Chris Pirillo » podcast

Live Web Show Visit with Ron Knights

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:15:24 +0000

I was a guest on the Ron Knights show yesterday afternoon. Ron has been a community member for quite a while now, participating on the various websites we have. He also regularly blogs on Lockergnome with us.

I had a great time hanging out with Ron. We talked about some of the things that I’ve been up to recently and what’s in store for the near future of Lockergnome as a whole.

Live Web Show Visit with Ron Knights

How To Create a Screencast

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:27:17 +0000

How To Create a Screencast

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We have had more screencast submissions lately than we can even count. I know all of you are anxious and hoping to be featured in our channels. However, you’re wasting your time – and ours – if you aren’t following a few simple steps. Dylan took the time to create this screencast to help all of you have a better chance of having your work showcased.

HD Quality – 1080p is not required. 780p is more than sufficient. If at all possible, render them in 1280×720 resolution. It’s the perfect size for your screencast.
Format – .WMV and .AVI files are huge and a pain in the butt to transfer, upload and process. Always try to use an .MP4 format to make life much easier on everyone.
Introduce Yourself – Who are you? What do you do? Make sure you state your name at the beginning of the video and state that it is being recorded on behalf of youtube.com/lockergnome. At the end of the video, it is okay to tell people where to find you on YouTube, Twitter or the web. However, again please remember to mention our channels and sites.
Speak Clearly – Why is it you feel you should be talking about this subject? What makes it interesting or exciting? Pay attention to your tone of voice. No one wants to hear a robot or monotone person. This is your opportunity to shine, so impress your audience. Put some animation and life into your voice.
Length – Keep it short and simple, silly. No one is going to sit through a twenty minute screencast.
Annotation – Put the lockergnome.com annotation in the lower right-hand corner of the video using just about any video editing software.
Uploading – Don’t upload your video to Geeks or your own YouTube channel. Send them directly to Chris and to Kat via email – using filemail.com. We prefer filemail due to faster download speeds and no intrusive popups.
Email Contact – Make SURE you CC Kat on every screencast email that you send me, whether it is questions that you have, an actual video file to send or if you’re just following up on something you have submitted. Chances are, I’m going to pass off your email to her to answer, anyway. She handles the upload of all videos for me, and it’s usually her you have to get through in order to be approved.
HAVE FUN – This isn’t supposed to be work. It’s supposed to be FUN. Relax and enjoy yourself.

Thanks, Dylan, for doing this screencast for us. I appreciate you breaking it down this way to make it easier on everyone involved.

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How To Create a Screencast

Podcast Microphone

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:21:15 +0000

Podcast Microphone

From my community, Christopher Mirah:

I was wondering if you had or could get me any coupons for a usb microphone or headset. Now I am not sure exactly what kind of microphone I want to get so I was wondering if you could make any suggestions for a good one. Here is the situation for what I want the microphone for, a friend and me are wanting to start a podcast that we can share with friends.

My first question would be, should we each have a microphone, or would one microphone be enough, the location of the podcast would be an apartment with only us in it, I don’t know if this would be a factor in whether to purchase two microphones or not?

My second question would be is getting would getting a microphone be the way to go over getting two usb headsets? Also would you recommend purchasing any extras such as a pop filter, etc.?

My final question comes down to cost if you can call it a question that is, since we are both college students still we don’t have a lot of extra cash to thrown around, we would like to keep the price between the two of us to about $120 total. So I do not know if its possible to get some quality products within that price range or if it is even worth trying to do. Any coupons or suggestions you can make would be greatly appreciated, also we are in no hurry to make these purchases so if there are coupons or sales that you might know about that are happening later in the summer that is fine we can wait. Thanks in advance for your help.

Yes, I have coupons – specifically, for my top two recommendations: http://go.tagjag.com/yeti or http://go.tagjag.com/at2020 – and, of course, much more at http://coupons.lockergnome.com/ every day.

Build your equipment base steadily, or you’ll likely be overspending. You could each have a microphone, sure – but if you want to save money, just go with the aforelinked Yeti.

Monitor your levels live, of course – keeping down room noise and making sure you’re not clipping (or in the proverbial “red”). Trial and error, Chris!

Podcast Microphone

How Does iTunes Work on the iPad?

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:28:29 +0000

How Does iTunes Work on the iPad?

