Podcasts

Audio podcasts are neat. What is a podcast? Combine the word "broadcast" and "pod" in iPod. In other words, podcasting is a technology that is available online, usually free, and sets to push audio content online that can be downloaded to one's computer or listened to on their iPod. It's like a radio station except you can download it onto your computer, whenever you want. The greatest thing about podcasts is that it is accessible to everyone, and anyone can do it. It allows people to publish their own radio shows, that can be listened to by anyone.

Audio podcasts are something I'm already familiar with, and listening to them is a hobby of mine. The great thing about podcasts is that its listenable at home on your computer, in your car...pretty much anywhere. One podcast that I have been listening to regularly for almost three years now is "Nobody Likes Onions" (there is a link in the links section) which is categorized as a comedy podcast and a 'hilarious internet comedy/talk show'. The show pretty much talks about anything in a humorous manner, from pop culture, food, to the hosts' personal lives. It's pretty much the most sarcastic podcast ever created, and its definately for a mature audience. The one thing that makes this podcast so good, is that it 'feels' like you're tuning into an actual radio station. But its way better, since all the content is episodic, and you can listen to any episode whenever you want and as many times as you want. The podcast technology branches out real well in audio content. You can listen to all the episodes for free here:

http://www.pupuplatters.com/pupuplayer/pro/pupuplayer_pro.php?id=24

Another podcast I listened to was Shockcomics Radio Hour, another comedy broadcast podcast (as you can see, I am really into comedy) and their website is http://www.shockcomics.com/
It provides the same humorous content as NLO. These radio shows are way better than anything I can listen to on XM Satellite Radio or in a car, since its uncensored and there are no boundaries; anything can be said and done. That's why podcasts are so great. They are for creative people, its accessible, and there are no limitations. Its no wonder there is a growing number of people that are into podcasts. These reasons among others, make Podcasts better than newspapers/magazines, blogging and radio since it is more accessible, its free, and can be made regularly. It is also more convenient to hear people talk and share ideas, than to read something and possibly misinterpret written context. It is more interactive, for example, on a particular news topic, there can be multiple people sharing information and opinions about the matter... regular people like you and me, and not some dude who is sitting in front of a teleprompter like a robot, simply reading what he is being told to read.

What are audiobooks? Break it down. Take "audio" and "books". It is basically a recording of published printing material (example, "books") that is taken in spoken word form (audio). They are usually word for word readings of a book, that can be listened to on one's iPod. The advantages of audiobooks are many. One, spoken word gives a much more "dramatization" feel rather than printed material. It also more efficient and less time-consuming than printed material since audiobooks can be listened to anywhere (its not like you can read a book in your car). They are also good for those who are blind, or those who cannot read. The only problem with audiobooks is that one may not take in all the content of the spoken word reading especially if its hard to comprehend (the use of big words can pose a distraction) and I can see myself rewinding *a lot* in order to understand what's being said to me.



The one reason why YouTube has been so global and widespread is because of its ability to be embedded onto other websites, such as blogs. Here's a good example. With this technology, people are more accessible to youtube videos, and their ability to be posted on other popular websites like facebook make youtube very popular, easy to access, easy to upload and embed, and easy to share.


Video podcasts are similar to audio podcasts, in that they broadcast video footage instead of audio. Two of the vidcasts I checked out were '5 Minute Comedy' and '60 seconds', two short video podcasts that are updated regularly. I like audio podcasts better than video podcasts because there are many alternatives to the latter form of technology (example, YouTube, online TV). It is good to have video podcasts for those who want to create one, and it is useful for anyone who wants to make their own video shows but most of the good content I've seen is coming from the audio podcast side and not from the video podcasts.

Google Reader

Like most of the stuff that Google puts out, Google Reader is a very useful tool. To break it down, it basically keeps track of interesting stuff on the web for a given user. It keeps users updated on what's new and updated content for their favorite websites that they can subscribe to, allows users to share this content with other users, and is a great way of seeing what's popular on the net. I myself, have found tons of interesting stuff using Google Reader. The technology works great with blogs, and is useful for being frequently updated with what's new with your favourite websites, so you can say goodbye to visiting your favourite websites just to see if its updated or not; google reader lets you know.

The three ways you can subscribe to websites on your reader (also known as adding feeds) is to visit the reader site and type in the website you want to subscribe to. Of course, not all websites use RSS or news feeds as I have found. Typing in the web address into the add subscription box is a good way of seeing whether or not the site you want to subscribe to has a feed or not. The easiest way to add them is to use the directory and type in keywords associated with what you want to find, and based on your search, there will be a whole list of results. Subscribing is useful when using Firefox since Firefox tells you if the site has a feed by displaying an icon. You can also search certain keywords to see if the site can be subscribed to or not, such as "rss" "xml" and "feed".

Using google reader is better than just visiting individual sites for multiple reasons. For one, it makes sure that you're not wasting your time by visiting a site just to see that it has no new content posted. It is useful in this way, by saving you time and telling you when a site is updated. Its tracking ability informs you of web content and web sites that you might not remember all the time, in case you forget a web address or do not frequently visit the site, but still want to be informed of any new content. It's tracking of web content, its saving of time, and overall organization in discovering what's new on the web is an effective tool, especially for me since I have tons of favourite websites and I would like to know when each and every one are updated with new things. Also, Google reader is good for discovering shared content among users. I find way more interesting web content than I did with using blogs, with such a prominent feature.

I will most likely be using Google Reader from now on, but the only problem I managed to have with it, are the bugs and help content. For instance, I followed the instructions to add a clip to my blog, but it would not let me, and I had no idea how to fix the problem due to a lousy help section. Another problem I have with Google Reader is its interface needs to be re-worked. I find it annoying to constantly be scrolling. Other than that, its pretty nifty.