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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday Tech Talk #86
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. A blog about all things in tech that are not Apple and Google related as those are covered in AppleTalk Thursday and Googling Friday. So, let's get right into things this week.
Kindle users get New York Times content for Free
A couple of weeks ago the New York Times announced a new paywall subscription structure for its online content. Well, if you are a Kindle user, then today is your lucky day! Kindle users will continue to get free access to the Times content. Enjoy!
AT&T defends T-Mobile purchase
AT&T is defending its pending purchase of T-Mobile USA by saying the united company would actually improve data in major cities like New York City for example. This comes on the heels of Sprint objecting to the merger. My take on it is I don't think the merger will have a huge impact on competition, if this were AT&T buying Verizon, then yeah it would be a big huge deal that should be scrutinized. Course maybe this is why they are holding back the speed performance of the Motorola Atrix and HTC Inspire phones.
HTC ThunderBolt battery issue
According to several field tests the Verizon HTC ThunderBolt scores high on speed downloads but on battery life it is pulling end around 4 1/2 hours between charges. The TunderBolt is Verizon's answer to AT&T's Motorola Atrix 4G phone which I am playing around with here.
Paul Allen is a Bitter Man
Paul Allen just can't get enough of his ego. After suing Apple, Facebook, Google, and others claiming a copyright infringement, a charge thrown out by a judge already, now he is claiming that Bill Gates schemed him at Microsoft to dilute his share in the company. His current net worth for the record is only $13 Billion. Paul, shut up!
Engadget's new boss
Engadget has a new Editor-in-Chief, Tim Stevens takes over the popular technology blog. Here is hoping he got quiet down some of the anti-Apple commentary that comes out in some of their articles.
Star Wars on Blu-ray September 16th
The date is now official for the Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray set...mark your calendars for Friday, September 16th of this year. I still think they should release it on May the 4th though.
Netflix bringing more Fox content to Streaming Service
Netflix has a new deal with Fox to bring both current shows and past shows to its streaming service. New shows include Ally McBeal and The Wonder Years, along with current shows such as Glee season 1 and the first 2 seasons of Sons of Anarchy.
Vizio Theater 3D HDTV's on sale at Amazon
Amazon has announced pricing for Vizio's 32" and 42" 3D HDTV sets at $499 and $699. Shipping time is about 3-5 weeks.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you next week for another edition of tech news. Come by later this week for Apple and Google news as well. Have a great day!
Kindle users get New York Times content for Free
A couple of weeks ago the New York Times announced a new paywall subscription structure for its online content. Well, if you are a Kindle user, then today is your lucky day! Kindle users will continue to get free access to the Times content. Enjoy!
AT&T defends T-Mobile purchase
AT&T is defending its pending purchase of T-Mobile USA by saying the united company would actually improve data in major cities like New York City for example. This comes on the heels of Sprint objecting to the merger. My take on it is I don't think the merger will have a huge impact on competition, if this were AT&T buying Verizon, then yeah it would be a big huge deal that should be scrutinized. Course maybe this is why they are holding back the speed performance of the Motorola Atrix and HTC Inspire phones.
HTC ThunderBolt battery issue
According to several field tests the Verizon HTC ThunderBolt scores high on speed downloads but on battery life it is pulling end around 4 1/2 hours between charges. The TunderBolt is Verizon's answer to AT&T's Motorola Atrix 4G phone which I am playing around with here.
Paul Allen is a Bitter Man
Paul Allen just can't get enough of his ego. After suing Apple, Facebook, Google, and others claiming a copyright infringement, a charge thrown out by a judge already, now he is claiming that Bill Gates schemed him at Microsoft to dilute his share in the company. His current net worth for the record is only $13 Billion. Paul, shut up!
Engadget's new boss
Engadget has a new Editor-in-Chief, Tim Stevens takes over the popular technology blog. Here is hoping he got quiet down some of the anti-Apple commentary that comes out in some of their articles.
Star Wars on Blu-ray September 16th
The date is now official for the Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray set...mark your calendars for Friday, September 16th of this year. I still think they should release it on May the 4th though.
Netflix bringing more Fox content to Streaming Service
Netflix has a new deal with Fox to bring both current shows and past shows to its streaming service. New shows include Ally McBeal and The Wonder Years, along with current shows such as Glee season 1 and the first 2 seasons of Sons of Anarchy.