Imagine being stuck in an airport for hours on end. You’re bored out of your mind, and feeling as though you could flip out at any second. Now imagine having the iPad with you, just waiting for you to connect to iTunes. It takes one tap of a finger to connect to the iTunes store via a wireless connection.

Once you connect to iTunes, you know what to do from there. You can browse through music, podcasts, telelvision shows and movies to purchase. Grab that new album you’ve been dying to listen to, plug your headphones in, and rock out. There are millions of songs available – and thousands of movies and videos.

If you are a student and could use some extra knowledge (who couldn’t?), you can connect to iTunes U. There you will find lectures, lessons, audiobooks and even podcasts – all coming from universities and museums.

You can quickly transfer your existing iTunes library from another device to your iPad and from your iPad to the other machines. No matter where you go (or what device you have with you) you won’t have to leave your media at home.

How Does iTunes Work on the iPad?

Listen to Facebook and Twitter With Aha Radio

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:29:23 +0000

Listen to Facebook and Twitter With Aha Radio

Aha Mobile was a finalist in the 2010 Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at the SXSW conference last week. With so many new social media services cropping up left and right, we tend to look past many of them in frustration. Aha Radio, however, is one I can definitely get excited about.

Aha Radio will easily turn all of your favorite websites into on-demand radio stations, right on your iPhone. You can grab the App for free and set it up in minutes. Listen to all of your podcasts while driving, or catch up on your friends’ Facebook statuses. Keep your eyes on the road while driving, and let the App keep you in touch. Switch to the Nearby Traffic station to check traffic conditions, or even find out what restaurants may be nearby.

Check out some of the things you can do with Aha Radio on your iPhone:

Check the Traffic Conditions – Get instant updates on traffic conditions ahead of you, based on your current location. The App pulls information from Inrix and Clear Channel. In addition, it gives you instant information about accidents and events that other drivers using the App have reported. See something you need to alert drivers behind you to? No problem. Just tap the screen and leave a voice shout to let them know.
Facebook Check-in – Trying to read status updates on Facebook while driving is a stupid idea. Listening to them, however, is no more dangerous than listening to the radio or a CD. Aha Radio filters out social game updates, and will only read actual status updates to you.
Community Interaction – Hate driving alone? You can tune in to either the Jokes or Rants stations, and have a few laughs. There’s also a Karaoke area, where you can die laughing while listening to other drivers sing along to their favorite tunes. If you’re brave, you can even record your own voice to share.
Hungry – Ah, food. I don’t know about you, but I always want to know what munchables might be along the route I’m driving. Using this feature would let me know what restaurants may be up ahead, and even prioritize them according to my preferences.

Enhances your driving experience in a way that neon lights and spoilers never could. I downloaded it while still listening to the presentation during SXSW, and I’m thinking you’re crazy if you don’t get it for yourself.

Thanks go out to AMD for helping me to attend SXSW this year!

Listen to Facebook and Twitter With Aha Radio

Top 10 Signs That You’re a Social Media Douchebag

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:07:59 +0000

Top 10 Signs That You’re a Social Media Douchebag

Listen. I don’t have a problem with the world of “social media.” I have a problem with the carpetbaggers inside of it. This video better explains the type of person I’m referring to:

And lest you forget, “social media” was once referred to as “new media.” Any guesses as to what the next label will be? Hopefully, it won’t be “douche media.”

So, are you a social media douchebag? Here’s a checklist:

You haven’t done anything but regurgitate what other people have done.
You can call yourself a “Social Media Expert” without giggling.
You suggest everything is a “fail” before you’ve moved out of your parents’ house.
You think the world begins and ends with one or two blogs.
You once had “marketing” or “PR” splashed across your business card.
You make liberal use of the word “conversation” when nobody is talking to (or about) you.
You only attend events that provide professional “opportunity” advancement.
You have no industry perspective or prowess, yet you offer it.
You use the term “Web 2.0″ without knowing what it actually is.
You think this list doesn’t really apply to you.

And before you point a guilty finger in my direction, Gnomedex was covering blogging and RSS back in 2001 before half of you assclowns had your own feed. In 1996, WordPress and Twitter and Facebook didn’t exist – but that didn’t stop some of us from sharing information with the world.

To the best of my knowledge (and understanding of history): it’s IMPOSSIBLE to define or label an era until we’ve passed through it completely. Nobody was wandering around during the “Dark Ages” talking about how they were living in the “Dark Ages.” Web 2.0 is a conference – not a technology or period of time.

