Boinx Software, a multi-award-winning software developer for the Mac platform, is pleased to announce the latest update to its 2009 Apple Design Award-winning live-video production software, BoinxTV 1.6. BoinxTV is designed as your own personal broadcast truck – without the truck. Perfect for recording presentations, lectures, video podcasts, sporting events, concerts, sermons and more, BoinxTV produces stunning Live to Disk, Live to Internet and Live to Stage video – all in real time. In version 1.6, improving quality and performance, and optimized redundancy with fault-tolerant system architecture remain top priority. A new template for recording conferences and events provides users with an in-depth, how-to example for broadcasting hours of live conference footage with a flawless and stylish finish that rivals prime-time, professionally produced events.
“The brand new ‘Conference Recording’ template in BoinxTV 1.6 provides users with the inspiration to set up their own custom templates for live conference recording from their own personal ‘studio’ – their Mac,” comments Oliver Breidenbach, CEO, Boinx Software. “This most recent update to our ‘broadcast truck – without the truck’ software makes the task of producing and broadcasting live events quicker and easier than ever before. Layers for introducing conference sessions, switching between multiple cameras, adding unique lower thirds, placing movies or clips into the background, adding sidebars to feature conference sponsors, and branding your broadcast with the all-important logo give broadcasts an especially creative and professional edge. Version 1.6 is also jam-packed with redundancy enhancements for continued reassurance that your footage is safe. Up to the moment that a crash might occur, BoinxTV automatically saves your footage for you to pick right up where you left off. We are thrilled to present our current and new users with the safest and most redundant BoinxTV to date.”
BoinxTV 1.6 Highlights: NEW “Conference Recording” Template
BoinxTV 1.6′s new “Conference Recording” template comes complete with fresh new layers for creating customizable opening credits, placing a source in an area defined by four arbitrary screen points, automatic crawls, sidebar options and an iPhone demo layer complete with iPhone 4 artwork. The new template allows users to create a polished and unified presentation in just minutes, ready to broadcast with no post-production work necessary. In addition, the Axis camera layer now supports Mac OS X v10.5.8, while images coming out of the chroma key filter are now crisp and clear with no blurry side effects.
Version 1.6 also features BoinxTV’s fully equipped, first-class rendering engine for enhanced performance on multi-core/hyperthreading-based Macs. A fail-safe auto save function ensures that if your system crashes, you will not lose your BoinxTV footage. An innovative user interface, extendable architecture and improved performance features allow users to create professional “TV-style” shows and broadcasts with minimal post-production efforts. Its “broadcast truck” production capabilities reduce expensive production and post-production costs without sacrificing creative and professional gloss.
BoinxTV’s “broadcast truck – without the truck” capabilities are utilized to broadcast one of the industry’s most well-known and respected international events series, The SuperMeet. Dan Berube and Michael Horton partnered with Boinx Software and BoinxTV to stream San Francisco (MacWorld), Las Vegas (NAB), Boston and Amsterdam (IBC) SuperMeets in 2010. “We searched for a way to easily and affordably exemplify our event’s creative efforts remotely. We wanted our story to resonate with industry enthusiasts, indie filmmakers and Hollywood creatives alike. BoinxTV fit our needs like a glove,” comments Mike Horton.
BoinxTV Key Features
▪ Over 50 layers provide creative possibilities for designing your own unique show template. Many aspects of the layers, such as font, size, color and position can be easily adjusted for endless variety.
▪ Preconfigured, easy-to-use templates provide a starting point and inspiration for your show.
▪ Character generation – Easily create lower thirds, titles, crawlers, tickers, credits and other text on screen.
▪ Computer graphics – Draw on screen, highlight and magnify screen areas, and display a weather map, stock charts and other data.
▪ Chroma keying – Replace a unified color backdrop (usually called a green or blue screen) with animated backgrounds, a virtual studio, a computer screen for screencasts – or create other special effects.
