Mint.com, the leading online personal finance service, today added an inbound SMS feature to its award-winning product, allowing users instant access to an overview of their entire net worth – wherever they are. Users can simply text “Bal” or “Balance” to shortcode “MyMint” (696468) to receive real-time balances for the checking, savings, credit union and investment accounts they track using Mint.com. Because the free online service now supports over 7,500 financial institutions, Mint.com is now offering free mobile access to the majority of US banks. Mint.com users can now find out in the checkout line whether they should use debit or credit, and which of their cards to use. This new inbound SMS feature helps avoid overdrafts and other fees, and lets users maximize reward points.

With nearly 600,000 users, Mint.com is the fastest-growing personal financial service, tracking more than $50 billion in transactions and $15 billion in assets. And it’s free. Mint’s “Ways to Save” feature has already identified more than $100 million in potential savings for its users. This new inbound SMS capability is the latest in a series of MInt.com innovations which help its users stick to budgets, avoid unwanted fees, and ultimately save and do more with their money.
“90 percent of our users tell us they understand their spending better after using Mint, and about half have already changed their spending behavior,” said Aaron Patzer, founder and CEO of Mint. “In the past few months, we’ve seen an even sharper change, with users cutting hundreds of dollars in monthly spending across categories. As the holiday season approaches, we’re proud that the more than half a million Mint.com users are well-prepared to shop within their budget and avoid crushing debt, especially in this uncertain economy.”

A January, 2008 Mint.com survey found that over 4 in 10 people spent more than they’d planned during the 2007 holiday season. At that time, 6 in 10 respondents said they planned to make some changes to their holiday spending this year. And in fact, the majority of Mint.com users have adjusted their budgets downward since the beginning of the American economic crisis in September, reversing a more typical seasonal trend to increase budgets for the holiday season. Overall, Mint.com users are planning to spend 3% less in the coming months, with the largest reductions planned in Travel (down 20%) and Personal Care (down 24%). Users are planning to maintain, not increase, their average monthly spending this holiday season by shifting spending from general Shopping purchases (budgets down 7%) toward Gifts (up 8%). Thousands of Mint.com users have already added customized Gifts and Shopping budgets since Mint.com introduced personalized spending categories last month.
In addition, Mint.com’s blog features tips and tricks for surviving the holidays. Among Patzer’s key recommendations: Don’t spend more than one paycheck on the holidays. For someone making $60,000/year, that means spending no more than their average $1,500 bi-monthly paycheck on gifts, decorations, food and drinks for parties— everything.

“For many, budgeting is a dirty word. But in this economy, with the generosity of the season pulling at our wallets, budgeting is essential and doesn’t require as much work as some think. Pick a few problem areas – you may go out to restaurants too much, or spend too much on clothes. If you track and budget in just those categories, you’ll likely find enough money for gifts,” continued Patzer. “We recently had a user write in that after Mint showed her the ‘error of her ways,’ she’s cut out $5 visits to Starbucks, $7 visits to the work cafeteria, and is eating and drinking at home more. After two months, she’s not only cut $680/month in spending, but she’s also lost 3 pounds!”

Mint.com has recently released major updates to the product, adding: support for 1,000’s of new banks; mortgages, loans and investment tracking; customizable spending categories; and automatic budgeting features.

SplashData, Inc. has introduced two new applications to the Apple App Store for users of iPhone smartphones — each designed to help users remember special occasions.

Holiday presents a list of any upcoming holiday from countries around the world. Users simply select a country and all holidays for that area are presented in a list, along with the number of days left until each holiday occurs and a colorful icon for each to make scanning the list simpler. The lists may be customized by adding or deleting holidays. Seinfeld fans may wish to add Festivus to the list of December holidays.

Birthdays displays all upcoming birthdays in their iPhone’s Contacts, along with pictures of each contact for easy scanning and how many days are left until each birthday. This application is very easy to set-up — simply tap on Birthdays and it automatically scans the contacts for birthdays and pulls them into the Birthdays list. Users may tap on a contact for further details, such as the age they will be, their astrological sign or Chinese Zodiac year, birthstone and full contact info. And Birthdays also serves as a to-do list, enabling users to check-off each item once cards, gifts or greetings have been sent.

Each application is available in the App Store for only US$.99. For more information on the complete line-up of SplashData’s iPhone applications, visit www.splashdata.com/iphone.

Mark/Space, a mobile to desktop synchronization software company, announced today the release of The Missing Sync(tm) for Windows Mobile version 4.0.4 with enhanced sync support for Microsoft Entourage 2008. The award-winning Missing Sync for Windows Mobile is the most trusted sync software for Mac users with Windows Mobile smartphones like the HTC Touch, Motorola Q9 and Palm Treo Pro.

The latest release of The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile offers full Entourage support so that users can sync directly with Entourage 2008 and 2004. Benefits include synchronization of Entourage contacts, calendar events and tasks with categories. This update also offers improved device mounting.

Other features of The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile include syncing music, photos, video, files, and much more with support for iCal, Address Book, iPhoto and iTunes.

Pricing, Availability and System Requirements
The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile is available immediately as an electronic download from the Mark/Space Online Store for $39.95. It will also be available on CD for $49.95. This update is available free to owners of The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile 4.0. Owners of earlier versions may upgrade for $29.95.

The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile requires Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later, or Mac OS X 10.5 or later and a device running Windows Mobile 2002 (also called Pocket PC 2002), Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 5 or Windows Mobile 6.

To purchase, upgrade or learn more about The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile, please visit http://www.markspace.com.

Verizon Wireless announced that the USB760™ Micro Modem is available in business sales channels beginning today. Developed by Novatel Wireless (NASDAQ: NVTL), a leading provider of wireless broadband solutions, the USB760 gives customers a powerful, pocket-sized wireless broadband modem that runs on Verizon Wireless’ high-speed network, which uses Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) technology. The USB760 will be available for order in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on Dec. 1.

Customers can use the included VZAccess Manager™ software on the USB760 for easy connection management and automatic installation on Windows® and Mac systems without the need to install software from a CD. Measuring just more than two inches long and weighing less than an ounce, the USB760 is designed to be extremely durable, and combines a variety of innovative features into its tiny package, including an integrated microSD™ slot, allowing for the seamless storage and transport of up to 8 GB of files, photos or videos on a removable SD storage card (sold separately). Designed to work with any laptop, tablet PC or desktop running Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems and equipped with a Type-A USB port, the USB760 features an internal advanced dual-band diversity antenna, as well as an optional external antenna for enhanced performance on the fringe areas of networks and in highly mobile environments. NovaSpeed™ software helps optimize performance and enables simultaneous uploads and downloads at significantly enhanced speeds.

The USB760 from Verizon Wireless gives customers access to the company’s BroadbandAccess service, which provides fast access to e-mail, corporate data, the Internet and more. With average download speeds of 600 kilobits per second (kbps) to 1.4 megabits per second and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps, BroadbandAccess from Verizon Wireless allows customers to download a 1 Megabyte e-mail attachment – the equivalent of a small PowerPoint® presentation or a large PDF file – in about eight seconds and upload the same-sized file in less than 13 seconds.

The USB760 is available for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, they may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. Customers can select from one- or two-year BroadbandAccess plans that offer 50 MB data usage for $39.99 monthly access or 5 GB data usage for $59.99 monthly access.

For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. Business customers may contact their Verizon Wireless Business Sales Representatives directly at 1-800-VZW-4BIZ.

Berlin based nova media today unveiled GlobeSurfer
III, a wireless Router for Macintosh computers. This Router establishes a
mobile internet connection through a mobile network operator and uses WLAN
and Ethernet to distribute this connection to the network.

Within mobile networks GlobeSurfer III supports download speeds with up to
7.2 Mbit/s and upload speeds with up to 5.7 Mbit/s. It can be used worlwide.

“The Router uses a webinterface for configuration and offers a setup wizard
for an easy start.”, states Jan Fuellemann, PR spokesperson at nova media.
“GlobeSurfer III supports all relevant encryptions and features a
preconfigured firewall. An expert mode allows a user-defined configuration.”

The built-in USB 2.0 port supports external drives and printers to be
connected to the router and accessed by all computers in the local network.
In addition, a standard telephone can be hooked up to the router to make and
receive calls using the mobile network. To boost the signal strenght in
areas with difficult reception, an external antenna can be attached.

Within a local network GlobeSurfer III supports WLAN connections with up to
54 Mbit/s and Ethernet connections with up to 1000 Mbit/s.

GlobeSurfer III is available today from nova media for Euro 285.00 plus VAT
if applicable and shipping costs. It requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

Verizon Wireless, the nation’s leading wireless provider, and Photobucket, the Web’s premier standalone photo and video-sharing site, today announced the availability of a new mobile photo service on select Verizon Wireless handsets that enables Verizon Wireless customers to easily send photos from a mobile device to a Photobucket album. The application will launch exclusively for Verizon Wireless customers and is available for download from Verizon Wireless mobile storefront by texting ‘photob’ to 2777, in the Community and Sharing category of the Verizon Wireless Get It Now catalog or by visiting photobucket.com/mobile.

