cash

While some financial management programs are complex and require some time to learn, Easy Cash Manager strips away all but the most simple money tracking elements. It's easy to learn, but it may not fit the bill for everyone needing to manage their money.

This freeware program has a bold, all-green display that is laid out fairly simply. The green is a bit over the top, but the simplicity of the screen makes it easy to get started. The left screen is merely blank space. The right offers simple buttons to add deposits or subtract expenses. In simple black … Read more

Researchers at security firm Finjan said on Wednesday that they have uncovered an underground botnet-leasing network where cyber criminals can pay $5 to $100 to install malware on 1,000 PCs for things like stealing data and sending spam.

The Golden Cash network, dubbed "Your money-making machine" on its home page, sells access to botnets comprised of thousands of compromised PCs to cyber criminals for custom malware spreading jobs, according to issue 2 of the Cybercrime Intelligence Report for 2009.

Here's how it works: a cyber criminal creates a botnet by hiding malicious code in a legitimate … Read more

Although users with a solid grasp of financial management basics will get the most from this freeware program, GnuCash proved to be a capable tool for personal and small business accounting.

This freeware program's interface is bland but functional, and presents itself in a way that will be familiar to users who do their banking online. Various holdings (anything from checking accounts, to CDs, stocks and any other form of investment) are listed in a tree along the left side. Selecting an entry displays further details in a larger pane. At the top of the screen are various commands … Read more

Technology giant Cisco Systems said Monday it plans to sell $4 billion in bonds to pad its corporate wallet with cash, spurring speculation that the company is on the hunt for companies to buy. But exactly which companies it might target and how much it is willing to pay are still unknown.

Cisco has shared some general thoughts on how it plans to spend the extra cash. For one, it will use a portion of the funds to pay down its $500 million of floating rate debt that comes due this month, according to Terry Alberstein, a spokesman for Cisco.… Read more

Combine Web browsing with finding shopping deals and collecting coupons for bargains. This toolbar brings it all together.

The AAfter Toolbar installs quickly and easily. Its not the best design we've seen for a toolbar, and it takes up more viewing real estate than seems necessary, but its not as cluttered with buttons as many other toolbars. We like that it doesn't try to be all things to all surfers. Instead, it focuses on its search engine and shopping deals.

The toolbar performed well in all our tests, quickly returning search results and responding quickly when we clicked … Read more

The Cash Point toolbar installs an attractively designed bar along the top of your Internet Explorer window--a nice change from many garishly designed toolbars that try to provide something for everyone. The arrangement of tools--search field, weather data, Internet radio tuner, e-mail notifier, and a drop-down list of links--isn't cluttered or too tightly packed. Still, appearance isn't everything.

In our tests, this free toolbar loaded fine, but after about five minutes of use, we received a "This toolbar is corrupted and must close" message. It would load OK in subsequent sessions, but was annoying nonetheless. We … Read more

The Financial Times points out that many technology companies are cash-rich and intend to stay so in order to ride out the recession. Apple sits atop nearly $26 billion in cash, while Microsoft keeps $19 billion in its pocket (and is probably grateful that its bid for Yahoo was declined, given how that would have decimated its bank balance).

Surprisingly, IBM is relatively cash-poor, with only $3.3 billion in the bank, and Oracle? Well, let's just say Oracle needs its acquisition strategy to start feeding it fat profits because its bank balance is $700 million underwater.

As for … Read more

You know that future we're all waiting for? The one where magic happens on a day-to-day basis? It just got here a little bit early. Well, maybe. At least the design concepts keep pushing the envelope, making sure that the future will eventually get here.

The EPOS-lite by Allport is a design that the maker describes as "the world's lightest cash register". Of course, no "cash" is actually involved, as the EPOS-lite is a charge machine. By combining that function with a restaurant menu, future diners will have the ability to order and pay … Read more

The only particle physics laboratory in the United States has received a $5 million grant to continue operating.

An anonymous donor gave the gift to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, of Batavia, Ill., to keep the facility from laying off more employees and prevent some planned furloughs.

"This is very unusual," Fermilab Director Piermaria Oddone said of the gift in an address to employees on Friday, according to a report in Science magazine. "It's not a building that carries a name. It's really a commitment to...particle physics as a long-range, important undertaking … Read more