tyjypx.com

You can try it out for yourself, before signing up by going to https://accounting.quickbooks.com/m and tapping “Demo.”

Quickbooks, one of the leading accounting packages for small businesses, has just released web interfaces for Blackberry and
iPhone. The iPhone version, seen to the left, sports a very slick UI and allows easy, at-a-glance access to all of your financial information, entered into Quickbooks Online.

At first glance, the web app provides a simplistic view of things. Features included are looking at who owes you, who you owe, vendors, employees, and bank accounts. Despite the initially simplistic look, as you drill down, you uncover a whole new level of detail.

If you are already a Quickbooks Online user, these new web interfaces for Blackberry and iPhone are nice perks. I’m not sure that the introduction of these apps would be the deciding factor in jumping to Quickbooks Online, but it might help the decision.

Even though this seems to be a killer app for referring to your financial information, I have to point out some points where they have missed the mark. First off, a standalone app, available through the App Store would have been nice for the iPhone, but it’s not completely necessary. The largest oversight here is not being able to edit or add data. In my opinion, this would be one of the primary usage scenarios for this app. That said, this is version one of this app and we may see this sort of functionality being added at some point down the line.

(Credit: Popular Mechanics)

This is a great example of a storied company with iconic products in its past not being afraid to experiment and seek out new styles and new customers.

All that and it gets over 60mpg.

I’m loving this Piaggio MP3 scooter that has two wheels on the front. It uses a very trick suspension/steering set up to allow it to lean into angles just like a regular motorbike, though apparently it feels fairly different. The tripod stance also means it stands up by itself at slow speeds and stopped, negating the need for dragging feet for stability or a kick-stand.

Even though this is from Piaggio, the manufacturer of the original Vespa, the MP3 looks totally different from any other scooter out there, and not just because of the extra wheel. Especially in all-black it looks very menacing and not at all Roman Holiday cute. The front looks like Optimus Prime mated with a Stealth Fighter, and the back looks like a conventional scooter on steroids.

Piaggio MP3 Scooter

The extra width also gives it a lot of presence which should be helpful on busy freeways. There is ample storage space under the front which makes it practical too.

Still, it’s only Tuesday, and at this rate, I’m wondering if tomorrow we’ll hear another rumor that Verizon is talking to Palm to get its hands on the new Palm Pre, which will debut on Sprint’s network this summer. Or maybe Verizon is in talks to buy Yahoo. (Just kidding, but it seems like everyone is rumored to be buying Yahoo these days, so I thought I’d throw that in there.)

In the past 36 hours, rumors have been flying around that Verizon Wireless is in talks with Apple, Microsoft, and a
Google Android phone maker. So who’s next?

Also, Venture Beat’s speculation that Verizon might be looking to offer an Android phone also seems plausible, given that the story cites a job description on Verizon’s Web site that seeks an “Android Devices Expert.” The article also points out that an unnamed CDMA carrier is getting code developed for a chip used in an Android CDMA device. This development could be for Sprint, which is a Google Open Handset Alliance member and also has a CDMA network. But who knows?

The fact is that Verizon’s executives have said they are willing to work with a variety of device makers. In fact, Verizon has developed a special Open Device Initiative to streamline the certification process to get new devices on its network more quickly. And Tony Lewis, head of the ODI division, confirmed recently that the company is talking to at least five Netbook makers. Perhaps, one of them is Apple.

But I think that if Verizon is really having serious talks with Apple, in particular, it is about getting the iPhone on its super speedy 4G wireless network that it will start building this year. Verizon has said it will have 25 to 30 markets up and running by the end of 2010.

“If Apple decided that they could sell more iPhones by developing a CDMA version and then they took advantage of the ODI process, they could get a CDMA iPhone certified on the network,” he said. “And maybe they would sell the unsubsidized phone in Apple stores, and you’d activate service with Verizon and pick a service plan. I suppose that’s one possible model under the ODI framework.”

“Apple never had any intention of making a CDMA” version of the iPhone, Seidenberg told the Journal. Seidenberg also said that “previous overtures by Apple prior to the launch of the original iPhone were meant to help Apple gain negotiating leverage over AT&T,” the Journal reported.

