There are so many new smartphone apps emerging each month, offering new ways to save money and spend smarter, that it’s often surprising to hear about an “obvious” app like the Amazon app. But just by using this simple app from one of the biggest online retailers, you can save money and shop smarter on your next big-ticket purchase.

We spoke with a friend, Todd Fox, who is an aerospace engineer in Houston, Texas, about how he uses the Amazon app to make his life easier whenever he’s in a store.

Read the full post on How to save money and shop smarter with the Amazon app.

In the past few years, smartphone technologies have transformed the way people interact with their everyday lives, making it easier to connect with friends, be productive on the go, and access information about anything, anywhere. But one of the even more recent exciting developments has to do with the way that smartphones can improve our personal health and wellness.

With mobile and location-based apps, smartphone users now have the ability to track their personal athletic performance, measure their results and try to improve over time. One of the apps that runners use to run faster, longer and smarter is called RunKeeper. I interviewed a friend of mine who uses RunKeeper, Max Lambert, a consultant in Houston, Texas, for his thoughts on how RunKeeper has been beneficial to his life as a runner.

Read the full post on 3 surprising ways the RunKeeper app can improve your fitness.

Managing multiple financial accounts and services can be overwhelming can be maddening. Keeping track of all your bank statements, receipts, bills, online payment accounts, and all the rest can be tiresome. One helpful option is to log into your bank or credit union’s site, which gives you a run-down on your money and where it’s coming in and going out.

But let’s face it; managing your money this way is going out of style. Getting paper bills through the mail, constantly checking Amazon and Netflix to make sure payments were made, worrying about suspicious account activity, fumbling through receipt after receipt; it’s all very slow, non-organic, and archaic.

Read the full post on Money-Managing App “Mint” Helps You Take Control of Your Finances.