▪ Video scaling – Display, scale and distort video, PDFs, photos and other documents, or create a 3D video podcast.
▪ Camera Switching – Use multiple video sources picture-in-picture, side-by-side, n-up – or switch between sources with a variety of transitions.
▪ Audience interaction – Display a Twitter stream or let viewers Skype in to your show.
▪ Use QuickTime-compatible video sources such as DV cameras with FireWire (sometimes called i.Link or IEEE1394), HDMI cameras (with HDMI interface card such as Blackmagic Intensity Pro), iSight camera, USB webcams (if supplied with QuickTime driver), SDI cameras (with the help of SDI input systems from Matrox, AJA and Blackmagic Design) and many more.
▪ Screen grabbing to include video chats (Skype, iChat) and presentation slides (PowerPoint, Keynote).
▪ Use any audio device available in your system. A built-in adjustable audio delay helps you to synchronize audio and video easily.
▪ Integrate with Soundflower and other audio routing utilities for audio interviews with
Skype, iChat and more.
▪ Record directly to disk as QuickTime file.
▪ Play out simultaneously over second screen connector.
▪ Convert to Internet stream using external converter or third-party software (device not included).
▪ Convert to SDI using external converter (device not included).
▪ Submit to Apple Podcast Producer automatically after recording.
▪ Execute an AppleScript after recording.
About BoinxTV
BoinxTV, winner of the “Apple Design Award 2009,” is a revolutionary tool for creating Live to Disk, Live to Internet and Live to Stage video developed by Boinx Software in cooperation with TheCodingMonkeys. With BoinxTV, you can create stunning studio shows, podcasts, sports events, concerts, interviews, sermons, lectures, seminars and more using your Mac and multiple cameras. With its innovative user interface and its extendable architecture, BoinxTV makes it easy to create professional “TV-style” shows, minimizing post-production time. BoinxTV requires an Intel-based Mac with discrete graphics from ATI or NVIDIA, and a minimum of 2GB of RAM. Full system requirements and more information on BoinxTV can be found at http://boinx.com/boinxtv.
Availability & Pricing
BoinxTV 1.6 is available as a free update for existing BoinxTV users at boinx.com/download. A free demo license enables BoinxTV for five days. The single license of BoinxTV is available for $499 at the Boinx Kagi Store. The BoinxTV Sponsored Edition for $199 requires a credit for BoinxTV in every video created with BoinxTV. For education and volume licensing (multi‐seat) of BoinxTV, please contact sales@boinx.com.
Logos Bible Software announced today its full release of Logos 4 Mac, underscoring its commitment to making the best Bible study resources accessible across multiple platforms.
“We want to make great Bible study tools available everywhere,” said Bob Pritchett, president of Logos Bible Software. “Your investment in Logos Bible Software is about the content and tools; it shouldn’t matter what platform or technology you use or switch to in the future.”
Released on the heels of Biblia.com, and the iPhone and iPad apps, Logos 4 Mac provides the latest way for users to access their digital library regardless of location or platform. And the built-in sync feature allows them to continue their study from any device without losing their work.
The Logos 4 Mac interface is streamlined, powerful and easy to use—a great achievement for software that can manage digital libraries of more than 12,000 titles. Key features in Logos 4 include:
- An advanced search system that can return library-wide searches in less than a second.
- Smart searching that suggests synonyms and alternate terms.
- Synchronization “to the cloud” for backup and to keep preferences, notes, reading plans and your library in sync across all your devices, including PCs, Macs, iPhones and iPads.
- A smart tab and window management system for workspace customization and multi-monitor support.
- A custom-built index of all the places mentioned in the Bible.
- A one-of-a-kind family tree diagram for every person mentioned in the Bible.
- A database of every item mentioned in the Bible (like altars, fig trees, Goliath’s sword, etc.), with cross references, pictures and links to dictionary articles.
