TECHNOLOGY TOOLS of the TRAD E
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TECHNOLOGY TOOLS of the TRAD E the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean oper - tablet with embedded Beats ating system. Scheduled for Audio for impressive sound in release this month, the low price a small tablet. The design on this compact tablet ( $169) features a stainless steel frame should make it competitive in and a gray or red back. the Nexus 7/ Kindle Fire space. www.hp.com/slate The HP Slate 7 has an ARM Dual Core 1.6 GHz processor, TurboTax Deluxe integrated wireless connectivity, TurboTax Deluxe is designed to a three-megapixel camera on maximize personal deductions the back, and a VGA camera on by searching more than 50 the front. The HP ePrint app lets deductions and credits and Sony Xperia Front Surround pair of built-in users print while at home or on explaining those for which you Tablet Z speakers are channeled through the go, and the exclusive native qualify. The ItsDeductible pro - The new tablet from Sony is four “speaker halls” on the left printing capability enables cus - gram does the work for you. The built on the principles of its and right corners. One-touch tomers to print directly from interview that helps create your award-winning Sony Z smart - connectivity with Near Field most applications. There’s a return is in plain English, with phone. The Xperia Tablet Z is a Communication (NFC) lets users micro USB port for easy file results posted directly on the premium device that will be transfer content from tablet to transfer, and it will run any of right forms, including 1040EZ, competing in the upper range TV, tablet to speaker, or phone the 700,000 apps offered at the 1040A, and 1040. Automatic for tablets when it’s made avail - to tablet just by touching them Google Play store, as well as all input of W-2 and 1099 data is able in the U.S. in the second together. There’s an eight- Google services, such as Google available from more than quarter. The 10.1" tablet is is megapixel rear camera and two- Now, Search, Gmail, YouTube, 400,000 participating employers the slimmest and lightest of all megapixel HD front camera, a Google Drive, and Google+ and financial institutions, and full-size tablets (0.27" thick and Micro SD slot, and the tablet is hangouts for multiperson video last year’s data is automatically a weight of 17.5 oz.). It’s also available in black or white. chat. The Slate 7 is the first carried over. The Smart Check water resistant, with covers for w ww.sonymobile.com program reviews your return for its external parts. The Xperia mistakes before you file, and runs on a Qualcomm Snap - HP Slate 7 EasyGuide helps you formulate dragon quadcore processor, and Tablet questions along the way, which the operating system is Android Along with Sony, HP also are then directed to the Turbo - 4.1 Jelly Bean, with an auto - announced a new tablet Tax Live Community for matic upgrade to 4.2 on release. at the recent Mobile answers. You can track your The display is 10.1 HD, 1,920 World Congress. Its Slate 7 return with the Audit Risk 1,200 pixels, with enhanced is an economy-priced Meter, which checks your return color reproduction. The S-Force 7" tablet that runs on and provides advice about com - 58 STRATEGIC FINANCE I April 2013 TECH FORUM Pocket Income Tax Apps By Michael Castelluccio, Editor Tablets are designed for content consumption, and smartphones are too small to do any kind of work on — on the crowd-funding platform or so many would have you believe, especially PC manu - at IndieGoGo. com to develop facturers. But the handhelds are changing with more this clever miniaturized tracker. powerful processors, better OSs, exquisite screens, and The Stick-N-Find sticker provides overwhelming numbers of inexpensive software applica - a tracking system that turns tions at the Apple and Android app stores. your smartphone into a radar- Smartphones are getting bigger, some now come with detection screen for lost keys, a stylus and are called “notes,” and tablets are getting wallets, glasses, even your pets. more mobile, having added midsize options like the iPad The coin-sized sticker is adhered mini and an expanding list of 7 " portables. And the to whatever you have a habit of number of apps in the productivity departments of the misplacing. The connection is via app stores is impressive. In the Apple App Store, the mon triggers and ways to Bluetooth 4.0, and the range is “Productivity” section contains 47 pages of just “New and reduce your risk of an audit. As about 100 feet within a line of Noteworthy” apps. Android currently lists 120 new “Pro - you work through the interview