DaveEnglund.Name/DBlog

And the times they are a changing

I am just starting to explore the strange world of "podcasting." "What is podcasting?" you ask. Well, you sit around in a circle, usually a group of 5 or 6, and you each have a bowl of unbroken green peas...nope, that's not it. And I'm so new to it that I'm not sure I can even explain it very well. So, let me start by quoting directly from Podcasting News, a great website organized by those who actually know what podcasting is:

What is Podcasting?

Podcasting is delivering audio content to iPods and other portable media players on demand, so that it can be listened to at the user's convenience. The main benefit of podcasting is that listeners can sync content to their media player and take it with them to listen whenever they want to. Because podcasts are typically saved in MP3 format, they can also be listened to on nearly any computer.

The rest of the article covers some more details about podcasting - how it came about, and how it works technically, so, it's a good place to start.

Last night I took my first few baby steps into the podcasting world - I downloaded a podcast client called "Juice" (that's a program that lets you set up links to favorite podcasts which you can then download and sync to your portable digital mp3 player such as an iPod or Creative Zen Micro). I downloaded this program after reviewing a few podcasting clients listed at WMPlugins.com, a site for people who mostly use Microsoft's Windows Media Player. As it happens, the folks over at Podcasting News seem to like this podcasting client too, it's mentioned specifically in their article "Getting Started with Podcasts in 3 Steps" (Note: the "iPodder" program referenced in their article has been renamed "Juice"). What's nice about the "Juice" podcast client is that it's a free, open source product.

So, now you're basically setup to download and sync podcasts. Okay, start! "Ah, what should I download?" Well, Podcasting News can help you there too. You can find a number of helpful links in the left sidebar of their home page such as "Top 25 Podcasts," "Top Rated Podcasts," and "Search for a Podcast," or you can go directly to their Podcast Directory and search for podcasts by categories. Thus far, I've managed to download and listen to one podcast. Hey! It's not the number that's important, its the process! Anyway, since I already know how to sync files to my mp3 player I'm good to go. And there's a world of possibilities lying out there before me (and you).

So, happypPodcasting!

Way cool!

Its not just how much more space can they build into hard drives these days. Its also how much smaller can they build hard drives these days. Found this over at Engadget...

Toshiba @ CES - Gigashot handheld tapeless video camera

Posted Jan 5, 2005, 4:12 PM ET by Dan Wu
Related entries: CES, Digital Cameras, Home Entertainment

In keeping with the giga-theme, Toshiba announced the Gigashot handheld, which uses Toshiba’s 0.85-inch 4GB hard drive to store up to two hours of MPEG-2 video footage and doubles as a 5 megapixel digital camera, with a 5x optical zoom and electronic image stabilizer. The Gigashot measures 1.2 by 4.125 by 2.625 inches, weighs just 10 ounces and also has a SD card slot. We’ll get photos up as soon as we can.