Late Sunday, USA Today reported that Verizon was planning to offer an iPhone on Verizon’s current CDMA-based wireless network. Business Week followed on Monday with its own story that Verizon is talking to Apple about a new “iPhone-lite” phone and a tablet-Netbook-type device. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported Verizon is talking to Microsoft about a
Zune-like, music playing
iPhone killer. And then VentureBeat published a story saying that Verizon could also be talking to Android phone developers.

Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone also said in an interview at the CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas that Apple could theoretically use the ODI process to get a CDMA version of the iPhone on Verizon’s network.

Even though Verizon says it will have 25 to 30 markets deployed next year, the initial chips on the market will only be used for laptops. Chips made for cell phones and other mobile devices will likely follow about a year later.

Perhaps, Apple is at it again. The deal between Apple and AT&T is expected to expire next year, and AT&T has expressed interest in extending that exclusive deal. Maybe Apple is turning up the heat to get better terms in the next agreement.

Verizon’s CEO Ivan Seidenberg even told the Journal that a 4G iPhone is more likely to come to Verizon’s network than a 3G version of the phone.

Seriously though, I am not discounting any of these rumors. Where there is smoke there is usually fire. And believe me there are plumes of smoke surrounding the Apple rumors. And it wouldn’t surprise me one bit that Verizon is also talking to Microsoft. Of course, Microsoft is denying that it is developing its own mobile device hardware.

Mohit Bhushan, senior director of product management for Qualcomm, one of the chipmakers making integrated 3G/4G silicon, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February that his company is just starting to sample its 3G/4G chips this year for device manufacturers to test. Commercial products won’t likely hit the market using these chips until a year later, he said.

As for the integrated 3G/4G chips that will be used in cell phones, Bhushan said those chips will be available for testing in the middle of 2010, which means commercial devices aren’t likely to hit the market until 2011 at the earliest.

Rumor, rumors. Today's are about Verizon deals with smartphone makers.

“The biggest challenge for us is meeting the expectations of the carriers and manufacturers,” he said, “Everyone wants products earlier. But we have to build test devices. And it just takes time.”

But consumers shouldn’t hold their breath. Devices for 4G networks are at least two years away.

So what’s your prediction for the next Verizon rumor?

Not surprisingly, Verizon’s spokesman Jeffrey Nelson declined to comment on any of these rumors.

“Microsoft’s strategy has not changed, it is and has always been to provide a software platform for the industry,” a company spokesman said. “We work closely with many mobile operators and device makers around the world because customers want different experiences on a variety phones.”

Just in case you are having trouble keeping up, here’s a summary to get you up to speed:

(Credit: Best Buy.com)

We’ve contacted Samsung to find out more about the BD-P2550 and will update this entry as we receive more information.

Beyond the manual and the listing on Best Buy, images posted by a member of AVS Forums seem to confirm that the BD-P2550 will feature HQV video processing. We’re usually pretty skeptical about branded step-up features like HQV, but we’ve seen excellent performance time and time again from players with HQV processing, so we expect it to be a significant feature if it’s true. The old Samsung BD-P1200 also featured an HQV processor and although it’s had its share of troubles, we always found it had excellent image quality on both Blu-ray Discs and DVDs.

Panasonic and Yamaha have already had their Cedia Blu-ray plans leak out, and we suspect the same may have just happened to Samsung. A new Samsung Blu-ray player, the BD-P2550, has appeared on Best Buy’s Web site, and is apparently ready to ship for $500. Although the Best Buy listing is pretty light on information, we were also able to track down the manual (PDF link) for the BD-P2550 online, which reveals that the BD-P2550 will sport 7.1 analog outputs, Dolby TrueHD onboard decoding, a USB port, and an Ethernet port. It’s not yet apparent whether the player is Profile 2.0 compliant, but the inclusion of both the USB port and the Ethernet port seem to indicate it will at least be Profile 2.0-ready, like the BD-P1500, which means it can gain access to BD-Live features after a firmware update sometime in the future.

