Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with alternatives

Need Instant Good Money, Who Doesn't?

VC Drake — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:39:22 -0800

Is there anything similar to Mechanical Turk on the Internet? When I say similar I am referring to being instant work and not like the freelance sites where you have to bid for work and wait around to see if you got accepted or someone else did.

Also, it would be nice if there was a site with instant work that was better-paying too.

Any other options out there, folks?

Alternatives to the program Synergy (keyboard and mouse over network)?

wastelands — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:15:24 -0800

Alternatives to the program Synergy (keyboard and mouse over network)? When I first got Synergy, I loved it. It was like magic.

But I've left the honeymoon phase and discovered some really frustrating bugs. On my Windows machines, the copy/paste will often by very delayed, or I'll have to move the cursor from A to B to A to B machines to get it to paste. Also the cursor frequently gets "stuck" for a few seconds between machines.

I came to find out that Synergy is not being maintained at all. It's a 3-year old build! WTF?

Can anyone recommend programs that work at least as good as Synergy, preferably those that are open source and multi-platform?

Thanks!

Banjo in China

dawson — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:06:13 -0800

A bid of a wild side multi-layered question. Learning the banjo. And doing so in Shanghai. Most people who travel (younger free-spirited types, work with me here) sling a guitar over their shoulder. I never could much play one, and want to pass some free time picking some traditional instrument...something I could drunkely 'jam' with other amateurs and maybe use in a classroom situation.
I took maybe 7 years of piano as a kid and can't play a lick. I love guitar but just ain't interested in learning it. Whatever I might 'learn' will be quite non-professional and rudimentary, so why not something a bit different?
I love the banjo, the happy sound, Pete Seeger and it's place in American folk music...
I guess, to cut to the chase...
is it as easy to learn as the guitar? would it not be cheaper to buy one here and take with? (I plan to make at least 2 more r/t's this year)
What's the best style/brand/model for a raw beginner?
Or should I just get a decent harmonica?
Or stick with the ipod...

CAPTCHA this.

Iteki — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:59:50 -0800

Swearing in church perhaps, but alternatives to Gmail? I have been using gmail and advising my "students" to use it too.
Due to literacy issues (computer and otherwise) they often write the wrong password, userid etc, and we are in a state of permanant CAPTCHA with google. We have to, for example, enter passwords and captcha at least 5 times in a row to create a new account.

My needs are few if I can't use gmail. A simple interface, decent storage, no ads in the mail and a bland/profesional white domain.

What famous inventions have non-famous alternatives or competitors?

damn dirty ape — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:53:46 -0800

What famous inventions have non-famous alternatives or competitors? I'm trying to develop an alternate earth where history went a little differently thus technology is a little different. Im looking for alternatives to commonly used technology. For instance, the V8 engine and the Wankel engine. Helicopters and ornithopters. Edison wanted to electrify homes with AC power and Tesla with DC power. The early web and gopher.

I'd love to hear more. Thanks.

Alternative to MotionBased and Garmin Connect?

letitrain — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:09:21 -0800

Alternatives to MotionBased and Garmin Connect for tracking running workouts with a Garmin Forerunner 305? Are there any alternative websites that provide running-specific GPS tracking, including maps and heart rate, pace and speed analysis? I had transitioned completely to Garmin Connect, but with yesterday's site update they locked out the Forerunner 305 (not officially supported, but previously working just fine). Grrrr...

I could go back to MotionBased and pay to upgrade my account (necessary to see more than ten workouts), but it's supposedly going to be replaced with the (free) Garmin Connect any day now. I can't tell if I'd be paying for a month or if they'll have their typical 4-12 month upgrade delays. Which means I don't know whether to sign up for a month or a year.

