You Are Dumber Than We

So I'm checking out the We Are Smarter Than Me site (google it - they get no linkage from me). Hmm, nice, an interview with Doc Searls, a current one with Mike Arrington. Neat.

But there's no download link (that I can see) for the mp3 file. Oh, okay. There's the little orange XML button. I'll subscribe to the feed in GReader and the mp3 attachments will show up there likely. Umm.. no they don't.

There's a little note on the Podcasts page about having to subscribe to this stream via ITunes. So it's either that or listen on-line while I'm on the page (there's a little play button link which plays the file - apparently without any controls).

Oh forget it. 'We' are definitely smarter than you. At least the blog title is accurate.

Blogged with Flock

Me again on Linuxreality...

The second part of my guest segment on the linuxreality podcast is up today. More Inkscape chatter from yours truly.

The new found fame I've enjoyed because of this is just wonderful. I did a photo shoot for Podcast&Ammo magazine just last weekend. Unfortunately it included a nude photo spread and the editor deemed it far too graphic to publish. For shame, the prudes.

;)

Blogged with Flock

Slicing and Dicing mp3 files

As I've likely mentioned before, one of the things I like about my new
car is the USB port right in the front panel of the stereo. I bought a
wee little Lexar Jumpdrive Firefly recently which I keep filled with various
folders of music and podcast mp3 files. I just stick it into the
stereo and it works. It's a nice, simple, and open system - no
proprietary hardware or software interface, any usb stick and plain
mp3 file will do. Heck, it doesn't even wanna play wma files which is
a good thing too! :)

But if there is one nagging thing I don't like about it, it's that the
ffwd and rewind functions are designed for music and not podcasts. So
if I'm 45 minutes into an episode of TLLTS, and my daughter wants to listen
to the Irish Rovers, I know I'll have to ffwd through 45min of TLLTS
to get back to where I was later on. That means holding the ffwd
button for about 5 minutes - not ideal.

So naturally, what I do is make a mental note of the time elapsed
before switching to a different track and then (if I remember) I bring
the track into Audacity and cut off the first 45min of it (or whatever
the elapsed time was). Still kludgy at best.

But I've found a quicker if not less-kludgy way of doing it. If you
need to chop off the beginning, the end or some portion of a given
mpeg file (mpeg2, mp3, mpeg4), then mpgtx is your tool of choice.
Available for linux or windows, this nifty command line tool sounds
like a nice tool for quick mpeg slicing and dicing. In particular to
do what I wanted, I simply used:

mpgtx -s tllts_206.mp3 [45:00-] -b cut_tllts_206

This splits (-s) the input file (tllts_206.mp3) taking the portion
starting at 45min to the end of the file, and outputs it to
cut_tllts_206.mp3. The -b flag is for the basename.. haven't figured
out that one, but you need it there for it to work.

So in a matter of 2 or 3 seconds it chops the first 45min off of the
file and gives me a new mp3. Nice!

Doing this same thing in Audacity was a chore. It would take a minute
or so for Audacity to import the mp3, I'd chop off the front 45 min
and then have to export it back out which took another minute or so.
Then, depending on the default export bitrate, I might get a bigger
mp3 file than the original (!). So in one fell swoop I cut the process
from 3 minutes to 3 seconds. Not bad.

Incidentally, what I likely *should* do, is split up longish podcast
files into 10 minute mp3 files. So if I need to find my place I can
just click through 10minutes at a time. I figured out how to do this
back in the comments of this post. Sheesh.. if only I was half as organized and prepared as I'd like to be. :)

Pre-Hammered Sinatra

I finally got around to watching Steve Gillmor's Bad Sinatra 1. Since I don't own an iPhone (and have no desire to), I decided I'd use the nifty program DeVeDe to burn it to a DVD and experience the full glory of Gillmor on my living room TV. With a slice of cold pizza in hand, I hit the play button and watched.

After it was over, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't feel as though it was '38 minutes I'd never get back'. Clearly it's not polished. Hopefully it never will be. Steve still has his magic. His ability to annoy, cajole and make me chuckle has remained untainted over his months of relative silence. I'm glad.

High points? Dan Farber, definitely. Devoid of the scene-stealing, attention hungry bravado of Calacanis, Farber continues to forcefully right the apple cart that Steve is constantly trying to upset. I admire his attempts at pinning Steve down on some of the issues. Never quite successful mind you, but it's sure fun watching him try.

Other things I liked - Doc Searls of course. Pre-hammered shit and the state of VRM. Now there's a white paper for you. He made me laugh - more than a couple of times.

