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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority Access

January 29th, 2013Top Story

Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority Access

By Adam Dachis

Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority AccessSimple offers an online alternative to traditional banking, with a goal of providing features you care about and excellent customer support. Here's a look at what they have to offer and how you can get faster access to their invite-only service.

I switched to Simple a few months ago and it has made managing my finances far easier than Bank of America. I don't have to worry about fees, I always know how much money I have, I'm alerted about any changes instantly, and the customer support team always offers quick answers to any problems that come up. While online banking isn't for everyone, I've really enjoyed my experience so far. This post details some of the best stuff Simple has to offer and a way to skip to the front the invite queue if you feel like giving it a try.

How Simple Works

Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority AccessSimple is, well, pretty simple to understand. Instead of depositing your hard-earned cash in a physical bank, you use technology to do the job for you. When you sign up, you get a Simple VISA card that you can use to withdraw cash from an ATM or make purchases like you would with any bank debit card. The fun starts when you begin to see instant updates and alerts on your iPhone or Android. For example, when you purchase gas for your car Simple will let you know that the gas station may authorize $75 worth of charges but the final amount will change to the total given to you at the pump. When funds are available, you'll receive notifications, too. You can check up-to-the-minute information about your account on your smartphone, locate one of over 50,000 fee-free ATMs based on your location, scan checks for deposit, and much more. Essentially, Simple is a bank you interact with via your smartphone and computer rather than in person. That may frighten some, but many will find that the benefits are worth the sacrifices.

Because online banking is a little scary for some, Simple requires strong passwords and an extra PIN on your smartphone to block out unwanted access if your mobile is lost or stolen. You can't use Simple without an iDevice or Android smartphone, which provides additional security because your bank account won't work without access. (You can, however, dump your smartphone after the initial setup.) Simple also allows you to block access to your debit card via the site and your smartphone, so if your card is lost (temporarily, anyway) you can just turn it off. (If you need to request a replacement through customer support, however, you won't be able to turn it back on.) Additionally, your money is insured to at least the FDIC limit (currently $250,000) and your personal information is never sold or shared with anyone. Simple wanted to create a banking replacement that provides the services of a Chase or Bank of America while adding new better features and focusing on making the experience ideal for the customer.

The Features

Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority AccessSimple operates more like a tech startup than a bank, because in many ways that's what it is. This offers a number of advantages because it means new features are added regularly. Earlier this month Simple released their long-awaited Android app. Just today, they added several new features including the option to attach photos to purchases (e.g. receipts, general images), the option to spend from your savings goals (which we'll discuss shortly), and the aforementioned ability to block usage of your card for as long or as little as you desire. This fast-paced iteration means your bank gets feature upgrades frequently. Here are a few key features Simple offers that provide a better experience:


  • Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority Access
  • Safe to Spend tells you exactly how much money you can spend right now. It factors in any pending transactions as well as savings goals you may have in place (explained below).
  • Savings Goals automatically sort your money into categories of your choosing. For example, if you want to save $1,500 for a vacation in March you can set a goal to do that. Simple will automatically move a little money every day into that goal until it's filled up. When you're ready to spend that money, you just switch on the "spend from goal" option on your smartphone. Of course, you don't have to spend the money—you can just use a savings goal to keep your cash out of your "safe to spend" amount.
  • A Smart Transaction History knows where you spent your money, what type of transaction it was, and if you added a tip or paid a fee. These transactions are always tagged accordingly (tags you can add to as well), and Simple's web app offers a powerful search tool to locate any transaction based on several factors. Want to know how much you spent on groceries in a given month? You can search for that exact query and even save it for easy access later. If there's anything you want to know about your transaction history, Simple makes the information easy to find.

  • Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority Access
  • Photo Check Deposit allows you to deposit checks using your smartphone's camera. Just take a picture of the front and back, input the amount, and wait for the deposit to come through. While you can't make cash deposits with Simple, depositing checks only takes a minute and doesn't require a trip to the bank or an ATM.
  • A Fast ATM Locator in Simple's smartphone app will check your current location and quickly show you where you can find a fee-free ATM. Simple uses the Allpoint network, which offers over 50,000 locations in the United States.
  • Send Money to Anyone by typing in their name, address, and specifying an amount. Simple will issue a check and mail it for you, free of charge. If you pay the same person often, such as a landlord or service provider, you can add them to your address book or even schedule a recurring monthly payment to save you time and effort.
  • Exportable Data gives you the option of quickly saving your transaction history as a CSV or JSON file in two clicks.