Anyway, my emails with Garmin support are an exercise in frustration and I'm ready to try something new until they get their heads out of their collective asses. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Water water everywhere but way too boring to drink (all the time)

Deathalicious — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:48:47 -0800

As summer approaches, how about some nice suggestions for alternatives for cola/sodas? I want to save money, bottles, and empty calories. Here are the rules:

Caffeine free
Lower in Calories than sodas
Something relatively easy/fast to make or procure

Healthy, natural, and cheap is best but for excellent flavor I'm willing to be a bit more flexible. But no matter what, it has to be refreshing. Also, I'm mostly looking for recipes but if there's something inexpensive that I can purchase that stands on its own that works too.

I realize that "Ice tea" is going to be a popular answer and of course I will be making some of that. But details would be great. For example, is it possible to recreate a cola-ish flavor by mixing different herbal teas together?

ffffound.com alternatives?

clearlydemon — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:33:16 -0800

I really like ffffound, but the invites are really hard to get. Are there any similar alternatives? I know many other "cool pics" sites, but I like the design/art focus in ffffound. I'm also interested in the community features, which I can't get with a regular blog or tumble.

What's a good alternative to Tylenol, aspirin, Aleve, etc., that won't tear up my stomach?

kittens for breakfast — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:45:44 -0800

What's a good alternative to Tylenol, aspirin, Aleve, etc., that won't tear up my stomach? I'm sure this question's been asked before, but I'm not finding anything very specific -- if I'm wrong, please direct me there, and I'll happily go. Anyway, all of the above mentioned drugs tend to upset my stomach a lot, which is problematic on account of how I get brutal headaches now and then. The choice between a headache and a stomachache is one I'd as soon not to have to make on a regular basis -- I'd prefer to just, you know, not feel sick. Any advice?

What are your healthy alternatives for your guilty pleasures?

WCityMike — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:04:15 -0800

What healthy -- or at healthier -- alternatives do you eat to fulfill cravings for emphatically unhealthy food? Clarification and examples inside. I am on a path towards an end goal of losing a considerable amount of weight, and basically, a lot of the places I've already found success have been where I've successfully substituted one food for another, while still concentrating on fulfilling the craving. I took a food quiz that indicated that my eating problems were very sense-based, so I've tried to concentrate on things that have strong flavors.

An example: instead of Ben & Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch, I've found that the very tart taste of a Edy's Whole Fruit lemonade bar is strong enough to fulfill the "cold, strong flavor" craving that I often have after dinner. Or, instead of a king-sized Snickers bar, I might have a piece of Life Savers Chocolate and Caramel hard candy, or maybe a small piece of Dove dark chocolate. (No, this isn't a Pepsi Blue post, I'm just giving examples of what I've used.) For some people, Triscuit pizzas might fulfill the pizza desire. And so on.

Basically, though, what I'm asking is: what successful substitutions have you found that fulfill your cravings for something emphatically unhealthy? If you have Craving X, and Product A that fulfills that craving is too high calorie, high fat, whatever, what is your Product B that manages to (happily?) fulfill the urge? Product B doesn't necessarily have to be healthy, in and of itself, it just has to be healthier. For example, in the example above, gorging on the hard candy wouldn't be healthy at all ... but two hard candies is going to be a hell of a lot less calories than a king-sized Snickers bar. Get my drift?

Ask MeFi braintrust, don't fail me now! ;-)

Where can I find an comfortable alternative to New Balance sneakers?

jason's_planet — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 09:15:10 -0800

Where can I find wide-width casual shoes in New York? I'm looking for alternatives to New Balance. My best-fitting pair of shoes at the moment is a 9.5/4E pair of New Balance sneaks. I love the fit of New Balance. I do not love the style of New Balance. I think their shoes are a little dowdy and dorky-lookin', to be perfectly frank with you. I'd like to find an alternative to that brand that is equally comfortable but more stylin'.

Sooooo . . . can anyone recommend a store or manufacturer that I can rely on to provide wide-width sneakers that are both comfortable and stylish? Or wide-width shoes in general, such as I would wear at the office?

Denver Public Transport Strike & A Lost Foreigner

divabat — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 05:00:53 -0800

Denver's public transport is on strike. I'm coming over from overseas this weekend and will need to rely on public transport to get around. Ack! What should I do? I'm coming over to Denver for a volunteer performance thing and this strike has really messed up my travel plans. I don't drive, I'm living with a host family, and I need to get my own transport - I had good plans, but then this strike comes in and I don't know what to do anymore.