Samsung's new Blu-ray player already seems to available, but information about it is strangely scarce.

Worldwide PC shipments are on pace to grow 15.2 percent in 2008, according to IDC. That’s above the analyst firm’s March prediction of 12.8 percent growth. But laptop shipments, which have become an increasing force in the PC market, will peak.

Shipments of portable PCs should grow 34.5 percent this year, according to a PC shipment tracker that IDC released this week. That’s up from 33.9 percent in 2007 and way above the projected 13.4 percent for next year. By 2012, according to the firm, portables will increase by only 9 percent.

PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard are betting big on notebooks. The company this week released 17 new models, mostly for consumers.

(Credit:
Hewlett-Packard)

By the end of the year, PC makers will have shipped 310 million units, close to half (145.1 million) of which are notebooks. The rest are desktop PCs and servers, which together on a global basis still comprise the largest slice of the market, but the difference is disappearing fast.

Portables are especially expected to take off internationally this year, growing from 78 million in 2007 to 109.4 million units this year. That’s good news for the industry because notebooks and laptops tend to be pricier than desktop PCs, and they should keep average selling prices higher for a bit longer.

But inexpensive notebooks are stirring up the market too. A reason for the dramatic 40 percent bump in international portable shipments has a lot to do with how the numbers have been counted, according to IDC.

The firm said it had previously not included the rapidly growing low-cost mininotebook segment because of the “use of nontraditional PC designs, including the use of embedded or custom operating systems, (as well as) reduced processing power and storage,” IDC said. But now, due to the popularity and computing robustness of the Asus Eee PC, the Classmate PC platform from Intel, and OLPC’s XO, mininotebooks are included. Plus, the firm notes, the volume of units shipped are actually rising.

Those three manufacturers have some company in the consumer space. Acer, Hewlett-Packard, and perhaps Dell already have, or plan to release, their own tiny laptops.

Last time, while describing the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, I offered my opinion that Netbook computers will drastically change the computing scene. A quick look at the best selling computers at Amazon.com shows many Netbooks (as of October 15, 2008 the top three computers were all Netbooks). In writing a follow-up posting, I realized that an introduction to Netbooks might be needed. So, here I try to explain just what Netbooks are and how they differ from the millions of laptop computers that existed previously.

A Netbook is a new type of laptop computer, defined by size, price, horsepower, and operating system. They are small, cheap, under-powered, and run either an old or unfamiliar operating system.

Netbooks run either Windows XP Home edition or Linux (not only is Linux unfamiliar to many, but the versions of Linux on Netbooks are not the mainstream popular distributions). They do not run XP Professional, Vista, or OS X. Microsoft arbitrarily restricts Netbooks from running the Professional Edition of Windows XP. Likewise, Apple arbitrarily restricts OS X to Apple hardware and it has never played in the low-end realm that Netbooks occupy.* Vista requires too much horsepower to run well on a Netbook. HP has been the only company to offer Vista on a Netbook. The price, however, was so high that it’s debatable whether such a machine qualifies as a Netbook.

Update: On October 24, 2008 CNET’s Ina Fried reported that Microsoft has plans to make
Windows 7, the upcoming version of Windows that will replace Vista, available on Netbooks.

Size-wise, Netbooks have 9- or 10-inch screens, weigh from 2 to 3 pounds, and sport keyboards sized from 80 percent to 95 percent of normal.

Price-wise, Netbooks start at about (all prices are rounded off and approximate) $330 for a Linux-based model and $350 for an XP-based machine. The high end of the Netbook price range is debatable. To me, anything over $500 isn’t a Netbook. Still, many companies are marketing computers they refer to as Netbooks for more than that. When HP first released their Mini-Notes, prices ran from $500 to $1,200.
Update: As of October 15, 2008 prices at HP’s website range from $400 to $780.

Despite a huge proliferation of Netbook models, these specs seem to be standard:

Screen resolution 1024×600
Intel Atom CPU running at 1.6-GHz
Wi-Fi B and G
Ethernet at 100Mbps
A slot for a flash RAM memory card
External VGA output jack
Integrated graphics Two or three USB ports
Built-in camera Headphone and microphone jacks

What’s missing

What’s missing is just as interesting.

