PEOPLE OFTEN ASK ME : "What is a createc??"

Hey Evrehbodeh!! :)

Just a quick update. I've been busy trying out all sorts of of podcasting and blogging things recently. Having programmed a few content management systems myself, I thought it was time to try a few more ;) - hey, I even use blogger.com to post here!

So, check out blog.podbat.com for a blog I'm doing using Radio Userland. Seems really easy to use, though has a few bits, bobs and bugs I'd like to change. It's neat to have everything you need in one place. A place to consume news and blog feeds, and an easy way to publish new stuff, or even the stories and blogs it alerts you to. I haven't tried posting to it via email yet. But I see that you can. Hmm.. will attachments show up as 'enclosures' I wonder? :) If so.. expect a 'moCast' very soon :)

Also, I'm trying out Manila over at blugg.opml.org [thx to Dave - I think it was the only way he could stop me asking nagging questions about it ;) ] Again this is very intuitive, and I'm sure is far more powerful than I know. Maybe I'll get a book on it. Frontier looks very interesting too. I might find somewhere to install that some day, once I've finished a few things off round here.

To stay posted, it's probably best to subscribe to the blog.podbat.com rss feed. As, I have to tools to keep that moving alot easier now. Thanks to Dave for some enlightenment ;) I bought Radio. What a sales pitch ;) Using it.

Also keep tabs on the podbat development. I may start an email list soon for people to sign up to be an alpha tester for my cool podcasting tool. :) - for now, if you fancy a go, mail me at podbat at gmail dot com and I'll let you try it, once I've got it a level I'm happy with - not as easy as you'd think, what with just having evenings to work on it. But I'm getting there. Slowly. :) Any know any good human cloners? :)

Later aggregators! :)

Vaio PCG-C1XD hublet

Vaio PCG-C1XD hublet
With great wifi from the hotel, the old trusty Vaio provides a great hub to gather, edit and publish anything I'd need in AV. Also installed Radio on this and will test more in the US. This trip has been more a holiday, getting away from the screens, but hey, I can't help it! There will be plenty of time to work and chat to and from the capital and the big apple.

Lots of interesting stuff happening! I can't say a huge amount of what's going on here in KossoLand, but all I can say that it's really very interesting and exciting! OK, so that's not fair...

Since it's 'birth' last year, I've been very interested indeed in the concepts of podcasting since working quite heavily on RSS-fed applications and interfaces - not reinventing any wheels here, I'm just looking at finding other ways of making RSS easier to understand, by presenting it in fun ways (especially for the likes of BBC - hello 'creative archive') - so I have been spending all of my spare time experimenting/developing/imagining and generally getting good experience of the whole phenom. Buying mics, cables, mixers, etc which pump audio into my Archos AV420 which records everything so I too can 'publish' an audioshow 'podcast' (I prefer the term 'blogcast' - watch this space).

On my journey through the 'castosphere' I came across a podcast feed by none other than Dave Winer and Adam Curry, called Trade Secrets (now defunct) - finally I could hear two people talking the same language as me. This was very exciting, so I consumed every 'episode' they had done (such is the nature of podcasting - I can go back a hear shows from last year - i love archives). Such energy, enthusiasm and fun being fed from the past, to my ears. Great! Unfortunately, (depending on your pov) they seem to have gone their seperate ways. How I wish they recorded whatever went on, so we could hear (and possibly learn from) what happened. But it really is their business (or 'non' business, I suppose).

A few weeks/months later while reading Dave's blog at Scripting.com, I noticed that he'd been after a logo for his personal podcast, 'Morning Coffee Notes' (which I recommend listening to - he even sings! ;) ) - so I did a few.. and then a few more, which Dave linked to on his blog. Hurrah!

Just to fill you in, another thing I have been up to is the BLUGGCASTER, a flash-based mp3 player fed by RSS podcast feeds from all around the world (the more interesting of which - imho - is the 'Last 100 podcasts on earth' feed from audio.weblogs.com - anyway, Dave spotted this and linked to it too! (yowza! interkarma!) - So I (white male) did what anyone would, and emailed him to thank him and also to say a few more things, and ask annoying questions etc... ($1 a pop ;)).. to my delight, I actually got replies.. answers... and advice... and then some jolly banter... :) - so I ask if he'd like to do a 'Skyperview' (recording an interview over Skype - the free Voice-over-IP 'telephone' service) for our 'show' - and guess what? He agreed.. I sent our SkypeID and lo and behold! HE CALLED! And I must say, what a laugh we had! Listen/subscribe via this page, or even through the 'bluggcaster' ;) - We even kinda met his mum!

