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You gotta love how Apple strives to show that they are on both ends of the spectrum. You can find “the evolution of the Apple ad” on Webdesigner Depot. This ad is from 1996 and is one of a series of Powerbook ads here.

Some people do stick figure stickers, other people a school of Jesus’ fishes, we rock it Apple style!

If you know me, you know that I hate math. I hate anything having to deal with numbers! So financial management software is not a happy fun priority on my list, but as a small business owner I can’t live without something! Well unfortunately I haven’t found a solution that I like yet. I have tried alot of different things out there and nothing quite fits the bill. Maybe I have to high of a goal for my software!

A perfect picture of financial management software for me would need to include the following:

1. Intuitive and looks like a Mac app (I won’t hold my breath on this one)
2. Seamless integration with OS X and my other tools (iCal, Address Book, Spotlight, Mail)
3. Invoicing (specifically to estimate, invoice portions of the estimate, and have custom designed invoices)
4. Billing (track accounts receivable and accounts payable)
5. Bank Reconciliation and Register (preferably something my account can take and work with)
6. Reasonably priced

I know, I know Brains and Beauty in a financial app…in your dreams! But I have scoured the internet and tried quite a few  different things that do one or two of the jobs but not everything. Here are my quick reviews of the best, at least what I think, are out there.

• Billings 3: Great invoicing, slick templates and easy to customize; sucks on invoicing before work is complete so deposits are a pain
• iBank: Simple register, iPhone and MobileMe integration is awesome!; won’t export to my accountant, not easy to see snapshot of my business
• MYOB: powerful, full featured; pricey, complicated (feels like my accountant would have a hard time using it)
• Quickbooks: Full featured, solid invoicing and banking integration; Intuit doesn’t think Mac (see screenshot of Safari, and they don’t support anything except IE for online), the software still feels like a port, they make the comment when you ask them for support, “if you want that run the PC version in Parallels or VMWare.”
• LessAccounting.com: completely in the cloud, awesome banking, great invoicing; sucks for invoice customization, pricey when you look at the cost for more than a year.

So anybody have a good idea of what to do? What do you use? What works and what doesn’t!

UPDATE: I caved in and got Quickbooks for Mac 2009. After searching and searching it became my only all-in-one solution. Intuit is taking strives to reach out to Mac users. I am also beta testing their online version.

(image courtesy of: Michael Witthaus: localrhythms.wordpress.com)

Well I, and a whole bunch of other people decided to jump the gun and do the iPhone 2.0 update before Apple “officially released it”. It turns out that the update that was released is actually designed for the iPhone 3G. Macrumours.com is reporting that those who used the “unofficial” update should follow the steps to re-update their phone.

1. Sync your iPhone with iTunes 7.7 to make sure all data is backed up.
2. Download iPhone1,1_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw (Official firmware). You should get a single “.ipsw” file. If your browser renames it to a .zip file, you should rename it to “.ipsw”
3. In iTunes click on the “Check for Updates” while holding the Option key on the Mac (Shift key on Windows)
4. Select the firmware you downloaded in step #2
5. Wait for your iPhone to update and restore.

Well after a couple of days FIGHTING with my new Airport Express I have learned a few things.

I submit my struggles and some hints.

• Don’t try to install multiple network devices at the SAME TIME. 
• Firmware updates are hairy business…be sure things are hard lined and secure. 
• Forums can be your best friend.
• Search Google and just dig when you get lost. 

Let’s face it, as much as we tout the beauty of Mac, even from time to time they need a good scrub down and cleanup. There are lots of apps out there to help you do the basic cleanup, remove, and uninstall, but nothing does as good of a job as just a good old fashioned reformat. This isn’t my first dog and pony show so let me walk you through my method.

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