For one thing, there is no optical drive. CDs and DVDs had to be thrown overboard to reduce both the size and cost. Another omission is the now legacy PC card (aka PCMCIA) slot. Most Netbooks don’t include Bluetooth. And, while they do have Ethernet and Wi-Fi, they don’t include the fastest version of Ethernet (known as gigabit Ethernet), the latest version of Wi-Fi (N) or the older “A” version of Wi-Fi.

I understand these omissions and many people can live with them. However, I think manufacturers are making a mistake by not including a telephone modem. For many, communication will be the main purpose of their Netbook and there are still places where the only means of getting online is dialing the telephone.

The latest technology for online access is a 3G data network. Netbooks, as a rule, don’t yet support 3G networks, but that will surely change in the near future. Some will have the necessary hardware built in at the factory, others will support ExpressCard modems, the rest will make do with USB connections. Then too, a cell phone can provide mobile Internet access and communicate with the Netbook using Bluetooth.

Ever-present Internet connections could make a huge difference in the popularity of Netbooks. Look what it has done for the Kindle.

What differs

One of the big differences among Netbook models is the storage medium, some have spinning platter hard disks, other come with solid-state disks (SSDs).

Frequently the Linux based Netbooks employ SSDs whereas the Windows XP models use a standard hard disk. The reasons for this include: Windows XP needs more storage space, SSDs are more expensive and Windows itself is more expensive than Linux.

Another reason has to do with the speed of SSDs–the cheap models are very slow at writing, especially at random writes. Kevin C. Tofel at jkOnTheRun did an interesting test. He started with an SSD-based Acer Aspire One running Linux. The machine was reasonably zippy at running Linux, but just for fun he installed Windows XP on it. XP ran as slow as molasses. There is a huge variation in SSDs, and I don’t know if XP performs reasonably well on the SSDs in other Netbooks. You can buy an SSD that’s faster than a spinning platter disk in all respects (including random reads and random writes), but you may not want to pay for it.

Another difference among Netbooks is battery life/power, with low-end models having 3-cell batteries and higher-end models having 6 cells.

To me, a big feature is the screen surface. Most Netbooks seem to have glossy screens, which Alfred Poor points out are cheaper. I prefer an antiglare coating.
Update October 15, 2008: So too does fellow CNET blogger Dave Rosenberg.

Low-end models

There are far too many Netbook models for a blogger like me to keep up with. But, I pay attention to the cheap ones and below is a sampling of current models and pricing. Cheapest isn’t necessarily the best. For example, if battery life is important to you, you’ll need to spend more for stronger battery.

The Lenovo S10 is among the cheaper Windows XP machines. It starts at $400 with an 80GB spinning platter hard disk, a 10-inch antiglare screen and 512MB of ram. The XP version of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 also sells for $400 and includes 512MB of RAM and a 9-inch glossy screen. However, the Mini 9 comes with 8GB of solid-state storage.

Perhaps the best bargain in an XP Netbook is the Acer Aspire One. It sells for as low as $350 with 1GB of RAM, a 120GB hard disk and a 9-inch glossy screen.

Acer is also a bargain on the Linux side. Pricing starts at $330 (here and here) with a 9-inch glossy screen, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of solid state storage, and Acer’s own version of Linux, Linpus.

For $350 you can buy a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 running a much more standard version of Linux, Ubuntu. It comes with a 9-inch glossy screen, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of solid state storage.

When they were first introduced, the HP Mini-Notes were seriously expensive. The keyboard was loved by all reviewers and the screen was a higher resolution and thus offered a sharper image. They were, however, released too soon to include an Atom processor and reviewers felt they were a bit under-powered. In the five or so months since they were released, they’ve come down in price. A low-end Linux model, the HP 2133-KR922UT with 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of solid state storage sells for $370 at Amazon.com. It runs SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and includes an ExpressCard Slot.

If you’re willing to live with last years model and a small keyboard, you can get an Asus Linux based Netbook for $300.

