Blog
My Podcast Subscriptions
So what have I been listening to recently on my iPod on the way to work? Good question!
Much like my last post about Digg, I've been listening to their official podcast: Diggnation. As well as covering the week's biggest Digg stories in a half hour, they sample a new beer or two every week.
Another one I've picked up is the Catholic Insider. Fathjer Roderick Vonhögen of the Netherlands gives his listeners an inside look into the Catholic church and other things. I really enjoyed listening to his on-site coverage of the choosing of a new Pope in Rome. And he offers a spiritually-minded look at Star Wars and Harry Potter via his podcasts too. It's definitely worth a listen, and maybe even if you're not Roman Catholic. I just looked at the website and noticed that his latest project is an audio commentary track you can play with your Star Wars movies for his thoughts on them. That should be cool.
Another thing I thought was cool was the coverage it gets because of the popularity. At the Podcast Awards it not only won the Religion category, but it also was nominated for "People's Choice" award too. Also, the show is one of the top-rated podcasts on PodcastAlley.com, so it is part of a podcast that play the top 10 of the week. Podcast found acually plays this podcast list to a talk show station on Sirius Sattelite Radio, so it should get some good listening there. And it's great to see a faith-based podcast right up there next to podcasts about tech and sex.
Let's Go Digging
As you may have notice if you want my links closely, I'm now into Digg. Digg.com is kinda billed as Slashdot without the top-heavy management that filters stories. So most of the stories are geek-related, but then again some are just random, weird stories. Anyone (who has signed up) can write up links to stories, and if somebody enjoys it, they "digg" it. If it's really cool, it'll show up on the front page of Digg. Check it out to find some really interesting stuff. And if you ever want to see what I've been reading, check out the link in the "All Mine" section: Stories I Dugg. I thought those links were interesting reading, so maybe you will too. Oh, and if you join Digg, add me to your friends list!
The Google Image Game
Here's a cool thing I just found on Digg.com: The Google Image Game. A cool guy made a program to take a Google Image search and make a collage of the images. But this twist is you have to guess what the keyword that created the collage is. It's pretty fun to guess what all the images have in common. My only beef is that the program doesn't give you the answer, it just gives you the first letter of the answer. That's not cool because this program should have an almost endless supply of words and it leaves me hangin'.
My New PAL
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my newest friend, the Tivoli Audio iPAL. It plugs into my new iPod and plays the music wherever I would like to go.
For a couple years now, I'd been wanting a speaker system to tote around with me on my various journeys. iPod lovers are always ready to point out the great sound of the JBL Creature, but that's not portable at all. Many pointed out that the Altec Lansing inMotion series had some nice, very portable features for a good price, and I thought, "Yeah, maybe." But still, if I wanted to go really mobile, I'd have to start packing AA batteries. And those speakers are so thin, it's hard to get enough bass response out of them, I'd wager.
But the iPAL has all the good features I'd be requirin'. It's got a large speaker that can kick out some sound. It's kinda weather-resistant so I can carry it around a bit. It's small and compact and doesn't even take up all that much space in my backpack. It has a rechargable battery with a 12+ hour battery life. And it has an AM/FM tuner built in for good measure. (The analog tuner reminds me of the days not-so-long ago when I toted around a Fisher-Price microphone with a radio built in.)
Some may complain that the unit only has one speaker. But who cares about stereo sound when you're on the go? Getting a good sound out of one speaker is better than having two tiny speakers that are six inches apart. Plus, this thing kicks out some beautiful sound when you turn both the iPod and the iPAL up. And even at high levels, it sounded almost as good as my Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 system. Of course, I guess it should becuase I paid almost as much for this.
I don't know if my mom's gonna be excited because now I can listen to my music anywhere in her house when I visit, but I know I am excited!
A Milestone!
According to my WordPress blogging software, this is the 100th post since I started this in February.
Wait? Does mean I should say "blog" 100 times?
blog blog blog BLOG bLOG blog blog blog blog blog...
That would only be fun if I created a little program to randomize the capitalizatino of the letters. And I'm not going too. At least I'm celebrating this momentus occasion by spinning Andy Hunter's Exodus on my new iPod!
The Great Format War
Haha, now this is good. Here's somebody talking about the upcoming war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD:
"Now we are engaged in a great format war, testing whether the next generation of packaged entertainment ... can long endure. We acknowledge that the great battlefield of that war is not here, but across the Pacific. ... Yet, retailers call for the elevation of compromise over conflict and a future for all behind a unified format. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
Darn Minneapolis
I used to say St. Paul is much better than Minneapolis. But I can't say that much longer, I guess. I now work in Minneapolis. In a month I'm gonna be living in Minneapolis. Minneapolis has better public transportation than the west side of St. Paul. Oh well, goodbye St. Paul! I still love you!
Google Maps Update!
I went to Google Maps today and noticed something really cool. They added Satellite a while back, but nothing beats their latest, "Hybrid". Not only is it a satellite map, it includes the biggest labels on the map in a map. Check out my current location in full-style Hybrid.
Burning A Hole In My Pocket
For a while now, I've been thinking about getting a new iPod. Mine's over two years old and it's running better than ever now that I put a new battery in it. But, the 30GB of space is not enough for me now that I'm officially a music snob. For the last year or so I've been able to find boring music that I've gotten from my endeavors at cMusicWeb.com and make sure that's not on my iPod, but it's gotten to the point where my collection of purchased CDs that I'd like to have on my iPod is more than 30GB. Plus, I've been listening to tech podcasts a bit more, so having the extra space for those would be nice.
Also, I told my sister that she could have my old iPod, so it makes sense I should give it to her before she leaves for college. Sure, she's gonna have to live with my e-mail address and the quote from delirious? on it, but she'll be happy to have a place to store all her music. There's some raucous kid friends of mine that would take it and give me some money, but I'd much rather let my sister have it.
The question is now or later. I don't know. One of my friends said I should because I have the money, and they're probably right. In a month I'm moving to a place where they actually charge a decent amount for rent.
I went to the Apple store last night and found that my old cables and docks will work with my new iPod. That's a relief.
Optimus Keyboard
Who doesn't want one of these? Of course, all respectible geeks want a keyboard that lights up, but what about a keyboard where the buttons change depending on what program you're using? The
Optimus keyboard even has a left side bank of keys that can be customizable to load any program and it puts the icon right on the key! It's all through the power of beautiful LCDs.