Posts Tagged ‘rig’

This week I am the host of TPN Weekly and I created an interesting show. It is all done from my iPhone. Part from the headset, part from the mic right on the iPhone. I even record a section where I pull the audio from my podcast rig to the iPhone.

I did it to show anyone that says “I don’t have time to record a podcast” or “I don’t have the equipment to record a podcast”. I even put out a challenge to those that want to put out a 10 show podcast.

Check out the Podcast at Blog.techpodcasts.com:

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….

Day Off - Sort of
A late Ramblings this week as I decided to stay offline last week. It was a long week and I was playing all weekend. It has been a while since I last took more than 24 hours off a computer, so that is a big feat for me.

HP Tech Forum

I had a fun time talking and working with Andy McCaskey and Kara Karsten with SDRNews. We had such a blast. We also put forward the mobile interview booth rig. We call it the “MacGyver” rig. Nonetheless, it was connected to uStream and we were able to conduct a few interviews for the event. Check out all the info on the Twitter log at #HPTF.

Great to meet some new bloggers: Shane Pitman of Neowin, John Obeto of AbsoluteWindows. We had a great week along with Halley, Tom, Calvin and Rebecca from HP and Buzzcorps.

Fryes at Vegas

Also got to go to Vegas again. While we didn’t run around town as much as with CES (everything was contained in Mandalay Bay), we did venture out to go to Fryes. It’s actually my first time at Fryes and I was pretty impressed. Of course, it was Vegas, so the store has a big slot machine up in it’s store front and stacks of coins as barrier posts. The inside was very big and complete. Andy had to get a new scratch drive since the one he brought died. We got what we needed and headed back to the safe Mandalay Bay

Mandalay Bay

Wow. This is a city contained in a building. That is, if you have the money for it. My room – which I call the “Bob Newhart” room – was decked with all the amenities. TV in the bedroom and the bathroom. You can connect an external device easily and be watching a movie while soaking in the tub.

The casino area was always hoppin. There were bands both on the “Sushi Pop” and “House of Blues” stages. Restaurants all over the building. A small walk and you are at “theHotel”. They even have their own beach – where we watched the Beach Boys play a set. Well, it was a short set for me, since I had a flight to catch.

Podcast on the show floor

I had the unique opportunity to record the show from the HPTF Expo floor. It was great because I didn’t have to set up a rig, do a show, rip it down and go to another area to post. I would also like to thank Simon Calder for helping out with the show notes so I could focus on other things.

What I got out of the show

Of course, there were a lot of things I have learned from this event. I have run server rooms before, but I was a little out of touch with the current technologies. FCoE was the big one I learned about. Also building a server is a lot different than before. Greener, more powerful and reliability were the best parts.

The Keynotes were just amazing. Learning about how these big companies are working on green technologies is amazing. Dr. Michio Kaku and his views for the future were amazing. A “Smart toilet” is definitely something to get excited about.

The Weekend

I got back to Madison at 8 AM on Friday. It was a long trip (5 hours, turned into 7 due to timezone changes). What was worse was on the trip back, I was not really impressed with the airline I flew. The one thing I noticed is they were not really friendly.

An example: We flew through a couple storm fronts during the trip. Most airlines would say “This is the Captain. We are seeing some turbulance, so please remain in your seats and buckle your belts. Thank you.”

The airline I was on? Well: “Please buckle your seatbelts”.

The airline also had screens drop from above. While I would normally invite this, I was in a evening flight. I had difficulties sleeping when something like a video monitor is playing. Of course, I didn’t pack my sleeping mask. Therefore, I was stuck watching “Confessions of a Shopoholic”. While other people loved this movie, I didn’t find it as interesting.

I got home around 9 AM, in which I proceeded to collapse on the bed for a couple hours. Woke up, caught up on some work I missed during the week, then headed off to play a show. Since it was out of town, I had to pack for another night away from home.

Band Gigs

Saturday was a day of playing. We played a friends graduation, then it was up to the Dells for our regular show at the Baja bar. There were 4 different Bachelorette parties that night and they were not in the Baja at the same time. As one party left, the next one showed up. Crazy.

New Guitar

While we were in transit to the Graduation party, we stopped at a local music store. There, I found a used Acoustic / Electric guitar. I picked it up as a spare for future shows. It needs some work to it, but not much to make it ready to play out.

Lazy Sunday? Not.

Of course, the day started out with this post. A quick breakfast, then it’s getting things ready for the week. Have to work on “Week in Tech History”, then I have to figure out how to put together the new video studio. Lots of soundproofing to do.

I suppose I should get to it. Thanks again to everyone for a great week. How do you top that?

*Have to apologize, I think I was a little too close to the mic and some distortion occured during the show. I listened through and sounds decent so I decided to publish. Let me know if unlistenable and I’ll re-do.

Sick week – Turkey Day – Video – New LIVE Show Format – uStream weigh in.

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