My schedule looks something like this:

First Week:
1) Host mum drops me at Wagon RD PnR at 8 am
2) I take 2 buses to office at Broadway (near 16th Street); reach there by 9 am (120x bus to Market St, and one other bus that takes a minute)
3) Leave office to reach Auraria campus at 3 pm (I could go here with my colleagues, but just in case...)
4) Leave Auraria campus at 9-10 pm and head back to Wagon Rd

Last 3 Days:
Similar, except that instead of going to Auraria, I'll need to go to Teikyo Loretto Heights. Timing's similar, or full day there (so no office).

What I'm worried about are:

a) As far as I could tell, the routes I would need to get anywhere are still operational. However, I don't know if there would be buses with enough space, or if they would STILL be operational, or what.
b) Timing. My host mum will drop me off on her way to work; should we leave earlier? I'll be finishing late at night, how do I get home?
c) Money. Are the tickets more expensive now?

I've only been to Denver once before and didn't need public transport then, and I'm flying there this Saturday (two days from now) so am a bit worried! I've asked the people in our volunteer cast for ideas, but in the meantime, what else can I do?

Thank you!

Pay all you can pay, father of two

airguitar — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 17:11:51 -0800

If you owe a bunch of back child-support (14 years for the older child, three years for the second, two different women), are married to a woman you could take or leave (not the mother of either), have no custody of the children, have never met the second child, have had no contact with the first for the past ten years, would like to begin to become current with past due payments, would like a closer relationship with your children, don't want to go to jail, don't consider yourself to be someone having a strong job skill-set, are currently unemployed {leisurely, if not pleasantly, subject to the arbitrary whims of said spouse [of which include no requirements for earning an income (lots of time to play video games, watch movies, and think)]}, don't believe you can support yourself alone with the work that you believe you can find, are afraid to find a job, move out, lose the maximum in state-mandated garnishments from each check, fail again and end up living with/under someone else, would like to learn and travel, wouldn't mind medical, dental, vision and life insurance, could use a retirement fund; would enlisting in the US Army be a strategically effective next action? My friend writes me:

"If you can help me figure out another way that I can work without needing to pay for rent, food, clothes, or any other basic living costs while getting medical, dental, vision, life and a retirement plan please let me know. I would love to walk out of here [current marriage] this fall and not need to take anything but some clothes and a few items I'm fond of and not have to look back knowing that I have a job waiting for me, a paycheck I don't need for living costs as well as learning a trade and for the first time in my life, be on my own and never have to ask anyone for anything."

From what I've heard, soldiers still get banged for child support with a regularity, and the Army doesn't pay that well. He's thirty-three or four, not much time left to enlist. The recruiter says that this will kill seven insurgents with one smart bomb. Could that be true? Any creative suggestions?

Resource-friendly popular software alternatives?

sian — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 17:02:23 -0800

Any recommendations on software alternatives that are more resources friendly than their mainstream competitors? Examples: Firefox vs. IE, Winamp vs. ITunes, alternate anti-virus programs, etc.

Free alternatives to Backpack

blag — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 17:12:55 -0800

I like Backpack but I've reached the limitations of the free version. It's just a fancy wiki, right? Are there any open source alternatives that I can install on a server and which look and feel as user-friendly? Specifically, I'm looking for functionality like the one-click add a ToDo item, email to add a ToDo, reminders etc. I could probably live without the fancypants AJAX stuff but that would be nice.

I've tried TiddlyWiki, MediaWiki and QwikiWiki but they're all too freeform; I'd rather have something which is focussed on tasks/projects and has built-in ToDos like BackPack. Constantly having to click "Edit this page" is also annoying.
Please don't suggest a hipster-bloody-pda. I'll scream.

Thanks.

