Nope, I needed to send some ID and utility bills. The process was fairly simple, I took a photo of my phone bill, my AmEx report and both sides of my National ID. In the Paypal documentation they say a phone bill is not ok, but since my apartment is not on my name I don’t pay bills per se. Nevertheless, I sent these all off.

After some mucking about (the form was not the best), Paypal accepted these documents and this, as a lot of government and verification processes puzzles me a bit. I mean I could’ve Photoshopped all that right? Unless they actually checked with my government and bank and carrier service, which I’m sure they didn’t, they replied in like 2 days, they can’t be really sure.

My reasoning is that someone like me would have to go to more trouble to prove his identity and location truthfully, than a money launderer would have to go to to forge this stuff. If I didn’t have a camera I would’ve had to spend about $30 to photocopy, print, scan and so on. A money launderer may have to pay $1,000 for a good forgery, but hey, he has a printing press right, money comes easily.

The point is, that all I proved is that I have an internet connection and probably an ID. Is this a process that is supposed to deter people on the wrong side of the law? I doubt if it does, it did deter me though, my account was even frozen for a while!

Paypal anti-laundering safety regulations

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PayPal is acting responsible or at least pretending to be by helping parents tighten their children’s spending. The new system, PayPal Student Account, provides parent with an easy way to give their children some financial independence (a check on their spendings to be precise). It lets parents create up to branch their main account into four divisions (at most)  and thus distribute an amount in cash at one time or fix it up as a recurring one (pocket money). The money children have can be spent on any Web site that accepts payment via PayPal. It also facilitates easy transfer by simply texting get $(followed by the amount) to PayPal, which upon approval from the parents is transferred.

Call it saving parents from the every day squabble when it comes to their children asking for cash or putting some sort responsibility upon the young ones to spend money efficiently, I think it’s going to work both ways, until the bright kids figure out a way to transfer cash at will (you know what I am talking about).

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With the economy in continuing decline, keeping tight control over your money is no longer just for obsessives. These financial apps for Google Android help you count every penny.

Personal Budget Droid is a simple budget- and bills-tracker that lets you create multiple monthly budgets for groceries, housing costs, and so on. You enter every budget name and transaction by hand, but the app keeps a transaction history and calculates how much you have left for each category.

The more sophisticated FireWallet works with budgets inside various accounts and protects your information behind a four-digit pin you change from the all-zero default. It's a bit trickier to navigate, but also shoehorns in more options. In addition to a more refined interface, FireWallet has graphs and charts to help visualize your spending, and a rudimentary tool to alert you of upcoming bills. Both it and Personal Budget Droid are missing templates and more powerful features to optionally suck in real-time data from your checking, savings, and stock portfolios. Time for a mobile version of Mint?

Flick to either side for a calc that rounds up; up or down gets you a breakdown of numbers to pass around.

(Credit: TouchTip)

TouchTip is our current favorite tip calculator for Google Android. Flick a finger left or right to slide between a simple tip calculator that rounds up to the nearest dollar or ten dollars, and one featuring a ten-digit keypad. Both views use the bill total, tax, and number of diners to calculate your total payment. Flicking up or down produces a breakdown of what you owe that you can pass around the table to friends.

Personal Tip Jar hails from the same developer as Personal Budget Droid, and shares a few visual characteristics, including a useless "news" tab. Yet Tip Jar is a great niche nod to those whose incomes are built substantially on tips. While a fuller budgeting app could easily accommodate gains from tipping, this application provides a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly summary at a glance.

Stock apps on Android are extremely mediocre, but the simply named Stock App is better than other skeletal tickers. This one opens with Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500, Yahoo, and Google presets. You can add your own by pressing the menu key, and can browse frequently traded stocks. Stock App displays the value and percentage change up front; double-tap an entry to see more stats. While it's functional, Android is sorely missing the completeness of a stock-tracker like Bloomberg for iPhone. Get to it, developers.

Another one bites the dust? Pownce, a would-be Twitter rival that was heavily hyped due to the involvement of Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, is closing its doors in two weeks.

It's not quite going away, according to a post from Pownce founder Leah Culver on the start-up's official blog. The technology has been sold to blog platform Six Apart, which runs TypePad and Movable Type. And its two full-time employees, Culver and Mike Malone, will be joining Six Apart's team.

"We'll be closing down the main Pownce Web site two weeks from today, December 15," Culver wrote. "Since we'd like for you to have access to all your Pownce messages, we've added an export function...(you can) import your posts to other blogging services such as Vox, TypePad, or WordPress."

Pownce, which is like Twitter with additional features like file-sharing, was so buzzworthy at its debut that people were auctioning alpha test invites off on eBay. It also had a business model, with paid accounts available for sale. But the Pownce hype died off, and Twitter gained more and more market share.

Additionally, we heard that the self-funded Pownce was trying to secure a round of venture capital. It looks like that didn't work out. This is, after all, not a great time to be raising money.

Six Apart is encouraging Pownce members to join its blog platform Vox. "We hope the Pownce and Vox communities can come together, just as the teams have, towards a better future," Six Apart's Chris Alden wrote on the company blog.

