Simon Toon's Personal Audioblog

Simon Toon 20070405

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 23:09:34 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Thursday April 5th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070404 part 2

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:26:46 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Wednesday April 4th 2007 part 2 It's 28 weeks, not 29, by the way. http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070404 part 1

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:45:01 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Wednesday April 4th 2007 part 1 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070403

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:52:14 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Tuesday April 3rd 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070329

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:51:36 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Thursday March 29th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog/20070329.mp3 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070327

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:57:30 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Tuesday March 27th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog/20070327.mp3 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070326

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:50:18 +0100

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Monday March 26th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog/20070326.mp3 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070322

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:54:19 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Thursday March 22nd 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog/20070322.mp3 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://bumrushthecharts.blogspot.com/

Simon Toon 20070320

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:28:58 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Tuesday March 20th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070319

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:44:52 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Monday March 19th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070316

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:47:12 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Friday March 16th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070315

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:37:20 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Thursday March 15th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070314

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:22:48 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Wednesday March 14th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070313

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:17:21 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Tuesday March 13th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070312

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:30:28 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Monday March 12th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070309

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:40:53 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Friday March 9th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070306

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 21:34:23 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog Tuesday March 6th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070302

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 10:00:27 +0000

Friday March 2nd 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://feeds.feedburner.com/pwdmarshall

Simon Toon 20070226

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 22:41:42 +0000

Monday February 26th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070223

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:44:45 +0000

Friday February 23rd 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Simon Toon 20070220

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:30:35 +0000

Simon Toon 20070220 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog/20070220.mp3 Simon Toon's Audioblog February 20th 2007 (http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog) I met Harry Laffnear (http://www.prosodyetc.com) yesterday!

Simon Toon 20070217

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:43:20 +0000

Simon Toon's Audioblog February 17th 2007 (http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog) Talking about IM Etiquette, my poorly iPod, Nic's accent, and a last word on pramettes.

Simon Toon 20070215

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:38:01 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 15th February 2007 Washing-up, and I accidentally swore. Sorry. http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://distantfox.blogspot.com http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com

Simon Toon 20070213

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:25:08 +0000

February 13th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

20070207

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:33:08 +0000

Feb 7th 2007 http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog

Audio Blog 5th February 2007

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:10:52 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 5th February 2007 Links: http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://distantfox.blogspot.com http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://www.mamasandpapas.co.uk/product_details.php?item=185765001&quantity=1&h_item=185765001&id=S0002681&type=S

Audio Blog 4th February 2007

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:51:31 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 4th February 2007 Links: http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_SM58-CN_content http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk

Audio Blog 3rd February 2007

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:51:55 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 3rd February 2007 Links: http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://www.mamasandpapas.co.uk/product_details.php?item=185765001&quantity=1&h_item=185765001&id=S0002681&type=S http://www.twoleftfeet.co.uk/acatalog/Silver_Cross_3D_Pram_System_Pistachio.html

Audio Blog 2nd February 2007

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:38:12 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 2nd February 2007 The microphone I'm using for this recording looks like this one, but it's from Philips: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5351345.htm Links: http://homepage.mac.com/simon.toon/weblog http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.comhttp://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 1st February 2007

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:14:46 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 1st February 2007 Links: http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 31st January 2007

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:37:27 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 31st January 2007 Links: http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 30th January 2007

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:53:34 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 30th January 2007 Links: http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 29th January 2007

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:43:20 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 29th January 2007 Links: http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 28th January 2007

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:02:45 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 28th January 2007 WARNING: Contains nudity Audio Blogs mentioned: http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://workshop.cloudydayart.com Other links: http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 27th January 2007

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 19:37:33 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 27th January 2007 Audio Blogs mentioned: http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk Other links: http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://slamidolpodcast.com

Audio Blog 26th January 2007

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:07:17 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 26th January 2007 Audio Blogs mentioned: http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk Other links: http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html

Audio Blog 25th January 2007

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:48:14 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 25th January 2007 Audio Blogs mentioned: http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://rantings.shorturl.com http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk Other links: http://www.totallyfitness.co.uk/Cardio/EllipticalTrainers/ANDES500ELITE.htm http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html http://workshop.cloudydayart.com

Audio Blog 24th January 2007

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:07:28 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 24th January 2007 Audio Blogs mentioned: http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://rantings.shorturl.com Other links: http://www.podcampuk.com http://slamidolpodcast.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com

