If you have checked out my archives at all, you’ll see I’m a fan of podcasts. I’ve written a guide to podcasts, and I’ve recommended several podcasts for daily listening, technology lovers, and food lovers, too. I like to listen to podcasts almost as much as I like to listen to music, and I often listen while I’m running or taking public transportation.
I’m also a big fan of TED conferences (their slogan, ‘ideas worth spreading’ is given tribute in the title of this post) and the conference videos which they make available for the entire public. I included Sheryl Sandberg’s TED video in my post, Stop Sabotaging Your Own Success, but I’ve been watching, sharing, and processing those videos for a long time now.
So it’s no surprise that I would instantly fall in love with TED’s new venture, the TED Radio Hour, an audio podcast produced with NPR which focuses on a single theme. Each episode brings together both the TED presentations and new, follow-up interviews with the presenters and other experts on the chosen topic. Continue reading →
I’ve been usingJamendo.com for several years as a source of creative commons and royalty-free music as inspiration for the videos I make and put online, and it seldom takes me longer than 10 or 15 minutes to find what I’m looking for.
Artists can choose to license their music directly through Jamendo.com and/or ask you, the fan, to donate directly to them what you feel is appropriate. As always, the creative commons license should be respected.
Have you used Jamendo?
Here are some of the videos I’ve made with music from Jamendo and I’ve listed the music credits at the end – click through to the post if you don’t see the videos below:
Just in time for a trip to Hawaii, I started playing with the Kodak PlaySport digital video camera. This is not my first Kodak digital video camera – right around the time I was playing with a friend’s Flip camera and was looking for a personal videocamera, too, and I got a chance to check out the Kodak Zi8 (I ended up publishing several films made with that camera like a Weekend in Paris and a video about Italians talking with their hands)
Here’s a short video montage from my Hawaii trip – from frolicking on the beach and in the water, to snorkeling with fish, to recording in the rain and seeing double rainbows, to a wild, doors-off helicopter ride all over the island, the PlaySport kept up with my playful activities. (Review continues below the video)
What I loved about the Kodak PlaySport:
I spent a lot of time around water this summer (at both the ocean and in swimming pools) and I loved that I could bring the camera with me and not worry about getting it wet or sandy, unlike my Canon 7D I carry around with me when I’m in “serious” photography mode. The autofocus when switching from landscape to macro worked well, too.
In addition to the videocamera setting, the still pictures it took were pretty good (5MP) which was great when I didn’t need to shoot film and not switch devices.
The size and grip of the device were great, and overall it was smaller than the Kodak Zi8, though that meant the screen was a bit smaller as well. The rubber casing felt rugged and I was never worried about dropping it. I had the red model on the far right and liked having some color in my devices (my Zi8 was the cranberry model, too).
Best of all, it was very intuitive to use and I still haven’t opened the manual.
Where the Kodak PlaySport could improve:
After the first time I took the videocamera underwater and wanted to transfer pictures back to my computer, it was very difficult to open the waterproof hatches and get to the mini USB port later that day. At one point I had to use a knife to ease it open. After that, it was much easier, but I was a bit worried I would break it. I would suggest opening the hatches not too long after the underwater experience and make sure the salt doesn’t dry on.
The responsiveness of the buttons could be better (noticeable when shuffling through and deleting), as well as the microphone switching from underwater mode to above-water mode – once in a while the sound quality was muffled as though water clogged it temporarily.
One more thing I noticed was some shakiness while walking (and of course on a helicopter), but it would be nice if some sort of stabilization could be stronger / built-in in the camera to combat all the playing you’ll be doing with the camera.
The verdict on the Kodak PlaySport:
None of these were deal breakers, and I would definitely recommend the Kodak PlaySport video camera for an all-around digital video camera you can knock about, and you’ll find ways to use the underwater feature since you have it!
Disclosure: This product was provided to me by Kodak Italy (thanks!) I was not compensated otherwise and no review was promised in exchange. The review is my own words and feelings.
I’ll just cut right to the chase: I love, love, love TextExpander.
The way TextExpander works:
You insert a snippet, phrase, or entire text and then insert it into any program on your Mac (email, document, anywhere there’s text insertion) with a special character sequence shortcut that you decide on. My shortcuts are usually 2-6 characters long.
Here’s a peek into some of my snippets:
mysig = my work signature (how many times have you written yours?) tx = Thanks cmp = your company name
In addition, I have shortcuts for my email addresses (how about every time you log in somewhere or leave a comment on a site?), frequently-referenced URLs, and other email sign-offs like:
plm = Please let me know if you have any other questions.
But TextExpander is not just for short phrases. I have entire emails / predefined responses that can be called up with a short letter sequence (I think my longest one is somewhere around 500 words).
I used to keep a bunch of predefined emails in Google Canned Responses, but the interface is clunky and can get unwieldy if you have more than 15 or so. I often mistakenly overwrote them by clicking “Save” instead of “Insert.” And the truth is I’m not always in Gmail when I need those snippets.
How much time has TextExpander saved me? Luckily, I don’t need to wonder as they tell you directly in the app how much time you’ve saved. 10 hours of typing? Yes, please!
I definitely recommend checking TextExpander out (note: for Mac OS only). They have a free trial but I think it’s a wisely invested $34.95. If you don’t have a Mac, but have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can get their TextExpander Touch app instead.
I’ll just cut right to the chase: I love, love, love 
