Filed under: Developer, Internet, Features, Google, Social Software, web 2.0

Yahoo!, MySpace and Google announced the creation of the OpenSocial Foundation today. The foundation is a non-profit entity aimed at ensuring “…open and transparent governance of the OpenSocial specifications and intellectual property.”

On the final day of SXSW Interactive 2008, we were lucky enough to sit down with Kevin Marks from Google’s OpenSocial project. Kevin broke down what OpenSocial is, where it is going (MySpace, Hi5, and Orkut among others had already signed on as of our interview) and what the plans are for the future. We’ll be posting our interview with Marks shortly.

In the meantime, you can read more about the new foundation after the jump

Continue reading OpenSocial Bonanza

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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Google, Freeware, Social Software

While Google’s GTalk messaging application is currently Windows only, shankri-la points out that similar functionality can be reached by using Mozilla’s beta project, Prism, to create a standalone web application.

After Prism is installed, run the program and enter the following line as the application URL:

https://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/client

Next, give your application a uRL, like “GTalk,” and choose your shortcut locations. You’ll then have a GTalk/Prism web application that runs separately from your regular web browser (which is helpful for keeping conversations on a separate monitor or to prevent accidental quitting of the application during web use).

Signing in to your newly-created gadget will present you with your contact list and basic GTalk instant messaging. You won’t be able to do fancy things like send files or use the music status functions, but you’ll be able to group chat, use emoticons, and save your chat history (if you’ve enabled that preference in your Gmail settings).

We know you could use the Google Talk within Gmail or use a Jabber client for Mac/Linux to connect, but using Prism to create a web app can create a better workflow for some users. You won’t have to keep a Gmail tab open for IM, and you won’t mistakenly quit Firefox when you’re done browsing on another tab (which would close your IM session as well).

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Filed under: Borrowing, Cards, Debt

Debt consolidation sounds like a good thing to do, right? You’ve got all your credit cards lined up, and keeping track of the bills and their payment dates is no fun. How much do you pay on this card? What about that one? Did you miss the other one?

So consolidating that debt, either with a home equity loan or some other type of loan, seems like a great idea, right? You get one bill and your burden seems much lighter. But here’s the problem: Many people don’t have the self-discipline to halt using the credit cards that got them in trouble in the first place.

You start out by thinking you’ll just charge the groceries this week and will be sure to pay off that bill. Then your automobile needs new brakes, and you weren’t planning on that expense, so you get out the credit card again to help you in a pinch. But little things like this keep happening, and before you know it, you’ve got a few thousand dollars on the credit card.
The fact is that debt consolidation doesn’t make you a superior money manager overnight. It is really just a band-aid for a larger problem. I’ve seen plenty of people do multiple home equity loans to clean up credit card debt over and over, and they never learn their lesson about their credit cards. The debt consolidation was meant to help them get out of debt, but instead, they’ve got more than ever before.

Does that mean you should avoid debt consolidation all together? No. There are reasons why it makes sense, particularly if you’re able to consolidate at an interest rate that will save you a lot of money in both the short-term and long-term. Just don’t look to debt consolidation as the answer to all your problems. If you do consolidate, get yourself some education on financial management along with that, so that you’ll become more responsible with your budgeting and spending. That’s the ideal way to secure your financial future.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Bookkeeping, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Filed under: Budgets, Debt, Extracurriculars, Home

This is the first in a series of posts about why and how to collect art — even when you don’t have a lot of extra money.

I don’t know if this counts, but the first piece of “art” I “collected” was one of those Paper Moon art-deco greeting cards that were popular in the ’70s. Yes, I was a tiny kid then with nothing more than babysitting money to spend at the mall, but I couldn’t keep away from the fantastic images. I started buying them just so I could study them, enjoy them, and display them on my bedroom wall. I planned on being an illustrator or comic book artist when I grew up.

Alas, in college I discovered that I am more nimble with turn of phrase than I am with a Rapidograph pen (this is pre-computer, remember),so I opted for journalism instead. But imagery and color continued to lure me.

