August 18, 2023

Gizmo Project – Skype’s new competitor

I’ve been playing with the new Gizmoproject.com. It’s a Skype-type VOIP software available for both Mac and Windows that pretty much has the same features.

The main difference between the Gizmo Project and Skype is that it is built on open SIP standards. That means that if the local VOIP network in your city was built on SIP too, you’d be able to use Gizmo Project on it (well at least in theory). In addition, VOIP users will benefit from the ability of VOIP competitors to easily enter the market — lower prices, better features. Gizmo also benefits from more competitors since it will be easier for them to find partners who can give it the lowest prices so it can compete with Skype. That’s not the same as open source software, which Gizmo Project is not. So don’t expect third party GPL plugins any time soon.

What I’d like to do now is to find other people with both GizmoProject and Skype installed so I can hold conversations and compare the clarity between the two.

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Excel Spreadsheet that lets you check out jobs postings at work

This is a really nifty lifehack I found via Tipmonkies. Work Magazine has created an Excel spreadsheet that lets you sneakily check out jobs databases at work from an interface that looks like, no actually it IS, an Excel spreadsheet.

It’s a real Excel 2000 spreadsheet that plugs into Indeed.com’s search engine to make your job search look like actual work. So you type in your search keywords, the city you’re looking in, and the number of results you want, and it gives you what, to the untrained eye, is just more spreadsheet drudgery.

You can download the latest version of the spreadsheet here. Works well if you’re an accountant or a lawyer, but what if you’re a … web designer. “Oh this? Uh, it’s my daughter’s homework… yeah that’s it! Just helping her calculate the level of employment of web designers… in, uh, Congo?”

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