Audio Blog 23rd January 2007

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:14:13 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 23rd January 2007 Andy Taylor's Audio Blog: http://rantings.shorturl.com

Audio Blog 22nd January 2007

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:57:13 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog 22nd January 2007 Audio Blogs mentioned: http://www.dissidentvox.com/blog/JohnsJournal http://www.nakedenglishman.co.uk http://rantings.shorturl.com Other links: http://www.podcampuk.com http://www.twinings.co.uk/SpecialityTea/Aromatics/EarlGrey.html http://workshop.cloudydayart.com http://letters-from-storyville.blogspot.com http://slamidolpodcast.com

Audio Blog January 21st 2007

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:56:38 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog January 21st 2007

Audio Blog January 20th 2007

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 15:42:52 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog January 20th 2007

Audio Blog January 19th 2007

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:56:49 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog January 19th 2007

Audio Blog January 18th 2007

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:42:13 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog January 18th 2007

Audio Blog January 17th 2007

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 22:40:39 +0000

Simon Toon's Audio Blog January 17th 2007

Audio Blog 10th January 2007

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:03:31 +0000

Audio Blog 10th January 2007 Check out Nic Treadwell's audioblog here: http://www.clickcaster.com/storyvillelive

Audio Blog 5th January 2007

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 23:14:16 +0000

Audio Blog 5th January 2007 Link to track on the PMN: http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=7caa9d064dc6f13fbdc82aa4310d4a91

Audio Blog 3rd January 2007

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:06:59 +0000

Audio Blog 3rd January 2007

Audio Blog 2nd January 2007

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:22:16 +0000

Audio Blog 2nd January 2007

Videoblog for November 12th 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:15:09 +0000

Videoblog for November 12th 2006 Following a discussion with Paul Marshall, I'm experimenting here with a bit of video blogging, sharing some thoughts on PodShow and some visual special effects. Sorry for the delay in posting this. It took a while to do all the visual processing and the upload was problematic too.

Audio Blog 20th September 2006

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:47:27 +0100

Audio Blog 20th September 2006

Audio Blog 19th September 2006

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:34:32 +0100

Audio Blog 19th September 2006

Audio Blog 14th September 2006

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 23:48:11 +0100

Audio Blog 14th September 2006

Audio Blog September 13th 2006

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 07:51:18 +0100

Audio Blog September 13th 2006

Audio Blog September 9th 2006

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:04:51 +0100

Audio Blog September 9th 2006

Audio Blog September 8th 2006

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 06:14:13 +0100

Audio Blog September 8th 2006

Audio Blog September 7th 2006

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 19:18:43 +0100

Audio Blog September 7th 2006

Audio Blog September 6th 2006

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 22:21:23 +0100

Audio Blog September 6th 2006

Audio Blog September 5th 2006

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 20:11:49 +0100

Audio Blog September 5th 2006

Audio Blog September 4th 2006

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:16:18 +0100

Audio Blog September 4th 2006

Audio Blog September 3rd 2006

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 23:04:27 +0000

Audio Blog September 3rd 2006

Audio Blog September 2nd 2006

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 23:38:31 +0100

Audio Blog September 2nd 2006

Audio Blog September 1st 2006

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:24:06 +0100

Audio Blog September 1st 2006 http://workshop.cloudydayart.com/ http://homegrownpodcast.co.uk/

Audio Blog August 31st 2006

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:55:53 +0100

Audio Blog August 31st 2006

Audio Blog August 30th 2006

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:03:14 +0100

Audio Blog August 30th 2006

Audio Blog August 29th 2006

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:09:11 +0100

Audio Blog August 29th 2006

Audio Blog August 28th 2006

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:59:14 +0100

Audio Blog August 28th 2006

20060407 - Simon Toon talks to Will Saunders about podcasting and The Now Show

Sat, 08 Apr 2006 00:34:10 +0100

Simon Toon (http://feeds.feedburner.com/SimonToon) talks to Will Saunders, Deputy Head of BBC Radio Comedy, about podcasting and The Now Show (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4).

Rachel Kann Interview - part 3

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 13:55:33 +0000

Rachel Kann Interview - part 3 - raw recording from Wednesday Feb 22nd around 8am GMT.