I wasn't impressed with a lot of the other stuff, not because it wasn't important (to someone), but it wasn't to me. If it was up to me, it would be the Steve, Dan and Doc Show all over again - there is long standing magic there I think - you can hear.. er.. see it. And just to ice the cake, put Jon Udell on speakerphone in every episode and pan away to a lovely scenic shot just as he's about to make his big point on the crackly speaker. That was classic too.

Annoyances? Damn Robert.. straighten the hat and adjust the camera if you need to. I know it's cool to be a nerd these days, but c'mon, that just couldn't be comfortable.

I'm interested to see where it goes. If it's anything like the Gang of old, I'm sure Steve has no idea where that is. ;)

Oh yeah... Note to Steve. The USB input on my new Kia's stereo, combined with my 100km daily commute says to me that audio podcasting is anything but 'dead'. I must have listened to 35 Diggnation episodes and have only ever watched two and they even have hot babes on there sometimes ;) - The power of video podcasting is not as strong as you'd like to think.

I guess the true test will be if I create an audio version of your video show and feel I'm not missing anything. Wanna pull a Diggnation and save me the work by providing an mp3 only feed too?

Didn't think so. ;)

Listening Habits

As I've written about a couple of times in the past, I'm hooked on podcasts and there doesn't seem to be any let-up in sight. I burn mp3 CD-RW's and they fuel my 50 minute commute each way to and from work. I probably end up listening to about 3-5 hours of podcasts a week. Right now I'm fairly satisfied with the podcasts I'm subscribed to, but there are a whole whack of them out there. So there are likely quite a few that I would love but just haven't heard of.

I thought I'd share my listening habits with you, and by all means give me your comments and recommendations on shows that you think I might like, but don't currently know about. My interests wax and wane like the moon so some podcasts will arrive on my list and others might depart from time to time. So there's usually always a space for new things.
 
Here's a list of the podcasts that are currently making regular rounds in my car's mp3-cd deck (in alphabetical order):

43 Folders
60 Minutes Podcast
7th Son (Podcast Novel)
Diggnation
Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor
Floss Weekly (Free, Libre And Open Source Software)
Gillmor Gang
Inside The Net (now called "Net @ Night")
KFI (The Tech Guy)
Linux Reality
Lug Radio (a Linux Podcast from the UK)
Matt's Today in History
The Bitterest Pill
The Digital Story (A Photography Podcast)
The Linux Action Show!
The Linux Link Tech Show
The LottaLinuxLinks Podcast
This Week In Tech
Web Design Podcast from Boagworld

And a few that are in my aggregator's subscription list but are not quite 'regular' releases:

Digital Flotsam
Morning Coffee Notes
RanchoCast
ReelReviewsRadio

Have you got some suggestions? What are *you* listening to?

Engaging once again

For those who might have quit listening to the Gillmor Gang, two things about the one just released:

1. Again it was split into 5 parts, and just to be more aggravating the parts were numbered in reverse... part 5 is the first segment, part 1 is the last.

2. The last segment (released as part 1 of 5 grrr) is, without a doubt the most engaging podcast I've heard in quite a while.


As an aside, Doc was actually wrong about something ;) But of course he beats everyone to the punch and takes the blame head on.

Sounding Like a Gillmor Fanboy...oh gawd..

Reading Todd Cochrane's post earlier today about how he 'used to listen to the Gillmor Gang', got me to pondering why I'm still listening to it - and perhaps with more earnest than ever.

I won't pretend to defend Steve's decision to chop it into bite-sized portions. But, he seems to have met me halfway by doing two things: skillfully ending the ad block at 4 minutes on the dot - rather consistently over the last few series of shows, and releasing all the pieces at one time (or at least nearly that way). Is it exactly the format I want? No. Should it be? No. It's his show.

I'm sure Steve would be the first to say 'if you don't like it, then don't subscribe to it' although I'm sure he'd do it with more colour and fewer words. The blogosphere makes it so easy to demand exactly what we want from absolutely everybody. But is that really the way you expect everything to work?

He can slice and dice it six ways from Sunday if he wants. If he loses listeners (and we make the rather large assumption that he really cares about that) then it's his loss. I'm not paying for the show. He's *giving* it to me.

So why then am I still listening - even split across 5 files? There are a few key reasons, none of which are tremendously clever:

1. He has smart people on the show who (at least lately) are willing to really speak their minds. It's often served dripping with sarcasm, or as an off-handed remark, but that makes it even more honest. If I preferred stodgy industry analysis I'd have tuned out long ago, or shot myself. You hear honest opinions rarely heard anywhere else.