My first job out of college was for a weekly paper in an affluent community. Wealthy, urbane people lived there, and I was sent out to interview many of them. I got to into their lavish homes and oggle their fine furnishings and beautiful artwork. And it is here, gentle reader, that my story really begins.
In speaking to various art collectors of wealth and note, I began to realize that art transcends the wallet. Collecting art, some of these collectors told me, wasn’t about waiting until you had the resources, but about just getting started.

One noted collector couple, the Andersons, told me this. “You start collecting art when you find something you can’t live without.”

Another couple, with tongue only lightly in cheek: “Buy art when you can least afford to.”

A third told me, “Art debt is the highest form of debt, you know.”

I had already started by that time, picking up small pieces from artist friends in college, and following the work of a couple of local potters making the summer art show rounds. But I internalized this advice. I realized that you don’t have to be wealthy or even that sophisticated to start collecting art. Collecting stems from your love of and desire to be around it.

My first real “acquisition:” A woodblock print by the architect and printmaker Pedro de Lemos, of the San Francisco skyline as seen through a bank of cypress trees on the East Bay. At the time I was living in the art studio behind his mansion, so there was a personal connection that prompted me to take the plunge. I loved the piece so much the $500 price tag only daunted me a tiny (it should have daunted me a lot: since it was half my take-home pay at that point). The gallery owner seemed to take the idea of paying in installments as a given. And the rest, as they say…

Twenty years later, I also see how it can get out of hand. Indeed, several gallery owners of my acquaintance tell me they got their start simply because their private collections got too big. “We just had too much we loved to fit in our home so we started a gallery…”

In coming posts, I’ll take a look at a few factors to take into account before buying art, where to find art, and how (or if) to frame it.

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Filed under: Debt, Real Estate

In the past few weeks, we’ve gotten quite a few emails from homeowners wondering if they should take advantage of these historically low interest rates and refinance. A general rule of thumb is that you should refinance if you can lock into a rate approximately 2% below your current rate. Otherwise, the costs and hassles of refinancing outweigh the benefits.

When you refinance, you have to pay many of the same costs you paid when you bought your home in the first place: attorney’s fees, appraisal fees, application fees, processing fees (whatever that is), etc. But many of these costs scale well — the costs refinancing a $3 million loan might not be substantially higher than refinancing a $50 thousand loan. So a large part of whether refinancing makes sense is the size of your loan — if your loan is small, you will need a large difference between your current interest rate and the new one.

Use this handy-dandy refinancing calculator from BankRate to get an idea about whether refinancing makes sense for you.

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Filed under: Debt

What’s wrong with us as consumers when it is considered “normal” to be broke? Weren’t our parents a part of a generation who saved their money, bought things only when they needed them and had the money in hand, and generally were responsible with their money?

But one of my favorite personal finance gurus, Dave Ramsey, states that it is now commonplace to be in money trouble. And that’s a sad, sad statement about our money management skills and our readiness for the future.

Dave states the best thing consumers can do to put themselves on the path toward long-term money success is pay off their debt. Consumers are victims of their own overspending, not of earning too tiny or being otherwise financially persecuted. He does say, however, that this generation has been “marketed-to” more than any other, and that’s had a definite impact on our buying habits.
Consumers are also sucked in with offers of simple debt. When they begin looking at major purchases as just another small payment per month, they’re setting themselves up for disaster. With all these debt payments lined up each month, what happens when there’s an unexpected illness or job layoff?

Dave Ramsey tells people that their best bet is to totally get rid of their debt. Stop using the credit cards and aggressively work to pay them off. He advocates beginning by paying off your smallest debts first - that way you can see some progress right away and that gets you excited to keep going. There’s no swift fix for money problems, especially when you’ve got serious debt. But the sooner you begin working to pay it off, the sooner you’ll feel a weight coming off your shoulders.

It’s time for consumers to get more responsible with their money, and strive to become “abnormal” by not being continuously financially strapped.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Record-keeping, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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