For a demonstration, pricing and full feature list, visit http://www.logos.com/4.
Upon launch, ivi offers more content than Hulu and a 30 day free trial to watch major broadcast channels including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The CW, PBS, and others from a growing number of local affiliates, all available via a downloadable app at ivi’s website, ivi.tv.
“The cable industry has spent countless millions of dollars on so-called ‘TV Everywhere’ solutions in a blind effort to prop-up outdated technology and business models” said Todd Weaver, founder and CEO of ivi, Inc. “However, ivi empowers its users to experience TV Anywhere, offering them major broadcast channels delivered live to their laptop or desktop, anywhere on the planet. Whether eventually integrated into Google TV, Apple TV, or meshed with an existing platform’s digital strategy, ivi makes the set-top-box and any ‘Web to TV’ products obsolete. Instead of attempting to bring the Web to the TV, ivi intuitively brings TV to the Web.”
The ivi TV player transforms a computer into a television, containing multiple channel offerings that viewers can select from the user-friendly channel guide or by simply changing the channel. ivi TV is a stand-alone, simple application that allows users to seamlessly watch broadcast television on their computer without sacrificing the user’s ability to run other applications simultaneously. The ivi TV player is currently available for download to any Windows, Apple, or Linux computer, and will soon be available on other platforms, including mobile devices, tablets, and set-top-boxes.
As consumers devote more time to the Internet, the proliferation of new devices is driving them to seek OTT and cord-cutting options. ivi offers the first cross-platform, live TV application allowing both place and time shifting in a single software solution. The basic ivi Air package contains over 25 major broadcast channels for $4.99/mo USD, after the 30 day free trial, with more air channels to be added each month for no additional cost to the base package price. In addition, an upgrade offering time-shifting DVR functionality is available at an introductory price of $0.99/mo USD.
ivi’s launch is bolstered by recent published findings from multiple renowned research firms validating this shift in consumer behavior. Leading research organization, SNL Kagan reported that, for the first time, cable companies lost a staggering 711,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2010 alone—the biggest quarterly loss in cable TV’s history. Yankee Group recently issued a report indicating that the broadcast and cable industry stubbornly clings to a belief that their pay TV revenues continue to increase when, in fact, they decrease, as consumers become gradually more educated and word-of-mouth spreads about OTT as a viable solution.
In spite of prolonged economic pressure on consumers, cable TV subscription rates have increased 5-7.5% each year while the quality of cable service has steadily decreased, with consumer dissatisfaction soaring.
ivi offers a fresh, innovative and affordable approach to live television by providing an online cable system for those consumers who are increasingly expressing discontent with cable’s antiquated content delivery methods, limited options, and high subscription costs.
Weaver continued, “Recognizing the fate of the landline telephone and the digital debacle experienced by the music industry, ivi offers the broadcast and cable industries innovation they do not have time to build. Consumer-friendly features like a la carte are built in the ivi technology and are available as a turn-key solution to shift cord-cutting losses into online paid views for content owners, offering consumers the choice they have long demanded, with a compelling solution to a multi-billion dollar problem. Forcing consumers to pay for undesired content did not work for the music industry, and it is equally unsustainable for the cable and satellite industries. There is no incentive to fight us, when they should simply join us.”
The ivi TV player allows the consumer unparalleled flexibility in their live television viewing experience. ivi TV moves across devices and locations, allowing users to watch programs at home on a desktop computer or on their laptop while at their favorite cafe–the ivi subscription travels with the user.
Fast Facts About ivi
· No buffering – ivi’s proprietary technology solves frustrating buffering problems typical with watching video content online. ivi offers continuous TV programming, just like traditional TV, but online.
· ivi’s nimble technology allows easy installation and requires minimal system requirements.
· ivi plays in different quality levels, depending on your broadband connection, so anyone can enjoy live TV anywhere they are connected to the Internet, regardless of its speed.
