music from.  But now with the Sonos Play:3, you have a less expensive alternative.  The Play:3 is $300, and the Bridge has been reduced to $50.  So if you were outfitting three rooms for sound, you previously would have had to pay $1,300.  But with the new system options and pricing, you can do a three room system for $950.  I think that starts to put it within the range of an average consumer.

I haven’t heard the sound quality of the Play:3 yet, but early review seem promising.  So  if you’re looking for a solution to get your personal music, Spotify, Rhapsody, Napster, MOG, Pandora, XM and thousands of other music channels, through out the house, you might want to check out the Sonos Play:3.

Technology can be a great new tunnel to improve our earth. Recently, Smartphone’s have made our “save paper,” dreams a reality.

Mass production of paper obviously doesn’t help the environment. Smartphone’s create an amazing way to conserve paper and “save the earth.” All you need to do is download any applications that allow you to present tickets, coupons, boarding passes, maps, instructions, concert passes.

Considering the world produces over three hundred billion tons of paper a year, the effects of buying a smart phone would help preserve our world greatly.

Since people today are always striving to take the technical route, why not take the “green approach,” at the same time? Smartphone’s are amazing for providing a “greener world.” They also help businesses decrease the need to commute back and forth to a home office; in turn creating another great aspect of Smartphones.

Businesses can also save paper by tracking labor productivity, shrink rates, and sale averages off of their smartphones,

Overall Smartphone’s are extremely environmentally friendly; they help save gas, save the earth, and help promote rebuilding the economy. I mean who doesn’t want to help the economy? It seems as though all aspects of a Smartphone draw customers in. It sure attracts my attention.

I used to constantly get directions from MapQuest and print them out. With my Smartphone I don’t even have to think about touching a computer for GPS, it’s all inclusive.

Excitedly, I downloaded every possible app I could to save our Earth. Most of which consist of the ability to download airline boarding passes, coupons, and concert tickets. I’ve taken advantage of Groupon.com, Tickets.com, ArXiv Reader, and Living Social.

It’s truly unbelievable that a simple portable device has the capability of changing the world.

Spotify, a legend in the U.K. and now available in the U.S. has the features a good music service should have; unlimited streaming, a large catalog, a music storage locker, social features, offline mode, mobile apps for iPhone, Android, etc… and high bit rate sound quality.  So Spotify is a winner, right?

A Brief Look Back

I’m old enough to remember when people used records and cassettes.  In my early teens, we got the CD, which was a nice step for most.  A decade later I was occasionally downloading music, and five years later that became my near exclusive means of acquiring and dealing with music.  Aside from the occasional purchase at a concert, I haven’t purchased a packaged CD in years.

Napster is credited with the technology that changed everything.  I always felt it wasn’t just the free aspect of Napster, but the insane ease of use.  I could just type a name of a song, artist, album, whatever, and get the music I wanted.  For something so illegitimate in nature, it had a better user interface than many services even today.

It was around this time the iPod came out, and it seemed the circle was complete.  I ripped all my CD’s, downloaded stuff through Napster, put them to my iPod, and the world was great.  Except of course for the musicians.  The RIAA hired an army of lawyers and went after everyone they could.

One sad side note on this time.  I think we can all agree that Metallica has done well for themselves.  With their album sales and concerts, one can only imagine the fortunes they have amassed.  And since they are a metal band, I’m sure they consider themselves cool.  But when a group puts together a list of fans who downloaded their music from Napster, and hand it over to the RIAA lawyers, and law enforcement, they stop being cool.  Being part of Gen X, I understand our rules of cool, one of which is “the only thing worse than a thief is a snitch”.  Fans are fans, even if they didn’t pay for a download.  And a snitch is a snitch, Metallica.  And now back to the story at hand.

After the legal carnage of Napster, a few other services like Limewire, Bearshare and others popped up.  But most of these software packages came with extras, like spyware and viruses.  It got to the point where only the most dedicated and courageous music thieves would download anything.

Then along comes iTunes, the could be savior of the record labels.  At this point it was clear that the RIAA was asleep at the wheel, not thinking much about technology when Napster came along.  And now they were awake, and cranky.  They pushed back on Apple to try and get what they thought was the best deal.  And in the end, we ended up with a decent service, that worked well with our portable players.  We have seen Microsoft make laughable attempts at this market, only to crash and burn because Microsoft is not a consumer electronics company.  Sony, who is a consumer electronics company, has also made attempts, but the are not a computer company.  Apple has the rare advantage of keeping a foot in both the consumer electronics, and computer worlds.

