11.28.05
Posted in entertainment, life at 4:58 pm by mridley
So I decided I wanted to listen to some podsafe music for a change. I subscribe to Coverville but I tend to not actually listen to it…well..sometimes I do. But I wanted to hear some new stuff so I decided to subscribe to the much-hyped Accident Hash. So the most recent episode of that was some wanna-be Lilith Fair cry-fest which was a non-starter for me. So then I checked out the prior episode - all holiday music - gag me with a spoon.
So I went back through the Coverville eps I hadn’t listened to yet, and came upon Episode 134, A Tribute to CBGB. Now that’s more like it. Johnette Napolitano covering Patti Smith? Yes please!
And speaking of Johnette Napolitano, apparently the Blonde is back and I didn’t get the memo. Did you know that Concrete Blonde released an album last year? I didn’t. But you better believe I will be checking that out.
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Posted in tech at 4:11 pm by mridley
There was a mention of Podtrac on the podcasters Yahoo mailing list the other day. I’m not familiar with this site or company in specific, but this idea is so key. I can’t say I wish I’d thought of it, because I did think of it quite a while ago, but I wish I’d acted on setting something like this up. Although their site is a lot prettier than anything I could have done by myself. But anyway, I digress.
Basically what they do is provide an independent audit of your podcast downloads for use with prospective and current advertisers. I know that everyone in the podcasting and vidcasting world has a hardon for Podcast Alley but I have never understood the point of that. You nag your readers to go and vote for your show every month? I guess that’s a nice popularity contest. Or something. But it doesn’t tell you much about what podcasts people are listening to. It will favor the new podcasters or the ones with the rabid freak fans, but I’m sure there are tons of podcasts out there with loyal daily listeners who are not particularly inclined to go vote on Podcast Alley every month. So an independent audit of those downloads is a much better way to go in the long run.
So, assuming the site and company doesn’t suck, I say bravo to Podtrac for providing the service that podcasters (or at least commercial ones) really need.
Tags: Podcasting
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Posted in tech at 3:17 pm by mridley
Anybody know if there is some kind of like USB jog/shuttle wheel controller I can get that works with iTunes? It’s so annoying to have to click back and forth on the timeline and constantly overshoot where I’m trying to get to. When I’m feeling generous and do the shownotes for the Daily Source Code I tend to have to re-listen to parts a lot, like when people send in totally unintelligable promos with every effect their audio workstation supports and I have to figure out what the fuck the URL they are saying is after they’ve applied all kinds of crazy echo and reverb and computer generation and god knows what else.
So seriously…can I get a jog and shuttle wheel controller to fix this issue? It will make my stress level go down a lot. Links please.
Tags: iTunes
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11.26.05
Posted in life at 11:54 pm by mridley
I was thinking it might be nice to throw up a picture of myself on my about: michael page. Unfortunately the best picture I have of myself kind of sucks. A lot. But I never really find myself in situations where people are taking pictures of me, so what to do? I could get some professional shots taken of myself, but that seems rather vain. I don’t have any particular need for headshots and 8×10s. But I wouldn’t mind having a professional picture to put up. Like, for example, one where I’m not wearing a Hustler t-shirt.
How do other people address this?
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Posted in life at 11:42 pm by mridley
Apparently there is a liquor auction coming up featuring some very rare and relatively pricey bottles of scotch. I’m envious of the bidders. If and when I make my fortune, this is the kind of thing I’d enjoy spending a little money on. I’d love to have a vintage scotch collection. Alas, even the 12 year old bottle of Macallan I passed in the liquor store is a bit out of my price range these days.
Oh well.
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Posted in entertainment at 3:14 pm by mridley
I’ve been reading that apparently Arrested Development has been canceled. Well, Variety said that FOX just lowered the number of episodes ordered. But then I read an interview with a cast member somewher else that said it was canceled. In any case, this is too bad.
I really think HBO should pick it up. This show would be perfect for HBO. Alas I don’t think I know anyone who works in HBO programming. Variety speculated that it wouldn’t be picked up by another network because the production cost is too high, but I don’t get that at all. I have no idea what the Arrested Development production budget is, but I cannot see how it can be more expensive to produce than something like Curb Your Enthusiasm. And it’s just as good of a show. So let’s get on it, HBO.
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11.24.05
Posted in tech at 12:05 pm by mridley
Now that I’m back online, getting the innovation started up again at shownotes.info is high on the priority list. I think the first area of work is going to be getting proper category-specific RSS feeds going. So stay tuned.
And for all you podcasters out there, don’t forget to setup a wiki page if you’re so inclined.
Tags: Podcasting, Shownotes
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Posted in entertainment, life at 11:26 am by mridley
Since I have internet access at home again I’ve been catching up on old episodes of commandN, since it’s such a great source of tech news. Of course the the fact that Amber is so adorable is not a factor at all.
Anyway, they mentioned that the Family Guy movie is out now and I suppose it’s old news by this point, but I figured I’d put in my plug since that show cracks me up. So check it out!
Tags: CommandN, Family Guy
EDIT - I changed the spelling of commandN after being informed that my mixed case hyphenated mess was incorrect.
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Posted in media, tech at 10:20 am by mridley
Numark has come out with the iDJ, a new mixer for the mobile DJ. In addition to the normal line and phono inputs for CD and vinyl turntables, it has two integrated iPod docks. The one piece that it doesn’t seem to have is a pitch or tempo control for the tracks coming out of the iPod so I’m not sure how useful it would be for any live performance that requires beat matching. On the other hand, for the mobile event DJ it may work well.
Cool stuff, in any case.
Tags: Numark, iPod, DJ
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Posted in business at 2:28 am by mridley
Why is it that most retail discount brokerages (E*Trade, etc.) don’t offer access to the spot foreign exchange market? Some of them allow you to trade forex futures but that’s a whole different ball of wax. I don’t get why spot forex access isn’t more widespread.
It’s not that you can’t get a brokerage account that provides access to that market - you absolutely can - it’s just not ubiquitous like equity or commodity trading accounts are. I’m curious why that is.
Tags: Forex
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