Nothing like a tech conference to get me back into my blog...especially a _free_ tech conference. :-)
A good friend sent me a note about an "un-conference" called PodCamp - a conference devoted to audio and video blogging - how to do it, what to do, etc. Ten minutes later I was signed up as an attendee (the sign-up is wiki-based)...and 24-hours later I had posted my plans for a presentation titled "Video to Web: Shoot, Assemble, Publish to Web".
The conference is the second of it's kind and the first to be held in Pittsburgh. The first PodCamp was held in Boston, at the Bunker Hill Community College, on Sept. 9th & 10th, 2006. People have been audio blogging for a while (considering an audio blog, or "podcast", is effectively a pre-recorded radio program, designing for distribution via the web in a compressed file format), so the PodCamp is long time in coming. The Boston event seems to have been very well attended, with bloggers from other locales flying into Beantown for the event. You can download or stream some of the podcasts of the PodCamp Boston sessions.
Although Apple's iPod is by no means the first mass-market digital music player, it is certainly the coolest [I supposed that's debatable, and therefore a biased statement] and best positioned with an established supporting music/video sales arm, iTunes. With this marketing double-whammy that Apple has ingeniously submitted to the computerized world, the inevitable "xerox-ization" of the name "iPod" has occurred, with all sorts of "pod" words popping up in the modern vocabulary. This has gotten so pervasive that Apple is flexing it's legal muscle, suing various organizations by suggesting that the "pod" syllable is theirs and theirs alone. I won't give an opinion about which side is correct....but my phrase "xerox-ization" I believe explains both the fate and the eventual outcome of the matter - the syllable will be/is firmly ensconced in the public domain as a metaphor for all things digitally audio and video.
I personally have been shooting video and publishing via Apple's iMovie and Google's video site for many months. Though I am by no means an accomplished filmmaker, I am implementing inspiration as it occurs. My most recent production, "Apple Festivals 2006", was a fun short produced by my son and I before attending two local Apple Festivals, each occurring on opposite ends of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area from each other on the same day...hence my use of Google Earth within the video - it allows lots of "hopping" around the globe.
This film shows that though amateurish, I am using the great resources provided by Apple on every Macintosh, iLife '06. The iLife suite of applications includes iMovie, for production of films from digital video "footage", and GarageBand, for creation and assembly of digital audio. You can use iDVD to burn to DVD...or just find a web-based distribution location (your own website or one of the many popular sites). I suppose a high-speed digital connection (DSL or cable) is a given...though I know even the US is nowhere close to a 100% market saturation of high-speed access - though this is improved by such services as Verizon's wireless services.
So, on to planning for my PodCamp presentation...and planning my next video (plugging the house that my wife and I are trying to sell).
..phyllostachys.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
phyllostachys fourteen: Fathers Day
I was hard at work yesterday morning...when my wife came in and said "What are you doing???!!! You said you'd be out cutting the lawn!!!" Well, back into the doghouse! :-)
What I was doing was attempting to put together appropriate music (in GarageBand) for one of the oldest and most eventful father's day stories of all time: the homecoming of Odysseus, who hadn't seen his wife Penelope and son Telemachos for nearly 20 years (10 years for the Trojan War, 10 years for the trip home). There are scads of references to fathers in the Odyssey: Zeus is a Father, Odysseus has a father, Telemachos has a father, Polyphemus the cyclops has a father (Poseidon [or Neptune, depending on a Hellenic or Roman bent of the translator], who causes so many travails for Odysseus), and each of the Greek kings reference their fathers (kings of Sparta and Pylos, where Telemachos travels in the first book of the Odyssey).
It's really almost too much for an aspiring bard to comprehend! So, what follows are the lines I've adapted for a later-to-be released musical compilation (there are arguably more appropriate lines...further re-reading will bring those to light).
Since I could not finish the musical masterpiece for your listening pleasure....I dissuaded my young son from watching a movie, took him with me while I went up to take a shower, and proceeded to tell him the short version of the trials of Odysseus:
-- of Telemachos' travels to Sparta and Pylos for news of his father,
-- of Odysseus' homecoming (on Fathers Day, of course),
-- of how he identified himself definitively to his wife Penelope (the construction of their bridal bed, and the stringing of his hunting bow),
-- and of how he, Telemachos, Athena (in earthly garb) and several helpers dusted off the scores of suitors eating and drinking in the household that day.