Vizio Theater 3D HDTV's on sale at Amazon
Amazon has announced pricing for Vizio's 32" and 42" 3D HDTV sets at $499 and $699. Shipping time is about 3-5 weeks.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you next week for another edition of tech news. Come by later this week for Apple and Google news as well. Have a great day!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Googling Friday #27
Hello everyone and TGIF! It is Friday which means it is time for another edition of Googling Friday! Let’s see what is going on this week in GoogleLand.
Android 3.0 Honeycomb off Limits to Phone Developers
Google has closed Android 3.0 Honeycomb to phone developers which of course means no phone tablets on Android anytime soon. Kind of makes sense to me, but I can see where some developers might accuse Google of pulling an Apple.
Google Search supporting Cherokee language
Google really pleased my heart with this move. For those that don’t know, I am 1/8 Cherokee and the Cherokee Nation holds a special place in my heart. Google scored big points with me here.
Google Fiber coming to Kansas City, Kansas
Google has named Kansas City, KS, to be the first city to get its high speed fiber network. I will let Google take it from here.
Pretty cool stuff, obviously KCKS will be a test market, we have seen before where whole cities were going to get WiFi networks, see Earthlink and several cities like San Francisco and Anaheim that were going to get it but it never materialized.
Google intros +1
Seeking to keep up with Facebook’s Like feature on stories and websites, Google has announced a new feature called +1. To give an idea of how it will work, once again here is Google.
Well, with that, we conclude another week of Google news. See you next week for more news from the big G. Have a great weekend!
Android 3.0 Honeycomb off Limits to Phone Developers
Google has closed Android 3.0 Honeycomb to phone developers which of course means no phone tablets on Android anytime soon. Kind of makes sense to me, but I can see where some developers might accuse Google of pulling an Apple.
Google Search supporting Cherokee language
Google really pleased my heart with this move. For those that don’t know, I am 1/8 Cherokee and the Cherokee Nation holds a special place in my heart. Google scored big points with me here.
Google Fiber coming to Kansas City, Kansas
Google has named Kansas City, KS, to be the first city to get its high speed fiber network. I will let Google take it from here.
Pretty cool stuff, obviously KCKS will be a test market, we have seen before where whole cities were going to get WiFi networks, see Earthlink and several cities like San Francisco and Anaheim that were going to get it but it never materialized.
Google intros +1
Seeking to keep up with Facebook’s Like feature on stories and websites, Google has announced a new feature called +1. To give an idea of how it will work, once again here is Google.
Well, with that, we conclude another week of Google news. See you next week for more news from the big G. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
AppleTalk Thursday #15
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday. Let’s see what is happening in the world of Apple this week!
iOS 4.3.1 Update
Last Friday Apple released the update to the iOS 4.3. Among the fixes is indeed the battery issue on the iPhone. Since updating the 666MB update for my iPhone (yes, I know it is a creepy number), I have noticed a great improvement in the battery life on my iPhone 4.
WordPress optimization for iPad
Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress has partnered with Onswipe to make blog viewing on the iPad a more pleasurable experience. With the help of Onswipe’s plug-in, viewing a WordPress blog looks very similar to FlipBook. In-fact this blog is now viewed this way on the iPad after I downloaded the plug-in and installed it. Let me know what you think!
Skype Mac Design Contest
Skype has announced a contest for a design for its upcoming Mac release client. I really like this because Skype really designs an ugly interface for the Mac side. The grand prize is an 11” MacBook Air, iPad 2, and a one year subscription to Skype’s Unlimited World Extra calling service. There are also runner up prizes such as an iPad 2 and AppleTV and CSS3 for Web Designers.
Apple working on a TV?
Here is an interesting tidbit about Apple possibly looking at making their own TV. Given last week’s news that they may license AirPlay to TV makers, I am not really putting too much stock into this story, but who would have thought Apple would make a phone one day.
Digital Locker Roundup: MobileMe, Amazon Cloud Player
Another bit of speculation about the upcoming MobileMe revamp and possible digital locker service costing $20 a year. If you saw the news this week of Amazon’s new Cloud-based storage, this would be the new MobileMe service right in the ballpark. Course maybe Apple is working out deals with record labels first before launching the service and not releasing the service before a deal is in place.