Keeping up

New devices mean new experts. Among the sites keeping up on the latest Netbooks are jkOnTheRun, Laptop magazine, Liliputing, and Electric Vagabond.com. I don’t have a lot of experience with these sites, but jkOnTheRun is my favorite so far.

One thing to note, however: technical reviewers often get better Netbooks than you and me. Models are constantly changing and PR people get reviewers the latest and greatest. For machines that are under-powered by definition, a small upgrade, such as doubling the RAM, can make a big difference in performance. When reading any review, be aware of the specs, the model being discussed may not be the one available at your local retailer.

Also be aware that Netbooks are changing very quickly. The Wikipedia inventory of available and planned models is huge, especially considering that the first Netbook was released only a year ago. By the time the electrons dry on a Netbook review, something in it is outdated.

Going forward

Despite being underpowered, Netbooks will be extremely popular because they will go where no computer has gone before. Their small size and low cost will open up new applications, that we can only guess at.

For years techies and the public focused on the cutting edge of personal computing. Netbooks are dull technology-wise, the equivalent of last year’s model. But for many applications, they are good enough. Many things have been popular because they were cheaper than the competition and although not as good, were thought to be good enough.

How will Netbooks affect personal computing going forward?

For one, they’ll introduce more people to Linux. Perhaps the inherent safety of Linux, shared with OS X, will popularize it with users sick and tired of fending off malicious software.

Netbooks will help keep Windows XP alive and well, not that it needs any help. I suspect that very few people want Vista when they buy a new Windows computer. Some of them tolerate it, others don’t know they have a choice. The New York Times had a story headlined How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Tolerate Vista that included this:

“Taming Vista on my Intel chip-equipped Sony Vaio laptop became, after a while, a measure of maintaining patience, never mind sanity. Sure, there was a day recently when I could’ve thrown the thing out of the window and into the backyard, and then made tracks to the
Mac Pro desktop in the basement.”

I think that Netbooks will be the first computer for a whole generation of children, starting, perhaps, as early as the upcoming holiday season.

Netbooks will help and benefit from the transition away from plastic DVDs as a movie medium to electronic media. Likewise, they will help and be helped by the transition to SSDs and away from spinning platter hard disks. Same with cloud computing, no matter how you define it.

Netbooks may make the Kindle into a dinosaur. Why carry a small box that does one thing, when you can carry a small box that does many things? Why buy a dedicated Internet radio, when a Netbook can do that? Why buy a small DVD player if you can get a movie on a flash memory card? Why buy a high-end smart phone, when a Netbook can do all that on a larger screen? It’s an exciting future for Netbooks.

For standard computing tasks, the small Netbook screen and keyboard will, no doubt, limit its audience. That said, you can always connect a Netbook to an external monitor, a real mouse and/or a real keyboard. And software tricks can be played to increase the font size when an external monitor is not available.

Soon: what Netbooks have to do with defensive computing.

*CNET’s Erica Ogg wrote that it’s unlikely Apple will come out with a Netbook. See Three things Apple won’t do from October 15, 2008.
See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

It’s no shock that contact management site Plaxo has been a fierce advocate of data portability. As a result, it’s not particularly surprising that the service continues to expand browser-to-desktop application functions: on Wednesday, the company announced that the latest version of its downloadable
Mac client will sync the Plaxo Pulse social network to Apple’s Address Book software. This comes in the wake of an announcement that data from Pulse–which aggregates feeds from social media sites like Flickr and Twitter into a common profile–would also sync with Microsoft Outlook.

A Mac address book entry with a Pulse widget

(Credit:
Plaxo)

The new version of Plaxo’s Mac client, available now, pulls a Pulse widget into entries in the Mac address book, displaying content from the feeds that the Plaxo member in question has hooked up to his or her Pulse profile. Additionally, as with older versions of the Plaxo for Mac application, the downloadable software will synchronize data from Apple’s address book and calendar software with Plaxo’s online contact management system.