This is just a short list of features that Simple provides, but should give you an idea of some of their advantages.

The Support Team

Simple puts a high priority on customer support. Not only is that important because they're an online bank, but because you want to work with kind people you can trust when it comes to your money. If you want to talk to a human, you can just give Simple a call. They also respond to email and messages on Twitter most often in minutes rather than hours. You don't receive just "yes" or "no" answers in most cases, either. If you have a problem and there isn't an outright solution, Simple's support staff will help you find a workaround. This is incredibly important with online banking because a number of transactions aren't as easy (e.g. cash deposits, large withdrawals) but are still possible. If you want to get an idea of how helpful their support team can be before switching, try inundating them with any number of questions. In my experience, they'll answer them enthusiastically, quickly, and with just the right amount of detail.

The Downsides

Simple Is Banking 2.0, and We've Got Priority AccessWhen it comes to downsides, Simple offers many of the same issues that any online bank would: some transactions that may have been easy with a physical bank require a bit more effort. That said, you're trading that convenience for a number of new online conveniences. You can also retain a local bank account for the sole purpose of making local deposits when necessary.

Simple also isn't accessible to everyone. If you don't own an iPhone, iPod touch, or Android smartphone, you can't use their service. You also have to wait to be invited, though we have a work-around for that below.

For more on the ups and downsides of online banking, and help figuring out if it's worthwhile for you, check out this post.

How to Sign Up and Get Invited ASAP

Simple keeps their system closed and invites groups of people as they are able to accommodate them. That means you have to sign up for an invite and wait until they have room to provide you with an account. Normally that wait can be a little while, but Simple has agreed to give Lifehacker readers if they request an invite anytime this week (until 11:59 PM on Sunday, February 3rd 2013). All you have to do is click the link below to visit the Simple site, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and request an invite like you normally would. They'll know you came from Lifehacker and send you an invite within a few days. If you've already requested an invite from Simple but have yet to receive one, go ahead and make another request by following the aforementioned instructions. Be sure to do it by Sunday, however, as priority access is only available for that long.

Simple

Images by bioraven (Shutterstock) and vso (Shutterstock).

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Can Animals Be Mentally Ill?

January 29th, 2013Top Story

Can Animals Be Mentally Ill?

By Hamilton Nolan

Can Animals Be Mentally Ill?Welcome to our science-like new feature, "Hey, Science," in which we will have our most provocative scientific questions answered by real live scientists (or related experts). No question is too smart for us to tackle, theoretically speaking. This week, experts answer the question: Do animals get mental illnesses, just like humans? Or is your dog just dumb?

THE QUESTION: Animals act weird sometimes. There's even a flourishing industry of pet psychologists. But do animals actually become mentally ill, scientifically speaking, in the same way that humans do? Do we even know that? Or is this whole thing a bunch of speculative pseudoscience? Also, I gave my dog some of my Prozac, is that cool?

Michael Oglesbee, Professor and Chair, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Ohio State University:

Interesting question. [Ed.: indeed] I am not aware of pet psychology as a recognized discipline in veterinary medicine. We focus on behaviors (the domain of behaviorists). There is no question that we encounter behavioral problems in domestic animal species, but to what degree that reflects mental illness per se (as a biochemical/neurobiological entity), versus a manifestation of suboptimal training and environment would be very difficult to tease apart. We start with what we know, and that is training and environment. Are there animal models of mental illness that are the focus of neurobiologists? You bet. For example, there is a rat model of schizophrenia. There are non-human primate models of schizophrenia, but to extrapolate from experimental models in rats and primates to dogs and cats would be a stretch.

Meghan E. Herron, veterinary behaviorist, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Ohio State University:

We definitely see mental health issues in dogs and cats, not necessarily the same as in humans, but I do diagnose and treat dogs and cats for anxiety problems, phobias, compulsive disorders (similar to OCD), aggression, etc. The American College of Veterinary Behaviorists is a well established specialty in veterinary medicine. Currently there are 57 board certified veterinary behaviorists in the country. They see a variety of species for many behavior and mental health problems. The owners are an integral part of diagnosing and treating these problems as our patients cannot "speak" for themselves. That said often their behaviors and body language speak a thousand words. We sometimes prescribe antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications for animals, but I would not recommend owners give their pets their own medications as there are specific drugs we know are safe for animals, but some may be dangerous. The dosing is also quite different as is best left to a veterinarian to determine.

