• Sep 29, 2007

    Buggy QuickBooks

    You'd think that an accounting package would be 100% reliable or as close as possible to that as people rely on them all the time. I just happened to be looking at some reports in QuickBooks for Mac and noticed a $4000 difference in a particular section (expenses) and checked the filters; they were identical. I unchecked some fields in one and rechecked them and presto, the difference went away. It's a good thing I noticed it otherwise I would have paid myself more than I deserved which would have made a royal mess out of the accounting.

    While I realize it is software and there are always bugs, it seems that the software costs so much that Intuit could afford a few more QA folks to bang on every aspect of the program.

    I read the other day that QuickBooks for Mac 2008 would be coming next year. I always have to question, what more can be added? I don't use the integrated online banking and my needs are simple. The only thing I want is a stable product; features don't mean much for me. This is apparent as I still use Quicken 2005; all I want for that program is an Intel native version...that I'd pay for as I don't like running PPC binaries on my MacBook Pro.

  • Sep 28, 2007

    The cause of traffic

    I finally figured out what causes traffic; drum roll, please...stupid people! Did you really expect some profound reason? Last week when we were driving back from Santa Barbara, there were a few patches of slowing. As we passed the slow areas, I kept looking for a reason why. There was no reason the traffic slowed. It's a good thing I don't commute as I'd probably rip all my hair out.

  • Sep 27, 2007

    Life with the iPhone

    I've been using an iPhone for a few weeks now (I have a very nice client that sent me an iPhone) and must say that I kind of like it. I'm not a huge voice person, so I've only made a few calls and can't really comment on it.

    I'm getting used to the email client and web browsing is pretty nice. In addition, the iTunes interface is pretty slick. I even watched some Simpsons episodes on it on one trip. My biggest complaints about the iPhone are 1) it is on AT&T, 2) it is on the EDGE network and 3) it suffers from the GSM buzz. As I don't do much text messaging, the lack of a physical keyboard isn't an issue for me.

    At first, I was jealous of the iPhone as I've spent many years dealing with Palm based devices and have had a lot invested in working with Palm OS, but with the lack of life in the Palm OS and my shift of focus in my work, I realized that I had no reason to be jealous and am embracing the device.

    I'm sure that future versions of the iPhone will be better, but for a first version of a device by a company that has never produced a cell phone, this is quite amazing. Nokia, Palm, LG, Motorola, etc. have had years to come up with something like the iPhone, but have not managed to come close.

  • Sep 27, 2007

    iPhone Update and Self Signed Certificates

    I updated my iPhone today to the latest firmware and found that I couldn't check email. I remember reading something in the release notes about man in the middle attacks. So, I tracked down the issue to a self-signed SSL certificate I use on my mail server. Luckily, I have a real wildcard certificate for receiptwallet.com. So, I reconfigured my mail server and changed my settings to mail.receiptwallet.com and presto, things started working again. So, unless I missed a setting, self-signed certificates can't be used with the new iPhone update; I see this as a big problem for people that don't want to fork over the money for a real certificate. Oh well, I learn something new everyday.