5-1 Connection Kit for iPad
Check out this little dongle device! Tired of unplugging one device and plugging in another? This may solve that issue and the $45 price is not too bad considering it is like a Swiss Army knife for the iPad.
Course if you just need an HDMI and USB dongle, your in luck too although the price is a bit steeper at around $73 US, oh did I mention it is only available in Japan?
WWDC What to Expect...and What not to Expect
Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference sold out within hours after tickets went on sale earlier this week. If you were one of the lucky ones to buy a ticket...you may not see the iPhone 5, but it sounds like you will see some really cool stuff in both OS X 10.7 Lion and the iOS 5 with deep voice command integration. When I first heard that, I pictured my iPhone talking like the late Barry White, but there is more to it than that and a Fall release of an iPhone 5 would make sense if it were to be an LTE capable device.
Personal Hotspot put to the Test
Finally today, Steven Sande of The Unofficial Apple Weblog decided while attending a trip with his wife who was attending a conference at a hotel, decided to utilize the new Personal Hotspot feature in his iPhone instead of paying for the hotel fee of $11 a day for WiFi. You can read his review of it here.
iOS App Reviews
Pocket Casts ($1.99) - I had grown frustrated with a bug in the iPhone that was displaying incorrect artwork for podcasts. They would display music genius like artwork for example. Even after the 4.3.1 update the issue remained. Than after posting about the issue in the GSPN Community page under Help, I Got a Mac, I came across Podcast Answer Man #200 where Cliff Ravencraft discussed how much he loves this app called Pocket Casts. So I took a chance and spent the $2 and you know what? He is right! First, you can have it scan your iPod app on the iPhone for all your subscribed podcasts and adds the feeds to the app and will show the latest 2 episodes per show in the download window, if you need more episodes, just select on the Show All Available Episodes to list and download each one.
Another cool feature is it will send push notifications and list a badge number for new episodes available for download...something the iPhone or iPad can’t do. You can even stream the episodes without downloading and save space on your iOS device. After using it for a day, I went ahead and downloaded all the episodes I have in iTunes and than un-synced podcasts to my iPhone to save space and I now use Pocket Casts to listen to my podcasts. Note although you can use it on the iPad, it is not a universal app meaning you will have to expand it 2x to get full screen on the iPad but hopefully they will update that part in a future release. Oh, and it will work over not just WiFi, but 3G and EDGE too.
Here is a video of how it all works.
<iframe src=“http://player.vimeo.com/video/20643630?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0” width=“400” height=“225” frameborder=“0”></iframe><p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/20643630”>Pocket Casts App Demo.</a> from <a href=“http://vimeo.com/nathanswan”>Nathan Swan</a> on <a href=“http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Vimeo (FREE) - I have come to really love Vimeo, unlike YouTube, Vimeo is HTML5 which means videos will play on iOS devices. Well, now they have an iPhone app which allows you to both view and record videos and edit your recorded videos. Pretty cool stuff, maybe not as feature rich as iMove for iPhone but considering it is free, that is nothing to sneeze at. My only issue is it did crash on me a few times but that is expected on a product first release. Sure an update will patch that issue.
QR Reader (FREE) - One thing that was promoted a lot at PodCamp Nashville was QR Codes. This feature was born on the Android, but it has grown to other devices and I have found a lot of reader apps for the iPhone, but this is a nice basic free one that can scan QR Codes and display their meaning within the app. Now I want to design one for my website to place on a business card.
Well, that is going to do it for this week’s AppleTalk Thursday. See you next week for more exciting Apple news.
iOS 4.3.1 Update
Last Friday Apple released the update to the iOS 4.3. Among the fixes is indeed the battery issue on the iPhone. Since updating the 666MB update for my iPhone (yes, I know it is a creepy number), I have noticed a great improvement in the battery life on my iPhone 4.
WordPress optimization for iPad
Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress has partnered with Onswipe to make blog viewing on the iPad a more pleasurable experience. With the help of Onswipe’s plug-in, viewing a WordPress blog looks very similar to FlipBook. In-fact this blog is now viewed this way on the iPad after I downloaded the plug-in and installed it. Let me know what you think!
