I’d heard of Gizmo a while back, but hadn’t had a chance to check it out until today. I’ve got to say, it’s pretty slick. I think it may just replace Skype for me.

For those of you who aren’t up on the latest in internet telephone services, Gizmo and Skype are internet telephone services. You can call other users on their services for free, and for a small fee make outgoing calls, and accept incoming calls if you rent a phone number from them. They also have basic IM services built in.

So why do I like Gizmo? It uses open standards and I’m a geek for that kind of stuff. The interface also seems quite nice and it runs on everything (Skype does too). It also offers some features for free that cost money on Skype (like voicemail). So if you are doing the internet telephone thing I highly recommend giving it a try. You can give me a call at gregoryblake.

Just as I was coming to grips with NADD, I find out that there’s another aspect to it: Repetitive Information Injury.

NADD sufferers walk a delicate tight rope between effectively consuming large amounts of information and losing themselves in a endless loop of useless, frustrating information acquisition motions that I’ll call Repetitive Information Injury (“RII”).

For me RII shows up late in the day. I’m between meetings and having nothing urgent on my to do list. I sit down at the computer and scan my unread email. Once done there, I click on a couple of tab groups in Safari and scan the news. Lastly, I switch to NetNewsWire and scan for changes on my 75+ feeds.

And then… I do it again.

And again.

It sounds silly, but I’m literally stuck in a loop of information acquisition. What I am looking for? Something interesting informational tidbit which grabs my attention and if I don’t find it, I’ll often loop four or five times before I realize that I’m in this useless, non-productive loop. [Rands in Repose]

Crap, this describes many an afternoon for me. I may need professional help.