OStatic

Though Performous is a really fun open source karaoke game, I'll spare you the sound bite of me singing along with my favorite tune (trust me, you don't want to hear). Instead, you'll want to go download this cool cross-platform app and spend the day crooning into your hairbrush and pretending you're Elvis.

Performous isn't just an app that displays song lyrics, it's actually a teaching tool that can help you improve your singing voice. It helps correct your pitch (even in very noisy environments), displays musical notes onscreen as you warble, and awards you performance points for hitting all the right notes (octaves don't count).

The end of the year is a self-indulgent time, when those who write about technology stop making lists of the best, worst, and most mind-numbingly mediocre applications they find and pause to make lists about tech trends in the upcoming year.

Assessing the past is easy: it has been an interesting year for open source software. Predictions that come to pass, unless suitably vague, just fall into the lucky guess category. The one prediction I am sure of for 2009: Open source software will hold its own when it comes to growth and adoption.

My other predictions? What do you think?