Buxfer is an online application that allows you to maintain and manage your financial stability, along with monitoring any debts that you owe or are owed. The layout is appealing and Buxfer’s competition could soon be struggling. Following a recent alliance with the Apple iPhone, you can take advantage of what Buxfer has to offer, straight from your iPhone. This will allow you to access all of your transactions, tags, charts and even report transactions while you are on the go. Yes, you can access your bank account from your iPhone as well, but Buxfer offers more and has a simple, iPhone compatible layout enabling a more readable text size.

Venturebeat recently released a favorable article, claiming that Buxfer is giving Mint a run for its money. That is a strong statement considering that Mint was part of the Techcrunch 40 startup companies. However, I agree that Buxfer is an excellent new money management tools and seems to offer everything that its competitors offer, plus more. In addition, its super-fresh interface has much to do usability. Signing up is a breeze and importing bank information is as simple (and safe) as logging in.

TechCrunch calls Buxfer the “half brother of Billmonk” because of the product similarities. However, Buxfer does offer much more than Billmonk. TechCrunch explains that, “Buxfer is deeper than Billmonk, letting you track and tag out your expenses with friends and groups over time. Buxfer goes further, letting you analyze you expenses over time through a Google finance-style pie chart with adjustable time frame.” In my opinion, Buxfer does offer quite a lot of flexibility and even offers a peer to peer payment service. Backed by Amazon, you can collaborate with Buxfer to get the money back that your friends owe you in easy, flexible payments. While other private services are beginning to offer this, Buxfer is a well-rounded site that focuses on managing your money, income and debts as a whole.

Buxfer users are enabled to setup automatic bill reminders and repeating transactions. This is helpful for those who bookmark several bill paying sites in order to manually check bill due dates each month. Buxfer will keep track for the individual every bill that is entered into the private Buxfer account; reoccurring bills such as mortgage payments, electric bills and automobile payments.

NetBanker points out a weakness of Buxfer, claiming it has “no support for transactions”. When I signed up for the service, I did notice that I had to do a lot of manual data entering. NetBanker explains, “Other than being able to import transaction files that have been previously downloaded from banks and card issuers, it’s all manual data entry. Helper tools such as “copy”, “repeat entry” and “auto-tagging” help a bit, but to be an effective tool the service needs to integrate more closely with the actual bill and the payment.” I know that if the service is too cumbersome, then it will slowly decrease individual usage.

Overall, Buxfer made an excellent choice by making itself compatible with the iPhone. With the world’s current economic status, it is about time to take responsibility for our finances.

iPhone Fully Loaded

Debt Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About

TradeVibes is a wiki-type platform that allows individuals to promote and discuss information regarding private companies on the Web.  TradeVibes calls itself an information gathering engine and is, in my opinion, the most valuable new tool for bloggers and Website owners.  Recently out of private beta, TradeVibes has raised millions in sponsors and is growing exponentially.  Owners and Web fans can add sites to TradeVibes, coupled with news stories and metric information, to significantly increase traffic, sponsorship, fan base and feedback.

Screenshot of site metrics:

An interesting feature of TradeVibes is that the site allows you to explore by asking a few simple questions on the types of startups or Websites that you are interested in finding.  After answering them, TradeVibes provides you with a page by page showcase of sites that specifically match your interest.  I enjoy this feature because I am always typing search queries in Google such as “sites like Picknik” or “applications like Bitstrips” and I have to search through hundreds of links to figure out if the program is worth downloading.  Of course, you can also find sites alphabetically or by industry.    

On each showcase page, TradeVibes offers a massive plethora of information about each startup company such as the address, phone, date founded, industry type, key people, board of directors, the amount and name of investors and product screenshots.  The individual pages even list competitors which is helpful if you are trying to make an educated decision on which service to sign up for. 

Here is a screenshot of Recommendr:

Users of TradeVibes can submit news stories to the site which is an excellent tool for bloggers.  Submitting news articles is simple and there is a Digg-like thumb up/down next to each article.  It is nice to be able to see how many people are enjoying and agreeing with what you wrote (or vice versa).  The site currently offers over a thousand sites to discuss and get information on and several sites are being added daily.  To add an article, the site in which the article is about must be registered with TradeVibes and then the two can be linked together.  Anyone can submit articles, which makes TradeVibes a new, elite tool for promoting your blog or new Website. 

On the main page, users can participate in a “bullish” or “bearish” poll on various sites.  Bullish is for, Bearish is against.  Based on particular answers, users can submit the reasons for their selections, and then other users can add supporting or opposing viewpoints on top of that.  The setup is straightforward and appealing, giving site owners a firsthand look into the future of their site.

Here is a bullish/bearish poll on FixYa:

The TradeVibes site also offers a forum area where, so far, the discussions are intelligent and useful.  Users are currently discussing entrepreneurial ventures, industrial trends and investing.  It is also a nice collaboration tool for site owners to gather feedback on their page.  Part of the discussion board is a job section that allows site creators to post current job openings – I predict could give sites similar to Monster (and countless others) a run for it – because they are becoming bogged down with unsatisfactory postings.  If I was interested in a job with an imminent site, I would positively rather explore through TradeVibes. 

