This was going to be a really long post about web office suites. but I found this video from common craft that really says it all and I do not want to exceed myself.

Maybe this entry is already old before I post it, but reality shows me every day it maybe not,  since there are a lot of offices out there that still have monitors on their desks that could have easily be built all the way back in 1980.

And it is really bad PR. CRT’s look really bad, not only because it sells an image of indifference towards technology, they are difficult as hell to clean and they use an enormous amount of space on the desk.

I don’t want even to get started with those places where image is the thing to have in mind, like the receptionist’s desk or the free Internet computers at the hotel’s lobby.

If your computers are going to be there to the public, customers or clients to see, you should be thinking about changing your monitor fleet to LCD. Mainly because they are so much prettier, but also the consume less energy and (of course) cover less space. They are so much easier on the eyes and I promise none of the myths surrounding the flat panel displays are going to become true.

I recommend the Samsung LCD systems, mainly because they always make me happy enough, contrast and speed ratios are acceptable in all the product line. Oh! and in my opinion they price tag is also right.

But if image is your thing, then you could look at the high end devices, there are some really tasty!

The Asus EEE, for those of you who haven’t heard of it yet, is a UMPC that costs 400 bucks in the US and come (as you read) in Windows and Xandros flavours. It supports a 2 GB expansion and etc, etc etc.

Talking of it like that is really boring, you can read that, by better informed people elsewhere. What I want to tell you is who should buy it and who shouldn’t.

• Salesmen: This is great for you, only thing to care about is battery life. But with a car charger it’ll all be good.
• Designers: You need to buy it if you’re the PowerPoint presentation kind of guy. If not this is not an option, a 7 in. screen is no place to work, and though you could plug in a mouse, it would be very uncomfortable to design on it.
• Bars: no use for you guys
• The integrated camera and the ability to connect to the world via WiFi makes this gadget a must have tool for the average executive.  Word and Excel documents are easily modified and reviewed and your mail will be with you… always.
• If I was a writer this would be my travel machine, it’s really light and maybe the keyboard is too small, but that is not really something that will make you uncomfortable.

So I was wondering the other day how much cheaper can it be to talk via Skype instead of phone. It turns out a lot of people don’t consider the possibility not because of costs, but because of reliability. That’s that! When you don’t trust something is really not likely that you’re going to use it.

But in any case, I think people should give it a chance in the work field, as an alternative to communications of any other sort for a number of reasons and a number of uses, these are not all but are good ones.

• Suppose y need video conferencing, well Skype costs literally nothing and supports up to five lines.
• It is free and multi-platform
• Its really cool (and TV like) to be able to communicate with your coworkers and partners and see each other, it changes the dimension of things, obviously.
• It is a really practical in training programs, distance ones, like learning Spanish.
• It is great to monitoring the state of some remote project, AND ITS FREE!
• Oh! and maybe last but not least, international calls are really cheap.

So I recommend you give it a try, I can assure you’ll like it

Sometimes I really would like to know what’s going on in a bar before going, And maybe find out if someone I Know is there. Of course I would also like to known the menu, its telephone number and address.

This kind of service is not new, is just that I was watching The GeekBrief the other day and they were talking about yahoo’s new service Live that is very similar to Stickam from the older days. Anyway I forgot about it and yesterday watching Diggnation the issue came up again.

It is really interesting if you’re a reporter or maybe you have a bar. It is a really cheap way to add value to your site, and sometimes, It is really original to show people what is going in on this side of the fibre.

Down here I leave the Live transmition from some drugstore in Brazil. Hey, call me anything but boring!