ie8 fix

payment

Credit card tool

Credit Card Manager 2009 offers users a chance to keep all their credit card information in one place. While the program offers an extremely usable format, some may simply choose to manage a credit card via its Web site.

We made an immediate trip to the program's Help file because the interface was a blank slate with no direction for users. Reading the brief descriptions of the process, we quickly gained footing and a better understanding of the program as a whole. We filled out the vital information for all of our credit cards to find a simple listing … Read more

Quick invoice creator

Excel Invoice Manager Express provides users with a fast, familiar way to write up invoices. By using an Excel format, users should feel instantly at home with this program.

The invoice program's interface is highly intuitive because it has been built within a spreadsheet. With a few choice command buttons, users familiar with Excel will know exactly where to input data and what to expect. However, an in-depth Help file is also available. The program's layout basically walks users through the process of creating an invoice. Well-labeled areas for customer addresses, their own company's address, and invoice … Read more

PayPal tries rewiring e-commerce with new interface

PayPal, eBay's well established but aging mechanism for online payments, is trying to rebuild itself for a new generation of online commerce possibilities.

At an event for press and developers on Thursday, PayPal and its partners described several new programming interfaces that are part of the company's upcoming Adaptive Payments Service and showed what developers can do with them.

For example, Microsoft will use the interface to enable payments within its forthcoming Azure cloud-computing service. And LiveOps' on-demand outsourcing service will use it to automatically handle fluctuating payment amounts and changes to who's being paid. Finally, the … Read more

Online banking is booming

Once a niche market, online banking has grown into a widely-used tool for the average consumer.

Among 3,988 adults surveyed in the U.S. by Gartner Group, 47 percent said they now bank online. In the U.K, 30 percent echoed the same response.

Results varied according to income. Gartner found that over half of all consumers earning more than $30,000 in the U.S. and 15,000 pounds in the U.K. bank on the Internet. Among lower-income households, 25 percent in America and 17 percent in the U.K. use online banking.

"Over the past … Read more

Here come the mobile payment wars

Some would say our cell phone bills are high enough already. But two emerging start-ups are hoping to make mobile devices a hub for one of the hottest trends on the Web: micropayments.

Enter Boku, which launched officially on Tuesday with a whirlwind of announcements: its public launch after a year in stealth mode, its acquisitions of smaller companies Paymo and Mobillcash, and a $13 million round of venture funding led by Benchmark Capital with contributions from Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

A social-networking, gaming, or retail Web site can install Boku as a payment platform much like PayPal. But … Read more

Crowded, but functional interface

Ncome and Xpense is a program to monitor all finances in order to balance your household budget. You'll need to spend a little time mastering its overwhelming interface, but it's worth the time and effort.

This program's interface is initially a shock to the system. Users are ushered into a screen full of rows and columns, boxes and color-coded categories that are certain to result in a few head scratches. Luckily, the program's online Help file will explain the layout and hopefully result in an ability to navigate the intricately organized program. Once we familiarized ourselves … Read more

Kachingle to 'sprinkle' dollars to online publishers

Newspaper and content providers on the Internet are getting increasingly antsy about how to make money. Kachingle announced its solution in February, and it has gained so much interest, the founders say, that the launch is being delayed while the team builds out the service so it can support what they think will be a popular offering.

Here's the basic idea of Kachingle: Users contribute a small amount, currently $5.00 per month, voluntarily. While surfing they select content sites they like and want to support. At the end of the month, their monthly fee is distributed to their sites, based on how much time they spent on each site.

Founder Cynthia Typaldos created the idea five years ago, but says it was too early. "Content providers weren't desperate enough," she says. They are now, but Kachingle isn't yet ready. It should launch in July. At the moment, some parts of the original product don't scale, Typaldos says.

Kachingle has had over 250 unsolicited inquires to use its service, of which 75 percent are from the U.S. and Canada, and 25 percent from the rest of the world, according to Typaldos. So far 80 percent of the queries are from bloggers and 20 percent from other content sites like newspapers, some of which have multiple sites and millions of users.

"We're going to have at least three, probably five or six major newspapers signed up by the time we launch," said Fred Dewey, CEO of Kachingle. … Read more

Quick amortization information

Choosing your major financial purchase can be dreamy (stucco or stone? sun roof or tinted windows?) but the dream can quickly morph into a nightmare when trying to determine just how much money your loan will actually cost over time. The Amortization Schedule for Excel gives you the basic information you need so you can see just how much your dream will actually cost over time.

This freeware tool is very easy to use. Just plug in your numbers (loan amount, loan term, and interest rate) and voila, an amortization schedule quickly appears. You can easily change the variables, too. … Read more

Report: Payment card data was top target in 2008

More records were breached in 2008 than in the previous four years combined as a result of a few large breaches involving payment cards, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Last year, 295 million records were compromised and there were 90 confirmed breaches, the Verizon Business 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report (PDF) found.

The top five breaches accounted for 93 percent of total records compromised and as a percentage of caseload, 80 percent were payment card breaches while payment card data represented 98 percent of all records compromised last year.

PIN data was increasingly targeted in 2008 in attacks … Read more

Nokia invests in mobile-payment company

Nokia, the world's largest maker of handsets, supports the idea of turning cell phones into credit cards and is putting its money where its mouth is.

On Wednesday, the company announced its minority stake in Obopay, a mobile-payment company that enables people to pay for items from Obopay accounts tied to their mobile phones.

Mobile-banking services are expected to grow quickly over the next few years, especially in the developing world, where many people live in places without adequate access to banks or credit.

Market researcher Berg Insight expects the number of people using mobile-banking services to grow on … Read more