Skype Mac Design Contest
Skype has announced a contest for a design for its upcoming Mac release client. I really like this because Skype really designs an ugly interface for the Mac side. The grand prize is an 11” MacBook Air, iPad 2, and a one year subscription to Skype’s Unlimited World Extra calling service. There are also runner up prizes such as an iPad 2 and AppleTV and CSS3 for Web Designers.
Apple working on a TV?
Here is an interesting tidbit about Apple possibly looking at making their own TV. Given last week’s news that they may license AirPlay to TV makers, I am not really putting too much stock into this story, but who would have thought Apple would make a phone one day.
Digital Locker Roundup: MobileMe, Amazon Cloud Player
Another bit of speculation about the upcoming MobileMe revamp and possible digital locker service costing $20 a year. If you saw the news this week of Amazon’s new Cloud-based storage, this would be the new MobileMe service right in the ballpark. Course maybe Apple is working out deals with record labels first before launching the service and not releasing the service before a deal is in place.
5-1 Connection Kit for iPad
Check out this little dongle device! Tired of unplugging one device and plugging in another? This may solve that issue and the $45 price is not too bad considering it is like a Swiss Army knife for the iPad.
Course if you just need an HDMI and USB dongle, your in luck too although the price is a bit steeper at around $73 US, oh did I mention it is only available in Japan?
WWDC What to Expect...and What not to Expect
Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference sold out within hours after tickets went on sale earlier this week. If you were one of the lucky ones to buy a ticket...you may not see the iPhone 5, but it sounds like you will see some really cool stuff in both OS X 10.7 Lion and the iOS 5 with deep voice command integration. When I first heard that, I pictured my iPhone talking like the late Barry White, but there is more to it than that and a Fall release of an iPhone 5 would make sense if it were to be an LTE capable device.
Personal Hotspot put to the Test
Finally today, Steven Sande of The Unofficial Apple Weblog decided while attending a trip with his wife who was attending a conference at a hotel, decided to utilize the new Personal Hotspot feature in his iPhone instead of paying for the hotel fee of $11 a day for WiFi. You can read his review of it here.
iOS App Reviews
Pocket Casts ($1.99) - I had grown frustrated with a bug in the iPhone that was displaying incorrect artwork for podcasts. They would display music genius like artwork for example. Even after the 4.3.1 update the issue remained. Than after posting about the issue in the GSPN Community page under Help, I Got a Mac, I came across Podcast Answer Man #200 where Cliff Ravencraft discussed how much he loves this app called Pocket Casts. So I took a chance and spent the $2 and you know what? He is right! First, you can have it scan your iPod app on the iPhone for all your subscribed podcasts and adds the feeds to the app and will show the latest 2 episodes per show in the download window, if you need more episodes, just select on the Show All Available Episodes to list and download each one.
Another cool feature is it will send push notifications and list a badge number for new episodes available for download...something the iPhone or iPad can’t do. You can even stream the episodes without downloading and save space on your iOS device. After using it for a day, I went ahead and downloaded all the episodes I have in iTunes and than un-synced podcasts to my iPhone to save space and I now use Pocket Casts to listen to my podcasts. Note although you can use it on the iPad, it is not a universal app meaning you will have to expand it 2x to get full screen on the iPad but hopefully they will update that part in a future release. Oh, and it will work over not just WiFi, but 3G and EDGE too.
Here is a video of how it all works.
<iframe src=“http://player.vimeo.com/video/20643630?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0” width=“400” height=“225” frameborder=“0”></iframe><p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/20643630”>Pocket Casts App Demo.</a> from <a href=“http://vimeo.com/nathanswan”>Nathan Swan</a> on <a href=“http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Vimeo (FREE) - I have come to really love Vimeo, unlike YouTube, Vimeo is HTML5 which means videos will play on iOS devices. Well, now they have an iPhone app which allows you to both view and record videos and edit your recorded videos. Pretty cool stuff, maybe not as feature rich as iMove for iPhone but considering it is free, that is nothing to sneeze at. My only issue is it did crash on me a few times but that is expected on a product first release. Sure an update will patch that issue.
QR Reader (FREE) - One thing that was promoted a lot at PodCamp Nashville was QR Codes. This feature was born on the Android, but it has grown to other devices and I have found a lot of reader apps for the iPhone, but this is a nice basic free one that can scan QR Codes and display their meaning within the app. Now I want to design one for my website to place on a business card.
