I sent my comatose 4th-generation iPod to iPodResQ for $29. The fee buys you overnight shipping and a diagnosis. They called the next day, and quoted me $130 to repair it (turns out the battery and logic board were toast). No thanks — I’ve since commandeered my wife’s seldom-used Nano. So I turned down the repair.

“Would you like us to buy it from you for $38?”

Hmm… I make nine bucks, I don’t have another dead gadget lying around pegging my guilt-meter, I don’t feel like I wasted $30 on a diagnosis, and they get to refurb and sell my iPod (certainly for a bit more than $9). What’s not to like?

That scheme is just plain genius.

While following Friday’s ruckus on Signal vs. Noise, I noticed the prior post was a reader shoutback entitled “The tools you use”. I like monkeying with new tools and toys as much as anyone, so I scanned through it and noticed a reference to a web application called iUseThis. Think of it as Digg for your hard drive. You can submit a program to the site, and everyone else who uses that app can sign up and say “I use this application.”

I went ahead and created a profile of the software I use. I was going to add it to the Signal vs. Noise comment thread, but said thread is several days old now, so I won’t bother. Feel free to link up your own profile here, though.

iUseThis, being a good little Web 2.0 app, features application tagging. However, only the “owner” of an application (is that the author, the submitter, or both?) can add tags to that app. I think that’s missing the point. People use tags to categorize their own data. The list of apps I use is my data and I can’t organize it (actually, there’s not even a way to sort the list). Compare it to my del.icio.us page — I can add whatever tags I want to my links, and that adds value to my information. On iUseThis, I would have liked to tag my “work” apps (TextMate, Transmit, Minuteur) and my “play” apps (Google Earth, iTunes) separately. Do all the programmers out there care that I manage my photos with iPhoto, or that I like to write with Scrivener? I’m guessing not so much. I hope the folks behind iUseThis pick up on that, and add user tagging to applications.

And finally — yes, I recognize the irony of trying a new toy that helps you find new toys to try. It’s almost as bad as writing about writing…

“I’m continually surprised that more companies aren’t willing to consider telecommuters, especially on the job board. My feeling is that you can’t trust the person you’re hiring to get the job done without being under your thumb, you’re probably not hiring the right person.” -From the Signal vs. Noise archives

Fact: I’m expecting my second child at the end of the month. My wife is happy at her job and our family is nearby.

Fact: Less than five people in Columbia, SC have ever heard the term Ruby on Rails. (OK, that’s not necessarily a fact, but it sure seems like one.)

Fact: There’s an amazing series of tubes that can connect me in realtime with pretty much anyone on the planet, anytime. Shoot, I even got me a cell phone and a Starbucks just around the corner.

Conclusion: A guy like me, with ten years’ experience building web applications for startups, on just about every platform that’s ever been buzzworthy, should be able to find someone to pay me to work remotely.

Wrong.

I’ve responded to ten or fifteen posts on the 37 Signals Job Board. The typical reply to my resume goes something like this:

“The resume looks great. Can we do a phone interview?”

“Hmm, 803, what area code is that?”

“So are you looking to relocate to (metro area X), or just anywhere?”

“You aren’t able to relocate? Well, thanks for your time.”

Rails is the best platform I’ve ever built a web application on. It’s the only one that I look forward to using. Before I spent quality time with it, I was ready to give up software development for good. I don’t want to use .NET or Visual Basic again, and I couldn’t work half as efficiently if I did. (Imagine seeing a job posting that read “Designer wanted. Must be proficient with MS Paint.”) Unfortunately, those are the only local job openings.

Relocation isn’t an option for me right now. A year from now, that may change, but that’s hardly the point.

37 Signals is a group of fairly smart and influential guys, half of whom are scattered around the globe. It’s their job board you’re advertising on. If telecommuting works for them, give me one good reason why it won’t work for your company.