QuickBooks and Terminal Services

I couldn't find anything on the Quicken (Australia) website about which version of QuickBooks was necessary to be able to use it via Windows Terminal Services so, after waiting 10 minutes on-hold to ask a simple question, here's what I found out.

QuickBooks Premier and above can be installed on Windows Terminal Services.

If ugprading from another QuickBooks version (e.g. Plus), then you get 5 x user licenses (current upgrade price is around AUD$845.00).

If buying new, only 3 of the licenses are enabled and the cost is about AUD$1,449.00

Hope this helps out someone else in the future.

Vodafone Australia's iPhone Plans

Well, it seems the Vodafone Australia has just released its iPhone plans and surprisingly, they are even more expensive than Optus' plans.

Starting at $69 per month (plus $189 for the 8GB or $309 for the 16GB iPhone), you get just 250MB of monthly data. To get 1GB of monthly data, you need to spring for the $169 per month plan which, on the plus side, gets you a 16GB iPhone for free.

Considering Vodafone were the first Australian carrier to offer a 5GB modem plan for just $39 per month, this is very disappointing.

Oh well, seems like we only have Telstra's plans left to see. At least Telstra have committed to free wireless at all their hotspots (most McDonalds and Starbucks locations).

Updated AllMyFunds Website

After much feedback from our clients, partners and the community about our original website, we've made some updates.

So, come on over and check out the new, bigger, better and faster AllMyFunds website and see how it is never too early to ensure you can live a comfortable retirement or prevent the Greedy Pig from eating up your superannuation.

Farewell AFK Café

AFK Cafe, the first café created for Geeks has shut its doors today.

AFK combined great food, a relaxed atmosphere and gaming PCs to create a place where geeks could be themselves located in Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

This has been a regular place where me and many of my friends would spend our time on a regular basis and I'm very sad to see it go.

Unfortunately, cashflow issues have affected this fledgling (less than 12 months old) business. Whilst the café appeared to be increasing it's numbers week-by-week, it still didn't get to the point to get above it's 'cash burn' rate.

I wish Jason & Adell every happiness in the future. I hope we will all keep in touch.

Their media release can be read below:

It is my sad duty to inform you that, as of 3pm today, afk cafe (an internet cafe in Woolloongabba, Brisbane) is closed for good. For those of you who had organised events here (especially the Blood Bowl League and the Board Game group) or just like to hang out here, we're very sorry. It was a combination of financial and workload pressure that forced this closure, and while it may seem sudden it has been an option for a while. It is not a decision that has been made lightly.

All those involved with the running of afk wish to extend a very grateful thank you to everyone who has offered their help and support while we've been open. Special thanks are due to our members and regulars, without whom we could not have made it this far.

The money we have raised for Child's Play will still go towards gaming equipment for the Mater Children's Hospital, and we will let you know the results of that effort when it's wrapped up.

We will be keeping the Livejournal community and Facebook group open for the next week or two for those who want to comment on or discuss the closure.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4988314698
http://community.livejournal.com/afk_cafe/

Stop printing document properties summary page in Word 2007

I don't know how it happend, but a colleagues version of Word 2007 recently started printing a document properties summary page at the end of each print job. It took me about 20 minutes searching the Internet for a solution to this problem (even Office's help doesn't seem to have any information on this *feature*), so I've decided to put my solution here.

1. Click the 'Office Button' (top-left corner of the window) then 'Print'
2. Click 'Options' (bottom-left corner of the print window)
3. Choose the 'Display' section
4. Untick 'Print document properties'
5. Click OK to all the windows and you're done

Dealing with codes - phonetic_alphabet plugin (Ruby on Rails)

Most fonts are designed for readability of words, not complicated codes and recently, we've had to provide referreral codes to our partners so that we can track the applications that come from them. Instead of sufferring through referral codes being incorrectly provided because someone has confused an O for an 0 or a 1 for a l or even an I (see what I mean!), I created a plugin that turns any string into it's spoken version using the NATO phonetic alphabet.

To install this plugin in Ruby on Rails, just type the following from your application's root directory:

script/plugin install _
https://svn01.allmyfunds.com.au/svn/public/plugins/phonetic_alphabet

To use, see this except from the README file:

You can get the phonetic equivalent of a single character with PhoneticAlphabet[single_character]

or

You can convert a string to it's phonetic equivalent using the String#to_phonetic overridden method.

  Example:

    puts "hello world".to_phonetic

  Outputs:

    hotel echo lima lima oscar SPACE whiskey oscar romeo lima delta

You can also pass in a different separator:

  Example:

    puts "hello world".to_phonetic("-")

  Outputs:

    hotel-echo-lima-lima-oscar-SPACE-whiskey-oscar-romeo-lima-delta

Planners hope to transform super industry

OK, I apologise for the cross-posting but I do believe that all Australians should at least look at our product.

MEDIA RELEASE

SPECIALIST financial planning company All My Funds is applying the discount broker model to Australia’s trillion dollar superannuation industry.

The Queensland-based All My Funds will target the 70 per cent of workers in the 30-45 age groups who are now using retail funds instead of industry funds.

AMF managing director Wayne Robinson said the All My Funds system would effectively transform retail funds into industry funds for AMF clients because the company would return all commissions paid to the client in exchange for a flat annual fee.

``The discount broker model has worked very well in both the sharemarket and the funds management sectors and there is no reason why Australians will not embrace it for their superannuation investments,’’ said Mr Robinson.

“As it stands, a working 30 year old with $50,000 in their super now could lose more than $98,000 from their retail superannuation funds through commissions over their working life.

``We want to change that and also to help people gain the greatest benefit from their retirement savings as possible.’’

Mr Robinson said All My Funds had made the decision to solely concentrate on financial planning issues for the superannuation sector.

``There are a lot of good financial planners operating within Australia but we saw there is not really anybody who is solely specialising in superannuation,’’ he said.

“When you consider the size of the industry, both in terms of investment and the number of participants, it is apparent there is certainly plenty of room for specialist firms in this arena.’’

The three main services that All My Funds will provide clients is:

• An annual subscription service where investors pay an annual fee of $385 and all adviser fees, commissions and trails are rebated to the client
• A consolidation service where AMF on behalf of its clients rolls multiple superannuation accounts into one larger account.
• A 25+ page superannuation checkup report (statement of advice limited to superannuation) for only $275. This will give an overview of a client’s existing superannuation, a comparison with other retail funds, an indication of what their income will be on retirement as a percentage of their current salary and much more.

For further information please contact Marshall Hall (who handles our public relations) on 0404 195  896 or via email on marshall@barepublicity.com.au