metaViper

There’s a lot of hype on the inter-web about the iPhone and like many I’m tempted to buy one. That prompted me to do a little research on the pros and cons of the iPhone, like with any other new gadget. Most of these points are obvious and my only goal here is to create some clarity about whether or not it makes sense to hand out $500 plus $60/month for a service contract to buy a new iPhone.

A couple of features that I’m finding anecdotal evidence for on both sides include: image quality of the iPhone’s camera, and whether or not using the on-screen keyboard is quick and intuitive.

What other iPhone pros or cons can you think of?

Anyone who works in the world of updating web sites and coordinating changes between stakeholders is familiar with the need to document change requests. As Web Worker Daily points out, there’s a new tool called Taskee that organizes this communication back and forth with the addition of a few lines of code.

After installing the code on any given page, an Open button will appear at the top. When a person on the project wants to leave a comment all they have to do is click on that button, log in and begin leaving comments. Access is restricted via an approved list of usernames and passwords managed by the project admin.

My background is in a corporate environment and I can see this being useful here as much as for freelancers. Often I’m working with several internal customers, other teams that must come to consensus, and a management team that has to approve each project. This would centralize all of that communication and provide greater accountability for change requests.

I also agree with Mike Gunderloy from Web Worker Daily, this tool would take a leap forward by adding a page-level annotation tool.

Reading Taskee’s blog it looks like this will be a free product during beta with tiered paid options available in the future.

What they say: (excerpted from http://www.ventrilo.com)
Ventrilo 2.3.0 is the next evolutionary step of Voice over IP (VoIP) group communications software. Ventrilo is also the industry standard by which all others measure themselves as they attempt to imitate its features.

By offering surround sound positioning and special sound effects on a per user, per channel, per server or global configuration level the program provides each user the option to fully customize exactly how they wish to hear sounds from other users or events.

Ventrilo is best known for it’s superior sound quality and minimal use of CPU resources so as not to interfere with day to day operations of the computer or during online game competitions. It is also preferred for the simple user interface that any first time computer user can very quickly learn because the most commonly used features are immediately visible and can be activated with a single click of the mouse.

What the Viper Sez: my test of Ventrilo found it to be easy to install and use in its client mode. To set up your own server requires navigating through a clunky DOS based interface, but the instructions are pretty easy to follow. Best of all, this baby is FREE. Ventrilo sports higher ping rates, faster transmission, plus all the features you would expect from a typical VoIP solution. A binding a Push to Talk (PTT) key allows you to assign a spare mouse button, like your “back” button to keep noise down on your channel. But if you want the good old Darth Vader sound, use voice activation with your mic, that way you can taunt others with the rasp of each breath. Voice is near phone quality, and the fast transmission makes this software a premiere choice for first person shooter fans, who can’t afford lag in their communications.

Ventrilo’s claim of “minimal use of CPU resources” remains to be seen as some mid-level systems running high-level games may experience some performance issues. My system ran Ventrilo at the cost of 6,436k in vitrual memory. While this shouldn’t be an issue for most gaming rigs, remember to turn off virus scan during play.

Another fun feature in Ventrilo is its naming function. It allows you to phonetically type in the names of your channels and yourself. Your name is announced when you join the server for everyone already online to hear. The system also tells you what channel you’re in. The naming function is subject to abuse, the phonetics are limited only by your imagination.

The trend has matured into a way of life. Open source software takes many forms, from operating systems like Linux to free online word processing, most commercially developed solutions have an open source alternative. To help find those programs , check out Open Source as Alternative.

It’s a site that ranks open source and commercial software solutions by popularity and gives brief descriptions of each. A very useful site!

Here’s a snapshot of their current top rated open source solutions:

What if you could find out what the world thinks is the best or worst in every experience in life? The best books, the worst car models, the funnest vacation spots on Earth. That’s what Amazon’s Unspun aims to provide.

As you can imagine, Amazon has plenty to gain by building community around important topics, especially when it concerns the gargantuan casserole of products they offer.

That aside, the service is useful and fun. In just a few minutes I learned about a few new search engines to try out thanks to a list of top search engines the community is ranking. And, it’s easy to embed the list in blogs (see below). You can bet money that this service will continue to grow fast as people learn more about what other people think.

Top Search Engines from Amazon’s Unspun