Monthly Archive for February, 2005

Podcasting? Feh

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/28/2005
in Blogging, Podcasting and Vlogging
. 0 Comments

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Podcasting is supposed to be the next wave of blogging. I don’t think so. At least not for me.

Speaking as a blogger, podcasting is hard.

  • Reading text might seem to be a no-brainer, but you haven’t heard how many times it takes me to change my voicemail message.
  • And writing for the spoken word might be easy for Douglas Adams, but it’s not for me. I’m used to having the visual formatting provide some of the meaning. Can you tell by listening that this is a bulleted list?
  • If I were to have a regular podcast, I’d want podcasting equipment such as a better microphone and a studio. You can see why with this podcast. My laptop has a microphone of questionable quality. A soundproof booth could muffle the background noises. I’d want one without glass windows. My kids think I’m strange just for blogging. Imagine what they’d think if I read my blog to the computer every night.
  • I’d need audio editing software that let me cut out my mistakes and insert corrections. That would be better than re-reading the article now eight times. I hate it when the phone rings in the middle of recording…
  • Also, there’s no easy way to provide web links in a podcast. The transcript for this podcast has a link to Douglas Adams at douglasadams.com. That link is easy to say. What if the URL was 83 characters long and included strange characters? (You can find the tilde above the backtick character to the left of the number one key near the top left of your keyboard, unless you’re in Europe and then it’s…Wink No thanks.

As a blog reader, listening to a podcast is less convenient.

  • I can’t skim a podcast. Either I listen to it or I don’t. Sure, a podcaster can divide a podcast into multiple, smaller files and provide descriptions for each. Although this would let me avoid some of the junk I don’t want to hear, I still can’t skim the mp3 in my player. (Maybe I need a better mp3 player.)
  • Listening to a podcast takes longer than reading its transcript. Unless there are sound effects, that’s wasted time. After all, not everyone has a long commute.
  • I can’t search for words or phrases within a podcast unless the podcaster provides a transcript on the site. I’ve seen this “feature” touted as an advantage. And maybe it is for the podcaster who doesn’t want visibility or accountability. After all, if I like your podcast or hate it, I can’t easily excerpt it on my blog.
  • Finally, for this list, if I find a podcast in a foreign language, it stays foreign to me. If it was text like a blog, I could use freely available translation tools to read it.

I’ve heard that video logging, or vlogging, is on its way, too. I really don’t think so.

I have a couple of questions:

  1. Why would you download the mp3 when I provided the transcript?
  2. Why do I feel like Andy Rooney?

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I’m a Winner!

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/28/2005
in General
. 3 Comments

As I like to do to start my work day, I went to get some French vanilla chocolate from the coffee machine. I inserted my dollar, made my selection, and heard a strange beep I’d not heard before. I glanced at the display, saw “WINNER,” and heard a coin drop in the change return. Instead of the two dimes I expected, it was a Sacajawea dollar coin.

So the question remains: is this the harbinger of a great week or did I use up all my good luck on a cup of hot chocolate?

Treowth—My Brother is Blogging

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/27/2005
in Blogging
. 3 Comments

My brother Bob has a blog, and that’s the Treowth. Sorry, I had to write that. Smile

Bob has been following Rambus, Inc. (RMBS) for years and likes to write about their multiple court cases. He also likes to write about other tech business happenings.

I’m proud of my big brother.

Go take a look.

Change

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/26/2005
in General
. 0 Comments

The only real constant is change

A change would do you good –Sheryl Crow

Nothing improves without change

Nothing endures but change –Heraclitus

Change in all things is sweet –Aristotle

Keep the change

Terri Schiavo

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/25/2005
in Blogging and Life
. 3 Comments

Have you heard about Terri Schiavo? If so, chances are good you think she’s fighting for her right to die. That’s how the MSM reports her story. Get the other side at BlogsforTerri. More updates to come…

AP on RSS? Nice Try…

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/24/2005
in General and Old Media
. 0 Comments

The Associated Press now provides its news and information via RSS feeds. Sounds good? Not so fast. The terms and conditions for the AP’s new service make it worthless to the typical blogger.

You agree not to associate the RSS feeds with any content that might harm the reputation of The Associated Press.

In other words: if you plan on using these feeds to write articles critical of the AP, you’re out of luck. Using the feeds to provide examples of where the AP is slanted, or just plain wrong, would “harm the reputation” of the AP and is prohibited.

You agree to use the RSS feeds only to provide headlines, each with a functional link to the associated AP story that shall display the full content immediately (e.g., no jump pages or other intermediate or interstitial pages).

If you’re going to publish the feeds on your blog, you’re limited to quoting just the headlines. Pulling a quote out of the body of an article and commenting on it (even if that comment wouldn’t harm the reputation of the AP) is not allowed.

