The Tech Gap

OK – I Really Want to Test the Pogoplug

This intrigues me --- a sub $100 dollar “works right out of the box” device that automagically shares a USB drive (or two, or three) securely, over the Internet. I have one on order and will report in when I get it. Until then --- here’s what I know based on the company’s website, blogs, and some reviews from usually reliable sources.

The Pogoplug is a small device that plugs into your wall, and connects to your home router and to any external hard drive. After setup, you can share and access media and files from anywhere in or out of the home.  Pogoplug is tied to an email address and protected by a password. There is a direct connection between your computer and the Pogoplug (fully encrypted), and everything outside of your network is done using an encrypted tunnel. Pogoplug creates a vpn into your hard drive over the Web using an SSL connection created via email address/password authentication.

Every review I’ve read is positive --- take a peek:

Gizmodo: Pogoplug Review: Share Any USB Disk Over the Net (Even to iPhone)

Engadget: Pogoplug review

cnet: First hands-on with Pogoplug

CrunchGear: Review: PogoPlug USB hard drive network sharing

Popular Science: Access Any Hard Drive from the Internet

gll

“How to Talk to Your Clients About Sales Tax” – Free Webcast

I’m moderating a free webcast at 2:00pm on Thursday, April 23rd. My guest speaker is Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP and she is not only very knowledgeable on this topic, but also a fabulous speaker and just plain fun to work with. I’ve hosted and  moderated over 100 webcasts over the past five years --- let me assure you that our new platform at The Progressive Accountant is absolutely fantastic and this webcast will raise the bar for video presentations in the profession. Please come and join Geni and I in our inaugural webcast. Register here: http://tinyurl.com/freewebcast

I hope to see you there.

gll

CCH Launches New Tax Research Platform

CCH today announced the release of it’s new tax research platform dubbed IntelliConnect. As a former tax partner and a CPA for over 35 years lets just say it would take something really huge to get me to say I was “excited” about tax research. Well --- although the new platform is a significant step forward in the tax research tools I still can’t say I’m “excited”. Impressed, yes -- very. The IntelliConnect interface is startlingly simple, yet powerful (as expected) and refreshingly familiar. I’ll not say a lot more here but would encourage you to check out my tax research product review on The Progressive Accountant. If you’re interested in a short video overview CCH has posted a pretty good 4 minute one here.

My bottom line assessment: If you can use Google, you can use IntelliConnect. Period.

gll 

Power to Get More Done - Update

As previously posted (see http://www.theprogressiveaccountant.com/management-features/intuit-puts-where-its-mouth-is-offers-stimulus-grants-for-firms.html) Intuit recently launched its own version of the suddenly popular “stimulus program”. Today they released more details.

Intuit’s co-sponsors are the National Society of Accountants, the National Association of Enrolled Agents and the National Association of Tax Professionals. These organizations are providing a representative to sit on the panel of judges that will determine the 10 stimulus grant winners.

They also announced the judges --- good people all. (And no, I didn’t accidentally leave my name off the list. I wasn’t invited! Hmmmmm)

· Astrid M. Arola, certified public accountant and member of the National Society of Accountants (NSA), has owned and operated Kelly’s Tax Service for 13 years. Working with individuals and businesses to meet their tax and accounting needs, Astrid’s strong desire to help people goes beyond her practice. She assists various professional and charitable organizations and serves on the boards for Lakewood Rotary and Washington Association of Accountancy. She also is on the NSA Education Committee.

· Sally A. Fahey, enrolled agent and member of the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) since 1992, has been in the tax business 29 years. For the past 19 years, she has owned and operated Fahey Associates Tax Services located in Endicott, NY, serving individuals and businesses. She was the 2001 NATP Chapter Person of the Year and is serving her sixth year as a NATP National Board Director.

· Dave Levine, enrolled agent and National Association of Enrolled Agent (NAEA) member since 1991, recently opened a tax practice, D.M.L. Consulting, in Reno, NV. A former Revenue Officer with the Internal Revenue Service, Dave now represents individuals and businesses before the IRS as well as all state taxation boards in many states. He is the only Master Graduate Fellow, a distinction received through the NAEA’s National Tax Practice Institute™, in Nevada and one of six in the United States.

· L. Gary Boomer, certified public accountant and CEO of Boomer Consulting, Inc., is recognized in the accounting profession as a leading authority on technology and firm management. He consults and speaks around the globe on management and technology related topics, including strategic and technology planning, compensation and developing a training/learning culture.

· Randolph P. Johnston, executive vice president of K2 Enterprises, is a nationally recognized educator, consultant and writer with over 30 years experience in strategic technology planning, systems and network integration, accounting software selection, business development and management, disaster recovery and contingency planning, and process engineering. Randy writes regularly for The Progressive Accountant and is frequently quoted in technology, computer and accounting publications.

· Steve Blundell, certified public accountant and senior manager vendor/partner relations for Intuit Inc., is customer advocate for accounting professionals. Steve has held a variety of roles during his 20-year career at Intuit, including the role of vice president of the ProSeries Tax Group. Steve co-authored the Accountant’s Trial Balance software for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

· Georg Gerstenfeld, vice president of marketing, Accounting Professionals Division (APD), Intuit Inc., leads the marketing teams in development of acquisition and retention strategies. Georg joined Intuit in 1999, serving in various leadership roles, including Intuit’s Retail Channel Group, Quicken, and Accountant Central teams. Georg is also responsible for the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program for accounting professionals and consultants who serve clients that use QuickBooks to run their businesses.

Intuit says that the volume of applications for the stimulus grants has been strong. Some applicants want to use the grants to offer more specialized services, such as client technology consulting or tax preparation to condominium associations or Spanish-speaking customers. Others want to develop programs for hiring and training single moms or laid-off workers struggling to find employment. And still others have outlined plans to hire new employees to handle growing workloads, purchase furniture and phone systems to open office space or pursue advertising and marketing campaigns to increase community awareness of their firm.

To enter the Power to Get More Done Stimulus Grant competition download the entry form at http://accountant.intuit.com/GetMoreDone and prepare a brief, high-level business plan that explains how you will use the money to stimulate growth. Entries are due by 9:30 p.m. Pacific time on April 30, 2009. [Thanks Intuit for the TWO WEEKS after tax season you allowed practitioners to prepare!]

Finalists will be announced on May 15^th  with winners announced in three phases on May 26^th, June 16^th; and July 21^st.

A Digital Version of a Blast from the Past!

Back in the “olden days”, before most professionals learned to quit playing the silly game, it was an annual spring tradition for some idiot journalist somewhere to decide to “test” tax practitioners and publish the results under the guise of helpful consumer information. They’d deliver a pre-determined set of information to different tax preparers and then compare the resultant returns. The information was always incomplete or questionable in some ways and the “game” usually disallowed follow up questions from the preparer. The published story was almost always flawed in the “tax analysis” area and trained professionals would wince at the simplistic explanations offered for truly complex situations. Eventually the idiot journalists [please forgive my obvious redundancy] ran out of victims and I have not seen the story in many years. Until today.

New twist --- now it’s being played with defenseless software vendors. Last week Tina Orem’s article entitled “How Much Do You Owe Uncle Sam? Tax-Prep Sites May Disagree” appeared online. Same premise but now the victim is the software rather than the tax professional. Well, at least there’s progress!

The story is worth a quick read --- and firms might want to forward the link to any clients contemplating a DIY return this year. Just mention that the percentage of professionally prepared returns keeps rising year after year after year. And with these results I guess we know why!

gll