Geekazine.com

You can Patent Podcasting?

It was an interesting week. The one thing that just seemed to be the strangest is that a company called VoloMedia decided to put a patent on Podcasting. While we’re all still trying to wrap our heads around it, I can see how this can happen. I remember years ago I heard of patent cases all around of people who didn’t really invent something clean up because there was no document on it.

Of course, the more famous story goes to the girl who invented that clip to store your sunglasses on your car’s visor. The story goes she used Bobby-pins to invent the clip. Someone else saw the idea and made an adjustment, then patented it for their own. The end result is that girl lost out on millions of $$

Yeah, this is not no visor clip and we are no little girls. Nonetheless, this is why you claim for intellectual property. You never know who might just come by to capitalize on it.

Podcast Recorder Up – Podcast Recorder Down.

I thought I had resolved my podcast recording problems, but when I went to do the show earlier in the week, they came back. It was frustrating, but I think I know what the issue is. I have a machine with 2 SATA drives that are striped for cache storage. They offer speed of caching my recordings. I thought one of them went bad, therefore I took it down to 1 drive. Now I think the SATA controller bus is bad. I run checks on the drives and they come out with no errors – but they still crash the machine if I use them.

Video Recording is Tough

I am not replacing that machine just yet because I may be cascading machines. The reason why? Well I also need to work on putting together a machine for Video production. The one I was using is just not going to cut it. To spend 4-5 hours on one-10 minute clip is not productive. The worst part is I got done with the video and reviewed it – only to find that the audio is not in sync with the video! ACK!

This is an interesting road to go down, but I am working on it. What would be great is if WebcamMax had an option to go above 640 x 480 on recording video. They don’t. I do have a copy of ArcSoft I got with my camera. Not too keen on using it, for it doesn’t record in a native format my video mixing program will allow. That means conversion before I can edit. Not fun.

What? The Website AGAIN!?!

This week I had more issues with the website. On Wednesday I upgraded to WordPress 2.8.2. I thought the upgrade was fine, but when I went to post a new article on Friday, I noticed none of the AJAX was working. After a couple hours of deduction (because some functionality doesn’t work at all when AJAX is off, like disabling all plugins), I found the problem – a plug-in. What was interesting is I was planning to get rid of that plug-in anyway. This sealed the deal.

Local Community TV

If anyone is from the Madison area, you might know about WYOU, a local community TV station. They are faced with a new concern – broadcasting with out a community budget. The city gave this station $140k a year for production, but this year is the last they will get it simply because of economic times.

I was asked to come in with local music magazine CEO Rokker (Maximum Ink) to try and figure out what can be done in the social media realm to monitize, but stay commercial free. It’s an daunting and interesting task, but I think we threw some ideas their way and maybe this will work for all.

Long Weekend

It seems the next 3 weekends will be filled with trips and gigs. Therefore weekend production will be sparse. I still have to round up my notes for Week in Tech History. I should just record the month and be done with it for now. Yet I feel some sense of need to record only 7 at a time. I guess I feel then I am up on all the history.

Binghoo

The majority of the second half of the week was involved in watching the Microsoft – Yahoo love connection. I personally think this is a great thing for both companies and I am curious as to what Yahoo is going to do next. Although I believe that this might be a door-hold for Microsoft to seal the deal and buy out Yahoo within 2 years. I have noted that this is something Microsoft has wanted to do for a few years now, so I think that they won’t just stop because they have search engine control of Yahoo.

If Yahoo doesn’t show a promising line by next year – Expect Microhoo to be born. It will definitely speed up the process of putting Bing on Yahoo search engines…

Shout out to Andy, Todd

Both Andy McCaskey and Todd Cochrane had family issues. I have worked with both exclusively in the last year and want to give props to both for all their work they have done in the new media space. Andy has been hit hardest as he did not run his show all week. It is a great Technical podcast that runs daily – This should be required listening to all in the tech field. I know I take the 15 minutes to listen in on all the news Andy delivers.

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Well, off to a show. We’ll talk next week.

Wait. I have to check my Facebook. No Messages? OK. Here I go.

iPhone Week 2

I sat down with a friend last night who also got one of the new 3GS Models. We went back and forth on what we liked and didn’t. He had a lot of paid apps, while I haven’t purchased a single one. I am taking my time and make sure that I am not paying 99 cents for something I am going to delete tomorrow.