Rachel Kann Interview - part 2

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 12:39:06 +0000

Rachel Kann Interview - part 2 - raw recording from Wednesday Feb 22nd around 7:45am GMT.

Rachel Kann Interview - part 1

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 12:26:01 +0000

Rachel Kann Interview - part 1 - raw recording from Tuesday Feb 21st around 8pm GMT.

Yesterday evening I went to see Stephen Fry

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 22:18:11 +0100

Yesterday evening I went to see Stephen Fry talking about his new book, 'The Ode Less Travelled' at the Institute of Education (sponsored by Blackwell's) in London. It was a marvellous evening, and at the end he was nice enough to sign books for the huge queue of fans. I was near the back of the queue, so I had to wait for ages, but when I introduced myself he remembered me and jumped up to shake my hand, which was a nice boost to my ego, as I'm sure you'd imagine. He also congratulated me on the Slam Idol podcast and told me he has subscribed. Wowee! I thanked him for being such an inspiration, and left on a bit of a cloud. (I include a link to someone else's photograph of the signing.)

Great news!

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 13:19:54 +0100

Paul M has had a second daughter.

First week over

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 13:16:19 +0100

I guess the gradual dissipation of my workforce and clientele meant that I didn't fully realise how much I missed being treated like a manager. That has been the revelation for me in my first week of my new job. They treat me like a manager. The website I'm responsible for the support of all runs on software which I had absolutely no knowledge of, but that is possibly a good thing in my case because I'll be less tempted to jump in and get my hands dirty with the technical issues but instead I'll have to concentrate on managerial issues. Of course I knew none of this last week, let alone in the middle of August when I decided to draw a line under my old job and take this new job. Blimey, that was a gamble on my part, and I was certainly very scared and doubtful, but I knew that things weren't looking good for me in the long run, so I had to make a move.

Last day, first day

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:35:53 +0100

Well, today was my first day working at my new job. I was apprehensive of course, due to my nervousness at changing jobs. I spent 3 fabulous years at my old firm, and learned so much, and really became integral - part of the furniture. I am very sad to leave behind so many wonderful colleagues, who were (mostly) lovely people and very kind to me. If you, reader, are among that number then you'll know I would love you to remain in touch. I had a small but wonderful leaving meal on Thursday, and though it was a shame that not all of the people that wanted to come were able to, I'm sure we'll meet, and eat, again. Thursday seems like a very long time ago, so back to today. Despite my aforementioned apprehension it was a very good day and I'm really excited about the new challenges that lie ahead of me. My new colleagues all seem to be very nice and welcoming. How I wish I could memorise all their names on the first day, but of course that is impossible. I'm sure I remember being just as bewildered by the vast array of new faces 3 years ago, and indeed 6 years ago when I started at the previous firm, so I'm sure I'll get to know all my new colleagues just as well. Similar is the feeling of frustration I have that there is so much knowledge I have yet to learn before I can perform to my full potential in my new job. Again I can cast my mind back to 3 years ago, when there seemed to be so much going on at my firm that I couldn't begin to comprehend, but in the end I suppose I managed to learn a lot of what there was to know and more than I needed to know. Here's hoping that history will repeat itself. I'm very hopeful that it will, and that I will prove to surpass the expectations that my new employers have of me. Likewise, I am full of hope that I'm going to love my new job just as much as I did my last one.

1 week

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:09:49 +0100

Do you know it's now only 1 week to go until I come to the end of my current job and start my new job? I must admit, I'm really rather looking forward to it!

Could PodBat be good enough to tempt me over to Windows?

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:39:56 GMT

...or will I have to wait for PodBash to come along for the Mac (and Linux/Unix) community? Lovely bloke though, and really nice of him to put a link to Slam Idol on his blog. I'm really looking forward to seeing the 'screencast' demo.

John Buckley of Dissident Vox is another great bloke...

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:42:56 GMT

...but he's put a big shot of my face on Flickr, and labelled it slamidol! Bang, there goes my anonymity!

The front of my head

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:56:43 GMT

...can be clearly seen in this one.

Some people I'm most thrilled that I met yesterday:

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 15:42:26 GMT

Adrian Pegg, Alex Bellinger from SmallBizPod, Chris Skinner from Simulacrum, Jen and Neil Dixon, John from Dissident Vox, Dr. Jo Twist, Kosso, PodcastPaul, Phil Campbell from R3wind, Phil Coyne from BitJobs, Rob and Jon from TopOfThePods.

