Is it safe to bank with an iPhone?

By Clark Schultz

The Apple iPhone is the one of the world's biggest technology phenomena. Behind the popularity is a wide selection of unique mobile applications that can be easily downloaded. This includes banking applications that are about to take mobile banking to the next level.

Setting up mobile banking

Mobile banking has been around for close to 10 years. Up until this year, the most popular way to access banking information with a phone has been through using SMS text messages or mobile Internet browsers. Both methods have limitations and can be frustrating for users.

All of that looks set to change with the explosion of applications being developed for the iPhone by some of the best online banks. Banking applications allow a faster and more secure connection to a bank's server than if you use a mobile browser or SMS. Developers are continually adding more mobile banking features and security enhancements to banking apps.

If you have an iPhone, you can check the iTunes store or your bank's website for the most current mobile banking applications. Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, PNC Bank and USAA Federal Savings Bank are just a few of the financial institutions that have applications that can be downloaded for free. After your application is up and running, you can check balances, pay bills, transfer money, set up banking reminders and find the closest ATMs.

Securing your financial data

Accessing

By Kelly Richardson

Please don't get me wrong. I do actually enjoy going to my neighborhood bank on occasion. The tellers are friendly; the atmosphere comfortable; the coffee fresh and caffeinated. But, admittedly, I try to avoid the trip whenever I can.

I use the virtual banking services whenever possible to avoid navigating traffic and standing in line at my local branch. So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that the best online banks are now moving in the direction of remote check deposits.

If you haven't heard, this phenomenon allows you to make check deposits across the internet using a connected deposit device or even just your own mobile phone. You heard me right--there are wikis and widgets that allow you to make deposits directly into your high interest savings accounts from the comfort of your own home.

How does remote check deposit work? There's an app for that!

Making a remote deposit is surprisingly easy--even those with technophobia will find it an intuitive process. Simply log into your checking account online and use a bank-provided scanner to "read" the check.

The bank's program captures the dollar amount of the check through a complex hand-writing analysis program that compares the number to the amount that's spelled out. Once the transaction is complete, simply verify the amount and the transaction is placed on the deposit schedule. Simple, right? But wait--it gets better.

If you don't want to

By MoneyBlueBook

For the last week or so, I've been battling a particularly feisty spyware/virus infection on my home personal computer. I was using my desktop computer to browse the Internet like any other day when my PC's performance suddenly started acting strange. One minute I was browsing the web, and the next minute my web browser was redirecting my Google search engine queries to a series of shady looking websites. Even my attempts to visit well known sites such as CNN.com or NYTimes.com by typing in the URL addresses directly into the web browser were mysteriously being redirected to adult themed websites or other advertisement filled home pages. Very soon after, a cleverly designed but obviously fake Windows Firewall alert message started popping up to warn that my computer had been infected by a Trojan virus - advising me to click on the provided link to access a supposed anti virus/anti spyware program that could get rid of it. Unfortunately, it wasn't until days after it all started that I finally realized that my computer had been maliciously hijacked and infected with either a worm or malware virus of some sort.

Dismay and concern immediately set in as I bemoaned the shear number of times I had used the compromised computer during the span of the last few days to check my Yahoo, Gmail, and business email accounts, and used the workstation to log into my confidential online bank and brokerage accounts. Who knows the number of confidential user login names and passwords I had unwittingly submitted

By MoneyBlueBook

Although we are now living in the computer (Internet) age and everything seems to be going paperless, certain people still insist on doing things the old fashioned way. But if you want to do a better job of saving precious time and money, you might want to start taking better advantage of the more efficient online services out there, if you aren't already doing so. Services like postal delivery and mail forwarding can nowadays be effectively managed online without the necessity of having to perform an errand run to the post office.

Some of you may live within a short drive or even within walking distance of your neighborhood post office. But unfortunately in my case, my local post office is a bit of a distance away situated within the city center, and getting there frequently requires that I fight through road rage inducing traffic jams and suffer through depressingly long lines once I've arrived. While I'm sure the folks at the U.S. postal service (USPS) do the best they can under the circumstances, I pretty much avoid visiting the post office as best as I can - turning to the free USPS website to manage the bulk of my postal decisions whenever possible.

Put Your Mail On Hold For Free By Requesting USPS Hold Mail Service Online

Unless you have someone at home to receive your mail for you, those of you planning to be away for an extended period of time (3 days or more) on vacation or for a business trip may want to

By MoneyBlueBook

Review Of How To Start Earning A Full Time Income With Just A Blog

Previously, I shared a little background overview of how I got started as an aspiring full time blogger and pursued my dream of working from home and making money with a blog. For many years, I worked a traditional day job as an attorney, whether it was with the federal government or whether it was in the private sector. A few years ago and rather unexpectedly out of the blue, I stumbled upon the idea of starting up a blog to make some money on the side. The idea was not to replace my seemingly stable and indispensable full time day job as a lawyer, but to supplement my salary with an alternative income stream. Little did I know and much to my subsequent surprise years later, my small network of profitable online weblogs would one day start reaping monthly incomes that greatly exceeded what I could earn as an ambulance chasing attorney. While I continue to balance my part time legal practice profession with my mixture of online businesses and other side ventures to this day, my blogging operations have finally grown to the point where they are now capable of providing me a stable and nearly free source of revenue - offering me a boost in a quality of life I never dreamed possible before.

If it's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that persistent adaptation, continuous self education, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and the uncanny ability to

By MoneyBlueBook

My Dream Of Becoming An Internet Entrepreneur and Working For Myself

I am a part time (almost full time now) blogger who spends a great number of hours working on the Internet from home every night. For more than a year now, I've been quietly earning a sizable and consistent amount of money through blogging and my internet marketing efforts. As a multi-year veteran now to the world of making money online with a blog, I've joined a rather unique and eclectic group of young and emerging internet entrepreneurs - individuals who have not only successfully harnessed the power of the Internet to generate real money, but who have managed to turn seemingly unassuming websites into rather lucrative income producing automatons. While the phenomenon of blogging for money on a part time basis is certainly not new, the idea that one can actually become a full time professional blogger (a problogger of sorts) and generate not only a stable, but a sustainable income at a high velocity through mere blogging alone is quite a surprise to many (particularly among my friends and family).

I'm sure many of you are already well aware of a number of fairly successful bloggers and established Internet entrepreneurs like John Chow, ShoeMoney, and Darren Rowse of Problogger fame - online personalities that dominate the so-called "make money online" niche. Most of these semi famous Internet tycoons have been in the news for some time and have had many years to perfect the art of both online and mainstream personality-based sales pitches. Much