Napster was acquired and re-launched as a music subscription site, and Rhapsody sprouted up with their service.  For $60 – $120 per year, you could get unlimited music streamed to your desktop, and mobile devices.  A couple years ago, they even started allowing you to download for offline listening.  These were great services, but the lacked  a few key elements.  First off, the sound quality wasn’t as good as an iTunes download on your iPod.  And second, these services were not well marketed.  Just a few days ago I mentioned Rhapsody to someone in the tech space who had never heard of it.  When I explained what it was, they were shocked they never heard of it because it sounded like a great service.  This smells of bad leadership and lack of marketing focus.

The Current Trend

I used Rhapsody for about 18 months, and a couple months ago switch to MOG, based on a recommendation from Leo Leporte.  And I purchased a Napster account for my mother to go along with her iPad and Sonos system I set up for her.

My personal set is iTunes and MOG hooked up to a Sonos system, connected to speakers in my ceiling.  It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to use your iPhone as a remote for music.  I play anything I want from my iTunes, and if I don’t have something new I’m interested in, I just play it through MOG.  MOG comes through at 320 bit, so the sound is good.  And all this coming from invisible speakers is even better.

Google and Amazon have been pushing out their new services, which I considered, but decided I don’t really need.  Which is a shame, because they are essentially free.  But why would I need to store my music on their servers?  I have them on my computer and phone already.  And eventually they will charge a fee for this service.

Add this to the fact that many younger people are getting used to the idea of not owning music.  I’m betting that less than 10% of teenagers under 16 have ever purchased a CD, and are now highly unlikely to do so.  Having their music through a service, like their mobile phone, won’t be an unusual idea for them.

One service I, like every other user, love is Pandora.  It fits perfectly into my Sonos setup.  I just wish the sound quality was a bit better.  But the personalized radio feature is one of my favorite new technologies.

And this brings us to Spotify.  Spotify has an emphasis on sharing music through social networks, and along with a large catalog of music, allows you to upload your music to your mobile devices wirelessly.  This is not the true cloud solution of Google and Amazon, or that Apple will push out.  But it’s a nice thing to have.

The catalog is decent, not the best from my personal tests.  And you can push up to 320 bit rate for good sound quality.  But Spotify is a few features short of being a killer app.

First, there is no radio functionality, like Pandora.  And no selection of Internet radio, which is surprising.  The mobile app is pretty bare bones.  And how none of these companies seem to have the ability to design a mobile app worth a damn, Spotify is especially lackluster.

So far the only thing I like about Spotify over MOG is the social features, but I don’t really see using those.  So I will put Spotify through the paces for the next month or two, and then make my decision.

One advantage to Spotify is that there is a free option.  Right now you need an invite, so feel free to leave a comment if you need one, and I’ll send one out to you.

Where It’s Going

Apple has yet to roll out their music locker service.  But I can already tell it’s going to be extremely easy to use and and well integrated into iPhones.  And I have a lot of faith in Apple’s Airplay plans.  I think it’s likely Apple will move into the music subscription space within the next year or so.  It would instantly be the most successful option in the market.

I also see Pandora getting into this space, as well as potentially a music locker service.

In the end, I get the feeling we will not be talking a lot about Spotify in a couple years.  What do you think?

Jim’s QuickBooks Dilemma

Jim was in his 60’s, so I knew there would be some challenges in porting him over to a new way of doing things.  A new style of word processor, a new spreadsheet application, and even a new way to send and receive emails.  But I was confident that he would pick up these more intuitive programs quickly.  Then came the big problem… QuickBooks.

I should mention that Jim is the type of guy that likes to keep his finances tight, and close to home.  He was an active investor, and because he was a quick study, learned to handle most of his financial transactions on his own.  These were not simple checking or 401k accounts; I’m talking dozens of real estate transactions, hedge funds, stock investing, and loans, on top of his own personal finances, which, because he was wealthy, were beyond most people’s financial issues.

So when this guy says he needs QuickBooks, there is no way to talk him out of it.  He had learned the intricacies  of the software and was probably more proficient than most CPA’s.  But there was a problem, QuickBooks didn’t play well with Mac OS X.  They had an OS X version, but it was very poorly rated on every website, and lacked the functionality of the Windows version.

So we had to do the unthinkable, we used Bootcamp on OS X, and installed Windows as a secondary operating system.  He would now be able to use the beautiful OS X interface for his daily needs, except when he had to switch back to the ugly, bug riddled Windows to do his finances.

QuickBooks Continued Hatred of Mac Users

This was not my first issue with QuickBooks not being Mac friendly.  Running a company, I would like to have used QuickBooks, but not to the point of having to move from my beloved Mac.  So I just went without.