I did play with a great little app from Master Card. It was quick and easy to use and worked phenomenally on the phone. But I think that it all is shadowed from the other functionality of the phone. Facebook and Twitter – As well as email – seems to be consuming the time.

Don’t get me wrong. I still believe a phone is made for calling someone. It is nice that I can do other things, too.

One thing that I miss though is the emulator I had on my 8125. I could put the phone on my computer screen and use the keyboard and mouse to do more work. I would love to see the same for the new phone. That, and the ability to keep the screen on longer than a minute while plugged in.

However, check out the video I created on Wed. I think it’s a pretty good quality:

Summer of Podcasts Contest

It’s now week 3 and the contest is still going. Yay! I’ve been talking to a couple more people and I think we have a few more prizes by the end of the month. The Podcast Carnivale is set for August 9th. We are looking for Podcasters to get online and talk. at 3 PM CST, we have the TechPodcasts Roundtable and at 6 PM CST we give away a lot of prizes. Gonna be a pretty cool day.

Workin on the site again

I was playing with some new software in hopes to add to the site. Also have been working on the next iteration in the “azine” line. When all falls into place, I should be able to move ahead to make everything a lot easier to do.

Podcast Rig

The Podcast Rig had some problems on Sunday. I couldn’t record “Week in tech History”, so I pointed to an episode from last year. Made me think if I am going in the right direction with this segment – after all, it’s been going for over a year now. It’s time to evolve.

Video is Tough

The studio is about 95% done. Lighting becomes critical in the creating of the video. But I am confident that the right mixture of light is there and will be testing it out next week.

The post-production, however, was tougher than before. It really makes me think about upgrading the computer, which I don’t have the funds for right now. Therefore, I have another plan which means double the production time. I am also banking on the fact that I now have a template in place as so it wont be as frustrating.

But I did have someone say to me – “Dude, you have a green screen in your basement?” Yes, I do.

It’s only the Sciatic

I had a rude awakening last week. My Sciatic Nerve flared up. Yep, I said Sciatic. I come to realize that since loosing the Gym membership (had to make some hard choices, you know) I haven’t been doing much physical activity besides playing music. Therefore, I am going to start working out again, which should be fun, and get me back on track.  That is, if I can stand…

Bad Weather

As a musician, weather can hamper your plans. This weekend was grey and cold. I lost a few shows because of it. It sucks, but it also gave me time to work on other things. That, and play with the iPhone some more…

I Can’t tell you

There is some big news that I cannot tell you. But just keep your eyes peeled as I am working on something that will help out the site.

That’s it for this week. Back to the grind, if I can stand up….

On August 9th from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM CST, we will have the live event called “Podcast Carnivale“. During this event, we will talk to tech podcasters about different items. At 3 PM CST – Andy, Todd and Techpodcasts Network will hold a special TPN Roundtable. Finally, at 6 PM CST – we will be giving away all the prizes in the Summer of Podcasts contest.

If you would like to participate, all you have to do is let me know and I will sign you up. geekazine at gmail dot com.

Event: Podcast Carnivale
Why: Event to talk with Tech Podcasters, giveaways and more.
When: August 9th from 12:00 to 18:00 (6 PM) CST
Who: All that entered in the Summer of Podcasts Contest
Special: TPN Roundtable at 3 PM CST
Special: Drawing for “Summer of Podcasts” Contest at 6 PM CST

Were gonna be short on Ramblings since it’s another fun filled weekend.

Happy Independence Day

I am writing this on July 4th, so I shall say it. If you are not in the US, shoot off some fireworks anyway. It’s fun – unless you are in a country that doesn’t make it fun, then just read on.

We spent the majority of last night blowing stuff up. I can say that I enjoyed the night a lot. Being with friends and just relaxing to the warm sound of BANG! POP! BOOM!

Tonight, we play in the Dells, and although that’s fun too, it’s a different group.

Summer of Podcasts Contest is Underway

Wednesday marked the start of the Summer of Podcasts contest. PC Mac Smackdown, Simon Sez IT and Bageltech News are the first show to listen to. Collect the codeword, then go to Podcastmadness.com and enter it in.

New Studio

I worked in the initial videos from the new studio this week. Still have a little work to do. Nonetheless, the new studio will have a lot of great advantages to it. I am looking forward to this new opportunity.

Starting Back up the LIVE SHOW?

It’s been a few months since the last episode of the Geekazine LIVE show was aired. I think it’s time to bring it back.

