Category: Internet

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WOXY gets back on the radio dial

The saga of WOXY is a long and interesting tale. For a long time, it was the one radio station that I wanted to have a job at, willing to drop everything to move to Cincinnati, Ohio just to work there. Then it got sold and went internet-only.

Amazingly, WOXY[wiki] is making a return to the airwaves.

That’s right, folks. We’ve been working on this for some time now, but it’s finally time to let the cat out of the bag. Through a unique partnership with Cincinnati Public Radio and 91.7 WVXU, you’ll soon be able to pick up WOXY.com on the second multicast channel of WVXU once it transitions to HD Radio in August!

Once you have an HD Radio receiver, you’ll be able to pick up our live broadcast 24/7 on WVXU HD2 anywhere within WVXU’s coverage area. Yup, WOXY.com will rock your car once again.

We’re all incredibly excited about being back on-the-air in the Tri-State and will be posting more info soon on what to expect and the best places to pick up an HD Radio receiver. [woxy]

This is an amazing bit of history. The operation has had its fair share of struggles to exist up to this point, but the ability for a radio station to hold on after losing its place on the dial is pretty amazing. Now they have a chance to make a triumphant return. Well, there is the whole HD thing to contend with.

It’s true that HD radio[wiki] is struggling with getting off the ground. There are two things that are working for it. At least I would by a radio capable of HD if I lived in the Cincinnati area so I could listen to WOXY anywhere, and the same can be said of other markets because of the extra programming you can put on an HD frequency. The prices of receivers are still on the high end, but that’s beginning to slowly change. That can only help the spread of HD, especially once more vehicles come with HD radios built-in.

Still, it’s way cool to see WOXY make it back on the air. I smell a Rain Man sequel.

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William Elliot Whitmore on YouTube

I’ve written about William Elliot Whitmore when he came to Vancouver. Sadly, I never made it to that show. I did, however, find this video of him doing this in-house/live studio performance on YouTube. Hard to imagine that the guy has opened for hardcore bands all across Europe, but it’s true. And the crowds loved him.

I don’t know what it is about his voice and the banjo, but it works for me.

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Generation gaps in blogging

The simple matter of fact is that some people get blogging and others don’t. When you start point the finger at generation gaps, that gets even more sticky.

This comes in reference to a series of posts that Arpit Jacob wrote about in this post.

Check this post here by the so called usability Guru Jakob Nielsen on his website (I refuse to call it a blog, if you can’t comment then its not a blog) were he is typically saying blogging sucks. Lately he’s either been out of touch or he is getting too old. My dad can’t understand what a blog is or why I spend so much time after coming back home from work even though I am tired. My mom once saw my Orkut profile and she asked me if it was my Website. I think Jakob Nielsen belongs to the same generation. Sure he was once a respected usability guru. But if he writes any more silly articles like the one above I might have to label him an old Grandpa. [clazh]

I can say first hand that some of this is true. It’s tough for some people to grasp on to new techniques or methods while holding on to the roots that have been instilled via education and experience. Even though one person can stand to gain so much with the world literally at their doorstep, there is hesitation to step out of what is known. You can only spend so much time learning new things as well, but here is where folks like us, in the trenches, come in to help out.

Blogging gets a bad rap because it being so equated to spilling our personal guts out onto the Internet. While some of that is true for some, it’s far from that for others. It’s a presentation of what you want out there, professional, personal, hobbies, sports related, cat related, etc. It’s whatever you want it to be.

Still, helping anyone see the light in all the tools that are out there is tough. I’m fortunate to have a family that understands some of this, but there are some days that you want to pull your hair out when it comes to others, especially when it’s a fresh college graduate who equates blogging to email. Eh… What can you do?

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Local H – no fun + alright, oh yeah

Going through one of my rediscovery phases, and these guys don’t have a video for either of these songs, of which I really dig. This live performance from Local H in 2002 is the best I can do, but it does the trick.

Caution: slightly strong language.

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This is how I feel about the iPhone hype

I love the concept and wouldn’t mind owning one. However, I got really sick of the hype leading up to the iPhone release, am sick of hearing from those who got one, and am tired of hearing about all the things you can or will soon be able to get for your iPhone. Just not one of those rush-out-gotta-have-it types, even though I love cool, little gadgets from Apple.

I found this highly entertaining.

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ShowClix launches into Canada

I was contacted the other day about ShowClix. Basically, it’s a one stop shop for finding shows in your area, or at least that is the intention. I’ve often thought about the concept and how hard it would be to possibly list every show that you possibly could in a city, especially in Vancouver. The truth is that you can’t, but after registering on their site, there are a few shows that caught my attention that I hadn’t known about. Obviously, this means the site is doing the job it’s intending to do.

ShowClix I still feel like the interface is a bit wet behind the ears, but you are able to search with a little ease. However, they don’t stop at listing shows. If you are putting on a show, you can sell tickets through their site. I don’t know the details involved, but apparently it’s free. Purchasers are basically put on a guest list that they have bought spots on. That’s a neat concept, and that puts you in control of the door to confirm people’s identity as they enter the venue. It’s your own, little Ticketmaster.

