Well, it’s finally here, the day where we all have the chance to stand up and make a choice for the new leader of the United States, a choice that will have an impact on the entire world. It’s been nearly two years in the making and easily the most important election of our generation. Millions will take to their polling places and cast their ballots in what is looking to be the highest turnout of any election in United States history. I myself cast my ballot through early voting, in an effort to reduce the traffic on election day. If not already evident by my previous posts, I am going to be opine here and say that I voted for Barack Obama, and I am proud to cast my ballot for a person who I have faith in and am confident will lead our country in a positive direction, both economically and in terms of our respect around the world. I am also proud to be part of a moment in time where we can put our history of prejudice and intolerence behind us, and vote for a man based on the content of his character and not the color of his skin. Also, I cast a vote of NO on Prop 8, an important item on the ballot in my home state of California, because I believe in equality for ALL.

I urge you all to take a moment today and go out and vote! Not only does our future count on it, but so does that our our children and grandchildren. Please, make this world a better place for all.

Yes we can!

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iShow - Portable Micro Projector

Here’s a great idea from designer Moti Barzilay, posted on Yanko Design. It’s a mock up of a portable projector in the spirit of Apple products, done as an assignment for a design class. I think Steve Jobs needs to offer this guy a job, and I see a new product on the horizon.

I’ve been using Mint.com for several months now, and I figured it was about time to write down my thoughts on what I think of the site. While still in beta when I first signed up, I saw Mint as a free alternative to Quicken, not to mention I always like trying out new sites. My initial experience was good, the sign-up and account setup process was relatively painless, and in no time I had quite a bit of my banking transactions imported and was well on my way to properly having them all categorized. The great thing is, that once you categorize a transaction, Mint learns to categorize subsequent transactions accordingly. This doesn’t always work exactly right, and sometimes new transactions are given the completely wrong category. Just the other day I got a car wash, and then when looking at Mint I saw it listed as ‘Pharmacy’.  It might have something to do with how the business is listed in public records or something, as I’m not exactly sure where Mint get’s it’s initial information from.

I’ll admit, I was somewhat leery of handing over a large chunk of my financial information to a website, but after reading about their systems of securing your data, I felt more at ease. Here is an excerpt from their blog outlining their measures of security.

• Mint uses 128-bit SSL encryption to ensure that all communications between your browser and our Web site are secure.
• We store transaction information in a secure facility, on our own servers, protected by 24/7 security guards and biometric scanners.
• All Mint employees pass financial and criminal background checks as a condition of employment.
• Mint.com has received the VeriSign security seal and is tested daily by Hackersafe.
• Mint’s privacy protection standards are certified by TRUSTe.
• Mint’s anti-phishing protection is provided by RSA Security, Inc.

I still keep a close eye on my banking to make sure I don’t fall victim to fraud, and Mint actually helps me do this, by allowing me to setup alerts which notify me if there are large transactions hitting my account, or if there is anything else out of the norm for my history. Another feature of the site is the ability to track your spending trends, which is pretty standard to most money management applications.

In addition to the standard checking/savings account information, you can also keep track of credit cards, loans, and investments with your Mint.com account. Another great feature of Mint, is the suggestions you’re given for ways to save money on high interest rates and fees, by signing up for other credit cards and accounts they find that have better deals. Now that the site is out of private beta, and open for anyone to signup. they continually add new features and financial institutions they support, they even have access to a wide variety of credit unions now. I recommend checking the site out, it makes keeping track of your finances a breeze.