Problems in Banking

If you use Paypal, it can be great for money transfers. However, it can also become a nightmare. Especially if something goes wrong. I am not going to talk too much more about it right now, simply because there are still things pending out there. Nonetheless, I did have some issues this week.

Blogworld – New Media Expo

Started getting prepared for this show in October. A lot to plan – flight, hotel, show, which shorts I am going to pack, etc.  I will definitely be there. Even if I have to sleep in the alley by the convention center.

That’s all for now. It was a slow week. Next week will be chuck full of goodness, so stay tuned.

Busy Week
Thanks for coming to the site. We had another great week – busy week. It was a lot of fun and really productive.

Post – HPTF

Of course, we went to Vegas the week before to cover the HP Technology Forum Expo. Andy McCaskey, Kara Karsten and myself were working hard with interviews, product reviews and more. This week was planning to get some of the videos out to you. So far, we’ve posted the HP POD video on Friday and have a lot more coming soon.

Summer of Podcasts – Podcast Carnivale

This is what really took up the majority of the week. The last month I have been working hard in getting prizes together. Now it’s time to put a contest together. That is where the Summer of Podcasts comes in. Each week, Podcasters will be giving out codewords during their shows. We will be giving away a USB wireless VGA from IOGEAR (See the video below), a WebAround Web privacy screen and a lot more. The best part is a lot of prizes are from the Podcasters themselves. Caffination is giving some Coffee, Bageltech News gave a NYC canvas print, Bwana.org is giving Team Fortress 2 for PC and a T-Shirt, SDRNews is giving a MagicJack, Techpodcasts (Geek News Central) is giving an iPod Touch: there is a lot more.

Wednesday, July 1st is when the contest starts. Check out the site before hand to which shows are giving codewords for the week.

Bands

It’s summertime, so the band ramps up in it’s playing. It’s all well and good – I enjoy taking the trips and playing the gigs. This last weekend I played 3 shows and it wasn’t even Sunday. This afternoon is one more show. Next week is just about the same.

Interview

This last week, I was interviewed on the Isthmus – a local tabloid – style paper in the Madison area. The interview will be out next week, when that happens, I will post it.

PC/Mac Smackdown

Had lunch with Cal last Wednesday. He said – “Hey, why don’t you come on the show”. I said “Sure, why not?”. Therefore, I was on the PC / Mac Smackdown with Cal Davis and Rachel Baker.

Windows 7

Pre-Orders of Windows 7 means a significant discount. I have Windows 7 RC on my Dell D600 and really like how it works. What is even more interesting – Windows 7 works a lot better on that machine than when I put on Ubuntu 9.04. Ubuntu would lag when I was working – and I mean REALLY Lag. I would litterally select something, count to 5, then watch it execute.

I am really impressed with this OS, so I am excited this is coming out.

MJ, FF and EM AND BM

It was a sad week for a lot of people. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson took the Trifecta this week as all three passed. Ed McMahon was the sidekick of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, Farrah Fawcett was the poster girl of the 70′s and of course, Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. While I was never a big MJ fan, I do appreciate his music and also how he let Weird Al Yankovic to make fun of his music.

I remember when I first heard “Eat it” 0n the radio. While I never listened to “Bad”, I did have the “Even Worse” album which featured “Fat”.

*Update – Just as I published this, the Internet found out that Billy Mays – the Oxy Clean promoter (as well as Mighty Putty, Big City Sliders, Kaboom and a lot more) was found dead at his  home. He was 50. I guess it’s more than a Trifecta…

Studio

This week was a lot of work with the studio. Only problem – I can’t find my staple gun. I had it, then it dissapeared. I am not sure where it went. AUGH!

Still, the new studio is doing well. I am hoping to record the first video there by Mid-week. My bedroom is getting cluttered with PC stuff and that needs to head down to the Dungeon. The door to that room is the main reason why I call it the Dungeon.

Looking at Phones

I have to admit, I have been looking at the iPhone 3GS. The one thing I like is I have fatter fingers. I was able to use the screen a lot better than with the 3G. For instance, when I hit the “N”, on the 3G, I would always miss and hit the “M”. However, with the 3GS, I have not done anything different and seem to be hitting the “N” key and actually getting an “N”.

I still have some tests to go. I am also looking at the Palm Pre, but in order to do that, I would have to switch to Sprint, which I don’t know if I am ready to do. Android is a possibility, but I really don’t want the G1. I am waiting for the Lenovo version.

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That’s pretty much it this week. Keep watching the site for more info on the contest. Of course if you want to give a prize for the contest, let me know.