· ivi allows users to watch local content anywhere in the world, such as viewing New York City broadcast channels anywhere from Paris to Perth to Peru.
· Offering a la carte channels, channel packages, and subscription services gives consumers more options and control.
· Priced at $4.99/mo, ivi is significantly less expensive than traditional cable TV, which averages $71.00 per month, according to research firm Centris.
· ivi TV is cross-platform, working identically on Windows, Mac and Linux systems.
· America’s favorite pastime of channel surfing remains alive and well with ivi, which compiles (aggregates) channels into one viewing format allowing the user to discover, select, and watch their favorite channels.
· ivi is in talks with Nielsen, providing valuable analytics to help the existing advertising business model of channels and broadcasters.
“As a Mac user myself, I want to keep my data backed up but also be able to recover from a disaster instantly,” said Bill Yao, CEO of NTI Corporation. “Shadow 5 offers that capability with its new clone feature. I can now boot up from my backup and use it as-is without having to spend hours restoring from a Time Machine backup.”
Volume Cloning – The new Volume Cloning feature allows Mac users to make an exact copy of their hard disk partition. You can make a one time clone or schedule incremental updates to make sure your clone backup is always up to date. And with a cloned boot partition, there is no need to restore anything before getting your Mac back up and running. Simply boot up from your clone and pick up where you left off.
Folder Merge – Keeping your files at home and work synchronized is now easier than ever with Shadow 5′s new Folder Merge feature. If you shuttle files back and forth between home and work on a portable storage device, you need to make sure you’re always working on the latest version of a file. Simply merge the contents on your portable storage device with your Mac at home and at work and Shadow 5 will make sure the latest version is where you expect it to be.
Continuous Data Protection (CDP) – You can accomplish a lot in an hour. A lot you can end up losing if your backup only occurs every hour. But with Shadow’s Continuous Data Protection, you won’t lose an hour’s or even a minute’s worth of work. Your Shadow backup always has the latest copies of your files because the backups occur as you save your changes. And if you do need to go back an hour or anything in between, the file versioning feature has that covered as well.
New Improved Interface (GUI) – We gave Shadow a visual makeover inspired by other “Pro” applications. Backing up can look cool too! And the new Mini Status window will allow you to keep track of all your backup jobs without sacrificing precious screen real estate.
COMPARISON: Apple Time Machine vs NTI Shadow 5
Time Machine
• Full System Backup
• Native Format Backup
Shadow 5
• Full System Backup
• Native Format Backup
• User Configurable Schedule
• Bootable Clone Backup
• File and Folder Synchronization
• File Filtering
• Mac OS X 10.4 Compatible
• Continuous Data Protection
• Back Up to FAT32 Volumes
These new features and other improvements join the existing array of capabilities already in Shadow like one-way backup, two-way sync, file filtering, continuous backup, and scheduled backup. Shadow 5 is better than a time machine, it’s the complete backup solution for Mac users offering flexibility, versatitily, and easy of use.
Pricing and Availability
Shadow 5 is available through the NTI online store (www.NTIcorp.com) and selected retail outlets for a suggested retail price of $49.99 (US) and existing Shadow users can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $29.99 (US). A downloadable 30-day trial version is available at www.NTIcorp.com/download. Shadow 5 is a Universal Binary application for Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Leopard, and Tiger.
NTI Shadow 5 OEM licensing is also available for software bundling with USB/FireWire drives, external hard disks, and NAS devices. The software is available in 26 languages including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
Zinio, the global leader in digital-publishing technology and services, today introduced a new, interactive release of Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Songs of All Time on its cross-device ZINIO UNITY? platform. Using the Zinio App for the iPad (zinio.com/ipad), the iconic music title’s digital version will allow music enthusiasts to sample and purchase music with a swipe of a finger. The interactive edition will be available on other platforms as well, including Windows, Mac and Linux PCs. While fans read about legends ranging from Bob Dylan and Beyoncé to Bruce Springsteen and Aretha Franklin, they can preview and purchase the Rolling Stone Special Collectors Edition’s song recommendations via iTunes.
