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.
If that’s not nuts enough for you, then check this out. While California legislators agreed with a Harvard study (full report in PDF) that claimed 2,600 people are killed each year from talking on a cell phone while driving, those same legislators felt it was fine to allow drivers to do a little text messaging while navigating fossil fuel burners! In addition to that, you can take pictures with your phone, download games, surf the Internet, and be a good citizen and report accidents on Twitter. All without any fear of being pulled over and cited. Phew! I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t tweet while driving!
California is getting the word out and displaying warnings on its electronic signs through out the scene, as seen here on Interstate 80 Business in states capitol, Sacramento. (Note the reddish haze in the picture from the smoke coming from the nearly 900 fires currently a blaze in Northern California.) Surely many will ignore this sign because they are too busy talking on their phone but come July 1st, they’ll fine out quick enough. 
Now, I wonder if all the cops I see talking on their cell phones while driving will go hands-free as well. Wonder if I can slap ‘em with a $20 fine if they don’t.
CallWave, Inc. today announced the launch of its text messaging gadget (also known as a widget) for Microsoft Vista - a free, desktop-based application enabling users to send text messages to virtually anyone, anywhere from their computer whether their handset is nearby or not.
For mobile phone users who also use the web each day, the CallWave Free Text Messaging gadget delivers invaluable ease and efficiency - making the PC a natural companion to the mobile phone.
By making it easier to send text messages worldwide, CallWave Web 2.0 widgets and gadgets can dramatically increase text daily usage and adoption. While text messaging continues to grow in popularity, many consumers find it difficult to text on a phone’s small interface. CallWave solves this problem - using the familiarity and ease of the computer for text messaging. Additionally, users who are in front of their computers everyday may prefer the convenience of communicating in that environment.
During the beta, subscribers can send an unlimited number of text messages to phone numbers in the United States and Canada. The service also supports international SMS. With the gadget running on Microsoft Vista, users can view a list of contacts and select who to text. Replies to the message are routed to the subscriber’s handset. Subscribers will be given access to their messages stored in a permanent, searchable archive, accessible from a personal web page.
The CallWave Free Text Messaging gadget is free and available at http://www.callwave.com and the Windows Live Gallery.
fastmobile, the leading mobile integrated communications company, and its technology partner Jataayu Software, today announce the COAI and each of the nine operator members of the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI - Airtel, Hutch, IDEA Cellular, BPL Mobile, Aircel, MTNL, BSNL, Reliance Mobile and Spice Telecom), have selected fastmobile and Jataayu to provide a range of services that will enable them to activate and sustain mobile communities. The deal will be the first major deployment of instant messaging services that adhere to the principles of the GSM Association’s Personal IM initiative launched at the 2006 3GSM World Congress.
“Our deal with fastmobile and Jataayu is crucial to the evolution of mobile communications services in India, where innovation is intrinsically linked to market development and success,” said TV Ramachandran, Director General of the COAI. “COAI members will soon be able to provide subscribers with extra features such as presence-based address books, email, instant messaging and content-sharing IM buddies for events like ICC World Cup Cricket. Importantly, we will also be able to create new kinds of commercial opportunities, such as person-to-person commerce and contextual advertising services.”
“fastmobile is delighted to be working with the COAI in the fastest growing mobile market in the world - together, these nine operators will serve close to 200 million subscribers by the end of 2007. Soon, we will be enabling these consumers to enjoy a more seamless, rich mobile communications experience without hurdles or limitations, engendering a sense of mobile community,” said John Hoffman, CEO fastmobile. “In turn, activating mobile communities will increase data stickiness and boost revenues for COAI operators.”
“We are excited to be working with fastmobile to deliver a StandardsPLUS IM client to all COAI operator members,” said Mayank Sharma, Head, Operator Solutions Business Unit, Jataayu. “We strongly believe that standards are critical for mass adoption of sophisticated messaging. Our standards-based products and fastmobile’s track record in innovation will provide a tremendous step forward in making advanced mobile devices and services more user friendly throughout India”
As part of the project, fastmobile will deploy its StandardsPLUS fmX1.5 (fastmobile eXperience) client with IMPS functionality provided by Jataayu.
Playing with MacSabber has been so fun that we here at SvenOnTech lost all hope of being productive and went searching for more fun Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) applications. Boy did we find some good stuff.
We found this great widget that turns your SMS Mac into a full out level. Now you’ll be able to tell if that table at Starbucks is truly leveled while surfing SvenOnTech. Carpenter’s Level Dashboard Widget is probably the most fun and honestly the most useful widget we have! (Ya, most of our widgets are games.)
Speaking of games, we found another SMS program that turns your Mac notebook into a full out game. Literally. Bubblegym is the first tilt-sensitive game for any notebook, ever. You use your PowerBook (yes, the old-skool notebook only) to move pieces of fruit around the screen and get it through the shrinking goal. Seems fun, but if you’re a MacBook or MacBook Pro user, you have to use your arrow keys and, aah, no fun. (We hope for an update soon!)
If you’re interested in other SMS applications, take a spin over to William Computer Blog. He has a great list of such programs, including the ones we’ve listed, for your enjoyment.