Christopher L. Mariani, veterinary neurologist, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University:

I'd say the majority of the mental illnesses you mention do not occur in the majority of the animal kingdom; an exception might be primates, although this is a little bit outside of my area of expertise. Dogs and cats can have a variety of behavioral disorders, including things like compulsive or stereotypic disorders (often repetitive, abnormal behaviors), aggression, fearful behaviors, etc. For some of these disorders, certain human medications such as anti-anxiety drugs (e.g., valium, tricyclic antidepressants) or anti-depressants (fluoxetine [Prozac], clomipramine) are prescribed.....I certainly wouldn't advocate that people give these to their pets unless prescribed by a veterinarian, as there are specific contraindications and risks/adverse events associated with the use of these meds.

Hugh McClelland, emergency veterinarian, Affiliated Pet Emergency Services, Gainesville, FL, also we used to light off fireworks together when we were kids:

Can animals have mental illnesses, like people do?
The simple answer is yes. It's hard to say so with certainty because you can't ask the animal about his thoughts, feelings or perceptions. But you can observe his behavior. Abnormal behavior such as excessive aggression, fearfulness, or destruction can indicate anguish or distress. If the behavior is truly excessive and cannot be solely attributed to a medical condition, then the animal may have a mental disorder. Separation anxiety and thunderstorm phobia are well known mental disorders that affect animals.

Are all those "animal psychologists" real, or just pseudoscientists?
The title of Animal Psychologist is bogus, since the root word psyche refers to the totality of the human mind. A legit animal psychologist would, therefore, call himself an animal behaviorist to respect the difference between the animal and human mind. Do legit animal behaviorists exist? Absolutely, but any schmuck can legally call themselves an animal behaviorist or animal psychologist or whatever, so you can't go by the title. Instead look for the all-important letters after the person's name. The gold standard in the US is DVM (or VMD) followed by DACVB. This means the person has completed a degree in veterinary medicine followed by advanced clinical training in animal behavior, and is licensed and certified to diagnose and medically treat animal behavior problems. They can tell you what's wrong with your animal and get you the good drugs for it. The next best is a PhD in Applied Animal Behavior. These folks are formally educated in animal behavior (good), but can't prescribe medications (lame). And if the dude or chick or dudish-looking chick lacks any of these qualifications, beware, they may be selling snake oil enemas for all you know. And just to be clear, the terms "Animal Psychologist," "Animal Trainer," "Dog Whisperer," or "Pet Analyst-Therapist i.e. Pet Anal-rapist" in and of themselves do not necessarily mean that the person is licensed or certified or has had any formal education or training in diagnosis or treatment of animal behavior problems.

How much do vets really know about mental disorders in animals?
For your average vet such as myself, not too damn much. The average vet is too busy fixing broken bones, removing swallowed G.I. Joe action figures, and containing eruptions of urine/diarrhea/vomit/blood to delve deep into his patient's subconscious. As you can imagine, the animal mind is a freakishly hard thing to study, and I have great respect for legitimate Animal Behaviorists because of that. Have you ever tried to psychoanalyze your own pets? If not, I'll save you the trouble, here's how it would go down. First you skim read the Cliff's Notes version of a second-rate Sigmund Freud biography, so you feel totally prepared. Then you run into your first problem, the damn cat won't hold still long enough for you to initiate his hypnosis session. You finally corner the fidgety bastard, you start swinging the gold pocketwatch slowly back and forth in front of his nose while talking to him all calm and shit ("niiiiice kitty"), but suddenly he springs forth and violently assaults the swinging watch like it's a catnip-flavored tuna mouse. So, you give up and start feeding him an extra can of food per day until he's so fat the mental problems just seem less important. And it doesn't go any better with the dog. You call him into your comfortable office and ask him to hop up on the red couch. You start with some easy questions about his feelings, just common things like, "Why do you hump my leg, is it because I remind you of your bitch mom?" And, "I don't allow you to eat the cat's warm poop out of the litter box, how does that make you feel?" And the most perplexing question of all, "Whoooooooo's a good boy? Whoooooooo's a good boy?" You are making really good progress, and he starts really opening up to you about the trust issues with his father and the lack of emotional support he feels from you sometimes, until you remember he's not ALLOWED ON THE COUCH BAD DOG and whack him with a rolled-up newspaper until he submissively urinates and you feel bad so you give him a treat. So no, the average vet doesn't know much about mental disorders in animals. Thanks for asking.