“Our 500 Greatest Songs of All Time is the ultimate playlist for any music fan,” stated Rolling Stone Executive Editor Jason Fine. “These are all the songs you need to have on your iPad. The issue also features the stories behind each song, plus photos from the Rolling Stone archive. With Zinio, you can listen to the songs while you read, giving our audience an exciting way to experience the list.”
“Partnering with Wenner Media for Rolling Stone to create an interactively enhanced edition is an exciting demonstration of how published content and technology can create a seamless and multi-sensory experience for engaging consumers,” said Rich Maggiotto, President & CEO, Zinio. “We are laser-focused on working with innovative publishers like Wenner to deploy these types of heightened experiences, globally and cross- platform, to increase user engagement and utility with editorial and advertising.”
To preview this dynamic issue please visit: www.zinio.com/top500songs on your PC, or visit the featured section in Zinio iPad App.
Zinio launched its free App for iPad in the U.S. on April 3rd and overseas on May 28th, respectively, and is available from the App Store on iPad or at itunes.com/appstore, extending the pay-once-read-anywhere reading platform. This approach offers the unique benefit of letting readers pay once for a magazine subscription or single issue, then enjoy that publication across platforms and devices like their iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Windows, Mac and Linux PC, with new mobile platforms coming soon.
Berlin based nova media has updated its sync tool FoneSync to synchronize contacts and calendars with the new Samsung 8500 WAVE phone. The software allows to synchronize contacts and calendars with Samsung phones, which could not be synced with the Mac OS X before.
“The S8550 WAVE is a bestseller and attracts many Mac users.”, states Jan Fuellemann, spokesperson of nova media. “It was the missing synchronization of contacts and calendars that prevented a purchase. We deliver the solution.”
FoneSync for Samsung phones has a clean and easy to use interface, even though it does support several synchronization options. FoneSync can be set to synchronize single address book groups and single calendars. The synchronization of contacts can be restricted to those which include at least one phone number and the time frame in which calendar events are synchronized can be altered as well.
FoneSync for Samsung phones supports the following models: M8800 Pixon, M8910, S3650 Corby, S5230, S5600, S5600T, S7220, S7350, S8000, S8000L, S8300, S8300V, as well as the new S8500 WAVE.
Pricing and Availability:
FoneSync for Samsung phones is available today for Euro 19.90 including VAT (US-$ 19.95 for residents in the US and Canada) at nova media’s website http://www.novamedia.de. FoneSync requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher and a Bluetooth enabled Macintosh computer.
SplashData, Inc. today announces a completely new version of SplashID Enterprise, offering IT managers powerful controls for the centralized administration of password and security policies on all Windows and Mac desktop computers across multiple departments and employee groups.
SplashID Enterprise is designed to quickly and effectively address the most immediate password management concerns of IT, enabling an organization to use stronger password management practices without compromising security or increasing costs. SplashID safely and securely stores all kinds of personal identification information, including usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, calling card numbers, bank account data, PINs, medical insurance information, and more.
The major features of SplashID Enterprise include:
· Cross-platform Windows and Mac end-user support
· Support of MySQL server on Windows, Mac, or Linux
· Centralized secure database of usernames, passwords, documents, and other records
· Administrative control panel for IT with user management
· Customizable group-level and user-level permissions
· Customizable deployment architecture
· Multi-layer database security
A major and costly threat to passwords stored on company databases is lack of policy compliance by employees. The frustration and inconvenience of remembering multiple passwords can lead employees to compromise prudent standards. SplashID Enterprise was designed to make managing and accessing passwords easier and more convenient, resulting in a higher level of policy compliance by employees. SplashID will decrease forgotten password requests, ridding IT of unnecessary distractions and allowing focus on projects that create real value.