Well, that is going to do it for this week’s AppleTalk Thursday. See you next week for more exciting Apple news.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday Tech Talk #85
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. I am fresh back from Nashville where I attended PodCamp so I had to absurd a lot of tech news in a short period of time. Let’s see what is going on this week!
Firefox 4
Last week Mozilla released the official version of Firefox 4. It brings several new notable features, my personal favorite is Pin Apps which basically allows you to take your most frequently opened tabs and reduce them to favicons in the upper left hand corner of the browser for quick access.
In addition it also has a feature called Grouped Tabs which sets up multiple tabs of pages for quick access. To give you an idea of what is new, check out the video. I would post it here but Mozilla does not give me the option to embed their videos. I am a fan of Google Chrome but I decided to give Firefox 4 a week of exclusive use and I will let you know next week of what I think about it. MacWorld has chimed in with their initial review of it which you can read here.
Yahoo debuts “Future of Search”
Remember this company? We used to check them out for search results before Google came along. Well, anyhow, they are rolling out a new search technology. I have to say it is really impressive but is it enough to compete against Google at this point? Only time will tell.
Audible offers WiFi download to Kindle
Huge news for Kindle users, Audible now offers the ability to download their 50,000 titles via WiFi to your Kindle. I don’t have a Kindle myself...yet. But this is a lot more convenient than having to side-load via USB.
Warner Brothers adds more Films to Facebook
After offering the Dark Knight on Facebook for users to rent and watch, Warner Brothers is now offering 5 additional movies to the service. The new movies are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Inception, Life as We Know It and Yogi Bear. I think the jury is still out on this one as no other studios have come on board to offer their content on Facebook. I still stand by the fact that people in general do not want to watch a movie on a computer screen which is why AppleTV and Roku boxes are doing so well right now.
Well, that is going to do it for this week’s Tuesday Tech Talk. If you want to know about my experience at PodCamp Nashville, you can read my post about it here. See you next week!
Firefox 4
Last week Mozilla released the official version of Firefox 4. It brings several new notable features, my personal favorite is Pin Apps which basically allows you to take your most frequently opened tabs and reduce them to favicons in the upper left hand corner of the browser for quick access.
In addition it also has a feature called Grouped Tabs which sets up multiple tabs of pages for quick access. To give you an idea of what is new, check out the video. I would post it here but Mozilla does not give me the option to embed their videos. I am a fan of Google Chrome but I decided to give Firefox 4 a week of exclusive use and I will let you know next week of what I think about it. MacWorld has chimed in with their initial review of it which you can read here.
Yahoo debuts “Future of Search”
Remember this company? We used to check them out for search results before Google came along. Well, anyhow, they are rolling out a new search technology. I have to say it is really impressive but is it enough to compete against Google at this point? Only time will tell.
Audible offers WiFi download to Kindle
Huge news for Kindle users, Audible now offers the ability to download their 50,000 titles via WiFi to your Kindle. I don’t have a Kindle myself...yet. But this is a lot more convenient than having to side-load via USB.
Warner Brothers adds more Films to Facebook
After offering the Dark Knight on Facebook for users to rent and watch, Warner Brothers is now offering 5 additional movies to the service. The new movies are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Inception, Life as We Know It and Yogi Bear. I think the jury is still out on this one as no other studios have come on board to offer their content on Facebook. I still stand by the fact that people in general do not want to watch a movie on a computer screen which is why AppleTV and Roku boxes are doing so well right now.
Well, that is going to do it for this week’s Tuesday Tech Talk. If you want to know about my experience at PodCamp Nashville, you can read my post about it here. See you next week!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thoughts about PodCamp Nashville
Ok so ever since Saturday, my mind has been full of ideas and projects. I learned so much there both on stuff I knew already but was reinforced and about new things I have never tried or considered. So if this blog post sounds like I’m rambling, it’s because I am practically doing a brain dump into this space.
Mind Mapping Software
The first thing that is at the top of my list is mind mapping. What this is putting the ideas in your mind on digital paper and then branching out like a tree to other ideas associated with the main idea. I attended a great session on this lead by Professor Dale Rogers at his session called Have a Plan: Designing for Multimedia. This is going to revolutionize how I do my show notes for both blogging and future podcasting. Now to find the mind mapping software that works best for me. This one has taken the early lead since I can access it from any of my devices.
