Good help and software is hard to find and assess
My head has been spinning this past week. I've been on a mission to help my org sort out a technology problem. Can we get a one-stop-shop hosted, yet fully customizable (i.e. template mods and form field additions) transaction platform that includes event registration, donations (one-time and recurring, preferably) and a store? Oh, yeah, and it should be affordable and not lock us into a contract. We're a nonprofit, so we can demand these things... right?
Well, the good news is that there are options, but it's been so difficult to find. GiftTool seems to do what we want, but I'm nervous that there hasn't been much use and we can't play with it ourselves before signing on the dotted line (only remote demo from a sales dude). There's Click and Pledge, Shopify (doesn't really do events), NEON, MemberClicks and some others. But how are we supposed to know who to trust? What's good? What have others used? It's an incredibly labor-intensive process.
Well, I've got a few thoughts on the matter and am hoping to help implement something that will solve this problem, so I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you've got any thoughts on these tools, they're welcome!
Oh, and one more thing. After sending out feelers about this problem to some tech listservs, I also sent out a feeler for a freelance developer. Surprisingly, no one responded to this call either. I'm wondering if my delivery's off, I haven't hit the right group of people, or there's just a lack of flash developer freelancers out there. The hunt continues!
A reason to use something other than Google Maps
Google Maps is awesome. Groundbreaking. We all know it. But, as a professional pedestrian, one thing that always made me sad was no walking directions. Now some people might ask, Rachel, why the heck would you need walking directions? And I shall retort, have you seen the crazy, random, one-way, dead-end-y, zig-zaggy streets of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville? There is almost always a more efficient way to walk to a place than to drive it. So, driving directions are usually pointless for me. But lo! Ask.com has answered my prayers. Isn't that great? You can get walking directions to your heart's content. Now, once we mash that up with public transportation (mbta.com is close, oh so close), I'll be all set, knowing the most efficient way to get from point a to point b and back again without guesswork.
Digital Image Resizing on crack
Holy crap. Seriously, wow. Be ready to get your mind blown over the digital image resizer.
GPhone, where have you been all my life?
Okay, so where the hell have I been living? Under a rock? I had no idea there was so much chatter about a Google phone! The Gphone, baby, yeah. Apparently one may be due out as soon as Q108. I wonder how it will fair against the T-Mobile Wing. My favorite part of the article is the end:
"Google's not going to tie its mobile future to a company that's notorious for being very controlling of exactly how its hardware operates. Neither will Google tie it up with one particular carrier such as T-Mobile or Orange.
No, for Google, it's going to be let a hundred phones bloom -- and if Google's own Gphone catches on, even better."
Psychic connection with my mp3 player
I'm claiming a very powerful and (understandably) little talked about feature of my Creative Zen Vision M player. I don't want to say that the iPod can't do it, because I don't know if it can.
I tend to queue up all of my music (about 4000 songs) when I'm heading to work. Sometimes I play a game and say to myself, okay, the next thing I'll hear is classical, and it will be the next song (which is weird, since I've got maybe 100 classical music tracks, definitely no more and probably less). But this morning, I was very specifically thinking about Jonathan Coulton for a variety of reasons, absolutely none having to do with listening to it on my player. I have one album (what is that, like 10 songs?) of his. About 10 minutes later, when I switch from my beloved WERS radio listening to the all-track queue, First of May comes up. How weird is that? Yeah, yeah, I know it's coincidence. But if people can believe in angels and demons, why can't I believe in the psychic connection between me and my player?
Oh and if anyone's reading this who doesn't know me personally, please note that I'm kidding. I just think it's freaky.
iPhones… yay! Yay?
This is so gross. Look at what Apple has on their site. Pictures of happy iPhone buyers. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. I guess they forgot to take pictures of people trying to bulk delete emails from it.
OpenMoko
NPR's Future Tense podcast on OpenMoko reminds us (or, well, me, anyway) why open source is so important. It's about choice and flexibility. The podcast points out that you need to have a carrier that supports GSM, but more carriers should support it anyway. I may actually get this phone but I'll wait until there's a support page/community. I love the idea, but I'm a little nervous about plunking down $300-$400 to a company across the world without any online support. openmoko mp3
pigs are flying, old media is more rational than new media
Universal Studios is complaining about Apple's proprietary slant. Okay so the music industry is pissed that Apple is stealing business from them, but whatever their motivations, they're actually right. So now I have to root for the music industry? I feel so weird about that. But I'd feel weirder rooting for the guys taking up all the online music space. Whatever, I'll keep downloading from eMusic even if they don't have everything (because they're not big enough to compete with iTunes... grrr).
NYTimes article on Universal and Apple
MUSIC DIVIDE The Universal Music Group of Vivendi told Apple that it would not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes, executives briefed on the matter said. Universal told Apple that it would provide music to Apple at will, giving itself the option to pull out of the service at any time.
The two companies have reached a standoff in negotiations. The music industry has been complaining for years about Apple’s influence on the online-music business, its power to set prices on music downloaded through iTunes and iTunes’ lack of compatibility with music players other than the iPod.
Alienating Apple would be a huge risk for the music industry. Apple recently surpassed Amazon.com to become the third-biggest seller of music, behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment recently signed a one-year contract with Apple.
