expenses

Genius Scan+ is an excellent application for when you're away on business and need to keep track of expenses, letting you quickly use your iPhone camera to scan receipts for your records. It also comes in handy for making quick copies of documents, shopping lists, or recipes, for example, but really any time you need a quick copy, Genius Scan+ does the job well.

Upon launch, you have the option to use a picture in your iPhone library or to create a new one using the iPhone camera. Once you have your scan, you can use Genius Scan+ to … Read more

We wrote last year about how Element's swanky $79.99 Vapor Case was becoming something of a vanity case for iPhone 4 owners. That said, while the case looked sleek, some users complained it was less than perfect and experienced reception issues when using it. Element claims to have fixed those issues, and has now added a new, improved, redesigned Vapor Pro iPhone 4 case that's being released first in a special collectors' edition that costs a whopping $149.99.

What makes it worth $149.99? We're not sure, but we're told it's made out of expensive materials and some parts are hand-tooled. Read these marketing bullet points from the company to get a sense of its value:… Read more

TripIt, the little traveler's help app that launched in the fall of 2007, is finally getting acquired. Business travel and expense management firm Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR) is putting up $120 million for the start-up.

In June 2008, I said that Tripit was clearly an acquisition play, not a long-term business. I did get my timing wrong, though: I thought they'd be acquired within the year.

I talked with TripIt co-founder Greg Brockway and Concur President Rajeev Singh today about the deal, and the prospects for the company. They want to have their businesses meet in the middle of … Read more

High-end cables are a controversial subject, even among audiophiles. I know an extremely wealthy audiophile who uses cheap hardware store wire in his $200,000 hi-fi system. He thinks audiophile cables don't make a difference, so he doesn't use them. That's fine with me.

When I was a high-end audio salesman I sold a lot of very expensive wires to my customers, including customers that didn't initially believe cables would make any real difference in the sound of their hi-fis. "It's just wire" was the classic rebuke, I've heard it thousands of … Read more

If you're looking for a storage device that offers the ultimate performance, a solid-state drive would be it. Case in point: the all-new 470 series SSD from Samsung.

The drive was superfast in our testing. It's also light and really good looking, which is somewhat of a waste because you won't have many chances to show it off once it's installed inside a computer. Like all SSDs, the Samsung has no moving parts and therefore uses less energy and is potentially much more durable than traditional platter-based hard drives.

The Samsung 470 SSD is an internal storage device designed to work anywhere current 2.5-inch SATA 3Gbps hard drives are used. Basically, it would make a perfect replacement for your laptop's storage.

The question is if you should get it.… Read more

The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2010, held last weekend at the Denver Marriott Tech Center Hotel, showcased the best and brightest high-end audio designs.

Hundreds of high-end manufacturers from North America, Europe, and Asia, from tiny one-person operations all the way up to industry giants like JBL were on hand. RMAF has a very different vibe than the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January--RMAF is a more grassroots affair.

Vandersteen Audio's incredible Model 7 ($45,000 per pair) features balsa wood/carbon-fiber woofer, midrange, and tweeter drivers individually hand-crafted by Richard Vandersteen himself. Each driver can take up to one day to build. The sound is more believably natural and realistic than that of any other speaker at the show. Stereo imaging was full-bodied and dimensionally convincing in ways no other speaker can match. Vandersteen speaker prices start under $1,000, and they're all made in Hanford, CA.

Vandersteen's sound just nudged past Kaiser Acoustics' stunning Kawero speakers. These slender towers are priced about the same as the Model 7, but were even more transparent and pure sounding. The made in Germany speaker's transient speed and dynamic punch were spectacular. The design is said to produce excellent sound quality in real rooms, without any acoustic treatment. Kaiser invested seven years into research and development of the Kawero speakers.

Entry-level audiophile gear from Napa Acoustic made an immediate strong impression. Their NA-208S ($199 a pair) speakers, mated with their NA-208A ($399) tube integrated, 25-watt amplifier sounded rich, with lots of detail. Napa's build quality is the best I've seen for budget-priced gear.

The best headphone sound came from the Audeze LCD-2 ($945). These full-size headphones had a huge, open sound, with effortless clarity. Audeze has a hit on its hands, and its customer waiting list is currently running to four weeks! I hope to get a pair for review soon. The LCD-2 was plugged into Red Wine's Isabellina HPA headphone amplifier, but the headphone can also work with iPods.

I had a great chat with headphone guru and Head-Fi founder Jude Mansilla about the future of high-end audio. Our conclusion: today's younger headphone audiophiles will be tomorrow's high-end audiophiles. That is, headphones are a great way to discover what high-end sound is all about, for a fraction of what a speaker-based high-end system would cost. Mansilla promised to introduce me to a bunch of young Head-Fi-ers, who are just starting to get into speakers. The next-generation audiophiles are an intensely passionate group of people! I'll report back soon about what they have to say. … Read more

We review a lot of personal finance software, and to be frank, most of it is pretty bad; such programs tend to have terrible, confusing interfaces and a decided lack of important features. Accounts and Budget Free is a happy exception to this trend. Although the program doesn't compare to the big-name financial software that dominates the marketplace, it's definitely a good choice for users who want a decent program without having to spend money to get it.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive, with just a few menus and a handful of well-labeled buttons. Although … Read more

Despite the fact the economy remains teetered on the edge of oblivion, software companies have increased their profitability dramatically over the last year, according to a recently concluded annual benchmarking study of the small and mid-sized software industry conducted by information services provider OPEXEngine.

Benchmarking is an important part of the software industry these days as companies look to ensure that they are providing what customers want and that your company meets the performance needs.

The 2010 benchmarks were developed in concert with SIIA and were based on the confidential data provided by approximately 50 small and mid-size software vendors … Read more

Credit for today's 404 Podcast show goes to the random madman in The 404 Live chat room this morning, who popped in only to shout "COLLEGE IS EXPENSIVE" before getting booted for using all caps. See you tomorrow, phantom screamer! Today's episode of The 404 takes a closer look at Blackberry's new Torch smartphone, Facebook's ethnicity trend study, regional gadget trends, and why it's never a good idea to sing John Denver at karaoke.

Tech Web site Retrevo recently conducted a gadget survey to find out which states buy up the most consumer … Read more