TradeVibes, by far my favorite new site, is going to do very well and everyone can benefit from its advantageous offers.

Watch the TradeVibes YouTube Demo:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=yH93tGywL2E[/youtube]

CEO of Gizmoz, Eyal Gever, has done quite well with impressing the online community with this 3D avatar site.  In the current social networking craze, Gizmoz offers an interesting way to spice up your current Myspace or other SN site and it seems numerous online surfers are searching for more to make their page unique.  You can view Eyal Gever’s (Gizmo CEO) Myspace page here.  If you are one of these users, chances are you’ve delved into the glitter comments, funny pictures or YouTube videos but all of these can be accessed and used by others.   If something truly exclusive is what you search for, then Gizmoz is a good option for you.

Gizmoz offers a variety of options for your 2D headshot such as 3D stickers, videos, pre-recorded or personally recorded audio with many options to customize.   Contrary to many current beliefs, Gizmoz has competitors that offer the same type of service.  Fix8, noted by VentureBeat, is similar and has raised a few million by supporters.   This is slightly behind Gizmoz.  TechCrunch reported that Gizmoz has ‘risen $6.5M in Series B financing from a round led by DoCoMo Capital, a subsidiary of the largest cell phone operator in Japan.’  Gizmoz’s funding totals in upwards of 12.8 million dollars which is a significant chunk of change considering the premise of the site.

Mashable reported back in May 2007 that Gizmoz released a second, updated Beta offering a more sturdy application.  Now in 2008, Gizmoz is progressing steadily and is gaining momentum among critics.  Following the TechCrunch 2007 Conference, Gizmoz approval rating was an average of 4.3, rating best on “idea” and “execution”.  Only six people took the poll but I guess that’s better than zero.  Compete offers site analytics for Gizmoz.com and it seems the site was doing its best between June and July 2007.  Since July 2007, the site has been on a slow decline in visitors, yet still placing in the 40K range. 

Gizmoz has also partnered with AOL’s instant messaging service AIM called Gizmoz Expressions .  Other IM services are compatible as well.  As an AIM user myself, it is nice to see something other than little smiley faces.  The AIM WeeMee is a pretty cool service but does not compete with the current ability of using your own picture.   Except many people may be hesitant to use their own picture, especially if they use AIM at work as I do.   

Crunchbase points out that, “Gizmoz also has several celebrity avatars that can say recorded phrases.”  I think that once Gizmoz gets rolling out of Beta – there will be several creative individuals cranking out JibJab/SmashMash type videos using these excellent 3D celebrity avatars.   Gizmoz has a great idea and I think many people have found it to be a quality application.  I do hope they add more options to use the avatars for such as less flashy skins and more hair styles.  Also, I would like to see a bit more clarity in the facial movement.  Overall, I think Gizmoz has a chance to be very successful.

This YouTube video shows a Gizmoz head making demonstration.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=-6iPP6T2xak[/youtube]

 Photoshop Plug-in FaceShop

Have you ever secretly wanted to be a comic hero?  Many of us grew up on reading the famous comics such as Peanuts, Dilbert & Calvin and Hobbes.  You can see these plus many more on comics.com if you are up for a flashback to your child or maybe young adulthood.  You can also subscribe to Marvel Digital Comics, however, money calls for true and crazy fans.  If you Google for comics – it is overwhelming how many suggested links you will get to people’s comic creations.

Yet, many of us are quirky, witty and creative.  There is a comic hero that lies deep inside most of us that is just waiting to be developed.  Maybe it’s our humanly self-righteousness that makes us prefer to tout our own work before others.  Whatever it is, we want to make people laugh, we want tools that help us waste our time and we want to star in our own comic for once!

Recently released Bitstrip, an online comic showcase, seems to be taking quite a center stage amongst users.  It contains a nice application for building characters, as you can see the one I created below.  It doesn’t look like me at all so the app isn’t exact but that’s ok.

Bitstrip is designed with the social networker in mind.  The main page features cool characters, top strips, recently discussed strips and allows you to make friends and build your own comic community.  Mashable recently talked about seeing the Bitstrip group at SXSW – check it out. 

I started searching for other comic making sites and there are several others that are equally as awesome.  The first one I clicked on, Toonlet, had their entire beginning overview and instructions in a comic and I found myself reading the whole darn thing.  It was addicting and fun.  And, yes, I am going to start making some comics – why not?  Toonlet is currently in beta form and offers several options to make your characters unique.

This is YeahMan – I made him on Toonlet.

Pixton is another interesting comic site that is relatively interesting.  Many of the comics that I have read on the site so far have been funny.  I prefer a bit more flexibility when choosing characters because sometimes the comics tend to look similar at first glance.  Pixton appeals to many individuals because if you can’t draw anything but stick figures, this is the best way to transfer your paper sketches into electronic copies.