The back of my head

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:55:19 GMT

I'm amazed at how many photos there are of the back of my head on the PodcastConUK Flickr page.

PodcastCon UK was yesterday

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 11:16:36 GMT

I had a great time yesterday at PodcastCon UK. Everyone was really nice and it was so good to hear what people are doing with podcasting, how they're doing it, and what their approach is. It was fabulous to meet everyone at last, and share a few beers and a nice Chinese meal. It was a shame that Chris Kimber of the BBC only got to field one question, which meant that the Indie Podcasters were forced to save up any anti-establishment venom for James Cridland of Virgin Radio when he delivered his speech. There are two sides (at least) to every story, and it may be a bit naive of either side to believe that it really understands podcasting and the others just don't 'get it'. Even this episdode, however, played itself out in a well natured manner, James handled it well and even came to the pub with the Indies. I can't say enough times how nice all the people were, and it was wonderful to meet most of UK podcasting's minor celebrities. The day was a great success, and ran very smoothly, which is a trubute to how very well it was organised by Adrian, Alex, Neil and Paul.

Simon Toon 20050909

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 22:34:46 +0100

My thoughts on Podcasters' so-called Public Service Announcements for Hurricane Katrina.

Interviewed by The Guardian and published again!

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 23:17:46 +0100

Interviewed again, and published, by The Guardian! Although I do only appear near the bottom, I get two and a half paragraphs! http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,1560905,00.html The previous article, which appeared in the paper on July 21st, can be seen online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1532392,00.html

pingueculum

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:56:11 +0100

I saw Mr. Michael Miller today, and he said I had a Pingueculum. He didn't seem that concerned.

Back in iTunes!

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 10:58:43 +0100

On Thursday or Friday of this week I created a new feedburner feed of my podcast and made sure to use the SmartCast feature to Include iTunes Podcasting Elements. This gives a feed with all the iTunes elements populated, including genre, author, description, image and explicit tag. By this morning the podcast had appeared in the iTunes directory. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! That's a 1 or 2 day turn-around. The feeds I submitted without iTunes tags have still not appeared, but I'm not complaining any more. Maybe it helps them to authorise your podcast if you ensure you give them all the iTunes tags and thereby giving them less work.

What a lot has happened!

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:04:02 +0100

Well, what a lot has happened with the Slam Idol podcast (http://slamidol.tripod.com)! On Wednesday the 6th I switched my iTunes:image over from PNG to JPG, and on Saturday morning (the 9th) the album art was finally appearing correctly in the iTunes podcast directory! Hurrah! However, by Saturday night my podcast had completely disappeared from the directory! Boo-hoo! All I asked them to do was change the address of the podcast feed to point at the feedburner feed, so I could see the statistics of people subscribed to my show, but they can't handle that request so instead they have to remove my show from the directory and let me add it back in with the correct feed URL. That doesn't sound too bad until you find out that they estimate it takes one to two weeks to add a podcast into the directory. Aargh! Of course the London bombings happened on the 7th, but thank goodness Jana was already at work before the explosions started. On the morning of the 8th I was so overwhelmed by Jana's bravery to get straight back onto the Tube, that I recorded my thoughts in a podcast before going to work. I thought that what I recorded might be useful to a wider audience than my usual Slam Idol listeners, so I submitted it to openpodcast.org aswell. I got a lot of nice e-mails back from people praising Jana's bravery and resolve, and wishing us both well. On Saturday night I did a long overdue normal Slam Idol podcast, and I also recorded a small explanatory suffix for the My Kind of Dyke song that Madge Weinstein didn't like enough to play on her own show. This was because Roger Smalls encouraged me to distribute the song myself (thanks Roger). I submitted the composite file to podshow.com and openpodcast.org. On Monday the 11th I noticed that someone had hit the Slam Idol web-site apparently referred by curry.com, the home of Adam Curry's Daily Source Code. Thinking perhaps that some just happened to visit curry.com and then visit mine next, coincidentally, I headed on over, only to find that Adam Curry had featured 'My Kind of Dyke' and included the suffix and posted the Slam Idol web-site URL in his show notes. I was totally gob-smacked. The Slam Idol site has got a lot of extra hits with curry.com and DailySourceCode referring URL's over the last few days. Thanks Adam! On Tuesday evening I got a Skype message from Podcast Paul telling me that we were featured on BBC Radio FiveLive that morning. So I popped over to 'Listen Again' and listened. Sure enough, they're reviewing how blogger and podcasters have reacted to the London bombings. They played a big excerpt from my Friday morning podcast, including the bit where I explained that I was Simon from the Slam Idol podcast. More publicity - Hurrah! How annoying, though, that people can't find Slam Idol within the iTunes directory right now, when I have the oxygen of publicity. Also on Tuesday evening I got a message from Alex of the SmallBizPod podcast, asking me whether I would like to be interviewed on Thursday by Ken Young of The Guardian who wanted to talk to a number of UK podcasters. Of course I accepted! Jana helped me by thinking of questions he might ask. So today, of course, I had a nice long chat with Ken Young, who said he hoped his article will be included in next Thursday's Guardian. I hope I said something interesting enough that they'll use it in the article and maybe even credit me by name and give some more publicity to the Slam Idol podcast. I must have sounded so enthusiastic about podcasting that the wonderful Andrew Taylor (http://spaces.msn.com/members/andytaylor98/), who must have overheard me, started talking about doing his own podcast. Now that will be something worth subscribing to!