Meanwhile, Valley gossips seem to be split down the middle on whether Plaxo, which has reportedly put itself up for sale, will be acquired by Facebook. The two share some intimate ties, as Plaxo co-founder Sean Parker went on to a brief stint as president of Facebook, but they have had very different strategies for data management–Plaxo aims to make data as open and portable as possible for convenience and flexibility, whereas Facebook keeps it behind closed doors for privacy.

The Financial Times may have nailed one hell of a scoop Tuesday evening. According to the paper, Apple is considering an all-you-can-eat plan in which users would receive free access to iTunes “in exchange for paying a premium for its
iPod and
iPhone devices.”

Is Apple ready to offer its smorgasbord of songs in a single package deal?

(Credit:
Apple)

The company reportedly is still in discussions, according to sources speaking on background to the FT.

“The ‘all you can eat’ model, a replica of Nokia’s ‘comes with music’ deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apple’s hardware.

“Apple would not comment on the plan, but executives familiar with the negotiations said they hinged on a dispute over the price the computer maker would be willing to pay for access to the labels’ libraries.

“Nokia is understood to be offering almost $80 per handset to music industry partners, to be divided according to their share of the market. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device, two executives said. ‘It’s who blinks first, and whether or not anyone does blink,’ one executive said.”

If accurate, this would mark a big about-face for Steve Jobs, who previously has dismissed the rental music model. So far this evening, nobody’s been able to confirm the FT story. But the story has triggered a fury of interest over at Techmeme. For instance, VentureBeat’s MG Siegler raises an interesting question: with iPod sales said to be slowing down, what’s the sense of adding a premium to the products? What’s more, he asks:

“Another question is if Apple really wants to complicate the store known for its simplicity?

If consumers who bought these ‘unlimited’ iPods have access to all the music for free, they’ll still have to pay for all video content presumably. Also, what happens if someone doesn’t want to go out and buy a new iPod to get this deal, do they opt-in by paying Apple $100? The FT report also suggests that a subscription package may only work with the iPhone and that such a deal would simply be added on to a user’s monthly AT&T bill–so what about those users without iPhones?”

Hopefully, we’ll be able to answer some of these questions with more clarity in a few hours. Stay tuned.

Editors’ note, March 19, 7:45 AM PDT: News.com’s Greg Sandoval now has the lowdown from a source close to the deal. See “Apple could split device sales with music labels.”)

The all new 4GB Flash Voyager Mini from Cosair.

Mishaps-proof, the tiny Voyager Mini is about as light as a piece of gum.

(Credit: Cosair)

You can buy the new drive right now for about $25, which is rather expensive considering the relatively small amount of storage space. I believe the price will go down in the near future. Nonetheless, Corsair backs it up with 10 year limited warranty. I think it’s worth the current price, if you want something really tiny and–more importantly–negligence-proof. Speaking of which, I know I am going to get myself one.

The Flash Voyager Mini features a cap-less retractable connector plug, which easily opens with the flick of the thumb (and protects the chip inside while closed). It utilizes the latest chip-on-board technology, which allows the entire USB connector to be easily retracted into the drive. The new design makes the drive smaller and also helps prevent it from damage caused by daily life mishaps.

I’ve accidentally left my thumdrives in the pocket and let them go through the laundry treatment multiple times. Some times they survived, other times I had to buy a new one. Either way, I had to deal with this familiar lingering bad feeling after finding the little device inside the dryer. It’s like “Gosh, I couldn’t believe it happened, again!” And yet, I just can’t guarantee that it won’t. This is why I’ve been very happy with Cosair’s Flash Voyager series that features a water resistance and shockproof housing.

And today, the device got a new form factor. It’s now has is ultra compact with a size that’s about one third of the original Flash Voyager. The all-new Flash Voyager Mini offers 4GB of storage and weight just 0.2 ounces (about as heavy as a piece of gum). Like other Flash Voyager flash drives, the Mini is covered in rubber and is water and shock resistant.

(Credit: Cosair)

Bribe your friends with customized T-shirts. They might forgive you for having them help move your metric ton of junk.

Getting the job done

If you’re on a budget, also worth checking out is Craigslist’s move/haul section under the services category. You’ll find a slew of single day truck rentals from companies that rent out their trucks to people who are moving on the weekend for much lower costs than U-Haul and others.