That was around 2005.  Since then Apple has become the second biggest company in the world, and by far the biggest technology company.  Every year since 2005, Apple has increased their market share in the computer industry significantly.  If you purchased a laptop today, you are more likely to have purchased a Mac over any other type of computer.  If you’re someone who makes over $250,000 per year, and you purchased a laptop, you almost certainly purchased a Macbook Pro.

QuickBooks on the Mac

So where does Intuit, the incompetent makers of QuickBooks stand on this? They don’t seem to care.  Below are a couple Amazon reviews of the latest QuickBooks for Mac, QuickBooks 2011 for Mac, which gets 2.5 stars.

“My PC was dying, so I switched to the Mac version of QB, figuring it would be great on my new Mac. WRONG! It would have been better to buy an inexpensive PC laptop just to run QB than to buy this terrible product. I don’t know how they botched it when the PC version is so good. They said that they built it from the ground up for MAC, but they forgot all the features that make the PC version so good. I strongly recommend keeping your PC version of QB if that’s what you already have!”

and

“My conclusion for now after spending perhaps 20 hours testing QB2011 on my former QB2007 file (using a separate computer running Snow Leopard): For my business, the upgrade to QB2011 will allow me to finally start running Snow Leopard on my main business Mac. That’s the ONLY reason I’m considering the upgrade. I would continue using QB2007 if it ran OK on Snow Leopard, but it does not. So, I will probably, reluctantly, upgrade soon. If you are just starting out with a business finance program, and are considering Quickbooks 2011 for the Mac, my advice is to 1.) carefully read the reviews here and elsewhere on the internet from Mac/QB users; 2.) take a good, long look at the alternative business/finance software out there before making your decision. As you’ll read here and elsewhere, few people seem to REALLY LIKE Quickbooks and Intuit, but some of us are stuck with them to varying degrees as our systems have been running QB for years. A lot of us wish it were otherwise. The commendable efforts of Mr. Lynes aside, Intuit as a company seems to have really ticked off a large percentage of its Quickbooks/Mac customers.”

I should note that these are the more thoughtful reviews, compared to the rants most people launched into out of pure frustration and scorn.

So this is how Intuit treats Mac users.  But hey, this is 2011, we’re in the decade of mobile and web apps.  Let’s take a look at those.

QuickBooks on Mobile Devices

Let’s start with mobile.  The good news is, they now have an official iPhone app.  The bad news… well I think this review from the Apple app store will say it best:

“WTF??? What about Mac users?

I was so excited to finally be able to have an app that will allow me to do an estimate right on the spot.It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for because I really want something that will allow me to see my prices, but I figured if I could do an estimate then it should work.  I sign up for the $9.99/mo plan only to find out IT DOESN’T WORK WITH A MAC!  WHY?? Why do we get excluded?? You are missing out on good business!  This app is coming off and the subscription will be cancelled. “

That’s right, the geniuses made an Apple iPhone app, that doesn’t work with an Apple computer.  And to be honest, the app looks like crap anyway.

QuickBooks Online Review

But hey, this is 2011, and it’s still the time of Web apps.  Let’s take a look at the QuickBooks Online.  First off, up until 2 years ago, Intuit didn’t even support QuickBooks Online for Mac users.  So I guess that we should feel honored that in 2009, they finally allowed us that option, which is when I started using it.

So we have a QuickBooks product that I can finally honestly review myself.  I won’t bore you with a long description, let me just say that it sucks.  I means really sucks.  I mean sucks like a collapsing star sucks.  I mean if one of my developers were to push out something this crappy, I would fire them instantly, and may even try to deport them to help save our country’s web development reputation.  This thing is so bad.  Forget Web 2.0, this is computer network from 1997 design bad.

And their iPhone interface…let’s just say it’s not any better than the rest of the crappy product.

QuickBooks iPad App

But wait, this is 2011, the year of the iPad!  Surely Intuit can make an amazing QuickBooks app on such an amazing platform.  I mean the iPad seems like a natural for this type of “quick invoicing” idea, right?  And obviously even the Intuit management sees the revenue potential of hoping on the fastest selling consumer electronic device in history, right?  Well… no.  Intuit is truly dumber than we could ever have imagined.  There is no iPad app, and there doesn’t seem to be any plan to create one.

The Future of QuickBooks

But wait, this is now, what about the future.  Obviously Intuit sees the trend, like every other company sees that Apple is reigning supreme for computer sales.  Clearly they are planning on changing their ways to keep better pace with Apple, right?

This morning, I saw this post on TUAW, letting me know that Intuit Quicken will not be supported on OS X Lion, the new Mac OS being released by Apple this month.  So no, it doesn’t appear that Intuit is learning any lessons from the past.