Another advantage to SplashID Enterprise is lower potential costs of security threats. The costs of data breaches are astronomical, potentially costing millions of dollars per incident. By implementing SplashID, any organization can significantly reduce the risk of information stolen via password exposure, including data loss, legal costs, customer loss, and a significant decrease in employee productivity.
SplashID Enterprise can be considered not just as a password administration tool, but as a solution for secure record management and sharing. SplashID contains forms for storing records for web logins, accounts, codes, contacts, and more. New custom forms can be added, making SplashID’s capability for record storage unlimited. Also, employees may choose to store personal records in addition to enterprise records in SplashID, and the records are kept separate on the server.
In many cases in an enterprise organization, certain logins or other records need to be shared company-wide, department-wide, or among only a certain group of employees, and SplashID makes this process easy and secure. This record sharing feature of SplashID Enterprise is customizable by not just the central IT administrator but also by individual groups or departments within the enterprise.
The consumer versions of SplashID also secure information on mobile platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android. The next update of SplashID Enterprise will optionally give employees access to records on their smartphones, enabling them to be more productive out of the office as well.
SplashID has already been implemented by many top government agencies, technology companies, investment banks, research labs, and other organizations needing a comprehensive password security solution. Among its existing corporate users are Lawrence Livermore National Labs, NetBank, Getty Foundation, Texas A&M University, Los Alamos National Labs, U.S. National and District court systems, and John Hopkins University.
SplashID Enterprise is available on a per-seat basis for as low as $12 per license.
Quicken Essentials for Mac
“Quicken Essentials is our first Mac-native Quicken product, and demonstrates our new commitment to the Mac platform,” said Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group. “We’re glad customers took it seriously when we asked for their feedback. These are the first in a series of changes we’re planning to ensure Quicken Essentials users have the tools they need to manage their money easily and affordably.”
New Features
The first enhancements to Quicken Essentials for Mac, available from Intuit Inc. will be available by the end of the month and will let customers:
· Protect files with passwords.
· Export transaction data to spreadsheets for further analysis.
Additional enhancements are expected throughout the year, enabling customers to:
· Obtain a complete picture of current net worth by entering investment holdings from brokerages that do not download to Quicken.
· Compare spending between time periods to better understand expenses.
· Export tax-deductible expenses to tax filing programs, such as TurboTax.
· Track budgets across several months
Existing Quicken Essentials for Mac users will get these updates automatically as they become available.
Lower Price; Customer Refund Available
In addition, Quicken lowered the retail price for Essentials from $69.99 to $49.99. The product can be purchased directly from Intuit at www.quicken.com
Customers who purchased the product before April 19, 2010 can obtain a $20 refund. The offer is good through May 31, and further details are available at http://www.quicken.com/macrefund .
“Customer feedback will help us continue improving Quicken Essentials,” said Patzer. “Our goal is to provide an intuitive product that helps consumers save and do more with their money, and our customers help drive the direction of the product. We expect to fulfill additional customer demands in future Mac products, bringing more parity with the Quicken Windows product. We’re developing more robust investment tracking http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance-software/premier-investment-management.jsp and other features while still retaining the ease of use and great customer experience that Mac users expect.”
Mac users can provide product feedback directly to the Quicken team at http://quicken.intuit.com/support/feedback/mac-essentials/.
Intuit is well known for it’s financial software. It is also well known within the Mac community for its failure to reproduce its Windows hit software for the Apple platform. Intuit told SvenOnTech in February that it was listening and started Quicken for the Mac from scratch. In fact, it renamed the software Essentials. Quicken Essentials for Mac, as Product Manager Eddy Wu told me, was “back to basics”.
So, after a month with the new version of Quicken for the Mac, what did our resident reviewer Andrew Fletcher think of it? This long time Quicken user dives deep into Intuits release and gives a very fresh and honest look at those Essentials.