2. The group dynamic he has going there sometimes generates a serious chuckle from me. And that ain't as easy as you'd think. Lately it's Calacanis that got me spitting coffee on my steering wheel. More specifically, it was a tremendously bad, but tremendously funny imitation of Adam Curry. And Jason's imitation of Steve: "Ok..we've been on the call for 37 seconds...let's rate the show" was absolutely priceless and shows you what I mean by point 1. No one...especially Steve, is safe. While I think they all respect each other, he's giving them pretty much free reign. That takes a substantial set of cojones.

3. By letting his own gang members disparage his editing choices (and not editing it out), you have no doubt he's heard every possible complaint about the show. And yet he continues on undaunted. I'll almost be disappointed if he does stop chopping it up... almost. ;)

4. I don't know what the hell he's going to do next. I don't even know if there will be another show - after all, every show's the 'last show'. How's that for suspense?

5. I've come to the realization that while many of Steve's views are contrary to mine, they're also contrary to that of many of his gang members. His willingness to consistently invite and argue these contrary opinions makes the pill substantially less bitter. It doesn't hurt to have 3 of 5 smart guys agreeing with you. ;)

6. Doc's still hangin' in there. So there must be something good going on. ;)

[Note: While Steve's shout-out to me a few shows back was much appreciated (Thanks Steve), I won't hesitate to unsubscribe if the show becomes uninteresting to me. But of course he knows that. Whether he cares is another matter entirely! ;) ]

Podcast=Bleccch, Netcast=Yummm

Early this Saturday morning I read a post by Leo Laporte (posted even earlier this morning) about Apple sending a cease and desist letter to a software and services company called Podcast Ready claiming that the terms "Podcast Ready" and "myPodder" infringe on Apple trademarks. He makes some great points:

Now I'm far FAR away from being a religious person, but if there is a god, I beg him/her/it, "Please let this be true!!!!". Leo goes on to say that (like me) he really doesn't like the term 'podcast' anyway. In no way does Apple deserve to be construed as the inventor of podcasts or a required part of a podcasting system. That is not an angry shot at Apple, it's just fair.

Truth is, I've never liked the word podcast. It causes confusion. In the past couple of days two people have told me that they can't listen to my shows because they "don't own an iPod." I have to explain constantly that podcasts can be listened to on computers, phones, MP3 players, and CDs, as well as iPods, but because of the name the confusion persists. And now Apple is threatening people who use the word.

Further he suggests using the term "netcast". I fully agree. It's more accurate, better sounding and a nice little pun to boot. Will it happen? Maybe not. But man do I ever wish it would! And don't for a second suggest 'audioblog'... if there is an uglier name than 'podcast' then it's got to be 'blog'.

Now how do we get 'netcast' into widespread use? Well this is why I beg and pray that Apple decides to fight companies using the term. It will make adopting a new term so much easier.

Anyone heard any great NETCASTS anyone?

Sparks on the Rails

Listening to the last few Gillmor Gangs has been like watching a train wreck. You can't take your eyes (or in this case ears) off of it as the brakeless train hurtles faster and faster. It only seems a matter of time until the wheels leave the rails. But man, until then it's getting less intellectual but more interesting with each installment.

Last time it appeared that Jason Calacanis had wrestled the controls from Steve and was bound and determined to drive it straight off the tracks. And in this latest episode Jason is not there (what happened to script continuity anyway?) but we find Mike Arrington regrettably rating poor Hugh after he's left the call. Not nice. But at least we're getting to hear some real opinion on things - even if the interesting ones are non-tech related.

Will Steve continue to piss off his fellow passengers by chopping and hacking each episode into bite sized chunks? It seems they're all against it - to Steve's apparent delight.

Will Mike Arrington finally realize that all his chuckling and backhanded comments about Hugh actually do hurt his own reputation?

Will mainstream media heroes Dan and MikeV finally join Jon Udell in leaving the dark side?

Will Adam Curry show up and respond to Steve's 'Fuck you Adam Curry...but he's a fantastic guy' statements?

Will Doc Searls actually say something that doesn't make absolute sense?

Good luck to Steve in keeping it on the rails. He's actually got me engaged again, but the problem with train wrecks is that while they are good at garnering attention, we all know how they ultimately end.

For now, you can check out the blog that doesn't exist by clicking this not-dead-yet link.

