Author: Daniel Mettler

Posted on

Xero: The ideal online accounting solution for startups/SMBs?

When going through Jakob Nielsen’s list of the 10 Best Application UIs of 2008 [1], I’ve noticed there’s also an online(!) accounting(!) system for SMBs among the winners:

Xero – The world’s easiest accounting system.

This is a big surprise, as I’ve already tested quite many accounting systems for SMBs/SMEs, both standalone and web applications, but none of them was particularly easy to use. The point isn’t that I couldn’t use a complex accounting system [2], the point is that I don’t want to if it isn’t necessary. In other words, every hour I can save on accounting and invoicing, I can spend on business development and software development. Which obviously makes sense.

Considering this, the price of 49 NZD (34 USD) per month for Xero is a fair deal. The only thing that isn’t customer-friendly at all, is that they decided to go with an opt-out free trial model (i.e. if you don’t cancel the trial within 30 days, you’ll be charged). Definitely worth a try, though.

[UPDATE 20080813: Note that Xero is not available for purchase in Switzerland yet (hopefully soon). You can still try the demo though.]

[UPDATE 20080814: I’ve quickly tested Xero. Conclusion so far: I like it a lot! It delivers, what most startup companies need in regard to accounting and it makes things as easy as possible. In fact, I’ve never seen a more intuitive accounting system before! It will definitely set the new benchmark in its class. Let’s hope there will be a Swiss edition soon. Kudos to the makers of Xero in NZ: You rock!]

[UPDATE 20080815: Xero’s plans are to have a global version of Xero ready by early 2009, see my follow-up blog post]

[1] Also noteworthy: CMSBox, a very user-friendly CMS made in Switzerland.

[2] Among others, two of my majors at the University of Zurich were Management Accounting and Managerial Accounting.

[3] Of course, you could also outsource all your accounting duties, but particularly for a new startup with a minimal headcount, the outsourcing efforts generally outweigh the benefits.

Posted on

Gentoo: Emerge errors after a Python upgrade?

If you encounter seemingly “strange” Python errors when emerging apps after a Python upgrade, execute:

# python-updater -v

This will rebuild packages that are broken due to the Python upgrade (Note: You can also manually emerge the packages python-updater lists)

Posted on

Gentoo: Troubles with Trac and mod_python-3.3.1?

If Trac doesn’t run anymore after an ’emerge -uD world’ (i.e. there’s a “500 Internal Server Error”) and Apache complains about “ImportError: No module named trac.web.modpython_frontend”, here’s the solution:

Gentoo Bug 230211 – www-apache/mod_python-3.3.1 – connobject.c:142: error: request for member ‘next’ in something not a structure or union

(IOW: Emerge mod_python-3.3.1-r1 from your local portage overlay and restart Apache)

Posted on

Quick review of the Logitech ClearChat Stereo headset

My new Logitech ClearChat Stereo headset just arrived. Here’s a quick review of it:

Plus

  • Low price, less than 30 CHF/USD (= budget class headset, don’t expect too much)
  • Fits well and is very light-weight (unlike those heavy headsets for gamers etc.). Can thus be carried in hand luggage etc.
  • The cable is attached to one side of the overhead band only (which is more convenient and facilitates the overall handling)
  • Good cable length (2 m, just about the right length so you can use the headset both for laptops and desktop computers)
  • The adjustable overhead band is very handy (There are still many budget headsets with fixed overhead bands). It’s also comfortable when wearing glasses (in contrary to most neck band headsets).
  • The size of the (open) earbuds is comfortable and they don’t warm your ears too much (like those cushioned closed earphones)
  • Sound quality of the earphones is okayish (= sufficient) for Skype, Internet telephony
  • Sound quality of the mic is also sufficient for Skype etc. (but not for singing Karaoke and the like)
  • The in-line controls for the volume and mic mute are very handy (else you’d need to adjust these things in Windows/Mac OS X/Linux)
  • Uses simple plugs, not USB (lighter, cheaper design, compatible to almost any computer or audio device)

Minus

  • Sound-quality-wise, you get what you pay for. Don’t expect high fidelity sound. It’s clearly a headset for Internet telephony only.
  • Not recommended for gamers (too low-fi and the open earbuds don’t protect enough from environment noise)
  • Not recommended for listening to music (lacking “crispness” of the sound, lacking frequency linearity, lbass frequencies are rather dull, dito for the heights) or for watching a film (dito).
  • Microphone can be rotated vertically only (which is sufficient for most people, but some would probably like it to be horizontally adjustable, too)
  • Microphone is on the right, not on the left (which is not necessarily a disadvantage, but is somewhat unusual as most headsets have the mic mounted on the left)
  • It’s not a very solid headset. Better don’t smash it to a wall. And yes, it will definitely blend (though nobody has tried that yet ;)

All-in-all: Recommended for Internet telephony, not recommended for gamers, audiophiles and cineasts. Which is pretty obvious, considering the low price.