Do you realize just how ridiculous some of you sound?

Top 10 Signs That You’re a Social Media Douchebag

Record Your Life with AudioBoo

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:56:22 +0000

Record Your Life with AudioBoo

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Brian Person was a Gnomedex attendee this past summer. During our open mic show-and-tell session, he wanted to share his favorite iPhone audio recording app with us.

Not only does AudioBoo work on the iPhone, you can also use it from your home telephone, using PhoneBoo! It will record up to five minutes’ worth of high-quality audio, and will immediately publish your Boo to the website upon finish.

You can also send it out over your Twitter stream, so that you can share it with the World. In addition, you will be provided with an RSS of your recordings, so that you can later turn them into a podcast if you wish.

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Record Your Life with AudioBoo

Sick of Seeing Noise? Search Only Your Friends’ Tweets

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:05:30 +0000

Sick of Seeing Noise? Search Only Your Friends’ Tweets

You know how frustrating it is, right? You do a search on Twitter for something specific, and get a million results you don’t want to see. Heck, often the results may not even be necessarily what you’re looking for! There are times I want to do a search, and see what MY community has to say… not the entire world.

Enter Flocking Me, a new service that lets you perform Twitter searches, giving you only results from people you are following! Finally, I can find out what only the people I want to hear from are saying! It’s YOUR thoughts I want to hear. It’s YOUR ideas I want to share. Yes, sometimes it may be interesting to have a bajillion results when you’re looking for something. But for the most part, your group can give you the information you need much faster than if you had to sort through the masses.

Is this something you feel is going to help you in the long run when you’re looking for something? Being able to check out what’s going on in our community is vital to what I do, and services like this only make it that much easier for me!

Today is a hot day in our downloads center! We have the hottest and newest software and apps available for Windows, OS X, mobile devices and more!

Sick of Seeing Noise? Search Only Your Friends’ Tweets

Chumby One Review

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:10:36 +0000

Chumby One Review

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You might remember the original Chumby, which wasn’t quite as cool as the new Chumby One is. It has a touch screen for starters, and an awesome speaker. You can configure the widgets through the free web account that you get when you buy your Chumby. Personalize it any way you want. The thing I think I like the most is that it runs on battery, as well as through a regular cord.

A Chumby takes the best part of the Internet and sends it right to your desk. The Chumby is a window into YOUR Internet life, and only those parts of it you care to access quickly. Things like weather, news, podcasts, music and more now have a place away from your hard drive. Plug in your Chumby, connect to your network and create a lineup from more than 1500 widgets. The Chumby will then stream what YOU want to see… from sports scores to stock quotes… from video clips to games… and from photos to trivia!

You can set alarms and timers for night mode if you want. Just touch the screen, and do your thing! I absolutely love my Chumby, and it’s one of the best Christmas gifts you could buy the Geek in your life as far as I’m concerned!

[awsbullet:chumby+black]

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Chumby One Review

To Twitter or to Fritter – That is the Question

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:31:31 +0000

To Twitter or to Fritter – That is the Question

During my travels around our community today, I came across an interesting post on Lockergnome. The author discusses how he signed up for Twitter in order to attempt to figure out the hype. At one point, he states that:

By composing short, 140-character messages, you can share with the world that you are standing in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, eating a tuna sandwich, or watching your dog chase its tail. If compulsively posting such digital drivel is not enough of an incentive to get out of bed in the morning—which is, of course, another event you’ll want to share with others – you can also follow the mundane activities of other peoples’ uneventful lives – including neuron-numbing celebritwits. At no time in the history of interpersonal communication has the phrase “Get a life” been more appropriate.

After a two-month immersion on Twitter, he still doesn’t quite “get it”, according to his closing paragraph. He wants to understand why “anybody would feel compelled to share the excruciatingly tedious minutia of their lives… (and) why anybody would want to read it”. This is our chance to show Mr. Modem what it is that he is missing.

Sure, there are plenty of mind-numbing tweets posted every nth of a second, all day, every day. However, there are also an equal number of informative and important things spread across Twitter, as well. Each day, Twitter is becoming more of a news outlet than the actual newspapers and stations. Word about a tragedy, accident, death or even a missing child will spread all across Twitter (and become a trending topic) much quicker than the same stories could possibly be posted to a place such as CNN or MSNBC.

