For those of you who know me as the founder of iPhoneDevCamp, this will probably not come as much of a surprise. Over the past few weeks, a number of professional opportunities relating to the iPhone have emerged that are too compelling to pass up. Some of these projects I can’t talk about just yet, but I am looking forward to sharing them with you as soon as I able to.

For those of you who have known me as the Open Source Research Director for The 451 Group over the past 2.5 years, I am transitioning to a role in the company as Contributing Analyst, focusing on supporting our existing open source clients. This is a part-time role. Jay Lyman and Matt Aslett carry on with the open source research work, while I help out in an advisory capacity only.

Twitter users: I have launched a new Twitter identity, ravenme, where I will do all of my iPhone coverage and networking. The ravenzachary account will remain for Portland friends, general topics, and miscellaneous issues.

There’s more I could say, but I’d rather just have you take a look around the site and see for yourself. I’m hopeful that you’ll find something useful there.

That’s my project for tonight.

Carl Bernstein, CNN, 02/19/08, in regards to primary elections and why polls are not authoritative.

I flew back to Sante Fe, New Mexico, in 2004 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Studio X, the Internet company I co-founded back in April 1994. A friend of mine and one of the members of that endeavor, Michael Herrick, showed up to the party wearing cool glasses. I immediately took to them and decided I needed to own a pair for myself.

The glasses I wear are called Staffan Preutz, by Polaris Optic – a Swedish company. I purchased the glasses from Acoma Optical. I faxed in my prescription and received the glasses by mail. Having now worn these glasses for the past several years, they have become part of my persona and anytime I wear my backup pair (of a different style), I am immediately asked, “Where are (weird)/(cool) glasses?!”When I go shopping, people stare at the side of my head – it’s a strange experience.

Top comments by strangers in public…

“Are those implants?” (No)

“Do those hurt?” (No)

“Where did you get those?” (See above)

“Do you get headaches?” (Yes, but not from the glasses)

“Are you from the future?” (…Yes *wink*)

“Do you mind if I buy a pair?” (No, but I haven’t met anyone other than Michael Herrick with these glasses)

“Can I try them on?” (Sure)

“Hey man, regardless of your thoughts, the man is dead and a whole community is grieving. Give it some time before you bash.”

The comment above was hidden and marked with a score of -78. That means 78 more people voted thumbs down on this comment than thumbs up.

I hope it’s not too hot where he’s at right now. Oh wait. I do. Good riddance you ***ing *****. I hope you’re burning in a place you’ve feared in your life.

The comment above was visible and marked with a score of +76. That means 76 more people voted thumbs up on this comment than thumbs down.

There are hundreds of other comments on this news posting, and you will notice that most of the opposition voices, those praising Falwell’s life or at least asking for civility, are buried. I don’t know much about Jerry Falwell, and therefore don’t have an informed opinion on the matter. Religious personalities are not an area I have much interest in. However, it’s tactless to post rude and obnoxious comments about someone’s death. Online anonymity accentuates nasty people.

I continue to read Digg regularly and find it to be an excellent source of news tidbits, mostly technology related. I have found myself no longer reading comments, however, due to the burying of diverse and clearly unappreciated voices.