THE VERDICT: Animals do suffer from mental illnesses. Caveats: 1) not necessarily the same mental illnesses as humans, and 2) diagnosis of animal mental illness is based on animal behavior, a trickier task than the diagnosis of mental illness in humans. If you want to get your pet's mental illness diagnosed, go to a certified veterinary behaviorist, not a bullshit "pet psychologist." And don't give your dog Prozac unless he's been a very good boy.

[Thanks to question-asker JRL and to all of our experts. Do you have a question for "Hey, Science?" Email me. Image by the talented Jim Cooke.]

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Let’s Rank The Final Fantasy Games, Best to Worst

January 29th, 2013Top Story

Let's Rank The Final Fantasy Games, Best to Worst

By Jason Schreier

Let’s Rank The Final Fantasy Games, Best to Worst

For the past two months, we've been running a feature called Pecking Order, in which we rank every game in a series, from best to worst. First up was Halo, then Grand Theft Auto.

Now it's Final Fantasy's turn. Which game in Square's crystal-packed behemoth is the best? Which is the worst? Which has the cutest moogles? Which has the best Aeris death?

Before I start ranking Square's flagship series, let's lay down some ground rules.

1) We'll only be covering the single-player Final Fantasy games, because throwing in the online Final Fantasys is like comparing apples and chocobos.

2) Only games in the main series. No direct sequels, no spinoffs. That takes us down to a manageable number: 12.

3) Remember, this is my personal opinion. You are more than welcome to post your own rankings and/or get really angry in the comments. But this is just my personal order of favorites. Keep that in mind.

Onwards.

1. Final Fantasy VI

Sometimes I wonder how much different my life would be if I hadn't discovered Final Fantasy VI and realized that hey, holy crap, video games can actually make you feel things. When I think about my favorite gaming moments, my mind always moseys back to the sixth Final Fantasy: from 16-bit bellowing at the Opera House to the reunion between the wildling Gau and his insane father, the individual scenes of FFVI are all brilliantly crafted, combining to make one hell of an overall experience. And the music! The music! RPGs don't get much better than this.

2. Final Fantasy IX

Most people think of the ninth Final Fantasy as one big homage to old-fashioned design, which is true, but it shines because it feels so unequivocally modern. Yes, you've got plenty of genre tropes here—wizards, knights, crystals, dwarves—but how many old-school RPGs tell the story of a person trying to deal with the fact that yes, he is a clone, and yes, he's going to die very soon? Final Fantasy IX has some great dungeons and a really interesting world, but it's the writing—and the impeccable U.S. localization—that makes this game stand out. "How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we don't exist..."

3. Final Fantasy IV

This is one of those "I know this game isn't really that good, but I've played it to completion at least 20 times and it's got sentimental value and also if you want I can recite to you, off the top of my head, an exact play-by-play of everything that happens, which is kind of weird but whatever" picks. FFIV might not hold up so well today, but in the early 90s, there was nothing like it. We were so used to RPGs with shoestring narratives like "go find the ORBS and save the PRINCESS," it was mind-blowing to pick up the Super Nintendo and find a twisty, powerful story about actual human beings and their emotions: love, revenge, jealousy. Also you get to go to the moon.

4. Final Fantasy VII

Much has been written about the charms of FFVII: the eco-terrorism, the terrifying bishounen bad guy, the elegantly simple materia system. But my favorite thing about this game is that it never takes itself too seriously. Even while your characters are suffering identity crises and trying to save the world, there's always room for a slap fight, some cross-dressing, and Red XIII in a sailor suit, which isn't quite as cute as it should be.

