Minute Tech 008: What is a dinosaur?

What is a dinosaur? Is it a terrible lizard, or someone still using a casette-based Sony Walkman?

The original use of the name for terrible lizard probably refers to the idea that humans couldn't bear to think about co-existing with such animals on today's Earth. Of course, those people haven't seen Dinotopia, have they? :-)

The topics for episode 8 are:

- Apple’s iWork ’08 is out and being used;
- What is a dinosaur?
- Give a kid a microphone, & historic Williamsburg, Va.

The podcast was delayed a day due to a family trip to Williamsburg, Va, a town where even the buildings are essentially re-enacters. Many of the houses may be original, but the larger buildings are all re-built versions of those that were susceptible to fireplace-derived structure fires. There's one good thing to be said for modern gas furnaces...and eventually, solar or fuelcell home power & heat.

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..alex.

Williamsburg, VA

We'll be wandering around Williamsburg, VA, today, to see the types of technology used 400 years ago in pre-America. Full report tomorrow. My tour guide is my 6-yr-old son, who's been here 3 times before, 3 times more than me! :-)

Minute Tech 008 should be posted later today.

..alex.

Minute Tech 007: What is a personal computer?

Whaddya mean "what is a personal computer"? Doesn't everyone know that? Well, perhaps for the sake of argument, anyone's who's in the audience for this podcast would know the history of the PC...but I feel it's always instructive to know something of where you've been to understand when you are now...and where you're going to be tomorrow.

The topics for today's Minute Tech podcast:

- Leopard with to-do’s & Notes; Buzzword;
- What is a personal Computer? Mainframes to Wii’s;
- Podfade - has it struck a podcast near you?

The time for this podcast is longer than I like, at about 00:08:30, but lets see if it sounds more natural and less scripted.

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..Alex.

Minute Tech 006: What is a star?

There are stars...and there are stars.

The outline for today's Minute Tech podcast:

- The celestial dance of the moon with Saturn and Venus;
- What is a Star? The sky and Hollywood both pertain;
- CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks

and related links:

Amanda Bauer's blog "Astropixie - Things and Stuff Astronomy and Life";
Lisa Dale Miller's article about the New Moon in Libra;
Mark Apsolon's site on youtube;
Wikipedia's article on the heavenly version of the star;
Bob McDonald and the Quirks & Quarks radio show.

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..Alex.

Chris asks about podcast workflow

Chris Brogan asked recently if podcasters could point him toward their workflow. Chris, here's mine.

When first working up my podcast, I was thinking that a workflow would be a good thing to have. Being a typical geek (I think!) I usually just dive right in...but knowing myself as well as I do, I though that this time I'd surprise myself with a wee bit o' planning.

Although I don't follow this daily, I have it open as one of two TextEdit windows when prepping and recording the podcast - the other TextEdit window contains the outline or partial script that I'm using.

Workflow

1) get outline from show listing - a file in which I've identified possible future topics - copy show title & 3 subject headings:

- tech item
- tech question & answer
- podcasting news

2) fill out outline with current news and short paragraphs of script: I can write well, but extemporaneous speaking well is another issue;

3) post transcript to http://phyllostachys.blogspot.com; reference on MinuteTech and iWeb pages;

4) record show via iMovie/iSight USB camera, copy to Garageband:

(a) open previous show's GarageBand file;
(b) remove previous audio recording and save as new filename "Minute Tech 00#";
-- this is necessary as later export to iTunes will label the audio file with GarageBand filename.
(c) record show via iMovie and copy to GarageBand;
(d) edit audio, removing or muting ums, ahs, extraneous noises. :-)
(e) make sure associate image(s) files are inserted in picture track
(f) save GarageBand file
(g) export to iTunes - export to iTunes converts to .m4a (AAC) format - will convert to .mp3 from iTunes.
(e) when export complete, go to iTunes and create .mp3 copy

5) While exporting, open iWeb:

(a) create episode page
(b) insert .m4a and .mp3 files to episode page
(c) save iWeb and Publish to .Mac account

6) Post to Minute Tech Blogspot page:

(a) Create new "Minute Tech 00#" post
-- outline of show
-- links to sites if possible/relevant
(b) save post and copy "a href"link to iWeb from previous post
(c) re-open post, paste in html, and publish post

7) update Blogspot sidebar:

(a) get newly generated iWeb page address through RSS feed
(b) edit Blogspot sidebar to include direct link to .mp3 file
(c) work in progress: troubleshoot flash mp3 player.

8) advertise publication, manage analysis:

(a) I haven't planned this yet, though will publish to iTunes when I've done 10-15 episodes, having pushed myself beyond that 1st invisible podcasting "fade" barrier [Note: posted to iTunes after 15th episode as "Minute Tech"]
(b) have applied Google analytics to:
- minutetech.blogspot.com
- phyllostachys.blogspot.com
(c) trying to figure out how to apply Google Analytics to iWeb - learning more about iWeb structure, editing capabilities.

..Alex.

Minute Tech 005: What is a spreadsheet?

tech news - Hitachi announces new GMR hard drive head tech for 1-4 TB hard drives;
tech question - What is a spreadsheet?
podcasting news - Blog Action Day - blog about the environment. We talk about podcasting's reliance upon coal-fired electricity.

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..Alex.

Minute Tech 004: What is a document?

Only 4 episodes in, and a weekend occurs. What to do? Is this daily or every day? I'll take a cue from the Wall Street Journal, a daily paper with a Saturday, or weekend, edition, and USAToday, which has a Saturday/Sunday edition: Episode 4 will be the Saturday/Sunday edition of Minute Tech. In the cast itself, I got the dates wrong. Sat/sun are 10/13 & 10/14...but I said "October 12th & 13th". Hmmm.

Also, Christopher Penn, of the Financial Aid Podcast & Marketing Over Coffee, suggested "Feedplayer" as a flashbased mp3 player for this blog site. I tried it, as you can see to the left...but for some reason the mp3's are not feeding through from Apple's iWeb. I'll continue troubleshooting this. Other podcast sites have similar feeds...

Here're brief notes from the show:

Tech item - we discuss the uses of Youtube: watching vids of Lego figurines, Bungie's Halo 3, and Wu Style Tai Chi.
As in any other social site, you're going to have people flaming one another. Martial arts stylists are legend for this behavior...and the comment sections of YouTube are not spared. :-)

Tech question: What constitutes a document? writings on paper, bamboo, clay, stone....or vi. ;-)

Podcasting: podcasts can be aimless, or highly directional - in this way, they are similar to the media forms that preceed them: newspapers, magazines & television.

Go to my iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

..alex.