robrohr.org : podcasting

Another podcast test...

robrohr — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:13:00 GMT

Trying a new method of ~~inserting~~ embedding to see what happens in different browsers...

Open source single button player from musicplayer.sourceforge.net.

I am looking for a flash-based audio player that I can use to embed audio in posts that will be usable cross-browser. No luck yet finding anything that is not obnoxious, unusable, or ugly. Hmmm.

The audio above is a capture from the Wednesday night traditional Irish Music session at the Radio Bean Coffeehouse in Burlington, VT.

Ill gotten gains

robrohr — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 04:10:00 GMT

Yesterday I capped off an exciting two years of ill-gotten gains, or at least barely-deserved gains, with the winning of a $10 gift certificate to iTunes.

How did I manage that, you may ask? I read a blog post by Robert Scoble, about a new daily video blog called 88slide, which he said was similar to Rocketboom. Now, I'm familiar with Rocketboom. I really like Rocketboom. So I went to 88slide and checked them out.

88slide premise: Provide a 60 second video clip, ask a trivia question, give away a prize. New content/trivia/prize each day. Be hip. Be ~~happining~~ happening. Subscribe via iTunes, and get snazzy content downloaded automatically to your mp3 player.

88slide real premise: show seductively clad young lady sashaying through possibly interesting venue, while glossing over all but the least interesting and generalized information about said venue (30 seconds). Talk about prize (10 seconds). Ask trivia question (5 seconds). List answer to yesterday's trivia question (8 seconds). Announce yesterday's winner (cutaway to non-seductive non-lady, use funny voice, 5 seconds). Invite back tomorrow (2 seconds).

Boring. Answer trivia question. Get reminder email next morning to check out new exciting content. Unsubscribe. Get congratulations email from 88slide that I'm lucky winner of trivia contest from day before. Whee. $10 at the iTunes store.

I can now add that to my list of Things I Have Won in the Last Two Years.

$10 gift certificate, iTunes store - trivia contest at video blog site
Visual Studio 2005 Professional ($899 value) - Microsoft OneNotePowerToyContest finalist.
Motorola MPX220 smart phone ($300 value) - TechEd 2005, focus group participant
Rio iRiver PMC120 portable media player (500$ value) - TechEd 2005, Mobilizer Madness scavenger hunt
Microsoft X-Box ($150 value) - TechEd 2004, Tech-Ed bloggers partner drawing

So, I guess I do feel lucky.

Update: I got a little late-night feedback on my critique, and perhaps I just saw a stinker of an episode. Yes, I'm sure I saw some statistical outliers on the 88slide quality continuum. Each episode is only 60 seconds.

"Guns & Cammo" - first episode I saw, from which I answered the trivia and was picked to win $10 at iTunes.

"Farmer's Market" - in which my mad trivia skillz are announced and I resist the urge to choose a.) Pomona as the only non-tomato in the batch.

The Mobilizer Madness has been podcast.

robrohr — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 01:36:00 GMT

Is podcast a verb or am I just verbing nouns again?

Those folks roaming the TechEd Convention on Segways, wearing black shirts are the TechEd 2005 Podcast Crew. They spent the better part of Monday evening filming the Mobilizer Madness scavenger hunt. The (video) podcast of our march (shuffle?) to victory on Monday is now available. If you want, you can subscribe to the TechEd 2005 Podcast feed as well. I've downloaded some of the video onto my new iRiver and it's pretty sweet. I don't know why the list price is 2.5 times that of an X-Box, but that doesn't mean I'm in any hurry to return it.

You can also see an interview with Samantha Bee, of the Daily Show fame here as well.

How can I get started with podcasting? Eat less and exercise. Sorry, but that's the only advice I know.

Monday Mobilizer Madness Winners...

robrohr — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 20:58:00 GMT

And the winners of the Monday Night Mobilizer Madness is...

The canux!

Why am I so excited about this? Because I was granted honorary canuxxedness at the last minute as the contest was about to start.

Only two of the team members were actually from Canada, but they were good-natured enough to grant us temporary asylum. Apparently it involves holding a beer while tearing about the convention center. Thankfully, no Scotsmen were injured during this event.

There was another team named the canucks, but they apparently expended all their mental effort on spelling and grammar, rather than the important things (don't spill your beer while running up the stairs.) I guess this would mean that we are the canuxx0rz!

The Spoils:

Contrary to the literature, the winning team members did not win "brand spanking new VX6600 Verizon Smartphone(s)." We did, however, each win an iriver PMC-120 portable media player.

Team members:

Jeff Gerard - Wawanesa Insurance
Terry Smith - Wawanesa Insurance
Steve Shurte - Lexis Nexis
Matt Lipinski - Lexis Nexis
Doug Lutz - Lexis Nexis
Andrew Loree - Lexis Nexis
Rob Rohr - University of Vermont

Honorary award for Best Team Name goes to: The Asshats. I wonder if my prissy blog will edit that one out?

Everybody was tremendously good sports. Good luck to the folks going on Tuesday & Wednesday evenings!

Oh, Canada! Our home and native land...