Since then, we've kept in touch and he has introduced me to a very interesting group of people, who I will talk about soon. I am looking at/learning alot about OPML, as Dave is creating a new 'outliner' tool. OMPL *is* the throbbing heart of iPoddder, the massive (and growing) list of directories of podcasts. I also want to make sure he comes over to London to talk to everyone at work, as I know his knowledge, insight, experience and humour will be well received ;)

Now, the trouble is.. you try saying 'XML', 'RSS', 'OPML', 'aggregator', 'podcast', even 'blog' to most people and they look at you with a blank stare. (I've been online now for well over 10 years, and I used to get that response from saying 'world wide web' to people;) - it wasn't until I took people online and showed them AltaVista (best search engine at the time) and asked 'what do you want to know? (Before Bill Gates asked 'Where do you want to go?') They understood and were hooked)... sooo, here we are again, how do we get this technology out there to the masses ('smart' or not) without accidentally hitting the 'glaze-eyes-switch-off-brain-no-idea-ignore' button? Well, hopefully small green cartoon aliens might be the answer. And Flash. We'll see. :)

THEN: While listening to Adam's Daily Source Code podcast, I heard that he was due to come to the beeb for an interview with a BBC World program called 'Click Online' (I used to work with an old presenter of the show) on Friday. So, Friday comes and I happen to contact the show's producer and asked what kind of questions he would be asking. As it turned out, it became apparent that I knew a bit more about the whole phenom, so I was aksed if *I* wanted to do the interview! I'm no journalist and maybe I'm not 'equipped' to do this, so I suggested that Jo (my love) from News Online do the interview instead, as she is totally across what's going on here. That way we could score a double-whammy : one for Click Online and one for News Online (the BBC News website).. So we did the interview! It was great fun. Adam's a nice guy, and clearly very clever and shrewd. We both recorded the whole event, but his copy went out the day after to his 60,000 or so subscribers!! Complete with sidechat and 'soundseeing tour' of London! (He thought it was 'trippy' when we told him the we are indeed, Blugg and Doctoe) ;)

But shhh.. don't tell everyone...

No one actually *reads* this... do they?

In fact I think I will be doing more blogcasting on this site, as 'Kosso' - me. I never was much of a writer [edit: jeez: look at the size of this entry!!! -- ooeer missus] , but I could talk the hind legs off the Sphinx! ;)

Catch you later, aggregators! :)

Sad to hear that another 'voice' has passed away. Tommy Vance has died.
Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tommy Vance has died in hospital three days after suffering a stroke. Vance, who was 63, died in Kent at 0400 GMT on Sunday, his agent said.

From BBC News

Has really had a unique gravelly voice. Dark, deep and mysterious. Completely engaging. Instantly recognisable.

New Doctor Who episode leaks onto bittorrent networks.

I've just found what appears to be the first episode of the new Doctor Who, starring Christopher Eccleston on a bittorrent network. Nice! But how? On the official site, it says that it will be shown 'sometime in 2005'. There's also talk of a DVD being available from October on Amazon. (Need to find links again) Hmmm... also rumours that this may have been delibeate. But I'm sure that's just speculation. However, if it was deliberate, good move I say.

I will report back possibly via the bluggcaster, what I think of it when I get round to watching it.

The file was called Rose1.avi - as Rose is the name of the Doctor's new 'companion' played by Billie Piper. The image quality is so good, it must have directly from a digitape or dvd copy of the yet to be released, and highly anticipated BBC TV series.

Keep an eye on the BBC News Entertainment Section in the morning, as I'm sure there will be a story.

Search4RSS Podcast Jukebox
http://www.search4rss.com/jukebox.php
Really nice and simple way of showing podcasts in the browser. Almost like an executive version of what the podbat and the bluggcast will be/are.

NEWSFLASH: GOOGLE IS EVIL?
The plans that google has, for their toolbar (I never use any toolbars, as they are evil - and have always been the root of many problems) to display autolinks over your content, and not in a 'banner' space is well out of order.

Go here and check out a great video made by better bad news

It's a 12 minute Video Blogmash, where the Better Bad News panel re-mixes commentary and analysis of a pending threat to online free speech drawn from several sources. including :
1. Opt Out Petition
2. Dan Gillmor
3. The Scoblizer
4. Dave Winer
5. Cory Doctorow
6. Time
7. Mark Jen
8. Steve Rubel
9. Kas Log
10. Tim Bray

with sonic support from Plastikman.

