What Do OANDA and Geico Have in Common?
April 25, 2013
By Brett Irwin
TMCnet Contributing Writer
Answer: They draw you in with something that looks very interesting, but ends up being a commercial. At least Geico is funny. Now, that being said, the company did supply us with some legitimately interesting web trend data and cool new apps to look at.
I am not a fan of the words “wave of the future” because, honestly, the future is here, and things are changing so rapidly it is impossible to predict what kind of technology we will have next year, let alone next decade. So saying cashless payment is the wave of the future is just woefully untrue. It is a thing now; a big thing, in fact. It’s not even that new. I remember filling up my gas tank in college and wishing I had one of those nifty Mobil speedpass keychain toggles that you could just swipe over the machine that used RFID to run your credit card info.
Contactless is on the rise, as is mobile. With the Square from Apple (News - Alert) allowing credit card payment on any of its devices ending in emailed receipts, it is becoming easier and easier to leave the wallet at home. Now if only I could get my metro card on my smartphone.
The investment world is one that I am frankly clueless about, but should I become interested, it won’t really matter. Stocktwit will allow me to follow up on any prominent traders and markets that catch my interest. With some cool tools and a nice ticker at the top of trending markets and companies, you can keep an eye on your investments and the plays of your fellow heart-attack-at-35ers from your smartphone.
I grew up near the Canadian border. In high school, a good friend of mine decided he would get rich by trading American money for quarters at a Canadian store, where they would have to give him the full currency exchange value (the dollar was doing much better than the looney back then) and then exchange them in an American bank where they would just 1:1 trade the Canadian quarter for the higher value U.S. quarter. Rinse, repeat.
Well, unbeknownst to me, this type of currency trading is actually a thing. And OANDA has just the solution for you. Their foreign exchange (forex) app allows you to see spreads, control risk and make trades. Formerly a desktop-only program, its newer mobile cousins give you the same options. In fact, they just released an update for their mobile platforms just one month ago. With a free demo and no time limit, you can always just go try it out.
Raise your hand if you enjoy managing personal finance. Yeah, neither do I. Fortunately, in a time when you can use your smartphone to find some college student to do you grocery shopping for you, it can also keep track of all of your finances. Apps like PocketMoney, Mint and Pageonce will not only keep track of your bank accounts, credit card statements and cash in hand but also pay bills, calculate investment returns and even show your monthly spending habits. You have never had your financial spirits truly crushed until a mindless pocket abacus tells you how many thousands of dollars a year you spend on your morning smoothie in pie chart form by flavor.
Mobile technology is changing the world we live in every day, with creative and crafty designers and developers showing us the latest technology to make our lives easier. And now that can include your piggy bank.
Edited by Alisen Downey
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