My Kind of Dyke (Madge Weinstein is)

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 23:13:44 +0100

Sorry about this nonsense. It's a tribute to Madge Weinstein of Yeast Radio ( http://www.yeastradio.com ). I wonder whether she'll play it on her podcast?

Vote for Vobes

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 23:46:17 +0100

Thanks to the people who voted for Slam Idol on PodcastAlley.com I really appreciate. I wish there was at least 1 UK podcaster in the top 10, though. I think it's really important, especially with iTunes around the corner, that those of us podcasting from the UK do not get overlooked. If all the listeners to UK podcasts got behind one specific UK podcast and we all voted for it on PodcastAlley, I reckon we could get it into the top 10. It would need to be a podcast with a wide appeal, and one that has sufficient energy to stay in the top 10 once it gets there. There's a couple of really great podcasts that could fit the bill. PodcastPaul is a wonderful podcast and Paul Nicolls himself is a really nice guy and works so hard for the interests of the podcast community, especially in the UK, but he also has a very busy work-life, so sometimes he isn't able to get a show out that often. I don't know where he gets his energy from! Neil Dixon is a similar story with the great things he's doing with Britcaster.com. Roger Smalls, Simulacrum, the Bluggcast, they're all fantastic niche shows, but I think the show to get behind is the Richard Vobes Radio Show. He does a 30-minute show every day, 7 days a week. It's a full time job, especially with preparing and editing all those sound-seeing excursions, and in fact it now is his full time job. And with the contributions from Georgie, Jimmy, Billy, Stanley and Dawn, there's so much energy behind the show, and it has the broad appeal to stay there. And you know that he's such a nice guy and is always delighted to give publicity to other podcasters, so if we can get his show into the top 10 you know he'll use the opportunity to promote other UK podcasts. So I'm asking all of my listeners to go along to PodcastAlley.com and vote for VOBES. Victor Oscar Bravo Echo Sierra. And all you other UK podcasters, I'm asking you to ask your listeners to do the same.

Andy's blog

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 19:04:10 +0100

I've added Andy's blog feed to my list of subscriptions on NewNewsWire Lite this evening. I've only read the 4 most recent entries, but already I'm finding it fascinating to read what Andy has written about. I'm a work colleague of his; we do chat over coffee and, when necessary, have more in depth conversations about work or home life, but I still get a tremendous insight from his writings on his blog. It's wonderful. Andy forgot to mention, however, that the cleaner has just attained a rather ridiculous perm.

Happy 50th Birthday Dave Winer!

Mon, 02 May 2005 00:22:20 +0100

Happy 50th Birthday, Dave Winer! You may not have turned into your own Father, but you're still the father of RSS. Wishing you good health and happy trails...

When the drugs wear off

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 21:44:57 +0000

I think it's very important to listen to a non-commercial voice at the same time as the commercial ones.

This is your MacCast.m4a

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 22:05:06 +0000

A theme opener I did for the MacCast http://www.maccast.com

The first time

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 16:52:33 +0000

Is this the page that first got me into listening to podcasts?