Photocast Network Launches

A new podcast network has been created which focuses (parden the pun) on photography related podcasts. You can find it at PhotocastNetwork.com. There are currently 8 shows on board. I'm only a regular subscriber to one of them at the moment (TipsFromTheTopFloor) but I've listened to (and watched) some of the other ones from time to time and they are all worthwhile. Potentially a good source for those interested in getting their photography fix on a regular basis.

This Week In Tech - no rss/xml icons??

If you're a regular listener of This Week In Tech, you'll probably know that they've recently done a redesign of their site. It looks much much better, but there is one problem.

Now maybe it's too early on a Monday morning and I've just got to give my head a shake, but it seems to me that subscribing to the Twit series of shows on this site is a pain for someone like me who uses a plain-jane podcasting client like iPodder. I've recently re-installed it on my linux box (btw interestingly it's still called 'iPodder' in linux and NOT 'Juice') and had to resubscribe to a few shows like Floss Weekly.

If you visit the site, you will NOT see the ubiquitous 'xml' or 'rss' chicklet for the show's feed (or any of the show's feeds). I usually right-click this to copy the address to the feed and paste it into my aggregator.

No. Instead they have a 'Subscribe..' drop down box which lists all the subscriptions mechanisms ('I-Tunes, Odeo, etc..) and at the bottom you will see 'rss'. That's great. But I can't right-click that entry in the drop down list to copy the address (at least I couldn't) and when I select 'rss' I get the xml document tree representation that everyone calls 'scary'.

The only way I can copy the feed address is to click 'rss' from the dropdown list, ignore the document tree page and copy the feed link in the address bar of my browser when the document tree is showing.

Is this a good solution??? C'mon guys. We shouldn't have to do this to subscribe. NOT everyone uses I-Tunes. Give me some direct link to the feed address somewhere on your page that I can copy and paste. You should know better. For shame Leo.

A Good Interview

While it's kind of old in this fast-paced world of blogs and technology, I did find a podcast interview with Doc Searls on the LQ-Radio podcast. He's one of the people in this sphere of the web that I respect most. I think intelligence mixed with humility and honesty is a recipe for respect that can't be beat, and Doc has those ingredients in spades. Check it out. It's quite an interesting interview.

The Podshow Feed Hijack Mess

It looks as though Podshow (run by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom) are 'stepping in it' at the moment. Todd Cochrane posted last night about how Podshow is hijacking his podcast feed and he's pissed about it. Turns out he's not the only one and the trouble seems to be brewing.

Podshow is indeed providing their own version of the feed instead of the original feed - Todd has now shown what they've removed from his feed. This is in no way different than when you run across a clone blog hosting content that is not their own. I've run across a few of these, most noticeably a blog that showed Robert Scoble's postings alongside their own advertising banners and things, trying to make it look like that's his blog. Not a reputable way to build a business I'd say. But by and large, the general public will not know the difference. And if the general public doesn't care, I guess Podshow doesn't either.

So the podshow and others will generate ad revenue among other things on the backs of unwitting podcasters who are not (and don't want to be) part of the podshow family. Shame on them. I can't see this going on for too long before Podshow does something about it. Adam is still podcasting and as such will be faced with pressure from his own audience to fix it. I think he will do what's right.

Linux Reality Podcast

Linux Reality is a podcast for the new linux user. Currently host Chess Griffin is going over Ubuntu Dapper (I found his podcast during a blog search for Ubuntu) but it's not really a linux distro review show. His past shows covered things like the linux file system heirarchy, command line basics and file permissions among other newbie topics. This is just what I've been searching for. If you're new to linux or wanting to try it out, you might enjoy this one. He gets a lot of email and voice mail from more experienced linux users so it's quite possible to benefit from it even if you're past the newbie stage.

Zefrank has found it...

Dave Winer points to 'the show with zefrank'. Absolutely entertaining. There are some people in this world who are just born to do something special. zefrank has found it. Smart, snarky, hyper-energetic, and wonderful. In this dawning age of do-it-yourself multimedia we will see so many more of these talented people popping out of the woodwork in the coming years. I can't wait.

The Paid For Pill? April Fools?

I'm a big fan of 'The Bitterest Pill' podcast by Dan Klass. I relate to it, I enjoy it, it makes me smile. So today I read this post by Dan that he's changing to a paid subscription model. On his previous podcast he complained that a disgruntled listener thought he might be too busy out monetizing his podcast, a fact which Dan flatly denied - he was too busy being 'up to his ass in laundry'.