Podcasting 101
What can you say about Cliff Ravenscraft that hasn’t been said already? The guy is passionate about podcasting and has turned it into a career. The keys to a great podcast or blog for that matter, is finding a niche subject you are passionate about. The biggest thing I learned this time at his session (I have been to 2 of his others), is control your own RSS feed! That is the key to spreading your podcast or blog.
Mobile Podcasting
This was the last session of the day for me. It was lead by Bayard Saunders about the evolution of mobile podcasting, He mentioned audioBoo which I love to use for micro-podcasting. I also learned about QR codes, I thought this was an Android thing but found there are a ton of QR readers for the iPhone and a great way get from print to a website or application simply by using the camera on your mobile device to capture the QR code. Awesome stuff! I want to create a QR code for my blog now and place it on a business card. Then all the person with the card has to do is capture the image on the card and it opens my website on their phone automatically...no entering a web address via keyboard.
Becoming A Thought Leader/Influencer With Your Audio Podcast Panel
This was a very inspiring session stocked with great talent. You had Cliff as the moderator and a panel consisting of Connie Williams & Sheila Tidwell of Connie & Sheila Talk, David and Paula Foster of The David & Paula Show, and Dan Miller author of 48 Days to the Work you Love and No More Dreaded Mondays who has a podcast as well called 48 Days. All inspiring, Connie and Sheila have been podcasting for about a year thanks to Cliff’s help, David and Paula talk about marriage life and making it fun again (or to keep it fun). Dan Miller of course is just a rock star in my eyes for great career motivation. I have both of his books I am making my way through.
Podcasting as a Family
Cliff’s wife Stephanie lead this session about different members of the family podcasting their own shows. She also mentioned how their son as part of his home schooling will be writing a blog which makes a lot of sense for both a composition and comprehension tool. Something to keep in mind when my wife and I have kids someday.
Other notes
YouTube is the #2 search engine...WOW!
Call Recorder a $20 application to record both audio and video Skype calls for a podcast or anything else for that matter.
Closing Thoughts
Don’t think just because your idea may not appeal to a broad audience, that you shouldn’t start a podcast...that is what is so cool about podcasting! Somebody that likes what you like will listen but be consistent with your shows. If you are going to do a weekly, be weekly, monthly, be monthly..it is better to surprise your listeners with an extra show within a week or month than not do one when expected.
Mind Mapping Software
The first thing that is at the top of my list is mind mapping. What this is putting the ideas in your mind on digital paper and then branching out like a tree to other ideas associated with the main idea. I attended a great session on this lead by Professor Dale Rogers at his session called Have a Plan: Designing for Multimedia. This is going to revolutionize how I do my show notes for both blogging and future podcasting. Now to find the mind mapping software that works best for me. This one has taken the early lead since I can access it from any of my devices.
Podcasting 101
What can you say about Cliff Ravenscraft that hasn’t been said already? The guy is passionate about podcasting and has turned it into a career. The keys to a great podcast or blog for that matter, is finding a niche subject you are passionate about. The biggest thing I learned this time at his session (I have been to 2 of his others), is control your own RSS feed! That is the key to spreading your podcast or blog.
Mobile Podcasting
This was the last session of the day for me. It was lead by Bayard Saunders about the evolution of mobile podcasting, He mentioned audioBoo which I love to use for micro-podcasting. I also learned about QR codes, I thought this was an Android thing but found there are a ton of QR readers for the iPhone and a great way get from print to a website or application simply by using the camera on your mobile device to capture the QR code. Awesome stuff! I want to create a QR code for my blog now and place it on a business card. Then all the person with the card has to do is capture the image on the card and it opens my website on their phone automatically...no entering a web address via keyboard.
Becoming A Thought Leader/Influencer With Your Audio Podcast Panel
This was a very inspiring session stocked with great talent. You had Cliff as the moderator and a panel consisting of Connie Williams & Sheila Tidwell of Connie & Sheila Talk, David and Paula Foster of The David & Paula Show, and Dan Miller author of 48 Days to the Work you Love and No More Dreaded Mondays who has a podcast as well called 48 Days. All inspiring, Connie and Sheila have been podcasting for about a year thanks to Cliff’s help, David and Paula talk about marriage life and making it fun again (or to keep it fun). Dan Miller of course is just a rock star in my eyes for great career motivation. I have both of his books I am making my way through.
