40Tech

I recently read a Gizmodo article about BitCoin, a new digital currency that is peer-exchanged — and generated — and aims to “revolutionize global finance.” It’s a nice idea, really, and some stores and services have already adopted it. According to Gizmodo, you can already trade BitCoin tokens for web designers, games, guns, and even drugs — yep… drugs. This sounds like the makings of real money to me, but how far will it — or can it — go?

There’s really not enough money to go around these days, what with the economic crashes and the rise in prices of, well… everything. Yes, this would be the perfect opportunity to complain about the price of gas, but this is a technology blog, so I’m going to complain about the price of food instead — wait… what? Yep, you read me right: Food. The prices are climbing toward the ridiculous for the essentials, and frankly, I’m more than a little put out about it!

Thankfully, the always vigilant folk over at Wise Bread have taken the time to scour the technology world (see, I brought it back…) for online tools that are made to help you save a bit of your hard earned cash without having to tighten up your belt.

Hit the jump for the highlights.

If you’re like me and have a tendency to lose track of your warranty information, Niggle It is a service with a singular purpose: to help you keep track of the details of all of your agreements, including warranties, business contracts — even those conversations that you have with your mobile carrier’s customer service agents. Niggle It will track anything you feel important enough to be reminded about, be it personal or business related.

We’re all relatively grown here, and chances are that most of us have dabbled in a business venture or two. We’ve spent time reading blogs and listening to podcasts that tell us about this new toy or online start up that may change the way we work (for the better, of course). Chances are we even went and signed up for an account or free beta or three, and spent a little more time mucking about to see if that new online tool would work for us. I have a long (looong) list of things I’ve tried and put aside, still use, or have flagged for later, when it suits whatever project I’m working on.

I’ve culled through that list and pulled out some of the online business services that stuck out to me, avoiding the more obvious ones like Google Apps, Producteev, Evernote, and the like. I’m pretty… thrifty… when it comes to online ventures, so all of these services will be affordable, and many of them will be at least partly free. Check out the list, below, and share some of your own highlights and discoveries in the comments.

If you are thinking about buying nearly anything, you can go on-line and compare the attributes, warranties, and reviews of the product or service- apples to apples as they say. Have you ever tried to do this with a share of stock in a company? Tell me, is it a better investment to buy a share of stock in GE, or in Exxon? Which company has made a higher return for its investors, Dunkin Donuts or Home Depot? Even if you can’t answers these questions, you still have to make an investment decision regarding each contribution you make to your 401(k). Do you do what most people do- people pick something and hope? Now there is a better way. You can now take advantage of XBRL data, which is like XML data, but for financial reports.

According to several sources, Verizon and AT&T are working on a partnership to develop contactless payments from your cell phone. The financial website The Motley Fool has more information on the deal. It seems there is no word yet on when this might be rolled out, or how they are going to fill my mailbox with pre-approved cell phone / credit card offers.

So what do you think? Would you use a system like this? Would you trust it?