Shaine Mata Blog

Image by Wesley Fryer via Flickr Amazon and Barnes and Noble recently released Android versions of their Kindle and Nook readers. These have been a long-awaited apps on my part. I have not been able to read an entire book in years. This is mainly because I already carry a laptop and my notebooks. Carrying a book in addition is more cumbersome. Recently I finally read a fiction book. It has been years since I've read fiction. I do not own a Kindle. Mrs. Mata recently purchased a Nook. I could never plop down the courage to buy one or the other. I'm more of a freemium kind of guy. I like to try it before I buy it. I tried the Kindle and Nook on my PC. This didn't really work for me. When I'm at the computer, I feel the urge to work or do stuff, not read. Of course, computer monitors are also not that great for reading either. The biggest advantage to owning a reader, I imagine, is the portability. It is portability that makes Kindle and Nook apps for ...

Image via Wikipedia My family is probably not alone in the debate as to which electronic book reader to buy. The two in question are the Kindle by Amazon , and the Nook by Barnes and Noble . It is a tough choice for us because of the completely different experiences we have in shopping for books. To put it plainly, we prefer the online shopping experience with Amazon; and, we spend a lot of time at our local Barnes and Noble book stores where we buy books off the shelves. While it makes sense to combine our physical and virtual shopping, the fact is that Barnes and Noble's website really isn't as cool as Amazon's. So, that is really our main cause of debate. We prefer the Amazon website over Barnes and Noble's. To be fair, we are not comparing apples to apples. BN is a book store. Amazon sells books amongst many different things that aren't even tangentially related to books. So, Amazon gives more variety in what you can buy. This makes Amazon better at ...

From Stock Shoeboxed.com is undoubtedly the most useful outsource service I have found to date. In terms of value, Shoeboxed is one of the best investments a freelance/work at home person can make to keep track of finances. It would take me longer to do what they do; and, I would not earn money doing it. I signed up for Shoeboxed.com around the turn of the year as a way of tracking my expenses for the new tax year. I have tried other ways of tracking expenses: by text message, by instant message, by voice message, by evernote, and you name it. They all fail me because I forget to use them. I considered scanning my own receipts. So, I signed up for the free version where you scan and upload your receipts to the Shoeboxed website. This did not work out so well either. First, I haven't a self-feeding scanner that can scan skinny receipts. Secondly, I never made the time to scan the pile of receipts I gathered. In retrospect, if I were inclined to organize my records, I would...