Herding Cats: Kindle Fire vs. iPad, Siri Data Usage and Keeping New Years Resolutions

^{Image courtesy of ICanHasCheezburger}

This week we have a money app for kids, money apps for adults, ways to make sure you use those money apps, Apple's problems, cheap oil, and saving money at your job. 

Plus, an animal year in review.

Money Crashers: Personal Finance Round-Up: The Importance of New Year's Resolutions - A good list of posts.  This one leaps out: How to Cure a Holiday Spending Hangover. The pain of making resolutions is taking on too much at once.  But we've all just gotten through the holidays and probably spent too much money (I did), so start there.  Of course, the post emphasizes a year-long commitment, but if you do that and nothing else, you've still potentially accomplished more than you did last year. 

CNET: Devour data much? Apple's Siri surely does - This is going to be a very interesting year for Apple.  The Kindle Fire is making a major dent against the iPad's market domination.  Even if it's not as versatile as the iPad, you can't beat the price. Plus, the Fire's going to get better, so Apple will have to come up with a cheaper model to compete.  Meanwhile, the iPhone 4S is a data hog, making it very expensive on some carriers.  It really feels like a turning point for Apple: will they retain their old cachet in 2012, or will mounting problems and competition catch up to them? 

ABC 2 News:  Website aimed at teaching kids how to save money - Actually, not a whole lot to read at that link, but it did lead me to this new site, which I haven't heard of, and looks like a great idea: Kidworth.  It's a money-management tool for kids: "Kidworth is about using a kid's income (from gifts, allowance and earnings) in productive ways. Parents register a free account and set goals with kids (or for kids, depending upon their age) and share those goals with the people in their kid's life."  Especially useful post-holiday when children have possibly received money as gifts.

Doughroller: 5 Tools To Keep Your New Year's Resolution In Check - While we're on the topic, here's a great list of tools for adults.  It begins with Mint, which should be the go-to app for money-management.  Plus a list of other handy apps for losing weight, setting goals, and breaking bad habits. These apps can making something like losing weight at least a little bit more fun, and might even help you not ignore your resolutions come Feb. 1st. 

Fuel Fix: Want to save money? Don't change your oil so often - A good tip .  Of course, oil change places will tell you to change oil every 3,000 miles--because they want your money.  But new cars might only need the oil changed as much as every 10,000 miles.  Of course, if you own an old beater, the 3,000 limit still applies, but for new cars you can both save money and help the environment by cutting down on oil. Peter recently covered this issue as well as other manufacturer's instructions you can ignore in a recent post.

Star Tribune: Saving Money Through Your Employer - This most likely works if you work for a large corporation, but it isn't always the case.  You may already be aware of the different types of student discounts, but there are also discounts available via an employer as well.  Who knows--maybe you could double up on the savings by enrolling in school via an employer discount plus getting student discounts in the process.

Any other money-management software recommendations?

Video of the Week: A good year for animals: