podcasting

Really looking forward to our 4th annual Northern Voice! And to some great ideas and speaker submissions!
From Northern Voice 2008:

QUOTE

The Moose is Loose in 2008!

Want to speak or lead a discussion? Then fill out the speaker submission form (speaker submissions close Monday December 10).

Got an idea for a topic or discussion but don't feel like speaking on it or leading a discussion? Then check out our Call for Ideas (we've seeded the list with two initial ideas: microblogging and mobile blogging but these are just examples!) and add your own idea and rate others' ideas!

END QUOTE

UPDATE: For those who are academically "challenged" like myself, you  don't need high grades in school or anything academic like that. It's all about contributions, need, a high quality  blog post, video blog or podcast and diversity!

According to dictionary.com, bursary is "British English"! Is this true? For those who are British English challenged, a bursary is the same as a scholarship. We've received several interesting applications already! Apply today and see you in February!

From Get a Travel Bursary for Northern Voice | Northern Voice 2007:

QUOTE

This year Northern Voice is offering six travel bursaries of CAN $500 each. The organizing committee will be awarding these bursaries based on a number of criteria, including:

* The contributions you can make to the conference
* Your level of need
* The quality of your submission
* The diversity you might bring to Northern Voice

We’ll announce the recipients of the bursaries on February 2nd, 2007. The bursaries will be paid out via cheque mailed out to recipients or picked up on the day of the conference.

To apply, write a blog post, or record a podcast or video blog post describing why you want to come to Northern Voice. Then submit it via our travel bursaries page.

UNQUOTE

The speaker submissions are flowing in (submit today, the more the better; all you need is a good abstract on a relevant topic), the organizers are meeting, we're updating the website, and the registrations are coming in. In other words, the sprint to Northern Voice 2007 is on! [Thanks to Darren for the cool graphic; get your own Northern Voice 2007 graphic!]

Some great news about Northern Voice 2007 (which I am one of the organizers of):

1. Speaker Submissions: The Deadline has been extended to December 1st as Lauren wrote. You don't have to be famous or a professional conference presenter: we're looking for both fresh and experienced voices who wish to present or chair a panel on topics related to the blog-o-sphere, videoblogging, podcasting, virtual worlds like Second life, the two way web/read write web/web 2.0, blogging 101, podcasting 101, etc. It's all about the abstract. If it's well written and topical, your chances will be much higher. Submit today!
2. Registration is open now! Pre-register and save $10. That's right it's only $30 for a single day and $50 for both days as opposed to $40 for one day and $60 for both days at the door. I bet we'll sell out like last year so pre-registration is recommended. Register now!

I had the N91 firmware blues. I was having the theme reset problem and various other weird problems (including a beta version of ShoZu crashing randomly) reported by others as a problem with the V1.00.028.13 29.03.06 RM-43 version of the N91 firmware that I have (apparently V1.10.030 05-05-06 RM-43 and newer versions fix these problems as reported at mobile 9) until I reformatted the hard disk.

Fingers crossed, things are working now (for me a phone isn't working until ShoZu works :-) ! ). It looks like my problems were due to one or more of the following

1. the firmware version
2. the Nokia podcasting app (which is in beta)
3. the Nokia Wireless Keyboard app (which doesn't officially support the N91 but I was assured would work)
4. puTTY series 60 v3 beta or
5. the ShoZu beta

which were the only apps I had installed (and yes I am well aware as an ex developer of the perils of running beta software which is why I am not flaming or blaming anybody :-) ! ).

I must admit I was skeptical but the Nokia Podcasting app (currently in beta) works quite well and it works with video podcasts like Rocketboom (I tested out Rocketboom's 3GP feed at http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/tele_daily_enclosures.xml and it works well!)

I think Jon is onto something. Mesh sounded great (could people blog more podcasts and videoblogs of the conference please? That's it, my goal will be to make sure that Northern Voice 2007 is 100% podcasted and videoblogged at decent quality, sorry Tim but not everybody can do awesome HD video for everything) but we are missing the common Web 2.0 thread that "meshes" everything together which I think lies somewhere in open source, ubiquitous inexpensive broadband (fixed today and mobile tomorrow), RSS, people (not just white male Californians, but women, Canadians, Indians, Filipinos :-) , etc.) and "Silicon Valley everywhere" (including Vancouver in my biased opinion with great startups like sxip, Dabble DB, eqo, etc.)

FROM Jon Arnold's Blog: Mesh Conference - Final Thoughts:

QUOTE

There was lots of good content and obviously some great energy. I'm sure the successes of the show were a happy mix of good planning and putting everyone together to share and feed off each other. I definitely learned a lot, but for someone who is on a steady diet of VoIP and telecom conferences like VON, Internet Telephony and Globalcomm, this is a different world in many ways. Didn't hear much talk about VoIP or podcasting or SIP - stuff like that. But that's ok - Web 2.0 is about so many things.

And that's where the challenge lies for me. A lot of great perspectives were put forward at Mesh - both from the speakers and the attendees. However, there wasn't a lot of connecting the dots - maybe by design - but I'm left with the feeling that for as much as I learned, I still don't have a sense how these things fit together.

This actually brings me back again to the Mesh logo. You can't help but be drawn into that image and the energy it seems to radiate - which is exactly what happened at the show - so, kudos for the logo designers. The energy was there alright, but like the logo, I didn't really feel that all the strands - yellow, blue, green, etc. - connected. They're oscillating around each other, and bumping into each other a lot, but never really intersecting or truly meshing into a unified form. At the end of the day, much like Earth at Creation, I'd like to see this humming mass of energy and chaos sort itself out and unravel nicely like a ball of yarn.

My conclusion is that this did not happen, and I'm concerned that for some, the conference was just a blur, like this....

END QUOTE

[Cross posted from Corante Podcast Blog]

This morning at 7:50a.m. Pacific, I was on CityTV Vancouver'Breakfast Television for about 5 minutes. I spoke with Simi Sara, the host, on how easy it is to podcast and I demoed Odeo (which works through a web browser like Internet Explorer; here's the 7 second podcast Simi and I recorded on the Breakfast Television). All you need is a computer with a microphone, an internet connection and Odeo (free, unlimited 3 minute podcasts!), a story, something to say or a cool sound. What I didn't get a chance to say was: play around with Odeo and then when you get serious, move up to a non free commercial provider like Audioblog (my friend Eric Rice's podcasting and videoblogging service) or libsyn (just to name two).

Check out my other podcasts at Dogma Radio.

For me, the more you pay, the less you get when it comes to conferences. For $100, Podcast Hotel Seattle 2006 was even better than the original one in Portland. Still grassroots, still vital but with more bands and more great discussion. Looking forward to the next one. More later!

Lots of thought provoking and interesting questions at today's VFS DIY Podcasting session (presentation: PDF, Powerpoint, Keynote organized by New Media BC which I co-presented with the most excellent Robert Ouimet. We learned a lot from the questions. Great crowd! Here is the list of links (if you know how to use del.icio.us, please add your own):

http://del.icio.us/tag/vfsdiypodcasting

And then afterwards, I wandered over to the excellent Blogs and Wikis at the VPL. It was great hearing Brian Lamb and Mark Schneider discuss blogs and wikis. Can't comment much more since I missed their presentations!

For those who were at the Bowen Island Blogging Intro today, thank-you! I learned that single sign on/identity is really an issue for real people. Watching them endure the process of giving their first and last name, think of a screen name and email address multiple times as well as going through the email verification dance for flickr, Bloglines and WordPress. Nothing against these services, it's just the gruesome reality of coming up with multiple userids on multiple systems today. Give the people what they want and need: Identity 2.0!

Anyways, attached is the presentation in PDF and Keynote form and the outline of the presentation notes is below.

As well I will tag any links we mentioned using an online bookmark service called del.icio.us with the tag: bowenblogintro. You can can get all the links on the bowenblogintro tag page as well as subscribe to the bowenblogintro tag RSS feed for updates.

• What is a blog (Roland's flickr photoblog, bmannconsulting, darrenbarefoot screenshots)
  • The unedited voice of a person
  • anatomy: permanent links, reverse chronological, subscribe via RSS (RSS diagram), comments
  • works for podcasts and videoblogs too, RSS is the carrier
  • subscription helps conversation
  • Bloglines demo
• Why should I blog
  • Why should you email? blogging or having a personal/corporate/org conversational space TODAY is where email was 5-10 years ago
  • Unless you want to be an online hermit which is a valid choice, need to have a strategy eventually for your personal online conversational space including blogging (early adopters get pain and benefit)
  • promotes personal brand, business brand, passions
  • BLOG = better listings on Google = $ indirectly and directly
• How do I Blog
  • The Program
    • Listen for a few days/weeks
      • Use Bloglines (or NetNewsWireLite for Mac OS X or FeedDemon for Windows)
    • Play with free services (e.g. create a free blog at WordPress.com and free photoblog at flickr)
      • create half a dozen or so posts
    • Come up with strategy (or not, playing is good)
      • own your own domain name
      • put all your stuff there, or aggregate it
      • may want non free services if your org or business depends on it
• Hands on
  • create your own domain name
  • create your own free blog at WordPress
  • create your first post
  • create flickr account
  • post a photograph
  • subscribe using Bloglines to your flickr blog and your WordPress blog

For those who were at the Bowen Island Blogging Intro today, thank-you! I learned that single sign on/identity is really an issue for real people. Watching them endure the process of giving their first and last name, think of a screen name and email address multiple times as well as going through the email verification dance for flickr, Bloglines and WordPress. Nothing against these services, it's just the gruesome reality of coming up with multiple userids on multiple systems today. Give the people what they want and need: Identity 2.0!

Anyways, attached is the presentation in PDF and Keynote (for Mac people) form and the outline of the presentation notes is below.

As well I will tag any links we mentioned using an online bookmark service called del.icio.us with the tag: bowenblogintro. You can can get all the links on the bowenblogintro tag page as well as subscribe to the bowenblogintro tag RSS feed for updates.

• What is a blog (Roland's flickr photoblog, bmannconsulting, darrenbarefoot screenshots)?
  • The unedited voice of a person
  • anatomy: permanent links, reverse chronological, subscribe via RSS (RSS diagram), comments
  • works for podcasts and videoblogs too, RSS is the carrier
  • subscription helps conversation
  • Bloglines demo
• Why should I blog?
  • Why should you email? blogging or having a personal/corporate/org conversational space TODAY is where email was 5-10 years ago
  • Unless you want to be an online hermit which is a valid choice, need to have a strategy eventually for your personal online conversational space including blogging (early adopters get pain and benefit)
  • promotes personal brand, business brand, passions
  • BLOG = better listings on Google = $ indirectly and directly
• How do I Blog?
  • The Program
    • Listen for a few days/weeks
      • Use Bloglines (or NetNewsWireLite for Mac OS X or FeedDemon for Windows)
    • Play with free services (e.g. create a free blog at WordPress.com and free photoblog at flickr)
      • create half a dozen or so posts
    • Come up with strategy (or not, playing is good)
      • own your own domain name
      • put all your stuff there, or aggregate it
      • may want non free services if your org or business depends on it
• Hands on
  • create your own domain name
  • create your own free blog at WordPress
  • create your first post
  • create flickr account
  • post a photograph
  • subscribe using Bloglines to your flickr blog and your WordPress blog

[Hemmed and hawed about posting this since I probably shouldn't go since I need to prepare for Bowen Intro to blogging on Saturday!]

I say we move it to a place with WiFi since nothing in Yaletown appears to have WiFi and be open past 5:30pm. Say to Take 5 (don't believe the website, it's open until 8p.m.) at 429 Granville? Then we can do some podcasts and upload them live from our iRivers, M Audio Boxes, laptops, etc. courtesy of Take 5's sweet sweet free WiFi! What say you?

From Upcoming.org: Vancouver Podcasters Meetup at Beatty Street Bar and Grill (Friday, February 3, 2006).:

QUOTE

Beatty Street Bar and Grill 765 Beatty Street (Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps) Vancouver, British Columbia ----- DATE CHANGED TO FEB 3 2006 ----- Sorry folks, I'm struck down by a chest infection. You're all still welcome to show up and hang out if you like, but I'll be at the "official" meetup which is now going to be Feb 3.

UNQUOTE

Love to see you no matter whether you are a blogger or not! RSVP: roland AT rolandtanglao.com OR call 604 729 7924

From Intro to Blogging on Bowen Island | Bryght.:

QUOTE

Interested in blogging? Or perhaps you are already a blogger, podcaster, or videoblogger. Come to beautiful Bowen Island, meet other bloggers including Bowen blogger Richard Smith and learn how to start a blog or take your existing blog, podcast or videoblog to the next level from Vancouver bloggers, podcasters and videobloggers Boris Mann and Roland Tanglao . All this and more for only $10 at the Bowen Island Community School from 11p.m.-3p.m. on Saturday January 21st.

Afterwards, join us for an informal (and FREE) Blog Walk (4-5:30p.m.) and Evening Pizza Blogging Event (6p.m.) at the Seven Hills B and B.

UNQUOTE

Hmm, I guess I was wrong. It looks like Apple just introduced podcast recording support into GarageBand and Video Podcasting aka Videoblog recording support into iMovie. We'll have to wait and see how good the support is but this is great! Go Apple go! Expect M$crosoft to follow in 2007 :-) !

Great list from Susan.

Here's mine:

1. Get a video iPod second model when it comes out in June or sooner (i want wide screen, buying 2nd gen Apple stuff is always better if you can wait that long)
2. Do a weekly video blog in a format that works well on iPod Video
3. Do more screencasting
4. Create enhanced podcasts for documentation and fun
5. Create three 1 minute movies about Vancouver
6. Dive into Jabber and XMPP since 2006 is the year of XMPP
7. Get a new desktop with oodles of RAM and disk (4GB, 160 GB or more) and power to run Aperture and RSS aggregation and filtering over 1000s of subscriptions and searches
8. Dive into RAW processing of my photos using Aperture 2.0 (probably an end of year thing!)
9. Buy, beg, borrow or steal :-) a mobile phone that does WiFi and has a 2 Megapixel camera and half VGA or better video (e.g. N91) and run a VoIP over WiFi client on it as well
10. Convert all my websites to Drupal (i.e VanEats)
11. Run my own Linux box with Drupal for my own experiments
12. Give back more to the Drupal community (probably by writing more handbook pages)
13. Increase the audio quality of my podcasts!

From Susan Mernit's Blog: Personal tech: Resolutions for 2006.:

QUOTE

1) Get an iPod and go all digital Yeah, I owned an iPod--and I gave it to my kid. This time, around, I want a video iPod and I want to move all my music over to digital--and figure out a media storage solution that works as well. 2) Upgrade my phone and add a decent video camera to it--with clogging and podcast components. 3) Start podcasting weekly-- a friend had a great idea--I still want to do it. 4) Move my blog to a new domain and get off blogspot. Aanyone need explanations on that? 5) Upgrade from my friend's digital camera to my own--and buy flickr pro--got it for my client, need to add my own access. 6) Tag more. I think tagging is amazing, but I avoid doing it. Change that a bit. 7) Get a decent new computer--or a cheap back up machine. 8) Do more new tools beta testing on a weekly basis--using that back-up machine I wanna establish. 9) Learn more--a lot more--about extreme programming--as I got more and more into product development this is a critical area to build competency. 10) Keep having fun with technology--it's gotta be both enjoyable and useful--and it can be. 11) Turn off my land line phone for good--between the VOIP options and the cell, the $$ I am paying is a waste. 12) Buy a big TV. Yeah, I don't watch it, but it's time to upgrade from 19 inches, doncha think? 13) Card scanning or something--figure out something to do with all those business cards that are stacked in bowls around my office. I do want to talk to some of these folks again.