Podcasting as a Family
Cliff’s wife Stephanie lead this session about different members of the family podcasting their own shows. She also mentioned how their son as part of his home schooling will be writing a blog which makes a lot of sense for both a composition and comprehension tool. Something to keep in mind when my wife and I have kids someday.
Other notes
YouTube is the #2 search engine...WOW!
Call Recorder a $20 application to record both audio and video Skype calls for a podcast or anything else for that matter.
Closing Thoughts
Don’t think just because your idea may not appeal to a broad audience, that you shouldn’t start a podcast...that is what is so cool about podcasting! Somebody that likes what you like will listen but be consistent with your shows. If you are going to do a weekly, be weekly, monthly, be monthly..it is better to surprise your listeners with an extra show within a week or month than not do one when expected.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Googling Friday #26
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Googling Friday, a blog about all things in the world of Google. Got quite a few things to dig into so let’s get right into things.
Google brings Discussions to Docs
Google has really enhanced their group collaboration with Google Docs. They have added mentions and thread view. Quite obvious they took what was part of the late Google Wave and put it into Google Docs. To illustrate they have posted a video.
Pretty cool stuff I would say. They are also working to restore offline storage for the Apps users as well.
Steve Jobs Google’s first choice as CEO
About 10 years ago as Google was getting started, its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were in search of a CEO to give it some serious street cred and apparently their first choice was Steve Jobs. But Steve had just recently returned to Apple so they settled for Eric Schmidt...not a bad second choice really.
Sprint integrates Google Voice
Google and Sprint announced this week that you can now use your existing Sprint phone as your Google Voice number. Also if you have an existing Google Voice number you can setup your Sprint phone’s caller ID to show your Google Voice number when you call someone.
Latitude gets Check-ins: Review
Google has updated its Latitude mobile app to offer check-in similar to FourSquare and Facebook Places. I have used it and it does have a comprehensive listing of places nearby no doubt relying on its robust business search database whereas FourSquare is more of a user adds locations. Unlike FourSquare and Places though, it does not offer any deals at places you check into, nor do you get to become mayor or score points the more you check in like in FourSquare.
How to Advertise your Android Phone (or not)
Finally today, Sony Ericsson has a new Android-based phone called the Xperia Play. With so many different Android phones out on the market, how does one set theirs apart? Well leave it to Sony Ericsson to think outside the box with this ad.
Hope you enjoyed that little video as much as I did. See you all next week for another week of Google news.
Google brings Discussions to Docs
Google has really enhanced their group collaboration with Google Docs. They have added mentions and thread view. Quite obvious they took what was part of the late Google Wave and put it into Google Docs. To illustrate they have posted a video.
Pretty cool stuff I would say. They are also working to restore offline storage for the Apps users as well.
Steve Jobs Google’s first choice as CEO
About 10 years ago as Google was getting started, its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were in search of a CEO to give it some serious street cred and apparently their first choice was Steve Jobs. But Steve had just recently returned to Apple so they settled for Eric Schmidt...not a bad second choice really.
Sprint integrates Google Voice
Google and Sprint announced this week that you can now use your existing Sprint phone as your Google Voice number. Also if you have an existing Google Voice number you can setup your Sprint phone’s caller ID to show your Google Voice number when you call someone.
Latitude gets Check-ins: Review
Google has updated its Latitude mobile app to offer check-in similar to FourSquare and Facebook Places. I have used it and it does have a comprehensive listing of places nearby no doubt relying on its robust business search database whereas FourSquare is more of a user adds locations. Unlike FourSquare and Places though, it does not offer any deals at places you check into, nor do you get to become mayor or score points the more you check in like in FourSquare.
How to Advertise your Android Phone (or not)
Finally today, Sony Ericsson has a new Android-based phone called the Xperia Play. With so many different Android phones out on the market, how does one set theirs apart? Well leave it to Sony Ericsson to think outside the box with this ad.
Hope you enjoyed that little video as much as I did. See you all next week for another week of Google news.
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