Now Intuit has made some moves to keep relevant.  I mean they made a crappy iPhone app that does’t work with the makers of iPhones.  And they did purchase Mint.com, a very popular and growing personal financial platform, and then basically stalled the thing.

FreshBooks Kills QuickBooks

So what is a business owner to do about invoicing and simple financial book keeping?  Well first off my bank has been making their own attempts at proving some value here.  And how they seem a bit lackluster and primitive, they are infinitely better than QuickBooks.

But the real savior here are services like FreshBooks.  I have switched to FreshBooks and have been pretty happy with the service.  It’s fast, easy to use, about half the price of QuickBooks Online, and even works with other systems that plug in.

The only real issue I have with FreshBooks is I’m not in love with their iPhone app, but it’s good enough for now.  And I really, really wish they had an iPad app.  As much as QuickBooks is not servicing their audience, I would bet that well over half of FreshBook users own an iPad.  They should really be servicing their market with one.  I would be willing to pay $10 for an iPad app, to help cover the work that went into it.

Recommendation on QuickBooks for Mac Users

My recommendations for anyone looking for small business financial software, check out FreshBooks and don’t look back.  But do send them an email asking for a better iPhone and iPad apps.

And my recommendations for Intuit, I won’t waste another breath on the losers.  The management team will come to represent the biggest squandering of a brand in software history.  Intuit, you guys just suck.

This was by no means my first impression of Tag Heuer watches.  I admit that I have always found it to be the watch of choice for d-bags. This guy was an especially heavily scented version himself.  I think it’s the marketing and relatively low price point for a Swiss watch.  Anyhow, they have now made a phone

The Tag Heuer Link smartphone is what it’s called.  I see these types of smartphone’s from time to time, and I don’t quite get it to be honest.  The prime example is the Vertu.  I live near the Wynn, which has a Vertu store in the shopping area, so I decided to check them out.  I’m thinking these things would have some amazing technology built within, like a satellite phone, or something.  But I get there to check them out, and by the way, the sales guy was a total tool that looked down at me for every question I asked, and these phones are crap.  They were slow, bulky and in my opinion just plain fugly.  I get the whole 24 hour concierge thing, but I doubt that between OnStar, my personal assistant and AmEx’s Platinum service, I would get anything extra special there.

But I will say that the Tag Heuer does look a bit more promising.  First off, the Tag phone is running Android.  I’m an iPhone guy, but I can at least acknowledge that Android is a solid OS that provides a lot of great functionality, unlike most Vertu phones.  Second, the phone is airtight and waterproof, which is damn near the price in itself.

The screen looks decent with basic Gorilla Glass.  But then things turn south.  It comes with a 5-megapixel camera, and no LED flash.  For the price point (we’ll get to that a little later), there is no reason to not have a flash.  And the thing is running Android 2.2 Froyo, which is an antiquated OS, and may, or may not be upgradable.

If it seems like I don’t like the phone, that’s because I don’t.  These “luxury” smartphone’s, with gold and jewels, simply don’t make sense.  It’s a phone, you’ll be getting another in 6 months.  You can go out of your way to buy something like a Case-Mate Titanium iPhone 4 Case, which will make your phone look cool and actually function.  It’s like my feelings on most big budget films out of Hollywood.  It’s great they have the budget for amazing CG and special effects, but how about breaking free a few bucks for a decent writer.  And when it comes to these phones, it’s cool that the case is alligator and gold, but how about putting a decent phone in there?  What do you think, is this phone worth the price?

In the years since I have developed a fondness for the brand.  Despite being more a Ferrari fan, I have come to appreciate the design and engineering of the vehicle.  Porsche is an engineer’s dream car. So maybe it even makes sense that the Porsche Design Group ad been working with LaCie to make very sexy hard drives.

Of course this is more of a marketing gimmick.  The drive itself is from LaCie, who themselves get the drives from someone else.  Some people don’t like LaCie, but I personally have never experienced a failure.  Either way, I’m guessing Porsche wouldn’t lend it’s name total junk drive. What you’re getting really is a decent HD with a very sexy Porsche design.

The new LaCie Porsche hard drives will support USB 3.0, which is obviously very fast.  Although I would argue that supporting the much faster Thunderbolt technology would have been a bit more impressive, but maybe when of our Italian friends are working on that.  In the meantime, these drives will come in 500GB to 2TB capacities, with prices starting from $105, and even the 2TB is currently priced at only $150.  Not a bad price for a brand new Porsche.

Personally I’ll be waiting for the new Thunderbolt drives, which should finally make external hard drives comparable with internal.  What do you think; go Porsche, or wait?