Pownce's two other co-founders, Rose and Daniel Burka, will become Six Apart "advisers."

MW: What [MySpace] understand[s] is their $25 billion to $30 billion valuation.-

JF: But that's [expletive]. We both know that's [expletive].

MW: It doesn't make any difference. That's gonna go down. What they are looking at is the distinct possibility that it can go down to nothing.

JF: How do you find that plausible? It's not even a utility like--the anti-Google argument is this: If someone builds a better search engine tomorrow, I have zero switching costs. If I am on MySpace, I have 500 friends. I use it to communicate with people. You can't just move. It's a pain in the ass. All your stuff is there.

MW: But that's exactly what they said about AOL.

JF: You did not develop that relationship with AOL.

MW: You did. You exactly did.

JF: How?

MW: Your email was there, because your friends were there. I mean, AOL operated actually as the community of its day. There were all of those-

JF: But besides the email and, OK, the-

MW: There were the infinite number of chat rooms. Layer upon layer upon layer of sex chat rooms.

JF: Of course. And I give you credit for having pointed to that as the secret driver of its success. But, all you need is a different chat room. You don't have pictures up [on AOL]. You don't have your history up there. You don't have-

MW: It doesn't matter. What they saw at the time was that [users] were absolutely wedded to AOL. That was Time Warner's bet on that.

JF: AOL was monodimensional in a way that MySpace is not. I don't think that's particularly debatable.

MW: I don't think that's true. I think it is--if you're on MySpace now, you're a [expletive] cretin. And you're not only a [expletive] cretin, but you're poor. Nobody who has beyond an 8th grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people.

JF: [unsuccessfully stifling laughter] I don't mean to get all Murdoch's-kids on you [an obscure reference to an earlier part of the conversation], but if you are in a band, you are on MySpace. You have to be on MySpace. That's a powerful driver. And second of all-- if I am to accept your reasoning, even though I don't--as the success of [News Corp's British tabloid] The Sun will tell you, there are lot of cretins out there and you can make a lot of money off cretins. By appealing to their essential--

MW: No! That is the difference. And that is one of the interesting points of Murdoch. He wants to make money off of what he rightly saw as a rising lower class. He came to this country and he sees, that's just not really true. No one really identifies with being lower class [in the US]. As soon as it comes to you- I am lower class'--you run, and you have to rehabilitate all of your aspirational identifiers.

See Also: MySpace CEO Dewolfe: Recession Hammering Growth Prospects

What are some of your favorite Windows Mobile applications? Let us know in the comments!

Games

Death Drive - Who doesn’t love a little vehicular combat?  Death Drive brings Carmageddon like combat to your Windows Mobile powered device.

Kevtris - What is mobile gaming without at least one version of Tetris?

Pocket Heroes - Pocket Heroes is a Heroes of Might and Magic game clone for Pocket PC.  It may be a bit simple for some, but still a lot of fun.

Realms - A space based shooting game that might remind you a bit of the old Asteroids arcade game, but only in concept.  Multiple ships to choose from and numerous levels to explore.

Internet Tools

Fring - Fring brings their instant messaging services to more than just the iPhone and iPod Touch with a Windows Mobile version.  Allows you to instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, SIP, Skype, Twitter and Yahoo.

Opera Mobile - The popular Opera browser comes to the mobile format with a full set of features.

Slick - Allows you to instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo. Also has text messaging, emoticons, message history and more.

TwitToday - A plugin for your Today screen that allows you to post to your Twitter account.

Web Viewer - Web Viewer is an expansion to the web browsing ability with a tabbed browser that allows you to save open tabs and more.

Media Players

MPlayer for Windows Mobile - Part of the MPlayer suite for Linux, MPlayer for Windows Mobile will let you play Flash videos as well as videos in the RV40, RV30, R20, sipro, cook and atrac codecs.

RealPlayer - An official mobile release for the famous Real One Player.

The Core Pocket Media Player - TCPMP, as it is known, supports a dizzying array of video and audio formats from DivX to Ogg Vorbis.

YouTubePlayer - Just as the name implies, YouTubePlayer lets you to search YouTube for videos and then plays them in their native FLV format.

Phone Applications

Call Firewall - Call Firewall does exactly what you would think it might in that it helps you create blacklists and whitelists for your Windows Mobile powered cell phone.  One of the coolest features is that it will send an SMS to a blocked call telling them why they were blocked.

iDialer - iDialer, pictured above, gives you a new dialing interface that feels similar to another popular phone’s dialing system.  It does offer compatibility with popular Internet phone services such as Grand Central and JaJah.

Skype - The well known Skype service is available for Windows Mobile, enabling you to make Skype calls from your mobile, saving you a lot of money on calls.

Utilities

CapSure - You can capture your screen in BMP, GIF, JPG or PNG and then add captions, obscure sensitive information and more.

Dashwire - Allows you to sync your phone at all times including pictures, files, contacts, messages and more.  Cool feature that lets you see texts on your computer as they arrive at your phone.

