Archive for category Blogs
Server down
Posted by Bob Beela in Blogs, Technology on 26 April, 2006
Due to maintenance my VPS was down for four hours. Not bad after being up for more than 1,5 year.
Benjamen Walker is podcasting again!
Posted by Bob Beela in Blogs, Podcasting on 13 March, 2006
In January I wrote that Benjamen Walker was missing [link]. He has a blog and radio program which you can listen too as a podcast [wikipedia podcast]. A lot of comments came in on this blog and it seemed that more people were worried about his wellbeing.
He has surfaced again and new programs are available on his site http://toeradio.org. The only problem I have is that since he has moved his feeds to the NPR alt.npr offering we only get excerpt of his program. They use to be 29 minutes, now it cut short to something like 14 minutes.
This is like drinking Diet Coke instead of the real stuff. I want the whole program!
Crossing the BLVD: strangers, neighbors, aliens in a new America
This is a post about a site you should really visit; Crossing the BLVD.
On the site it says; ‘a kaleidoscopic view of new immigrants and refugees living in Queens, New York ? the most ethnically diverse locality in the United States is a project of EarSay” .
I’ve browsed the site for some time and it is really good! Four stars ****, check it out.
You have got to read this!
Posted by Bob Beela in Blogs, Technology on 3 February, 2006
Goto this link.
Client: We don’t want to do this full-page newspaper ad in color. It’s not about the money. We just don’t want the ad to attract too much attention.”
Customer calling book and video store where I work… Hello, I am a high school teacher here in town. I am looking for a video of the Gettysburg address. And I do NOT want a reenactment! I want the REAL Lincoln!
Below is a call I placed to a tech support line for for an issue with a piece of mission critical hardware. Me: Thanks for calling me back. Tech: No Problem. Me: We are having issues with your virtual network adapter drivers. For some reason when I enable the network adapter all the COM ports on the system lock up. Tech: Oh yea, we know about that issue. Me: Ok, is there an updated driver? Tech: Nope. But we are working on that now. Me: What is the estimated date of arrival? Tech: hold please…music…Sir? We really don’t know. Me: Ok, is there a workaround? Tech: Definately! Me: Ok, what is it? Tech (dead serious): Don’t use the network adapter if you want to use your other COM ports!
“can you guys make it more like a power-point presentation, you know, with the sliding text stuff and all?”
Health care in the Netherlands
One of the blogs I read on a regular basis is Dooce by Heather B. Armstrong. She and her husband are writing, on their individual blogs, about their problems with getting healthcare coverage now that they are not working for ‘the boss’ anymore. It is scary to read how people are being denied access to a service which should be basic for everybody, especially in ‘the greatest nation on earth, the USA’. It makes you think whether this could happen in the Netherlands as well. As we restructured our system this year and became more dependent on the private health insurance companies, this question has become more apparent than ever.
The healthcare system in the Netherlands has always had a complicated structure. By the first of Jan of this year, after 30 years of discussion, it has been restructured. We use to have a two way system; partly government and partly private. If your income was below a certain amount you were automatically covered by the government system (ziekenfonds as we called it). If you earned to much you went into to private system but you still had to pay for the government system. The solidarity principle as we called it.
In the new system everybody is eligible for a basic health coverage package (which is controlled by the government) which you can get from all the insurance firms. They say that you cannot be refused for basic coverage. You can only be refused for additional insurance coverage (like mental health service or a dental plan). As there is already talk of razing the insurance premium for next year, the next thing could be kicking people out who are too expensive.
As the famous Dutch soccer player Johan Cruijff always said; ‘Every disadvantage has it’s advantages’. The new health system has an advantage especially for the people who are their own boss. For instance all bloggers can form an organisation, and that organisation can make health coverage deals with the insurance companies including rebates. There is an example of groups of active Catholics who have form an organisation and have closed a deal with one of the insurers.
A new year needs a new look
Posted by Enno ter Keurst in Blogs, General on 7 January, 2006
I changed the look of my blog. It is based on the connection template.
Enno
Where is Benjamen Walker?
Posted by Bob Beela in Blogs, Podcasting, Web sites on 5 January, 2006
I’ve been listening to the shows of Benjamen Walker since a year and a half. His shows are transmitted in the US by Chicago Public Radio but also by a number, as he calls it, enlightened radio stations. But you can also listen to him on the internet.
He travels around the world, recently he was in the UK, before that in Tunisia, China and Jamaica. On regular basis he is asked to appear to speak at conferences like the International Audio festival.
If you are interested in good different and independent podcast/radio goto his site on http://www.toeradio.org.
There is one problem and I’m worried; I haven’t heared the guy since Okctober last year. Where is Bejamen? Does anybody knwo know, please let me know.
Swissmiss
I found this really nice blog from Tina Roth Eisenberg. She a native of Switzerland, grew up influenced by the renowned Swiss design and a lot of fresh air and works in New York.
Her blog jsut just cries out “DESIGN” and is cramped with nice examples and links. It is a lot of fun, have a look at SWISSMISS.
Do you have something to say?
The BBC reports that every second a blog is created.
The question is; how many of these blogs stay active and how many sease to exists after ashort while.The question is; how many of these blogs stay active and how many seize to exist after a short while.
Next generation podcasting
Posted by Bob Beela in Blogs, Technology on 14 June, 2005
Podcasting is about one year old now. Pretty mature for a technology what started as a hype. It raised the question with me; ‘What would you like to see in the next generation of Podcasting’.
How do I listen to Podcasts
I started listening to Podcasts on my PC, simple because I didn’t have a MP3 player. That was alright but I didn’t like the fact that I always needed my PC. I have WiFi, I have a laptop but it didn’t give me enough flexibility.
The next step for me was to buy a player. The result was that I could walk around the house listening to a Podcast. I tried using it in the car but most of the time I’m at work in the car. I’m either busy driving it or talking on the phone. Bottom-line, I was alright but I didn’t think it was a 100% success.
The third step was when I bought a Philips Streamium SL400i. This is a device that I can connect to my audio equipment and I can play and stream audio files from the internet or from a server in the house. This is the configuration which works for me at the moment. I’ve setup a server on which I have iPodder installed which downloads the Podcasts I want al day. When I get home I switch on the streamium, look at what Podcasts have come in, select the one I want and listen to it while I do other stuff.
So what would I like to see as a next step:
- First of all Podcasting should support chapters. You should be able to skip to the section in the Podcast you want instead of FF. Linked to content of the OPML file would be great.
- Podcast should be a multimedia experience. It should be possible that in the middle of a Podcast a picture is shown of either the artist which is being played, the Senseo Adam Curry is using or just something to explain something which is talked about in the Podcast. That would be great on the Streamiun because it is linked to the TV as well.
- iPodder should have an auto clean up function. Everything older than e.g. 3 weeks should be deleted.
Maybe somebody will make this possible.
Ongoing rant
Posted by Bob Beela in Blogs, News, Podcasting, Technology on 28 May, 2005
Tdavid wrote an excellent piece on the rant between Adam and Dave. The comments are exceptional.
Read them, I’m sure there is more to come.
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