Everyone is free to add shows as well, and this will be helpful in creating an all encompassing list of shows to see, no matter how big or small. Once again, a daunting task, but if you can bust down the social barriers that bring the mainstream and the underground together, then I’m all for it. At least, if I am understanding this right, you can list a show for your garage band in your uncle’s basement right next to the dudes playing a stadium show on the same night. And dude, I’d totally love to hang out with you on your uncle’s basement rather than get back row seats at GM Place.

It’s a unique take on mashing up Web 2.0 with live music, concert venues, and social networking. There are even ways to list the shows you plan on checking out on your blog, opening up a way to see what your fellow blogger friends who are also registered on the site will be checking out. Then you can chastise them for their musical tastes even more.

True that the listings in Vancouver are a little weak, but they have launched in Canada as of a week or so ago. Checking around other cities, there is quite a bit. Even better, they offer RSS feeds so you can subscribe and keep up to date on new concert listings as they are added for you particular city.

Check out ShowClix for yourself if you are the concert going type. I know that I never get to see enough.

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Internet Radio Day of Silence

Today marks another day of protest by Internet radio stations around the world, and they are doing it by going silent.

On Tuesday, June 26, thousands of U.S.-based webcasters plan to turn off the music and go silent in a unified effort to draw attention to an impending royalty rate increase that, if implemented, would lead to the virtual shutdown of this country’s Internet radio industry. [rain]

I wrote about this not long ago, and it seems that the fight goes on. More importantly, I’m bummed that I can’t listen to WOXY today. Truly, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Thinking about this some more today, I was pondering the argument of why listen to Internet radio anyway? Well, for myself, I used to listen to it all the time while at work. Yes, while working at a radio station, I listened to another radio station for the simple fact of maintaining some sense of sanity. A little dose here and there goes a long way.

The other element to consider is the growing trend of wi-fi enabled cellphones. Look at the iPhone for instance. True that it’s an iPod and a cellphone, but the wi-fi built into it as well as the ability to develop web based applications for it means streaming media galore. You can get all the YouTube you want, but sometimes you need to let go of the controls to the music.

Streaming into WOXY from a wireless hotspot while I enjoy a non-Starbucks coffee? I am all for it.

Therefore, Save Internet Radio, please.

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Von Bondies – c’mon c’mon

Just to help celebrate being two episodes into season four of Rescue Me. Well, at least if you’re in the states. And if you’re a Rescue Me fan, you’ll enjoy the full version of this track, not just the abbreviated-opening-sequence-edit of this awesome Von Bondies track.

I get a ton of hits from people searching for the details of Rescue Me and when it will be on Showcase in Canada. Chances are, you won’t see the first episodes of season four hitting the screen until the end of the season currently running in the states. That means July or August before that happens, but you might be surprised. If anyone has more details, feel free to post the news in the comments.

Update: Thanks to a comment from the folks at the Showcase Blog, which you can find out more on their blog post here, the fourth season of Rescue Me will premiere in Canada on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007.

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Google Maps, not bombs

I’ve been known to spend hours with a map, just studying where roads go. It’s something I’ve done since being a kid, trying to pass those hours away as we made our way on one of many road trips that usually ended at some relatives. That landed me the role of navigator on many excursions because I learned how to read maps that well.

So naturally, I can get lost into the depths of Google Maps, and there was something really interesting, at least to me, that I discovered last night.

The Nevada Test and Training Range[wiki] has a large portion of the range mapped now by Google Maps satellites(and apparently it’s even cooler in Google Earth). Now this gets even more interesting to me because I’m enthralled, like many, with the whole Area 51[wiki] phenomenon. It’s not so much the UFOs as it is the fact that the perimeter to the range is patrolled by unmarked vehicles and signs boast the use of deadly force being authorized if you are caught trespassing.

I’ve seen enough “declassified” aerial photos to have spotted the area from pretty far away to have spotted it, and you can get pretty far down to the Groom Lake base. For years, they said nothing was there. Now they play the hand that they have nothing to hide, but who knows what top secret technology is developed when the satellites aren’t looking.

I parsed through other parts of the range because I was curious to see if there were any sites of the range being used for target practice. After all, that is where the U.S. military can go play with live ammunition and get real experience dropping bombs.

Speaking of bombs, this is where nukes were tested for years, above and below ground. Looking around for evidence of massive blast sites, I found this.

Google Maps - Blast zone in NTTS

What made that crater, I can’t be sure. You can be assured that the area is massive though. Some quick and rough calculations come up with this being just over 400 meters in diameter. Whatever went boom there was a sizable explosive.

For the sake of comparison, I pulled up a shot of downtown Vancouver to compare the blast zone with an area that I am more familiar with. The important element in doing this was to bring it up at the same aspect ratio as well, which I think I did successfully. Honestly, I found it fairly stunning.

Google Maps - Downtown Vancouver

Essentially, the blast zone at the Nevada Test Site is the same size as BC Place[wiki], and that’s not the only crater that I picked on. That’s just something I did as a quick comparison, and it gives you a very eerie feeling about what goes on in a place that is so closely monitored and guarded. As to if this is the result of a nuclear bomb is unclear, but the idea of it being non-nuclear isn’t comforting either.

I know that I’m late to the party on this news, but the discovery is new to me. If you take the time to poke through what you can see, because there are still some areas that are low resolution or simply “not available” for satellite view, you’ll find some interesting stuff.