Happy Fathers Day, Dads!
..phyllostachys.
Telemachos' Fathers Day:
"The gods were discussing
in the halls of Olympian Zeus,
the fate of Odysseus, of the tears of
his wife Penelope and his son Telemachos
The goddess, grey-eyed Athene, said to Zeus
"Father, son of Saturn, King of kings,
I will conduct Telemachos to Sparta and to Pylos,
to see if he can hear anything about the return
of his dear father --
for this will make people speak well of him."
"My mother," answered Telemachus, "tells me I am son to Odysseus,
but it is a wise child that knows his own father.
Would that I were son to one who had
grown old upon his own estates,
for, since you ask me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven
than he who they tell me is my father."
"I will tell you the truth, my son," said Odysseus to his son. "It was
the Phaeacians who brought me here. They are great sailors, and
are in the habit of giving escorts to any one who reaches their
coasts. They took me over the wine-dark sea while I was fast asleep, and
landed me in Ithaca, after giving me many presents in bronze,
gold, and raiment."
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/dyssy10.txt
What I was doing was attempting to put together appropriate music (in GarageBand) for one of the oldest and most eventful father's day stories of all time: the homecoming of Odysseus, who hadn't seen his wife Penelope and son Telemachos for nearly 20 years (10 years for the Trojan War, 10 years for the trip home). There are scads of references to fathers in the Odyssey: Zeus is a Father, Odysseus has a father, Telemachos has a father, Polyphemus the cyclops has a father (Poseidon [or Neptune, depending on a Hellenic or Roman bent of the translator], who causes so many travails for Odysseus), and each of the Greek kings reference their fathers (kings of Sparta and Pylos, where Telemachos travels in the first book of the Odyssey).
It's really almost too much for an aspiring bard to comprehend! So, what follows are the lines I've adapted for a later-to-be released musical compilation (there are arguably more appropriate lines...further re-reading will bring those to light).
Since I could not finish the musical masterpiece for your listening pleasure....I dissuaded my young son from watching a movie, took him with me while I went up to take a shower, and proceeded to tell him the short version of the trials of Odysseus:
-- of Telemachos' travels to Sparta and Pylos for news of his father,
-- of Odysseus' homecoming (on Fathers Day, of course),
-- of how he identified himself definitively to his wife Penelope (the construction of their bridal bed, and the stringing of his hunting bow),
-- and of how he, Telemachos, Athena (in earthly garb) and several helpers dusted off the scores of suitors eating and drinking in the household that day.
Happy Fathers Day, Dads!
..phyllostachys.
Telemachos' Fathers Day:
"The gods were discussing
in the halls of Olympian Zeus,
the fate of Odysseus, of the tears of
his wife Penelope and his son Telemachos
The goddess, grey-eyed Athene, said to Zeus
"Father, son of Saturn, King of kings,
I will conduct Telemachos to Sparta and to Pylos,
to see if he can hear anything about the return
of his dear father --
for this will make people speak well of him."
"My mother," answered Telemachus, "tells me I am son to Odysseus,
but it is a wise child that knows his own father.
Would that I were son to one who had
grown old upon his own estates,
for, since you ask me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven
than he who they tell me is my father."
"I will tell you the truth, my son," said Odysseus to his son. "It was
the Phaeacians who brought me here. They are great sailors, and
are in the habit of giving escorts to any one who reaches their
coasts. They took me over the wine-dark sea while I was fast asleep, and
landed me in Ithaca, after giving me many presents in bronze,
gold, and raiment."
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/dyssy10.txt
Saturday, February 04, 2006
phyllostachys thirteen: Used Books - Read 'em!
Used Books - Read 'em!
I am addicted to many things in life: breathing is chief amongst them addictions, but also coffee, daydreaming, the stock market, bamboo, used books and the opposite sex...not necessarily in that order. As with most addictions, each finds its way into all the nooks and crannies of my life (sequentially, of course - men can multitask as well as women...as long as the tasks are sequentially ordered! ;-).
