a few things turned on to me from some of these podcast shows:
allofmp3.com: remember when napster was around, and it was SO cool and such a great thing you just knew it couldn’t last forever? this site is similar - almost-free music, but may not be around long. they sell music files for roughly 4 cents each and you can choose what format you want the files in. how? they’re in russia.
skype.com: i used the beta version a long time ago, but you could only call from pc-to-pc (which is still free). now you can call from pc-to-phone for about 2 cents/minute, which is essentially free. this is especially useful to me because for some reason, my Sprint Treo 600, which USED to get good reception in my apt, can hardly make/receive any calls at all from home.
so i’m diggin the rio carbon so far. as i said when i first got it, the interface isn’t quite as easy to use as the ipod’s, but damn if it isn’t the tiniest thing out there. and the battery just keeps going and going…you’re supposed to fully charge/discharge the battery a few times when it’s new, so i’ve been *trying* to use up the battery but every time i plug it in to download new files, the battery charges up more. so in the past 2 wks i’ve only had to charge it once.
there’s this new nerd thing happening called ‘podcasting’. kinda like blogging, but instead of writing, people create little mp3 audio “shows” and enclose them into RSS feeds. the “audience” runs a little app that subscribes to that feed, downloads new shows, and automatically syncs it to your mp3 player via itunes or windows media player. it’s kinda like tivo for your mp3 player - you just subscribe to content, and it’s available for you whenever you want it. see ipodder.org for more info.
people *just* started doing this, and it’s mostly nerds doing daily shows talking about technology - and i love it! adam curry (yeah, the MTV guy from the 80’s!) does a cool daily show with pretty good production quality (given his experience as a VJ). i also listen to phil torrone from engadget. his show is a little more amateurish, but he’s an uber-tech-gadget guy with a good take technology and how to do cool things with it.
i’m using this new program mindmanager and it’s way cool. you build visual trees of “stuff” and it helps you organize your thoughts and things that need to get done. it’s based on some buzan mindmap research/technique from the 60’s. according to them:
“A Mind Map® is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. Developed by Tony Buzan in the late 1960’s it harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain.”
i can’t wait to start roaming the infinite expanses of my brain. here’s my map of things goin on at work:
together with *a*, we completely redesigned the website for LAIC (Latin American Integration Center). she did all the content & requirements, and i did all the techie implementing. not bad for about 2 wks work in our spare time, eh?