Posted on

Multiple Skype accounts on one computer

It’s a bit of a hack as with this solution, Skype’s memory usage will grow linearly with every additional instance of the Skype client you run (about 40 MB are required per instance), but at least it seems to work fine on Windows XP:

http://www.tradebit.com/channels/software/110543/multiple-skype-accounts-on-one-computer/

Note that the double quotes should be simple double quotes, not typographical ones. So for 2.) the link’s destination should be sth like

%windir%\system32\RUNAS.exe /profile "/user:skype2" /savecred "C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe"

(Of course you need to adjust the paths and user to your environment and settings)

Alternatively, particularly if you use Windows Vista, you could try this free Skype launcher (I haven’t tested it):

http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=88055

Since this launcher doesn’t seem to use dedicated Windows user accounts on your box, you’ll have to disable Skype’s auto-login feature in order to use different Skype profiles.

Posted on

Twitter / mettlerd

I’ve finally joined the flock of birds: Twitter / mettlerd. Let’s see whether it will be just a waste of time or an unexpected blessing. In general, most reviews of other (much earlier) birds are cautiously positive..

Posted on

Aug 29, 2008: BlogCamp Switzerland 3.0 in Zurich

Note that this year’s Swiss BlogCamp, the BlogCamp Switzerland 3.0, will take place on the same date (August 29, 2008) as the Tag der Informatik (informatica08) and the tweakGrill, and at the same location (Technopark in Zurich), too! Of course, this is no coincidence :) No matter whether you’re a blogger or not (or plan to be, have been, are interested in the Swiss blogging scene, the web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, whatever etc. ;): Be there, I’m sure it will be an interesting event, again! (And attending the “Tag der Informatik” is a point of honor anyway :)

(Bloggy Friday will start at 8 PM, guess where ;)

BlogCamp Switzerland 3.0

[UPDATE 20080802: I probably can’t be there due to military service :( At rather short notice as they managed to send the march order to an address that doesn’t exist. No comment.]

Posted on

August 29, 2008: tweakGrill @ informatica08

The innovative guys from tweakfest.ch will present what they call The first digital BBQ in Switzerland, aka the tweakGrill. It will take place on August 29, 2008, starting at 6 PM on the Turbinenplatz (that’s Zurich’s biggest place (*cough*) right in front of the Technopark building (which some call the “Swiss Silicon Valley” ;) in Zurich-West/entertainment).

According to the newsletter they’ll have several multimedia performances, serve sausages from USB-Grills (I wonder how that will scale ;) and open source beer brought to you by [project 21].

tweakfest group on Facebook

Flyer (PDF)

More information in German in this post on the tweakfest home page..

[UPDATE 20080802: I probably can’t be there due to military service :( At rather short notice as they managed to send the march order to an address that doesn’t exist. No comment.]

Posted on

TechCrunch Meetup Zurich

Well, there are quite a few blog posts with reviews of the recent TechCrunch Europe Tour Meetup in Zurich already. Instead of writing an extensive review about it, I’ll thus try to keep it short.

Personally, I highly enjoyed the TechCrunch Meetup in the Bluewin Tower in Zurich West and the gathering in the “Besame Mucho” lounge afterwards and met many interesting people. I wasn’t quite ready for releasing news about my company Printscreen GmbH (iG) yet, but it was nonetheless a great opportunity to network and chat with other entrepreneurs, organizer Mike Butcher, some of the co-organizers and media people. All in all I had the impression that a lot is going on again in the Swiss IT/web startup community (not limited to the roughly 40 startups officially presenting).

So, many thanks to the organizers (TechCrunchUK, Wuala, Doodle, NewsCred, Sandbox) and sponsors who made this all possible! Of course I hope there will be a second edition of the TechCrunch Meetup Zurich soon (it was so well organized and such a nice event, I’d like it to become a recurring, regular event in the Swiss IT and startup scene).

Links to some other posts about the meetup (incomplete and in no particular order):