5. Final Fantasy V

People generally remember Final Fantasy as a game where four heroes go around the world collecting elemental crystals, and Final Fantasy V epitomizes that concept. You go around the world, fight through dungeons, get better equipment, unlock new classes for your characters, and eventually fight a giant demon tree. Even in the late 90s, when FFV first came to U.S. shores as part of a PlayStation 1 collection, this was all typical RPG fare, but there's still something really satisfying about the fifth Final Fantasy's class system and how you can use it to turn your characters into powerhouses of your own making. FFV also produced one of the most iconic Final Fantasy songs out there.

6. Final Fantasy VIII

Like many modern JRPGs, FFVIII starts off with a bang, then kind of fizzles when it turns out everyone had amnesia. But playing around with magic is really rewarding, the card mini-game is one of the best things you can do for fun in any video game, and you can fly a school. YOU CAN FLY A SCHOOL.

Let’s Rank The Final Fantasy Games, Best to Worst

7. Final Fantasy X

While it's not quite clear how much involvement Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi had with the tenth installment in his massive series—he's credited as an executive producer—I suspect that this is the game that made him want to go to Hawaii and surf all day. Filled with beaches and bathing suits, FFX is best known for starring Meg Ryan an aggressively whiny hero named Tidus who plays an underwater sport called Blitzball that's kind of like soccer if soccer was A) underwater B) played with magic and C) actually fun to watch. FFX is quite good in a lot of different ways, even when the journey starts to drag—and even when you want to smash your television while trying to dodge lightning bolts or complete one of the game's other infuriating side quests.

8. Final Fantasy III

Also known as the beta version of Final Fantasy V, FFIII is a really solid RPG marred by an impossibly unforgiving final dungeon, in which you have to battle through a gauntlet of difficult bosses with no save points in sight. Die once and you could have to redo hours of progress. Even the DS remake didn't make that final trial—which is a challenge in the same way that sticking your hand into an oven is a challenge—any more palatable. I recommend playing through the whole thing, then quitting before the last dungeon. Watch the end on YouTube or something.

9. Final Fantasy XII

Remember Vaan? Me neither. FFXII is best described as a single-player MMORPG, which might be why it ripped most of its plot from Star Wars and most of its characters from a Disney movie. (Vaan is Aladdin. Balthier is Jack Sparrow.) Still, the world is sweeping and lovely, and the combat system is brilliant: you can test out your AI programming skills using what the game calls Gambits, or actions that you can assign to your characters based on certain conditions. You could make one hero cast a heal spell as soon as someone loses more than half of their health, for example. The combinations aren't quite endless, but they're a great deal of fun.

10. Final Fantasy

While remakes of the first Final Fantasy have removed some of the antiquated moments—like how in combat, a character would stand around hitting empty space if their original target died, instead of moving onto the next one—the game still feels very old. But hey, if you want to see how this whole train ride began, from light warriors to deus ex machinas, the first Final Fantasy is still quite playable—and quite enjoyable—even today. (Just don't play the NES version.)

11. Final Fantasy II

This is the black sheep of the bunch. The second Final Fantasy discarded RPG conventions in favor of a SaGa-like leveling system where your characters gain stats based on their use in combat. Your heroes gain hit points, for example, after taking lots of damage in battle. Of course, savvy players figured out that they could break the game by just sitting in combat for an hour and making all their characters whack one another for HP gains afterwards. Whoops. Regardless, FFII isn't bad, but it's bad for a Final Fantasy game. Also, when you start, if you walk in the wrong direction, you'll die. Fun!

12. Final Fantasy XIII

Best known as The One Where You Walk In A Straight Line For 25 Hours, Final Fantasy XIII takes some really great components—eye-popping graphics, a killer battle theme, and fascinating combat—and packages them in a mediocre game. FFXIII's biggest problem, as I've written before, isn't that it's too linear: it's that the game discards all illusion or pretense of being an RPG. While games like Final Fantasy VII don't let you veer from the main plot all that much, you can still visit towns, talk to NPCs, and do interesting things that don't involve walking in a straight line, fighting, and watching cut-scenes. Gone are brilliant dungeons like the Ghost Train or the Babel Giant. Say farewell to fun mini-games like blitzball and Triple Triad. FFXIII is a shallow, lifeless experience that might be more forgivable if its writing wasn't so wretched. But hey, moms are tough.


Okay, your turn. Post your thoughts—and your own Final Fantasy rankings—below.

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