What about freedom of speech, fair use and all that? This is America, after all. Unfortunately, this isn’t copyright law we’re dealing with; it’s contract law.

By accessing the RSS feeds or the XML instructions provided herein, you indicate that you understand and agree to these terms and conditions.

I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it looks like this “gift” came from the horse’s other end.

___
Hat tip: Patterico’s Pontifications.

My Header Works!

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/24/2005
in Blogging and WordPress
. 21 Comments

I had difficulties getting Mike Cohen’s simple header graphic randomizer working. When it works, it randomly selects header pictures. When it doesn’t…well, it’s not pretty. Thank you, Mike, for sending me a copy of your header.php file. I immediately saw what I was doing wrong and fixed it.

Here are modified instructions to get it to work:

  1. Insert the following PHP function code near the top of your header.php file. (This file can be found at wp-content/themes/default/header.php.) The code should go after the lines that start with < !DOCTYPE and <html and before the line that starts with <head. (I had placed this code at the very top of the file; it doesn’t work there. Big Smile

    <?php
    function header_graphic() {
    echo "/images/";
    $num=rand(0,7);
    echo "kubrickheader".$num.".jpg";
    };
    ?>

    You will want to replace the “7″ in the code with the last number in your sequence of header JPGs.

  2. In the same header.php file, replace the line that starts with #header with the following code. Note that this is a long line and may wrap in your editor. Make sure you replace the entire line.

    #header { background: url("<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); header_graphic(); ?>“) no-repeat bottom center; }

    Here is my header.php file with the edits included. (Save it to your computer before trying to view it. Just clicking on the link will result in an error.)

  3. Save multiple alternative header files in your images directory. It can be found at wp-content/themes/default/images. These header files should be named kubrickheaderX.jpg, where the X is replaced with a sequence of numbers.

Here are the header graphics I have so far:

Update: Here are a few items culled from the comments.

  • Kubrickr is a good source of graphics for your headers.
  • If you want to use your own pictures, Janicek.com documents how to get the curved borders.
  • When you save your files, make sure you use “jpg” instead of “JPG”. It makes a difference.
  • If you’re having problems, here’s my header.php file. Right click to save to your hard drive

I’ve also added more pictures:

Update 2: If you are trying to get random header pictures using Blogger, try this.

My Header is Broken

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/24/2005
in WordPress
. 3 Comments

Yes, I know the graphic at the top of my page isn’t there. Instead I have an oversized, blue box. If you look closely, you’ll notice I have a matching, oversized, gray box at the bottom of the page, too.

I’m attempting to have different pictures randomly appear, just like Mike Cohen does on his blog. But Mike’s smarter than I am. He got it to work. I haven’t…yet.

I posted a question on the WordPress support forum and hope to get some help soon. In the meantime, I have the ugly blue box. Sure makes my blog title stand out, though.

If I don’t get help soon, I’ll change back to what was working and try again later.

As the two old guys on the original Bartles and Jaymes ads used to say, “Thank you for your support.”

Update: It’s now working. Thank you, Mike!

Phishing Test

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/23/2005
in General
. 1 Comment

Can you recognize phishing if (when) you see it? Take the test and find out.

I got 8 out of 10 right (missed the first two). It’s harder than it sounds…

___
Hat tip: The Office Weblog.

The Blogosphere — Cracking It Open To 1

Published
by
Brent Logan
on 2/22/2005
in Blogging, Politics and Religion
. 0 Comments

The blogosphere is exploding. Technorati is tracking 7,264,863 weblogs and 869,827,508 links. More than 14 million Americans have posted a comment on a blog. These are impressive numbers.

Set Godin asks:

My question, which I have no answer for, is what happens when the volume goes up to 11? When there is just too much noise? Does it all get filtered? Who filters?

My answer: we’re a long way from cranking it up to 11. We’re just starting to crack it open to 1.

We are taught that “polite” society doesn’t discuss politics or religion. It’s too easy to offend someone. So we don’t. We don’t talk religion. We don’t talk politics.

As a result we don’t know what our neighbors think about Social Security reform. We don’t know what our co-workers think about the war on terrorism. We even don’t know what our friends at church think about abortion. We haven’t learned how to have a thoughtful discussion, express our ideas, and maybe learn something in the process. But somehow, we’re not offended by all this.

Enter blogging. Millions of us are expressing our opinions on otherwise “taboo” issues. We’re writing about politics and religion. We’re learning a little more about each other. Sometimes, we’re just posting a recipe or two.

But it’s barely a whisper. There are 6,420,384,256 people on this world. If there are 8 million blogs, that’s only one blog per 800 people. I’d say there’s room for more volume.

Crank it up!