Month: July 2006

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RDS compatible iPod transmitters

Caught word of this on Macworld and thought it was pretty nifty.  Do you own a car with a RDS compatible stereo?  Got an iPod?  This might be worth checking out.

Kensington’s new RDS FM Transmitter/Car Charger for iPod works with Radio Display System (RDS)-enabled car stereos. The $89.99 device transmits artist and song title information from the iPod to RDS-equipped car stereos. It’s expected to go on sale this month.

Like other FM transmitters for the iPod, the Kensington RDS FM Transmitter enables the iPod to transmit to your automobile’s stereo on an unused frequency. You can set three memory settings to tune into unused frequencies as you drive. The iPod LCD can be used to display station information.  [playlistmag]

Powered through your car’s cigarette lighter/power outlet and “works with any iPod that comes with a 30-pin dock connector except third-generation iPods.”

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Now they can act like they won the World Cup

Italy fans celebrating up and down Robson StreetIt was an amazing final. And to be completely honest, this is the first time that I’ve watched the final game in any World Cup be played, yet alone pay attention to one from beginning to end. The ’94 tournament in the U.S. got my attention, but my young mind got distracted half way through and never caught the final outcome.

I didn’t want Italy to win today[fifaworldcup]. I have not liked their style of play from the beginning of the tournament. Yes, I was cheering for the U.S.A. when they came up against each other, but during the entire match, their acting abilities of taking even the slightest nudge and turning it into a life threatening spectacle made me embarassed for futbol in general. It’s such an exciting game until faked dramatics steal the spotlight.

Out of the two teams in the final, this weighed heavy into picking my favorite, France, to take the match. Zidane[wiki] was going to retire, making this his final, professional appearence ever. France won the ’98 World Cup and took out the champs from last time around, Brazil, in the quarter-finals. They were hungry. Zidane would want to go out on top. It all seemed to make sense, right?


Zidane in today’s action.

Zidane scoring France's only goal in the World Cup finalWhat the hell, Zidane? All was far from lost for France, and you just lost control. Just minutes before he got that red card, we all saw what he could do with a header towards the goal. Buffon[wiki] made the save of the World Cup only to have it dimished when Zidane used that tool of the game as a weapon. I even said to Rebecca that it was almost a “Bertuzzi-esque move”, to which she replied that no one’s probably going to sue over it.

Shocking. I think I said “I can’t believe that just happened” about twenty times until the extra time expired. The penalty shootout didn’t even signify the end for France either, but the fact was that Zidane was gone. If France would have won, he wouldn’t have been there for the celebration. On top of that, there is no way that you can give him the benefit of a bad call by the officials. You have to give him credit though because in the end, he did go out with a bang.

And at the time of posting this, I can still hear horns honking and cheers for Italy in the west end of Vancouver.

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Free box seats to a Canadians game!

Rebecca’s mom is pretty awesome.  She scored us a couple of free tickets to a Vancouver Canadians game because she knew this boy from America would dig seeing a baseball game here in B.C.  To that I have to say, oh hell yes I would.

The Vancouver Canadians are the Single “A” Affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. We play in the Northwest League with seven other teams during the summer months each year. The team has a schedule of 76 games (38 home 38 away) and the season starts at the end of June each year. The team plays those 76 games in 79 days each year in a manner that can only be described as “traditional”. They make their way from stadium to stadium each game via bus, each player trying to hone their skills with the hopes of one day making it to the major leagues.  [canadiansbaseball]

I think we’ll try to make it out for a game against the Boise Hawks.  They are a Chicago Cubs affiliate afterall.

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The patio at the Robson Public Market

I always forget about the Robson Public Market and am constantly amused by all the goodies you can get in there. (You can also read what Rebecca wrote about it as well.) While waiting for my beef shishkabob to be prepared, I discovered the little patio that looks out over Robson Street. It’s small, quaint, and really nothing special, but with all the different places you can grab some food from, it’s a nice place to have a bite to eat. Well, I would imagine. I just stepped out there to snap this pic with my cell but plan to be back soon!