Google's AutoLinks

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 01:18:12 +0000

I'm a keen listener of Morning Coffee Notes. I'm very interested in what Dave Winer has been saying recently about Google's AutoLinks. I hope he'll keep talking about this issue. I guess we need to evaluate how much this threatens the rights of the user (If I'm viewing my bank statement over HTTPS would the Google Toolbar report the confidential contents back to Google's HQ?) and the content provider (can the user see which links are the author's and which are Google's?). It worries me in the same way I was worried when Microsoft's Internet Explorer looked like becoming the assumed standard web browser. IE's market share was forced down by the actions of users (abandoning it due to security concerns and responding positively to the innovations of competitor browsers) more than by the actions of content providers (e.g. websites recommending that users switch to a standards-compliant browser in order to view their content correctly). If the users' concerns can be harnessed then perhaps competition from other toolbar providers (Yahoo?) might be a good thing. However if they don't understand or don't care, then how about taking action as a content provider? Can you make your web-server detect that someone is visiting your page with the Google toolbar activated, and then redirect them to a different page that tells them that they're going to have to switch it off or switch to FireFox?

Mac OS X ate my hard drive!

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:37:34 +0000

My hard drive space seemed to be eaten up by /var/tmp. There were temporary files in there dating back nearly 2 years (about 400MB worth). My understanding was that the Daily cron maintenance job was supposed to delete files older than a week, but maybe something is wrong with the logic, because the timestamp on my file /var/log/daily.out is Jan 29th 2005, which suggests that the Daily job ran just over a month ago (my iBook is not normally awake at 3.15am) so how could there be files in there from 2003?

What's up with Curry.com?

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:56:03 +0000

How am I supposed to get my Daily Source Code if his site keeps going down? Damn, I wish I had downloaded it at work as soon as I saw it was available.

Jana's new palm

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:49:33 +0000

Jana seems to like her new Palm Tungsten E. She's finding it a little bit difficult to get used to the newer version of Graffiti. She doesn't like the new versions of 'i' and 'l'.

I'm currently ignoring "Navy Seals"

Sat, 26 Feb 2005 23:11:30 +0000

According to IMDB: "While rescuing an American air crew captured by Mid-Eastern terrorists, Lieutenant Curran and his team of Navy SEALs discover evidence that the terrorists have come into possession of dangerous high-tech weapons." I, however, am too busy coding and testing to notice.

Java 1.4.2 API Docs

Sat, 26 Feb 2005 23:07:01 +0000

I'm using these API docs a lot in developing this app.

Paskins

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 21:41:16 +0000

We stayed at this lovely 'environmentally friendly' hotel, with a great vegetarian menu.

Terre a Terra

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 20:44:50 +0000

On Saturday night we had dinner in a fantastic vegetarian restarant, called 'Terre a Terre'. Not cheap but very high quality food and great service.

Andy's site

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:59:59 +0000

This evening Andy shared with me the URL of his site.

CSI NY

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:59:59 +0000

This is what we've just been watching.

What's cooking?

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:59:59 +0000

What's Simon going to make in the kitchen?

Direct RSS

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:59:59 +0000

There's a bit of software called 'Direct RSS' by digitallyobsessed software.

SmartDust

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 23:59:59 +0000

23-JAN-2005 SmartDust I came across this as a result of listening to Jerry Fiddler's lecture 'Envisioning the Connected World'.

The Golem Project

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 23:59:59 +0000

23-JAN-2005 The Golem Project I came across this as a result of listening to Jerry Fiddler's lecture 'Envisioning the Connected World'.

MTV News 'Podcasting'

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 23:59:59 +0000

20-JAN-2005 MTV News 'Podcasting' Allows Anyone To Become An Instant International DJ

The 'i's have it

Sun, 16 Jan 2005 23:59:59 +0000

16-JAN-2005 The 'i's have it: the small Apple guns for Windows.

Blinkx video search

Sat, 15 Jan 2005 23:59:59 +0000

15-JAN-2005 Blinkx video search

Apple's iPod Shuffle Stifles Podcasting

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 23:59:59 +0000

14-JAN-2005 Apple's iPod Shuffle Stifles Podcasting

Mauritius: Hello News TV

Fri, 1 Oct 2004 23:59:59 +0000

01-OCT-2004 Mauritius: Hello News TV