UNQUOTE

Remember my predictions are worth what you pay for them :-)

Prediction number 2: Apple will not introduce an iPod with built in recording (and leave it to 3rd party manufacturers which is OK but it would great for podcasters if they had an iPod for podcasters) nor will they introduce anything to record video (on a phone or otherwise). This is one prediction I hope will not come true because I think there is a market for a iPod for podcasters and Apple has the ability to make it a truly easy to use, seamless experience from microphone back to the iPod.

Go Chris go! I want to believe. I want a read/write fully integrated read/write browser for blogging, podcasting and videoblogging whether it's called flock or something else. I want to believe and I still believe.... If flock doesn't build it somebody else will because the current crappy (but good enough for millions) tool situation will not hold!

From Revving a classic cliché.:

QUOTE

The point is this. These technologies have become second nature vehicles for communication and expression. And blogging, podcasting, vlogging and the whole lot of recent "mecasting" technologies aren't as integrated, aren't as easy, aren't as accessible as they need to be for them to be picked up and made as commonplace as the telephone (or cellphone, if you prefer). Point Four Percent of the population is nothing (that's 23.6 million blogs as a percentage of the world population by the way). And yet another extension is not the answer. I don't even know if another browser is. But we need something that works to solve this problem - or at least to make it better.

Yep, we've got a vision for how a browser with a different understanding of the web can help. We wouldn't be building it otherwise. This is what drives us to make Flock the best possible, most easy-to-use and most useful tool it can be, because we're experiencing all the same problems that everyone else is.

UNQUOTE

Oh well, I guess the web was bad and didn't deserve a cool modern web site from Canada.com like I asked for nicely :-) ! I bet this wasn't a technical decision; I bet not offering RSS feeds falls out from not wanting to (or being afraid to) move from their really bad, not-modern content management system to a modern web infrastructure (like Drupal, Plone, Joomla or h*ck even WordPress or Movable Type could have been used if all they wanted to add was blogs).

To any other organization contemplating such a move: it's really easy, you don't have to junk your old system. Just add blogging, videoblogging and podcasting on new servers running more modern systems as a complement to your existing web presence on your old servers.

I hope we hear from the techies on this one but I doubt it since they don't use RSS and their stuff disappears behind a paywall so even if they do, it probably won't show up on Google!

From Canada.com Redesigns Without RSS Feeds | Darren Barefoot.:

QUOTE

Canada.com recently launched a long-overdue redesign of their website. I'll let you decide what you think on your own, but I find it way too busy, deeply unusable and just plain ugly. As somebody (I think it was on here, but I can't find it now) recently remarked, they went from looking like an early-nineties website to a late-nineties one.

One particularly laughable navigation element is the 'share it' section. This teases with the prospect of citizen journalism and reader engagement, but turns out to be the bucket for stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else. What do obituaries (new user-generated content, every day!), personals and e-cards (speaking of the nineties) have in common? They do have a discussion group, but they managed to select the ugliest, least user-friendly forum software I've seen in years.

What's the worst offense (aside from the subscription walled gardens)? No RSS feeds. C'mon, it's nearly 2006. Nearly every media outlet in the world offers RSS feeds. CanWest is among the largest media conglomerates in Canada. What possible reason could they have for not implementing them?

UNQUOTE

Off to Banff land of coldness (Banff weather is high -10 tomorrow, -14 Monday and -9 Tuesday) to help teach at Blogs n Dogs! And I am sure, as always, that I will learn just as much from the "students" as they learn from me.