Used books are no exception. I haven't found a used bookstore I haven't liked (although like/dislike has a graduated scale) - each offers hours of browsing and thinking. But, the best used bookstores are sometimes those without a store presence. Let me give you an example.
I've found a cool used-book bookstore called Paradox Books near where I work in Wheeling, West Virginia. I've made some great finds at Paradox, from books on wines of the world, to great sci-fi, and more recently, a $1 copy of Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" (New Revised Edition, (c) 1964). In keeping with the area's flavour, Paradox also has a full range of Playboy's, dating back to the late 60's. ;-)
Aside from selling books, etc., inside, Paradox has a large bookshelf outside of it's front door, somewhat protected from the weather. This shelf is there so that the book-addicted person, who comes and finds the store closed for some reason, has the chance of satisfying his or her thirst for yet another used book. In addition to this outdoor bookshelf, Paradox has a table of books in the Centre Market (the cool little market in which Coleman's Fish Market is an anchor tenant) which are free for the taking. Yesterday, I perused these books during my lunch break, and walked away with two tomes: "The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions" (by the system's Board of Governors, (c) 1961), and "Modern Introductory Analysis" (a Houghton Mifflin textbook from 1964). I nearly picked a book on an introduction to symbolic logic...but an inquiring mind can latch onto only so many new tangents of thought/learning. ;-)
So, an addiction appeased for a few more days. Although I'm currently reading the "Intelligent Investor" book, I really want to learn more about the Fed, now that we're having a changing of the guard at the helm of the Fed (from Greenspan to Bernanke). I suppose I could go to the Fed's website (or to www.wikipedia.org, for that matter), but a book still has lots of appeal. I'll crack the other book to see what I can learn in a short time about analysis (mathematics is a foreign language I'm continually trying to expose myself to)...and to see what ideas I can introduce to my 4-yr-old. ;-)
So, go read a book...a used book!
..phyllostachys.
I am addicted to many things in life: breathing is chief amongst them addictions, but also coffee, daydreaming, the stock market, bamboo, used books and the opposite sex...not necessarily in that order. As with most addictions, each finds its way into all the nooks and crannies of my life (sequentially, of course - men can multitask as well as women...as long as the tasks are sequentially ordered! ;-).
Used books are no exception. I haven't found a used bookstore I haven't liked (although like/dislike has a graduated scale) - each offers hours of browsing and thinking. But, the best used bookstores are sometimes those without a store presence. Let me give you an example.
I've found a cool used-book bookstore called Paradox Books near where I work in Wheeling, West Virginia. I've made some great finds at Paradox, from books on wines of the world, to great sci-fi, and more recently, a $1 copy of Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" (New Revised Edition, (c) 1964). In keeping with the area's flavour, Paradox also has a full range of Playboy's, dating back to the late 60's. ;-)
Aside from selling books, etc., inside, Paradox has a large bookshelf outside of it's front door, somewhat protected from the weather. This shelf is there so that the book-addicted person, who comes and finds the store closed for some reason, has the chance of satisfying his or her thirst for yet another used book. In addition to this outdoor bookshelf, Paradox has a table of books in the Centre Market (the cool little market in which Coleman's Fish Market is an anchor tenant) which are free for the taking. Yesterday, I perused these books during my lunch break, and walked away with two tomes: "The Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Functions" (by the system's Board of Governors, (c) 1961), and "Modern Introductory Analysis" (a Houghton Mifflin textbook from 1964). I nearly picked a book on an introduction to symbolic logic...but an inquiring mind can latch onto only so many new tangents of thought/learning. ;-)
So, an addiction appeased for a few more days. Although I'm currently reading the "Intelligent Investor" book, I really want to learn more about the Fed, now that we're having a changing of the guard at the helm of the Fed (from Greenspan to Bernanke). I suppose I could go to the Fed's website (or to www.wikipedia.org, for that matter), but a book still has lots of appeal. I'll crack the other book to see what I can learn in a short time about analysis (mathematics is a foreign language I'm continually trying to expose myself to)...and to see what ideas I can introduce to my 4-yr-old. ;-)
So, go read a book...a used book!
..phyllostachys.
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