ie8 fix

expense

Basic bookkeeping

Profit Loss Report Spreadsheet is an Excel spreadsheet that allows users to track small business expenses from month to month. It's nothing fancy, but it may be a good choice for users who, for whatever reason, don't want to use bookkeeping software.

The program's interface is simple, with a separate spreadsheet for each month, plus a report sheet and data sheet. Users add vendor names in the data spreadsheet, which are then available for selection in the other pages. Users then enter financial transactions much as they would in any other financial software, with the date, vendor, … Read more

Intuitive maintenance tracker

CarCare Desktop Edition allows users to keep track of maintenance records and other information for up to 50 cars. Although the program has a few confusing quirks, on the whole, it was very easy to use.

The program's interface is simple and well-organized. One pane contains a list of the user's vehicles, and another displays each vehicle's details as they are selected. When users have set maintenance reminders, a third pane displays gauges for each one, showing whether a task is approaching or overdue. Users can also keep track of their expenditures on fuel, repairs, and accessories. … Read more

Expense manager

Business Expense Organizer Deluxe provides a basic business tracking software package for all expenses and write-offs. The program's easy-to-use database made tracking expenses impressively simple.

The program's stark interface features a lot of blank space and tiny command icons and mandated a tour of the Help file's brief tutorial. Luckily, a few minutes of study unlocked this program and made all the controls feel pretty natural. Business Expense Organizer Deluxe is essentially a database for marking and categorizing various expenses. The program provided intuitive fields for naming expenses, categorizing them, applying overall cost, and determining what percentage … Read more

Full-featured leave manager

Absence Management System is a complex program that allows users to track employee absences and many other workplace events. Although it's not the most intuitive program we've ever seen, we really like the way it automates a lot of workplace functions that have traditionally be handled with paper, verbal, or e-mail requests.

The program's interface takes some getting used to. We spent a fair amount of time in the built-in Help file, and just messing around with it, it gradually started to make more sense. The program's main functions are organized in a tree-style format down … Read more

Shoeboxed gets smarter e-receipt scanning

Shoeboxed announced this week that it has improved the way it handles digital receipts sent to its online filing system. The company, which scans and hosts paper receipts, business cards and full-size documents, can now pick out specific information from forwarded e-mails containing purchase information, and put it into one of the system's 15 purchase classifications.

Like users would do with purchases on travel services like TripIt and Worldmate, simply sending the confirmation e-mail to your Shoeboxed address means that it gets filed along with the rest of your expenses. The goal is to make it easier for customers … Read more

The $1,000,000 speaker

High-end audio prices are getting crazy lately, but this $1,000,000 speaker--the Ultimate--may be the most expensive speaker in the world.

Please understand that $1 million buys one speaker, so you'll need to shell out $2 million for stereo, and at least $5 million for your Ultimate home theater.

The Ultimate is a rather large speaker--each one consists of six, seven-foot tall panels. Each Ultimate houses a total of forty 15-inch subwoofers, twenty-four 8-inch woofers, and massive arrays of 2-inch wide and 1-inch wide ribbon tweeters. All of this is for a single channel/speaker, double those numbers for stereo! A pair of Ultimates are nearly forty feet wide!

That pretty much rules out my chances of getting the Ultimate for review in my Brooklyn apartment, oh well.

Each Ultimate speaker comes with its own power amplifiers, with an output of 31,000 watts, and the manufacturer claims the Ultimate can generate up to 146dB SPL, that's a lot louder than a jet plane taking off. And just because it can play that loud, doesn't mean it has to. Just because a Ferrari can go 200 mph, doesn't mean it can't cruise at 55.… Read more

Should a shorter video game be less expensive? Ask the Editors

Hey Jeff,

I am a devoted 404 listener and have been thinking about video games and the cost of them based on the amount of gameplay you receive.

I was very sad when say, The Force Unleashed, ended. Yes, you can go back and take two different paths, but I feel like the game was too short. If I went out and bought Fable II when it was new, it would cost the same as this game and just think of how many more hours of gameplay I would have gotten.

Should there be an organization that requires publishers to … Read more

Simple bookkeeper

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

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

Handy talking calculator

Balancing your checkbook or converting to meters to feet just got a bit more high tech thanks to the Talking Calculator. And yes, as the name implies this calculator talks!

The Talking Calculator's dual-display system is a step above your everyday go-to calculator in that Talking Calculator lets you simultaneously see both the equation you have entered and its corresponding answer just below. This feature alone will help keep the muddles away. Scared of conversions? With this very simple calculator, you are one click away to converting with ease.

But the Talking Calculator's stand-out feature is that it … Read more