Twitter is also used in very unconventional ways to spread a message, and raise awareness for a good cause. During last year’s Gnomedex conference, the attendees used their reach on Twitter to raise over $3700.00 to help send a young Cambodian woman to college. Right now, we have a good friend of our community, Drew, who is using Twitter to blame his cancer for things, thus raising awareness and money for the Livestrong Foundation.

In my eyes, Twitter is a mixed bag. It is fun, definitely. You can post short, silly little messages on a whim if you choose. Five seconds later, you can turn around and post about a life-changing event – one that may impact many thousands of people. It’s not what Twitter “is” or “is not” – it’s what you choose to do with it that makes the difference.

My challenge to all of you is this: if you are on Twitter (or have been in the past) – how do you answer Mr. Modem’s question? Leave a follow-up comment here, and let us know if you feel that you are Twittering – or Frittering – your time away.

Of course, while you’re pondering the answer to this question, be sure to check out what others around you have been up to today.

To Twitter or to Fritter – That is the Question

What YouTube Tools can You Recommend?

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:55:43 +0000

What YouTube Tools can You Recommend?

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Rumor has it that when you reach 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, you are presented with 72 virgins. I’m not sure if that happens, but I’ll find out soon! If you want an easy way of turning any YouTube channel into a podcast, then there’s a website you need to check out. At YT Podcaster, you can convert YouTube videos into a Podcast to play on your iPod, Zune and more.

Simply enter a YouTube username to create a Video Podcast from their 20 most recent YouTube videos. Or alternately, enter the URL to a single YouTube video to download the MP4 file. That’s all you need to do! You’re one click away from subscribing to any YouTube channel, and being able to listen to your favorite videos on the go.

YT Podcaster is an easy way for you to change a regular old YouTube channel into a Podcast feed, completely with MP4 video enclosures. If you want a more convenient way to convert a YouTube video into MP4 format, you can also check this out. Type the word kick before the video URL. For example: http://www.kickyoutube.com/watch?v=WqQZQfD6jsk.

Instead of just the video, I now have a cool header above it. It gives me options to download the same video into nearly any format you can imagine. This is just another tool you may want to use to enhance your video watching experience.

What tools do you use for YouTube?

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What YouTube Tools can You Recommend?

What’s Your Favorite Podcast?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:52:33 +0000

What’s Your Favorite Podcast?

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People occasionally ask me what my favorite Podcast is. I really don’t have to think very hard about it. Hands down, it’s This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass. Each week, they choose a theme and then relate stories based on that theme. Sometimes, it’s one story, or it could be five. They are separated by acts. It is, by far, the most compelling audio program I’ve ever listened to in my entire life. I do enjoy Technology, but sometimes I need to escape it. I don’t honestly listen to many Tech podcasts. I live it! If there’s something I want to know, I generally find out from all of you.

For a long time, This American Life was only a radio show, one with a hard-to-describe sound, millions of listeners, and a bunch of awards. Then, after more than a decade on the radio, we started the television show, mostly because it seemed like it might be fun. We continue to produce the weekly radio show, which can be heard on more than 500 public radio stations around the country (find a station near you) as well as on this website, through our free podcast. The television show is on the Showtime network.

The radio and TV shows follow the same format. There’s a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It’s mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always. There’s lots more to the show, but, like we said, it’s sort of hard to describe. Probably the best way to understand the show is to start at our favorites page, though we have full guides to our TV show and our radio show, with clips. If you want to dive into the hundreds of episodes we’ve done over the years, there’s an archive of all our old radio shows and listings for all our TV episodes, too.

Even if you don’t care a lick about the subject matter, you’re still going to love it. If you’re a parent/guardian, you may want to consider using this as a teaching tool. It’s basically truth put into a storytelling construct.

I don’t care how old you are, or what country you may live in. You will love This American Life. You may look at the subject lines, and think it sounds stupid and you’ll want to skip it. DON’T! Trust me, you will get sucked in. It’s so compelling, I have to make the recommendation to all of you to check it out.

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What’s Your Favorite Podcast?

Where do You get Your Information?

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:48:45 +0000

Where do You get Your Information?

When you need to learn about something, where do you turn? Dan sent me the following email:

Many people use the Web for learning new things and broadening their experience, but I’ve gotta be honest… I’m a total junkie for learning more about anything interesting (even if I’ve never heard of it before). Chris’s operation has helped me get my tech fix most of the time, but I continuously explore new sources for learning. I thought I might share some of what I’ve learned.