The Proposed Search Tool, Auto-Link, Redirects Links On Blogs Abridging Author Text, Intent and Meaning.

Fight it.

BattleStar Podcast from GeekNewsCentral

"The Sci-Fi channel and specifically BattleStar Galactica took another step forward for podcasting with their new BattleStar Podcast. They created a podcast that is meant to be Battlestar on Sci-Filistened to along with watching the TV broadcast as a “Producers Commentary”. They have it split into different breaks or acts of the TV show and even beep to tell you when to stop the podcast for the commercials."

THIS is GREAT!!!! Not the show specifically, but the fact that they are just DOING IT!! I wonder of the person who said 'yes' to doing it truly understood. I hope so. I might see if I can download the show and the podcast too and play them together. Even create a Zinc/Flash app which can embed video over the Flash and also have the mp3 podcast player bit around it. Hmmmmm... I think I'm definitely going to find these shows.

podbat teaser

podbat teaser
uploaded by camoby. << that's me ;)

podbat teaser
OK.. so, here's a little teaser of something I'm brewing in the kozcave. podbat.com will be a place (and desktop app?) where you can manage your podcast desires. You'll be able to register for free (possibly with some storage space..) and create your own podcast feeds. You won't have to of course. You could just use it as a way monitor your podcast RSS feeds. it all depends on how much spare time I have to work on this... check out podbat.com

<geek>A nice way of explaining compiling from source</geek>

From the install notes of qmail... ;)

If you're not familiar with the distinction between source code and binaries, imagine ordering a pizza delivered to your house. The "binary" version of the pizza arrives ready-to-eat. The "source code" pizza comes as a kit containing flour, yeast, cheese, sauce, toppings, and directions for cooking the pizza yourself. Source code installations are a little more work for you, but if you follow the directions carefully, the result is the same--or even better. The self-baked pizza will be fresher, you can adjust the toppings to your preferences, and you'll know a lot more about your pizza and how it "works".

Nicely put :)

Come to work at the 'GooglunarPlex'!

While trawling through various blogs today, looking for automagic ways of posting to blogs using XML-RPC or SOAP etc (REST?) I was reading the 'EVHEAD' (Evan Williams' blog - the father or Pyra, which became Blogger) and found the links to the official Google blog (which doesn't - or didn't - actually use blogger) and also an amusing 'job' offering. Check it out. Rather amusing. I'd go work there ;) - on the moon that is...

One of the reasons I was in the this 'neck of the net' was to find out more about 'Odeo'. Evan's latest project, which looks like it be a web-based podcast aggregator and creator/uploader system which should launch imminently. This idea is rather like the idea I am brewing over at podbat.com ;)

I've also come across slapcast.com, another site which has the features I've been developing, along with the ability to post from a (USA-based) phone, alot like www.audioblogger.com

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" : Hunter S.Thompson

Damn shame to hear that Hunter S. Thompson has apparently committed suicide. We'd recently watched Fear & Loathing, since Jo got round to reading the book. I'd been thinking that I'd really like to hear him ramble on about stuff, on a podcast. Now, I guess we won't. Unless he's pre-recorded a bunch of messages, of course. Hmm.. Who knows, maybe he knows something about GW *hinting* that he'd smoked Marijuana. GWB attended a Superbowl party thrown by HST back in his 'cocaine days'. Check out out this little biog.

When asked decades later if he remembered whether Bush had used any drugs at his party, Thompson replied:

"I can't be expected to remember what every drug-addled yuppie hanger-oner who wanted to get close to me during a football game twenty-five years ago digested. There were so many dope fiends milling about, I don't remember what some Yalie named Bush, whose father was a factotum in the Nixon Administration, was doing. But he strikes me as the sort of person I would have thrown out of the room. A rich, beer-drunk yahoo with a big allowance who passes out in your bathtub. ... I don't want to become the Deep Drug Throat. ... I won't do it."

However, I just found this interview with him on Australian radio. You can click the mp3 link and download there. Very interesting. Not about Bush and Mary jane, but about Bush and the impending war, the White House and news media, etc. Recorded nearly a year after 911.

I think I might have to go and buy his book Kingdom of Fear.

I like that sort of thing ;)

Viva Las Vegas!!. Just off in the morning to CES 2005 where I will be looking at the hottest new technology and gadgets to look forward to over the next year. I will be 'mobloggin' the whole trip, using my 'camoby' system here. I can't wait to see all the gadgets and Las Vegas itself. It should be quite a trip. (Even though Jo has been made to stay in the cheapest hotel on the strip!! Grrr)