The pation at the Robson Street Market

There’s a few Asian food places upstairs that caught my eye while waiting from my food at Souvlaki Express. More importantly, the fact that you can get a California or B.C. roll for around $3 a piece. That’s not bad, and I’ve had a fierce craving for sushi lately.

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TV execs want to disable fast-forward on DVRs

This is one of the most rediculous things that I have heard yet, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t possible.

ABC HAS HELD DISCUSSIONS ON the use of technology that would disable the fast-forward button on DVRs, according to ABC President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw, with the primary goal to allow TV commercials to run as intended.

“I would love it if the MSOs, during the deployment of the new DVRs they’re putting out there, would disable the fast-forward [button],” Shaw said. […]

Shaw also threw cold water on the idea that neutering the fast-forward option would result in a consumer backlash. He suggested that consumers prefer DVRs for their ability to facilitate on-demand viewing and not ad-zapping–and consumers might warm to the idea that anytime viewing brings with it a tradeoff in the form of unavoidable commercial viewing.

“I’m not so sure that the whole issue really is one of commercial avoidance,” Shaw said. “It really is a matter of convenience–so you don’t miss your favorite show. And quite frankly, we’re just training a new generation of viewers to skip commercials because they can. I’m not sure that the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials. I don’t fundamentally believe that. People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can’t skip commercials.” [mediapost]

Even if there is a large enough push from the TV industry to start shipping DVRs with fast-forward disabled, there will be a hack for it. However, it’s the last statement that gets me. This is another example of industry forcing new technology to work for itself rather than finding alternative ways to adapt to an ever changing medium.

You think HDTV is something we are doing for the good of humanity? There’s a reason that plasmas and LCDs cost so much. It’s all about profit. Now that TV execs aren’t getting the results the networks need, they want to do what they can to control it. Instead of spending the money to fight it, they should spend time finding new ways to generate revenue. They’ll just keep losing ground heading this direction.

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The pitfalls of joining a podcast network like PodShow?

I often struggled with the thought of joining a podcast network and the benefits that it would give me with my podcast. Hot on the heels of my 100th episode, this issue with PodShow makes me rethink the whole idea as ever being a good thing.

Some podcasters are “pissed” at PodShow, a podcast portal founded by podcasting pioneer Adam Curry. The site appears to be republishing podcaster’s podcast feeds, with changes, under PodShow URLs. […]

The republishing of podcast feeds under different URLs has raised controversy in the past because it can infringe on podcaster’s copyrights, confuse listeners about the correct source for the podcast and make it impossible for podcasters to know how many people are subscribing to their podcast. […]

“There’s stuff to do and things to patch/fix/glue on PodShow.com,” said Podshow’s Adam Curry. “The most obvious being that external feeds should of course link to the original external feed.”

Some podcasters think the bug explanation is credible.

“We don’t know that it was intentional by any means,” said Ookles’ Scott Johnson. “Before we pile on lets give them time to correct it. If they don’t correct it then, by all means, flame away.”

Many podcasters aren’t buying this explanation, though, having seen similar approaches to retaining visitor’s attention previously.

“That is not an innocent mistake,” said podcast pioneer Michael Geoghegan, (Reel Reviews, Disney). “Someone had to plan which RSS channel elements to pull and which to ignore. The cast and crew at PodShow have been around long enough and, frankly, dealt with the issues of RSS feeds enough times to know better.” [podcastingnews]

Innocent mistake or not, it’s an issue to not take lightly when you are a podcaster. The heavy hitters are already weighing in on what’s going on, and PodShow really hasn’t had a chance to make the corrections necessary, if this is indeed an oversight on their part. However, being one of the first, “major” companies that has been created towards podcasting specifically, you would think that this would have been considered from day one.

The other element to this drama makes me draw a comparison to how record labels work in relation to the major recording corporations and independent labels or bands. You have to be careful when you go with the big guys because they can own your soul depending on the details of your contract. Going indie tends to gain you some generous breathing space in terms of creativity, but doubles your work.

You have to be careful when the popular group of kids in school come knocking at your door and want you to be apart of what their doing. If you’re not careful, you can get locked into something that might not be as cool as you thought it would. I understand that PodShow contracts are supposed to be pretty flexible and generous towards the content of your podcast. Of course, you’re still putting your name down in ink, and that’s legally binding.