Comiq is one site that I found to be very cool.  The site revealed itself as a way to use ‘comics as a communication tool.’  I think this can be beneficial to bloggers when trying to verbally illustrate a tool, site or application.  Comiq allows you to take any photo and add words to better describe or tell your point.  I often use Picnik for this, which I still love and just released a completely free version, but Comiq focuses strictly on this tool and does a good job.

Basically, this comic world is really gaining momentum.  I never read comics and I enjoy these sites.  With as many unearthly creative artists in this world, I don’t think we’ve truly seen anything yet.  I look forward to seeing what users create on these various sites and I think there are many hours of laughter to come as well.

If you are a comic book fan, this is an excellent YouTube video

‘Heroes? Countdown? The WORST of 2007 in Comics “

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=JkY834hg2o4[/youtube]

Marvel Comics multicolor polyester ties

  Amazing Spider Man Complete Comic Book Collection

I received an email the other day from Mixx, announcing that they have collaborated with Facebook to allow you to Mixx while never leaving your beloved Facebook site.  Then I remembered that Facebook is already enabled with Digg, so naturally I’ve set out to figure out which social networking and news submission site collaboration is better.

With Mixx and Digg having so many similarities, at times you may think that you will be getting the same benefit out of both applications – therefore you will use them both the same on Facebook.  However, many have uncovered distinct characteristics of each program that will help you achieve the results in which you are searching for.

Pro Mixx

InventorSpot claims that Digg contributors are frustrated with the promise of a successful Mixx.  The site quotes Vandelay Design saying” on Mixx vs. Digg, saying “…Mixx has a much more positive audience than Digg. It always amazes me that even the most popular and highest quality articles can get so many negative and unnecessarily degrading comments on Digg.”  Unfortunately Digg may be acquiring a less than attractive stigma of a site that has been overcome with duplicate information and the deserving articles are being trashed for an unknown reason – possibly the articles are on an competitor blog? 

In addition, it seems one (or more) TechCrunch writer(s) thinks Mixx offers an advantage over Digg by enabling their newly added feature titled ‘Related Items.”  “It solves a common problem found on Digg and other sites where multiple articles on the same story compete with each other to get to the home page.  Digg catches duplicate submission for the exact same link, but they are unable to determine if stores are related.”  I often submit articles to Digg and have thought how ineffective the duplicate link catcher is.

Venturebeat contributes Mixx’s success partially to its focus on user participation.  Venturebeat claims that Digg has a process for ranking articles and the effect of a vote, but is not entirely open on how that process works.  “In contrast, Mixx employees themselves blog regularly and openly explain how users can accumulate points for doing things like submitting popular stories and leaving quality comments,” claims Venturebeat.

Mashable states that ‘Mixx has done pretty well for itself thus far’.  Mashable comments on the recent partnerships with USA Today, Reuters, The LA Times, and The Weather Channel and predicts a high value of success to come from the new Facebook app. 

Pro Digg

Compete offers an interesting fact that Digg edged out Facebook, with 2.3 million additional unique visitors.  And readwriteweb.com mentioned the margin between Digg and Facebook is approximately 1400% in only one year.  If Digg is such a powerful online application, possibly Facebook can/will benefit from the partnership.  This statistic can be compared to the McDonalds food chain.  McDonalds for the longest time has remained number one on several levels.  Throughout the decades, other fast food chains have become popular and have made their share of money from the hungry.  Except no fast food chain name has overpowered McDonalds with name recognition.  Digg could possibly be the McDonalds of the online content sharing world.

The Digg Blog back in June 2007 announced the collaboration with Facebook and you could just see the excitement oozing from the text.  They explained how the application had to be installed and the two programs had to be linked together.  A “rocky start” was admitted but the application took off and has proven successful for both Digg and Facebook thus far. 

Mashable does mention that Digg collaborated with Facebook before Mixx was ever even announced.  Is that a good thing?Websites are also comparing newly released Websites such as SchoolFizz “similar to Facebook plus Digg”.  This confirms the name recognition theory I have on Digg’s growing popularity and existence due to its previous endeavors.  

Conclusion

The Web is full of articles claiming how glad they are that Mixx has arrived.  Mixx offers more features, however, Digg could offer the same thing if they wanted.  I do like Digg but the site does have some tweaking to do.  Digg’s currently popularity status can keep Digg going for quite some time yet, Mixx has an excellent opportunity to exceed Digg’s status and become number one.  Facebook is a very powerful social networking tool and should only be paired with top visit earning sites.  It would be shocking if the final downfall of Facebook was its bad choices in business partners.

 60 Minutes – The Face Behind Facebook

  How to Do Everything: Facebook Applications

This guy isn’t too happy with Digg – Watch on YouTube~

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=zGdYr-8qMOc[/youtube]