Jennifer Byrne, director of digital media at Verizon,said, “Mobile phones are adding a new dimension to sharing images between friends, colleagues or family members. Photobucket is bringing Verizon Wireless customers a new and easy way to share their photos and videos in real-time, without needing to move to a PC to upload and send them.”

“Photobucket is thrilled to team up with Verizon Wireless to provide a quick and easy photo sharing solution for people on the go,” said Alex Welch, President of Photobucket. “Photobucket has always been committed to making photo sharing fun and easy. The Photobucket Mobile Uploader for Verizon Wireless unlocks the full potential of camera phone photos, allowing users to easily save and share images online more easily than they would using traditional digital cameras.”

To utilize the application, Verizon Wireless subscribers sign up for a Photobucket account – which can be created for free at http://photobucket.com – and enter their log-in information to link their Verizon Wireless account to their Photobucket online photo album. Once the accounts are connected, the application instantly uploads photos already saved on the phone to the user’s Photobucket account. The Photobucket Mobile Uploader then automatically sends any future photos directly to the same Photobucket account.

Verizon is the first carrier in the United States to be offering the Photobucket Mobile Uploader and the application will be available initially on 13 handsets. The service is available now from Verizon Wireless, which enables the user to send unlimited mobile photos to their Photobucket account for a monthly subscription fee of $2.99.

NAD Electronics, the highly regarded manufacturer of high-performance audio/video components, offers the PP-3 Digital Phono Preamplifier, a sophisticated accessory that integrates turntables into today’s stereo systems and allows LPs and other audio sources to be copied directly to a PC.

Compact and cost-effective, the PP-3 Phono Preamp provides superb audiophile performance in a clean, simple package only 5.3 inches long by 1.38 inches high by 2.75 inches deep. It combines the design of its predecessor, NAD’s award-winning PP-2 MM/MC Phono Preamp, with a high-quality analog-to-digital converter, a USB interface, and CD-R VinylStudio™ Lite software. The program, supplied on a disc, lets users copy LPs directly to a PC in Wav or Mp3 file formats. Once in a PC, the digitized music can be burned onto discs, transferred to portable music players or otherwise manipulated.

Today’s digital components often overlook the needs of analog music fans, as expressed in LP records, an immense source of superb audio performances. Many A/V receivers, amplifiers, and preamp/processors simply omit phonograph inputs and phono-preamp circuitry. In many others, the phono section is an afterthought designed for the most basic functionality. In NAD’s view, this state of affairs creates a clear opportunity. The PP-3 has been designed to serve as a high-quality upgrade or addition to existing line-level system.

An additional Line Input allows other analog sources — such as FM radio, audiotape, even a CD player’s analog output — to be converted to the digital USB format. It also adds back the input on an amplifier or receiver used by the PP-3.

The PP-3 Digital Phono Preamplifier is available now from authorized NAD dealers at a suggested price of $179.

Designed to meet the needs of a fast-paced, action-filled lifestyle, Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network, and LG Electronics today introduced the LG Swift. The new flip phone is bursting with easy-to-use multimedia features and advanced technology for immediate access to services and applications while on-the-go. Available for purchase at Alltel retail stores or online at shopalltel.com, the LG Swift is a vibrant and fun phone created for consumers seeking a wireless device full of innovation.

The LG Swift is the first Alltel handset to be equipped with a next generation keypad featuring Fastap Press-to-Experience keys which integrates six raised one-touch access Quick Keys with a traditional numeric keypad. The Fastap Keypad provides “swift and simple” one-touch discovery, access and use of phone features, services and applications such as Alltel Navigation, Alltel Shop, Email, Alarm Clock and Image Library.

“The LG Swift is an innovative phone that helps our customers explore and enjoy Alltel’s most popular data features,” said Brian Ullem, vice president of device strategy for Alltel Wireless. “The introduction of Fastap Press-to-Experience keys enables us to delivers information and entertainment to our customers faster than ever before.”

Perfect for music lovers, the LG Swift also features external music buttons to conveniently play and manage music. A dual speaker system with stereo sound can be enjoyed using background music mode or using the Bluetooth® headset. The phone also includes a 1.3 MP camera with multi-shot and video capabilities, one-touch speakerphone, and an expandable memory slot for song storage.

Alltel Wireless is offering the LG Swift, in a red and blue clamshell design, for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. This discounted price is for new customers on two-year service agreements, as well as existing eligible customers on qualifying rate plans.