I had dinner at the Steamworks Brewing Company with Lee Edward Fodi this past evening. Lee is an incredibly talented children’s book author and illustrator and his amazing book, Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers, is one of my top ten favourite books. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy and read [...]
I have been struggling to upload files from my hotel room in Vancouver. I have been on the phone with tech support on four occassions and they constantly point me to Internet Frog to do speed tests which typically come out indicating better than 2Mbps download rates and roughly 115Kbps upload rates. That still doesn’t [...]
TC Lions Pub may have the biggest beer pitchers in Canada. We had to cancel the second pitcher when we discovered that the server wasn’t kidding when he said “one gallon pitchers”. There was a great crowd at last night’s Vancouver Podcast Meetup. I’ll see if I can remember names and URLs… Sean Carruthers (labrats.tv), [...]
By their very existence, Podcast meetups and Podcast conferences reinforce a sense of community among their participants. PodCamp Toronto was no exception. In fact, PodCamp Toronto had the greatest number of sessions on the concept of community of all conferences I have attended and followed. That made leaving the event early to catch a flight [...]
I have arrived in Vancouver — my first time here! It’s raining. I have a beautiful waterfront view complete with Stanley Park and the site of sea planes taking off. However, it comes at a cost of $13.95/day for Internet access!!!
UPDATE 070226: Added photo No matter the circumstances, any time there is a change in personnel in a band it can be stressful for both the band and its following. Just ask Van Halen. At what seemed to be their sudden expressway to superstar status in the Podcast community, Uncle Seth parted ways with their [...]
There are about 200 people packed into room 359 361 of the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University for the opening remarks of PodCamp Toronto. The whole room dynamic changed when Leesa Barnes challenged eveyone to meet three people you have never met before — “someone you didn’t come here with, someone you didn’t sleep [...]
Bob Goyetche and I arrived at our hotel a short time ago. It was a great drive filled with planning our PodCamp presentations, editing presentation clips, listening to Podcasts and music, and blocking out the presentation program for Podcasters Across Borders. We’ll be making the slow hobble (see Bob’s post) to the Imperial Public Library [...]
I have launched yet another project. Steve Hardiman and I are collaborating to explore the Return On Influence, and the elements that make it such a powerful idea. While the website is somewhat embryonic, still, we officially posted our first entry this evening.
One of the many things that Podcasting has going for it is the number of people who are speaking in an authentic voice. Sonia Brock represents this group well. Sonia produces a Podcast called A Storied Life, and the title couldn’t be more perfect. She tells the stories of her life in an intimate and [...]
In part 5 of this series, I outlined how to do an edit within an audible sound, such as splicing two words together using a common sound within each word as the “pivot point”. In this installment, I introduce an edit style that pushes some boundaries. Editing is a powerful activity. Editors can make or [...]
I have been catching up on my blog reading over the last few days (I fell behind sometime in late 2006). I’ve made huge progress. In the process, I have been reminded why I want to have Michael Geist speak at Podcasters Across Borders. Actually, there are many reasons. Two of the posts that I [...]
Being married to me has meant that Andrea Ross’ status in the Podcasting community has been overshadowed by my own. That’s a huge loss for the community because Andrea has done amazing things that have either gone unnoticed, or have been attributed to me. Prior to developing the concept for Just One More Book!! — [...]
I’ve been chatting with Whitney Hoffman for the last hour as we prepare for our PodCamp Toronto discussion called Making a difference: What Return on Influence (ROI) really means. She just made me crack up by referring to the many Podcast related conferences that we all flock to as Geekstock. When I wondered aloud if [...]
I will be in Vancouver later this month and have organized a Podcast meetup to take place at 8:00pmPT at TC Lions Pub. The reservation is under Mark and Podcasters. Please RSVP.
Last week I blogged about Steve Jobs calling for an end Digital Rights Management (Steve Jobs takes on DRM). Add Yahoo! and music giant EMI to the list. A USA Today article (EMI in talks to dump copy protection) reports that David Goldberg, General Manager for Yahoo Music, believes online music sales would increase by [...]
In a recent piece by Associated Press published as Publishers cater to growing use of MP3s for schoolwork on CNN.com, there is a lengthy discussion about the application of audio programs and MP3 players for educational purposes. According to the article, research by Harrison Group Inc. identified Podcasts and “audio texts” as accounting for just [...]
The CBC’s Michael Bhardwaj has two things working against him as a Podcaster… the grassroots Podcast community sees him as being a part of a media machine, and the media machine of which he is a part has not yet translated his incredible talent into a position as an on-air host. Michael shines as host [...]
It seems fitting to release this clip today, just hours before The Police open the 49th Grammy Awards. What you’ll hear is a line of questioning about creativity that did not make the final cut of the interview with Stewart Copeland that was published on Electric Sky.
In 2004, I started work on a music CD — a lifelong dream that I parked when I discovered Podcasting. As a birthday present to myself that year, I went in to a studio to record a re-worked version of a song I had co-written with Robert Farrell for his debut CD, Freedom For My [...]
We are currently planning the program for Podcasters Across Borders 2007. The program and registration details will be made available at the PAB site and on the Canadian Podcast Buffet during the week of February 26th.
Steve Jobs has published an essay — Thoughts on Music — in which he calls for an end to Digital Rights Management (DRM). Mr. Jobs makes several very important statements in his essay. One explains that, theoretically, music buyers are locked into the supplier/technology through which they make their purchase… Apple, Microsoft and Sony all [...]
I have always thought of Rossandkaren as being one entity. This was true when they were producing their wildly popular (now defunct) Zee and Zed, and remains true now as they produce the wildly underrated Dry Shave. Dry Shave is an incredibly interesting show; sometimes funny, sometimes reflective, sometimes entertaining, and sometimes thought provoking. It’s [...]
We have received a lot of great ideas for speaking sessions for Podcasters Across Borders 2007. The program will be announced in the coming weeks.
On January 3rd I put up a post, Inspired by gifter.org, announcing a charity drive. To recap, I announced that I would donate CDN$1 of personal funds for each non-nasty/non-spam comment left of any post on my site during the month of January 2007 to the Children’s Wish Foundation. Last night, I received an incredibly [...]