GSync - As you can probably guess by the name, GSync allows you to synchronize your Google Calendar with your Windows Mobile powered phone.  The app is available in Dutch, English and Italian.

iContact - iContact changes your contact interface to more of an iPhone style system that allows you to browse through your contacts with just a flick of your finger.

Pocket RAR - An official version of the RAR archive manager that you can use on your mobile device.

SoftKey Manager - This app allows you to edit the soft keys on your Today screen.

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Free iPhone Apps!

Find out how much your Twitter profile is worth & check out the Twitter profiles with the highest values. The value is calculated with a Ph.D algoritm that is based on the public information available on your Twitter profile. For those who like to show off they even provide you with a few badges.

Psst, did you find this tool useful? If so, please subscribe by email or RSS for future social web 2.0 tool updates.

TweetValue | How much is your Twitter profile worth? via kwout

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Visit our Free Industry resource center today to browse our selection of 600+ complimentary Industry magazines, white papers, webinars, podcasts, and more.

A TV set-top box manufacturer, TVonics, has advised UK consumers not to dump their TV sets as it further dampens the chances of environment betterment. As the UK plans to move to full digital broadcast, another 8 million TV sets are estimated to be sold this year, and with every purchase - an old one will be dumped.

This can be avoided as old TV sets can be converted to digital for less than £40, and adding a little more money can bring the program recording option. TVonics Director Andy Carr states:

It’s just madness to throw away perfectly good TVs when they have plenty of life left in them. The enormous publicity around digital switchover has meant that many people now wrongly believe they have to upgrade their entire television to get all the digital channels from Freeview. They could save themselves a fortune, and save the planet at the same time. All that’s required is a small Freeview box and you can access up to 40 channels of free digital television on any old TV. And with a digital TV recorder they can even build a library of up to 250 hours of their favorite shows.

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Do you think a Twitter user you follow is too noisy? Hit the snooze button & turn off their tweets for your desired amount of time. TwitterSnooze is not ideal because when a person is unsnoozed, Twitter will send them an email alerting that person that you are now following them again. Security Note: TwitterSnooze stores passwords on the DB.

Psst, did you find this tool useful? If so, please subscribe by email or RSS for future social web 2.0 tool updates.

TwitterSnooze! v0.2 via kwout

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Be sure to check out my latest posts on Make Use Of.

Rosenblatt is the guy who cut costs while building revenues at DoubleClick before selling it to Google (GOOG) for $3.1 billion. He beat out Google's head of sales Tim Armstrong and former AOL CEO Jon Miller in our final round of voting.

We haven't heard from Rosenblatt about whether he'd even take the job, but we decided to collect recommendations to send to Yahoo's board anyway.

We started with another former CEO of DoubleClick, cofounder Kevin Ryan, who also happens to work in our office as SAI chairman. Kevin loves the idea of Rosenblatt-run Yahoo. He gave us five reasons why:

• He's experienced. Rosenblatt successfully managed an Internet company with more than 1,000 employees.
• He owns the niche. DoubleClick wasn't just a tech company and it wasn't just an advertising company. It was both -- like Yahoo.
  
• He can cut and grow Yahoo at the same time. At DoubleClick, Rosenblatt cut headcount from 2,000 to 1,000 between 2001 and 2003.
  
• He can cut and grow. While selling off businesses DoubleClick needed to get out of, Rosenblatt managed to increase its revenues anyway.
• He's new. Yahoo needs someone who isn't responsible -- and isn't interested in defending -- past decisions.

Current DoubleClick/Google employees crush on Rosenblatt, too. One told me: "There is nothing not to love about him. [Rosenblatt taking the Yahoo CEO gig] would be great for him. Huge loss for us."

A few readers told us why they chose Rosenblatt:

David Rosenblatt is a incredibly smart and an amazing manager; he turned Doubleclick around and was behind the entire sale to Google. He is far and away the best man for the job. Yahoo would be crazy to let him get away...

Rosenblatt's banking connections prob facilitate another deal with MSFT quickly.

DR!!! Worked for him. Smart guy, understands the business and surrounds himself with strong people.

David R. Thats what people at DCLK call him. A great CEO worked with him, even played basketball with him (he was part of the DCLK b'ball team) in the league in nyc. A great competitor.

One reader composed a list of ten reason while Rosenblatt will get the job:

• Turned around DoubleClick as CEO, gave it a rebirth and sold to Google for 5x in less than 2 years
• Unlike the AOL guys, has had a history of success in the online business-- success follows people and breeds more success...
• Is not a homegrown, loyal Google guy like [Tim Armstrong] and would probably leave
• Has seen the insides of Google, whose organization is most likely factorial worse than Yahoo only masked by the 1 phenomenal revenue stream
• Probably made 95% of his DCLK acquisition money already-- time to diversify!
• As President of Display, he will always be the step child to the search guys [at Google]
• Is highly ethical
• Is a technologist who gets the advertising space, exactly what Yahoo! needs with its open strategy and apt platform
• Is smart-- street smarts combined with cognitive intelligences (Yale and Stanford MBA)
• Is respected in the industry-- advertisers, publishers, agencies AND investors.

See Also:
Everyone's Pick For Yahoo CEO