So is he going to a paid model? I hope not.
Is it April Fools? I hope so.
Will I remain a listener if he goes paid subscription? Probably not.

I also notice Steve Gillmor pimping GoDaddy along with Earthlink these days on his podcasts. To each his own, but please Steve, trying to relate a personal anecdote about switching to GoDaddy for 5 or 6 minutes at the beginning of the show is a real pain. I hope they're paying you well for it, because it only took me 2 times to get completely annoyed. With all this talk of attention, you're forcing me to place mine immediately 5 minutes ahead with the ffwd button each time.

A Tip From The Top Floor...

At the expense of not posting anything here, I've been absorbed in photography as of late. Well, not only making photographs, but getting back into the learning and experimentation parts of it. One thing that has kept me intrigued and motivated is the Tips From The Top Floor podcast. Chris Marquardt does a great job with the shows and he's built quite a knowledgeable and friendly forum on his site to go along with it. This is such a smart use of the medium. The show provides great information in a very enjoyable form, and the forums on his site provide a way for listeners to actively participate and develop their skills. It makes the whole thing much more involving and participative. Which then builds listeners, reputation, respect and, without a doubt, success. It appears that nice guys can succeed. Chris and his helpers are proving it.

Another Kick at the Can and What Is a LugRadio?

I've taken another kick at the Linux can... About 9 months ago I installed Suse Linux (9.2) on my machine and dual-booted it with XP. While I found it interesting, I didn't have the time to really get it up and running smoothly enough to really evaluate it. In the past couple of weeks, I took on the personal challenge of checking out how the other half lives again and removed Suse and installed Ubuntu.

I ran into several problems trying to get the dual-booting to work properly and figuring out how to get the sound up (it was working but the mixer volume was off!) so I'd have to still say that from my experience (albeit a sample size of 1), it still appears to be more of a OS for 'tinkerers'. Although to be fair, the problem was getting the XP dual-booting going under Linux, something which XP doesn't even allow (I don't believe MS even gives you the option of dual-booting anything other than Microsoft OS's).

Mind you, I'm running Ubuntu 5.10 ("Breezy Badger" for those in the know) which has not been officially released - that happens in two days I think, so things might have been a bit smoother had I waited for the stable release.

I'm pressed for time, so I'll save my comments for when I've got more Linux miles under my belt and can put a few coherent thoughts together.

One other thing though. In the course of investigating Linux and Ubuntu, I found a great podcast dealing with Linux. It's called LugRadio and I enjoy it immensely. Even if Linux is not your thing, these guys are truly great to listen to. I've heard lots of podcasts now, from the highly polished to those that are completely rough around the edges. In my opinion, these boys have got a great balance. They cover interesting stuff like open source software, programming, technology and even some politics with intelligence, passion and great humour. Probably not for everyone, but they've held my attention for hours of listening. Give them a try.

Clearing the Podcasting Air

Dave Winer has posted what sounds to me like a very honest account of the falling out between himself and Adam Curry. A very interesting listen. It sounds like he felt he was shafted and he may be right. He may get accused of whining, but where is the rule that says you can't say or write what you feel. Whether you agree with him or not, I don't doubt his honesty about how he feels. It will be left to Adam to refute the claims.

Podcasting news coming fast and furious it seems..

Interesting article
about an AM radio station in San Francisco that will be broadcasting listener generated content. A few things strike me as disappointing (although pragmatic) limitations: FCC licensing and the lack of downloadable archives.

Why is it that the big cheese's willingness to pay licensing fees for podcasters to play music is such a big deal in all these schemes? If I wanted to hear music that is licensed for broadcast play I'd listen to the damned radio!

One other thing that is forgotten or maybe not realized yet, is that I value the ability to pick what I want, any mix of what I want. What they're proposing sounds like it will be public access radio. Sure it's grass roots, but *I* have no control over what I get to hear, someone else does. I know it's a local broadcast solution...but it really seems like a last gasp shot in the dark to me. Just put the stuff in a place I can get to it. I don't want you to decide what I get, in what order, of what quality, that's the frickin beauty of it right now!

One of the best podcasts I've heard on this topic, in fact one of the best podcasts I've heard to date is one by PBCliberal. A recommended listen for sure.

So the list of what I like about podcasting is growing as I realize it..kinda like you don't know what you've got till it's gone... intimacy, freedom of speech, download on demand, sheer freedom of distribution and archiving...let's see what else the big boys miss in all of this.

A side note that made me chuckle is that the article had a web ad for the Senseo coffee maker, an ad which always featured prominently on Adam Curry's site! ;)