Movers

If you were using Trulia, or Google Maps, hop on Street View and check out the outside of the place you’re looking at as well as the surrounding area. There’s a big chance your place isn’t on there, which isn’t a problem if you live in the same city and have checked the place out in person–but what if this is somewhere else? This would have been the perfect situation to use the now defunct GoSee4Me to hire someone else to take photos. Otherwise, hop on Facebook and see which one of your friends lives in that city and ask if they’ll snap some shots for you.

When moving there comes a time when you need to get rid of things. Besides Craigslist and eBay (which are great), we recommend Freecycle. Freecycle has more than 5 million users who are taking each others free stuff. If it’s gadgets you’re getting rid of, you might also be able to scrap together some cash with services such as BuyMyTronics. We wrote about this back in November, so go read about it there.

How much will you be paying compared with your neighbors? Rentometer.com knows. Just plug in your rent and how big your building is, and it does the rest.

Miscellaneous tips:

Finding a place

Oops, you’re temporarily homeless. What to do:

Mash Maker (review) from Intel is a very slick tool for parsing through Craigslist’s myriad of listings and making the data accessible in ways that Craigslist does not provide for. There are a few “plug-ins” for Craiglist in the Mash Maker gallery. The most useful ones are the tables plus maps one that will let you see pricing, move in dates, and more in an easy to use chart that can be sorted. There’s also a great one that will give you the price versus subregion that will tell you the average price of apartments based on each neighborhood you’re looking at.

Don't sit around hitting refresh on Craigslist. Use Yahoo Pipes and an RSS notification service to give you alerts.

Craigslist is full of people who can schlep your stuff, but getting recommendations on which companies or folks are trustworthy and careful is even better if you care about your stuff. If your job has a “spam” list or newsgroup set up, ask around. Also, visit Yelp and check out reviews of local moving services. You’ll find most are either terrible or fantastic, but it’s a far better way to get a lay of the land.

Know before you go

How 'walkable' is your new place? Scope it out with WalkScore, which rates your home on what businesses and amenities are near by.

To see how “walkable” the area is, give Walk Score (review) a whirl. Just plug in the address of the place you’re looking at and it will give you a map of what’s close based on grocery stores, eateries, coffee shops, schools and transportation. The one thing it doesn’t take into account is how close you are to freeways and large elevations–which might hinder said walking. For that, use Google Earth’s elevation feature to zoom into your neighborhood and check out the topography.

Speaking of Google Earth, try out the YouTube viewer (also in Google Maps) to see if there’s been anything cool or outright insane going on in your area. If you see a lot of news reports about murders and drug use that have been geocoded to your block–you might want to steer clear. If you’re moving to Oakland, there’s also Oakland Crime Spotting, which was put together by the guys at Stamen Design. It’s one of the more beautiful ways to see bad guys on a map.

So your new lease doesn’t start for a week or two and you need a place to crash. Out of vacation hours and patience? There’s hope for you yet. You can simply try Couchsurfing which is a network of people who let folks stay in their house while traveling. You’ll never have to tell anyone about it, and it’s certainly cheaper than staying at a hotel or imposing on your friends and family.

Another mash up that existed before Mash Maker, but that’s still accessible without the installation of the plug-in is HousingMaps, which mashes up Google Maps with Craigslist housing listings. You’re not going to find some of the most up-to-date listings from just an hour or so ago, or be able to search through them like you can on Craigslist, but using the filters it’s simply a fantastic way to check out a bunch of places with less text and more topography.

Before and after the move: make a list, check it wherever

The same thing goes for boxes. Don’t shell out money for new boxes. Chances are someone who just moved it trying to ditch their own. Here’s an advanced tip though: don’t bother sitting by your computer hitting refresh to wait for the newest giveaways to show up. Instead, set up a work flow in Yahoo Pipes that will do it for you. I’ve created an example feed that does this here. To tweak it to match the Craigslist in your area, just do a search in free stuff for “Moving Boxes” and dump in the RSS feed in the top pipe, then hit save and refresh. Then subscribe to the feed you’ve created and keep an eye on your RSS reader to be apprised of the latest freebies.