Update: The “problem” seems to be resolved.

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If it’s metallic, lightning is attracted to it

There has been one of those warnings put out by medical researchers saying not to use iPods or cellphones during thunderstorms[guardian]. This makes complete and total sense, but is it really anything that we, as educated human beings, shouldn’t already know?

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A teenager who was hit by lightning over the weekend talked about his close brush with death Thursday.

Jason Bunch was mowing the lawn and listening to his iPod at his home in Castle Rock in the 3200 block of Cherry Plum Way on Sunday when he was struck. […]

“From where the iPod was, it damaged my hearing and it ruptured my eardrums. Where the cord was, it burned me all down my body,” said Bunch. “We need to shave my head because my hair is like dreadlocks. It’s all sticking together.” [thedenverchannel]

Now there are couple other details to this that strikes me, no pun intended.

He was mowing the lawn in weather conditions where lightning was possible. It seems to me that the mower would have been the main thing saying, “Hey, lightning! Here I am!” However, since his ear buds were the highest point of contact, that’s where the strike made its entrance. Any part of his body touching the mower probably didn’t help much, but with the iPod on him, the bolt did it best to fry those components first before moving on.

With that being said, why is the focus here on the iPod? He was probably trying to mow as much of the lawn before the storm came in. Lots of people do it. It just seems that the story here is saying that if you have an iPod on while you frolic in the rain, you will be struck by lightning. Officials will admit that occurances of this is rare, but worthy of educating the public.

Millions of golfers from around the world are saying, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

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RadioZoom Episode #100 – The One Hundred Mark; RZ History; Beach Times

Episode #100 was, finally, edited and released today.

A long episode to mark this milestone, Rebecca and I talk about the history of this podcast, thoughts on the medium in general, and hang out without any plan in mind. Every method of recording that I have the capability for was used in this episode. We start out at in English Bay, head back home to the “studio”, and toss in a recording we did while sunning ourselves on the beach during Canada Day weekend.

I want to say thanks to everyone who has had played a role in the history of this podcast, from the beginning to now. You know who you are, and I will refrain from listing everyone out in the fear of omitting some one. It’s been fun, and I’ll keep on keeping on with the podcast.

71:58 minutes
radiozoom.net

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Restructuring the RSS feed of my site

I’ve been reading various sites lately where there has been a sudden revelation about RSS[wiki], or Really Simple Syndication, by several bloggers. As far as explaining this to those who still don’t know what RSS is, I really don’t want to get into too much explanation. For that, I’ll link to this post and that post. Those two gals have a pretty good grasp of what’s going on.

When I was using Blogger, I setup a RSS feed through FeedBurner, which is a great, free service that seems to syndicate damn near anything you direct at it. In fact, it’s what I still use to publish my podcasts. Making the switch WordPress, I let all my RSS needs be served through it and forgot about FeedBurner. I knew a few people were subscribed through it, so it has stayed afloat. That’s really about it.

Today, I dove back into FeedBurner and discovered lots of benefits in pushing my RSS feeds through their service. It makes total sense, and I think I might have screwed some people up when I changed the permalinks on my blog a few weeks ago. Hopefully you’re all still with me and will forgive the error of my oversight there.

I encourage you to subscribe to the (beefed up) feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/audihertzrss

I also emplore you to learn more about RSS and how to use it. I use it to swarm through sites and pages of information every single day. It saves a lot of time and keeps the latest news coming in as soon as I want it to. (Insert annoying voice over guy here) And you can too!

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Say it with authority

It’s official now. Google is in the dictionary, and it’s a verb.

The next time one of your fancy-talkin’ friends tries to correct you for using Google as a verb–as in “Let’s google for pics of Scarlett Johansson”–point out that the hoity-toity Oxford English Dictionary now backs you up.

According to a Motley Fool news story the dictionary added the word during its latest round of updates. Over at the SearchEngineWatch they posted the dictionary’s definition of the word:

intr. To use the Google search engine to find information on the Internet. trans. To search for information about (a person or thing) using the Google search engine. [techweb]

Does this also mean that it’s fair game in Scrabble as well?