sight. If the object isn’t within ductivity” apps in its Play Store. Add to those the apps process, you can keep track of range, you can activate a “find listed separately in the “Business” category, and there your refunds, both federal and it” alert that will send a signal seems to be a pile of empirical proof contradicting the state, on the Dual Refund Moni - to your phone once you have claim that tablets and smartphones aren’t for work. tor. When you’re done, a free moved within range. Another This year’s tax season brought a number of apps to help federal e-file is included with type of alarm will go off if the in the ever more complicated task of filing your income the program. Information on the object is moved beyond a tax return. Intuit, maker of the TurboTax suite, reports Deluxe and other TurboTax selected distance you set from that “last year [Intuit’s] mobile apps were downloaded offerings is available at the phone— laptop, tablet, more than 2.5 million times, and so far this season, down - www.turbotax.intuit.com. attaché, whatever you have loads have tripled versus the same period last year. ” attached the concealable sticker There are four TurboTax mobile apps written for Stick-N-Find to. The smartphone can be iOS iPhone, Android phones and tablets, and iPad tablets. Location Sticker or Android with Bluetooth 4.0. SnapTax offers a very convenient way to file simple tax The StickNFind Technologies The battery lasts up to a year returns. You snap a photo of your W-2 with your smart - startup raised what it needed based on 30-minute-per-day phone camera, answer a few questions, and then review, use, and the stickers come in a pay, and e-file over a secure line on your phone, or go on variety of colors. StickNFind the TurboTax website and file there. Intuit says about also offers BluTracker, a 88% of taxpayers filing 1040EZ and 1040A can file with Bluetooth GPS locator SnapTax. The SnapTax app for iOS and Android is free. with a range of more TurboTax for iPad can be downloaded free from the than half a mile. Apple App Store. An interview process takes you through w ww.StickNFind.com your taxes, state and federal, continued on next page April 2013 I STRATEGIC FINANCE 59 TECHNOLOGY TECH FORUM and then it double-checks looking for other deductions or credits. You then pay for the federal and state returns and file online. The TurboTax TaxCaster will give you a quick estimate of how big your tax refund is going to be. You plug in your income and deductions, and the app will gener - ate a summary and the estimate. It’s free for iPhone and Android devices. The MyTaxRefund is a free app from TurboTax for iPhone, iPad, or Android smartphone, and it pro - vides any taxpayer who has e-filed a way to check on the status of his or her federal return. MyTaxRefund will let you know if your return has been accepted by the IRS, and it also uses information from the Ser - vice to estimate when your refund will be available. IRS2Go is from the IRS mothership itself. Although it ing at more than half a million offerings on the shelves, so has drawn some criticism for its clunkiness, it has the it’s worth taking advice from either site. It’s a crude indica - advantage of being very close to the primary sources. The tor, but the number of times the app has been downloaded app offers the latest IRS news and will let you get your tax can be useful, and be sure to look at the ratings (by num - record, your refund status, automatic tax updates and daily ber of stars) and the comments. You might think that at tips, and even videos through your iPhone or Android the prices apps are sold, you can hardly go wrong trying smartphone. one or several within the limits of what you need. That H&R Block Central will provide answers to tax ques - might be true if the time it takes you to try out a list of tions, estimate your taxes, and get product information and similar apps was only worth $0.99 or nothing. With news. You can use the app to find an H&R Block office, and 700,000+ choices in either store, you might want to limit you can use it to schedule an appointment. the selection up front. The Bloomberg BNA Quick Tax Reference app has page If you find the search function at the store lacking, try after page of tax information for 2011-2013, including stan - stepping outside and Googling “the best (list the app type) dard mileage rates, corporate tax rate schedule, individual app for (list the platform, iPhone or Android).” Read some rate schedule, standard deductions and personal exemp - of the descriptions, reviews, and suggestions, and then go tions, capital gains and dividends taxed as net capital gain, back to the store.