Wu spent a good amount of time with me and Quicken Essentials for Mac and I was impressed with what a saw. A powerful registry with deep customization, a pie chart with amazing drill-down capabilities, a spending cloud much like “tag clouds” found on many of todays web pages, category reports with incredible filtering, and with support for 12,000 financial institutions for automatic downloading of your data for near-zero user entry (compared to the Windows 2010 version of just 4,500); Quicken Essentials is definitely on the right track.
Wu told me, “We do care about the Mac,” during our conversation and from what I saw that rainy Friday afternoon, it’s obvious Intuit is at least making an attempt to correct its ills of the past. Wu was transparent about some missing features, such as the inability to track historical data for investments, but he stressed that Intuit is, “Looking at bringing those features back,” upon reviewing customer requests. One of my requests was the ability to sync data with Mint.com and Wu said Intuit would like to do that. Nice.
Previous Quicken users, be it Windows or Mac, will be able to easily import their data to Quicken Essentials for Mac.
And now, for Intuit’s take on the release:
For those who manage their money on a Mac, Quicken Essentials for Mac now available from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU). Built from the ground up with the look and feel Mac users expect from their products, QEM, as it’s known, provides a simple and easy way to handle the essentials of money management.
QEM launches a new era for Quicken on the Mac. It marks Intuit’s first Mac-native application for Quicken, that is, a product developed specifically to run on a Mac operating system, instead of adapting a product originally designed for a PC. QEM’s features serve a broad array of essential customer needs, focusing on quick set-up, ease-of-use, and Mac-like intuitiveness in design and workflow. The redesign reflects the influence of the Mint.com product team and its deep experience with Apple products.
“Quicken Essentials for Mac is the first Quicken product to take full advantage of the Mac operating system and development platform,” said Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group. “We’re bringing a completely new Quicken experience to Mac users, helping them answer essential money questions – what do I spend, what do I earn, where do I stand on my budgets, what is my net worth, and where can I do better?”
Making Money Management Easier on a Mac
Infusing Quicken with the intuitiveness of the Mac, QEM makes financial management easier, featuring:
· Easier set up; faster to use: QEM offers the unique Mac look-and-feel, easy navigation, and all the keyboard shortcuts users expect on Mac. Setup only takes 10 minutes. Users simply search for their bank, and synch using their online credentials.
· Broad banking support; no data entry: QEM currently imports data from 12,000 financial institutions, with support from 18,000 expected by year end. This is nearly quadruple the previous support of banks, credit unions, credit card companies, brokerage houses and lending institutions. All of that means less data entry.
· Improved categorization; better understanding: QEM “learns” the most popular categories from users, improving categorization over time. This means users spend less time organizing transactions, and more time understanding where their money goes, and how to save and do more with their money.
· Easy conversion: The converter feature easily transfers historical data from past Quicken for Mac (2005, 2006 and 2007), Quicken for Windows (2007, 2008 and 2009), and Microsoft Money.
“We plan to continue using these new design and usability elements and bring them into additional personal finance products,” said Patzer. “The combination of Quicken products and the talent of the Mint.com product team brings the best of both worlds to customers.”
Mac users can join the Quicken Inner Circle user community to provide product feedback that will be used to determine future features and development priorities.
Pricing and Availability
Quicken Essentials for the Mac is $69 and is available for purchase or download directly from Intuit at www.quicken.com and at retailers.
Intuit continues to support Quicken Mac 2007 for those users who rely on features that have not been added to QEM, including:
Stock lot accounting and other high-level investment tracking: QEM will show basic investment information, including net worth and changes in value. Detailed reporting similar to past Quicken Products is expected to be included in future versions
Bill Pay: Because only 6 percent of Quicken users rely on this service, it wasn’t added in the Essentials version of Quicken for Mac
Integration with TurboTax™: The Essentials version is designed for day-to-day financial management, and may include more robust features, such as integration with tax products, in the future.