HURF DURF CANDY EATER

Eideteker — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 15:06:50 -0800

What are some good ideas for inexpensive alternatives to candy for Halloween? I haven't bought any Halloween candy yet, because I've been trying to think up something else to give out that evening. I don't want to buy candy because whatever I don't give away I will eat. I am in a new city, so I have no idea what sort of traffic I will get. I could get 5 kids or I could get 500 (though I will be in class for most of the evening); as I'm a) near a school and b) in a complex with lots of seniors (who probably give out lots of candy), I'm guessing it will be somewhat high-traffic. Aside from the "bowl of pennies," what sorts of things would you suggest giving out?

Also, any ideas on how to study throughout Halloween madness? While I don't anticipate getting much stuff done answering the door every 5 minutes, I don't want to waste the afternoon/evening.

Where do you go from here?

Anonymous — Sun, 08 May 2005 22:52:09 -0800

I'm 33. I'm attractive. I earn a good salary. I live in a beautiful apartment. I drive a convertible. I'm intelligent. I've read tons of books. I've travelled a great deal. Women like me. I'm good in bed. I've driven fast cars. I've been an alcoholic. I've abused drugs. I've smoked 20 a day. I've seen shrinks at various points in my life. But still... ...people and relationships drive me crazy. The pain they cause me far outweighs the pleasure they bring, so now I use Effexor (an SSRI which (clearly;-) doesn't elevate my mood but does kill my sex drive) to defuse my physical needs, and live a highly reclusive life.

Of course, the reclusive lifestyle's getting a bit dull as I increasingly bore myself, but the only alternative I see - what feels to me as the inevitable negative equity of human relationships - seems none too appealing.

What other alternatives are there...?

Alternative to Benzodiazipines

jswanson19 — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:28:34 -0800

I am under a tremendous amount of stress lately due to factors with my health, job, and homelife. I have tried all sorts of natural ways to control this but with no luck. My doctor has prescribed Ativan, which works, but gives me an endless headache. A past experience with Xanax proved similar. Buspar did nothing. I am already on an anti-depressant. Is anyone aware of any other prescription drug that I could suggest to my doctor as an alternative to the benzos?

Partner referral tracking application?

yerfatma — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 11:41:45 -0800

Name that application: a client is looking to move their partner referral tracking online and I would like to avoid hand-coding a solution for various reasons. But I'm having trouble finding suitable "boxed" solutions as most Google results are for "referral tracking" of the spamish kind. Detailed description inside. This application would be accept leads from partners (where a "partner" can be anyone online, but there are multiple levels of partners) through an online form. The client assigns the lead to a sales guy, chases it down, updates the status. If the status is a new account, the referrer gets compensated. Because the compensation could exceed US$600 annually, the system also needs to accept W9 info (which is why I'd really like to see an ASP solution if at all possible) and generate 1099s at the end of the year.

Additionally, the tool should allow all partners to login and view the status of their referrals, compensation history, etc.

Looking for examples of interesting non jewel case or digipack packaging ideas for CDs.

davebush — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:11:35 -0800

Looking for examples of interesting non jewel case or digipack packaging ideas for CDs. If you've seen something special, please share.

Links to photos will be much appreciated.

Are Ecco boots worth their price?

bargle — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 20:39:50 -0800

I am considering buying a new pair of boots just to wear around town, the ones I am looking at are Ecco brand, "Track High" is the name of the boot. First pair of Ecco brand that I have tried on and they felt unbelievable on my feet, but - are they worth $200.00? Other suggestions welcome. I should point out that I am curious about how well this brand holds up, I have googled and googled and I am more confused than ever.

Outlook Express

sgt.serenity — Sun, 18 Apr 2004 10:37:45 -0800

Outlook Express must DIE ! As you can tell , i'm not too please with OE at the moment , i downloaded a patch for it which then resulted in me losing my addresses and the complete inability to use it as an outgoing mail program.

I've been told i must reinstall XP pro entirely to fix this.

I'd rather not , i'd rather post here and see if people can suggest an alternative to outlook express that i can install on my computer without a complete bloomin reboot.

honestly , i'll use anything .