Here is Dan’s Top Five List of Free General Information Resources

Media Websites A lot of radio and TV stations are starting to put their content online. I don’t always have time to listen to NPR when its broadcast live, but the local talk radio station here has links to all the podcast versions of their programs. Of course, some people have become averse to old media, but for many they’re still a good source of current events and information.
Video and Podcast Websites Holding up the cutting edge of media creation, websites like Chris’s are VERY useful for specific interests (Chris is one of the best examples). There are individually run sites (like GeekBriefTV or Robert Krampf) which provide a stream of useful and specific information. There are also group sites (like Revision3 or KoldCast) that offer a collection of sources in one place.
YouTube and Google Video Everyone uses YouTube and Google, and there’s a surprising amount of useful and educational information available. Google video tends to have longer videos like full documentaries BUT the ‘@Google’ presentations are also fantastic sources of information. Check that YouTube channel out if you’re interested in learning more.
iTunes U Released recently, the iTunes store now has a section of entirely free courses and lectures from a variety of sources. I haven’t explored this source very much yet, but it has a great deal of potential.
The Ted Talks This source really is in a league of its own. The TED conference is an incredible compilation of knowledge from an unprecedented number of areas and experts. The talks range from shockingly informative to down-right awe-inspiring. There are lots of areas to choose from and they’re great to send to friends that you know would be interested.

Where do You get Your Information?

Live Streaming Tips for you and your Community

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:41:58 +0000

Live Streaming Tips for you and your Community

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Ian Quinn is the President of Products and Services with Lonick Internet Solutions. He has sent in a top five list of tips he compiled to help you have an excellent live stream.

Have a place to host your video and chat room. If you don’t need a chat room, don’t get one.
Make sure you have what it takes to be watched by complete strangers. If you can not speak in front of people at your school, job, or anywhere, then being an online streamer might not be the best for you.
Have interesting topics. If you are on a tech show and you are talking about wood cutting, or something completely off topic, you will lose your audience.
Make sure you have the proper equipment. If you have the money, spend it. A good start would be an external microphone that is not a headset, a webcam or camcorder with mediocre to great video quality, and most importantly, a computer that can run the software required to stream.
Get your name known. An easy way of doing this would be to “guest star” on a friends live stream and tell people where to find you.

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Live Streaming Tips for you and your Community

How to Build an Audio and Video Podcast

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:31:23 +0000

How to Build an Audio and Video Podcast

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I had a caller who asked me about issues he’s having with iTunes and his Podcast. It won’t accept his Podcast at all, despite adding it three times. He’s exhausted all the suggestions on Apple support at this point.

To give a bit of background, a Podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term podcast, like “radio”, can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

There are a couple of things that could be going on here. If the feed itself is not formatted properly, it could be rejected. I asked him if he had run it through an RSS Validator? If the feed isn’t valid, iTunes may reject it. If they’re rejecting it outright based on editorial principle, that’s a different issue of course. I’m sure my caller isn’t doing anything of that nature. He has run it through an RSS Validator, and didn’t appear to have any trouble.

He can see his Podcast show up, but it’s not being added to the iTunes catalog for other people to be able to view. Basically, he just has to wait on Apple to “flip the switch” and allow it. Unfortunately, it takes awhile. There are a LOT of people podcasting these days. That’s why I’ve kind of stayed away from it. I have a Podcast, yes. However, I do much better on places like Twitter or YouTube. There are literally just SO many people Podcasting… it’s oversaturated. There is just a much bigger and more dedicated audience on YouTube. The most active members of our community are the ones who are on YouTube. They’re the people who hang out in the chat room, and leaving comments on the videos and blog posts.

It’s no longer interesting to have a Podcast, because everyone is doing it. It’s also not easy to get anywhere on YouTube either, especially if it’s about Technology. Everyone is already doing Tech, so you better have a good, unique angle. The caller stated that his Podcast IS tech-related. He is subscribed to many Tech Podcasts, and follows many people on YouTube. It doesn’t matter where or how someone sees you, it’s that they DO see you. What’s his spin? What’s his catch? He stated he hasn’t really found his own way yet. He knows he has to find his own flavor, to attract an audience.

What it boils down to is the fact that no matter what you are planning to talk about, you better stand out. You need to have a “hook”, so to speak. You need to be original, and fresh… and new! That’s the way you’re going to attract… and keep… an audience.

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How to Build an Audio and Video Podcast