Trulia has the most eye candy of the two, with a time line viewer called HindSight that will show you growth and other housing trends by geography. It’s really only useful in a few cities, unlike Trulia’s core service which will let you hunt for houses with a high level of ease. Fellow housing search tool Zillow is also great for potential homebuyers, and ties in things such as a mortgage finder and a great map tool that includes homes for sale, recently sold homes, and even places people are just thinking about selling and just waiting for the right offer to get out.

Also worth doing is giving your neighbors a once over. Go on StreetAdvisor and Rotten Neighbor (review) to see if you’re living next to some potentially volatile neighbors. Then go check out the registered sex offenders database.

If you’re trying to buy a house, there are some even better services that bring a lot more depth to the table. Trulia and Zillow offer simple and deep services that give you a lot of information and put you in touch with real estate folks or homeowners without you even needing to leave your house.

Getting stuff from point A to point B takes a lot of physical work as much as it does mental. Save some brainpower by keeping a list of things you need to do before, and after the move including small or large items to need to buy. Your best bet for this is a to-do list application because little pieces of paper get lost.

Hopefully this has given you the inside track on how to use Web 2.0 services to help make moving less of a pain, and more of a tactical and rewarding experience. If you’ve got tips of your own, leave them in the talkback.

If you feel like keeping your stuff, but maybe making a little cash on the side, use a service such as Zilok (review) which lets you rent your stuff to other people. Be sure to set this up in advance though–it might take a while for someone to bite.

Better yet, bribe your friends to help out with customized “I’m helping (your name) move” personalized T-shirts from CafePress or Zazzle that will let them get sweaty and not stink up their own clothes. For a laugh, wear them out so people know why you’re stinking up whatever restaurant you’re taking them to. You might even get better service and faster water refills from your server too.

Ditching your old stuff

U-Haul is for newbies (unless you have furniture). If you’re just in need of a truck, check out Zipcar or if Northern California–CityCarShare.org that will let you rent one for about $5 an hour, depending on where you live. You can even set it all up without having to talk to a human. If you really want to keep it simple and rent through U-Haul, avoid its site like the plague and call in, as the site won’t give you a specific pick-up time which can be crucial if you’ve got people coming to help you or time lines to keep.

Equipment

Sometimes I feel like people might think we talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk when it comes to using some Web services. Believe me when I tell you we use this stuff every day, and over the last month, nothing has been more useful to me than Craigslist. Why? I was moving, and I did 95 percent of it using a single service to find movers, boxes, people to buy and take away old furniture, and most importantly–a place to live.

To take it a step further, set up e-mail or SMS alerts when a new item is added using a service such as RSSFwd or Pingie. Just don’t be surprised if the person who posted the ad is a little freaked out that you contacted them within a minute or two of it going live.

Continue reading to learn about research tools, finding movers, and what to do if you find yourself temporarily homeless…

We recommend Shifd (review), which works on your desktop as an Adobe Air application, or on your mobile phone while synchronizing them in both places. We like Shiftd the best because it mashes up maps into your notes, so if you’re trying to chart out some places or things that need remembering you can view them on a map right away, which can be immensely helpful.

Once you’ve found the place of your dreams it’s time to scope it out. If you’re looking to make sure you’re not going to get stuck paying too much, check out Rentometer (review) which will analyze how much your rent is compared with others in your area. Better yet, check out Hotpads (review), which gives you a overlay controls for population density, the median age, and general income so you can avoid moving into a retirement neighborhood or the student overflow from a local college (unless you’re seeking out either of those things).

Parse through Craigslist listings on a map with HousingMaps.com

After having just finished, I know I could have done some things better, and I thought this would be a good chance provide a focused collection of tips and tricks for each stage of a move. Something useful for any would-be movers who have never used the Web to hunt for a new place, then get the job done by selling excess junk, and finding the right equipment to get from point A to point B. I’ve also nixed using just Craigslist, as a balanced attack using several best-of-breed Web services will save you time and money.