The PHP Roundtable podcast, hosted by Sammy Powers, has posted its latest episode. In this new show he's joined by Keith Casey, Tim Lytle and Mike McDerment to talk about hourly versus value based pricing when charging for freelance development work.

There are two seemingly contradicting philosophies about how to charge clients for programming work. The hourly camp suggests that the client is paying for your skill and hiring you for your time. The value-based pricing camp suggests that the programmer should price a project based on its value to the client instead of the hours it will take to build it. Today we chat about these two ideas and discuss the pros and cons of both.

You can catch this latest episode either using the in-page audio or video player or by watching the live recording directly over on YouTube. If you enjoy the show and want to see more like it, be sure to subscribe to their feed and follow them on Twitter for information about the most recent and upcoming shows (and live recordings).

While not directly related to PHP and its community, several potential technical book authors out there will probably be affected by this. The popular publishing platform, Leanpub, has announced a change in their pricing to create new books with the service.

Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors. This platform is the combination of two things: a publishing workflow and a storefront. Leanpub is more than the sum of its parts, however – by combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks, it’s something different.

[...] Our workflow is flexible. Authors can use our simple in-browser editor or upload completed ebook files, but most choose to write their manuscripts on their own computers, using either plain text (formatted using Markdown or Markua markup) or Word documents. [...] Our storefront is an elegant way to sell in-progress or completed ebooks. [...] Our royalty rate is better than Amazon’s and Apple’s royalty rates for any book over $2.99, and it is far better than Amazon’s royalty rate for books over $10.

[...] Today we are changing the pricing of Leanpub. Until now, Leanpub has been totally free for authors to use. [...] Going forward, it will cost money to create a new Leanpub book. Here’s the cost: $99 per book.

Previously the only charges were a percentage of the sales for books on the storefront but moving forward, there will be a flat $99 USD cost for new books created wth the service (in addition to the same royalty rate as before). This helps to fund this great service and keep the level of quality authors have enjoyed so far. More details about the changes for new books and the "grandfathering" of current books can be found on this pricing page.

On the ThinkPHP blog they mention the upcoming International PHP Conference happening October 27th through 31st and the Early Bird pricing for it that ends September 30th.

IPC 2008 is ahead of us and everyone is preparing for the Conf. Expect the best and biggest IPC ever, with five days fully packed of sessions, workshops and special days like the Starter Day or the Enterprise Day (covering topics from Tools over QA up to PHP5 migration and Security).

The special pricing is about 200 Euro for normal admission, 150 Euro for freelancers and 100 Euro for the student rate. The schedule has already been posted so check it out and be sure to reserve your spot in this year's event.

The php|architect folks have announced the pricing for their php|works/PyWorks conference coming in November.

Attendance pricing for php|works and PyWorks consists of a single price for the main conference (which is held on November 13 and 14) and an optional additional fee for the tutorial day (November 12). Note that you do not need to sign up for the tutorial day if you only want to attend the main conference.

A normal attendance package will cost around $600 CAD with the pricing dropping down to $500 CAD for academic and government attendees. If you just want to attend the tutorials, it'll only cost you about $250 CAD. Check out the signup page more more information on which group you could qualify for.

When it comes to protecting your code, you definitely want to find the right product for your needs. Finding the information on all of the encoders out there can be a task in itself, though. Fortunately, EncoderCompare.com has been created to give you a quick and easy reference.

Whilst we would always recommend the use of the ionCube Encoder product to protect your PHP source code when distributing your product to customers and users, there are several other products available to choose from.

To help with this, we have launched a comparison website which lists the available encoders and compares their features. The feature set is standardised so that it is possible to compare like for like in a clear manner.

Currently, there's fifteen encoders listed with all of their stats - protection types, restrictions available, what OSes it has loaders for, the availability of licensing, and the pricing. There's links to get more specific information on each as well.

When it comes to protecting your code, you definitely want to find the right product for your needs. Finding the information on all of the encoders out there can be a task in itself, though. Fortunately, EncoderCompare.com has been created to give you a quick and easy reference.

Whilst we would always recommend the use of the ionCube Encoder product to protect your PHP source code when distributing your product to customers and users, there are several other products available to choose from.

To help with this, we have launched a comparison website which lists the available encoders and compares their features. The feature set is standardised so that it is possible to compare like for like in a clear manner.

Currently, there's fifteen encoders listed with all of their stats - protection types, restrictions available, what OSes it has loaders for, the availability of licensing, and the pricing. There's links to get more specific information on each as well.