Category: audiocasts

AUDIO books and PODCASTS 2015

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, books, friends, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Seems everyone I know is now listening to audio books and podcasts. 🙂

In the fall of 2014, the medium of podcasting achieved a milestone moment. The podcast Serial – which reinvestigated the 1999 murder of Maryland high school student Hae Min Lee – became the fastest podcast to reach 5 million streams or downloads in iTunes history. Although the success of Serial – a spinoff of WBEZ’s This American Life – clearly represented a new peak in the popularity of podcasts, Pew Research Center data show that the medium has, in fact, been steadily growing its audience …

journalism.org

PJ_15.04.28_FSA-Podcasting

I’m currently subscribed to about 70 podcasts. But truly only listen to about a dozen of those. They are all free via iTunes.

I have about 20 audio books lined up into the future. I pay an average of about $10 for those.

I buy from Amazon – Audible.com.

Audible

The advantages of audio over reading are many. But progress in the switch over has been slower than I would have expected.

Sadly, Apple has mostly bungled podcasts. Their apps have been lousy. Yet the competitors have not dented the importance of iTunes in distribution.

Audible is too dominant in the audio book market. They don’t innovate. They charge too much / title. Yet competitors have not dented the market leader, Amazon.

related – Against all odds, print books are on the rise again in the US

$350,000 to shoot a rare black rhino

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, economics, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

Sounds horrendous. The hunter faced death threats from outraged conservationists.

black-rhino-etosha-namibia_wide-40b65374e6f35f56faf85d069d2b72ba87191945-s1500-c85

But the issue is far more complex than it seems at first glance.

The permit came from Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism. Each year it targets several older rhinos that are no longer able to breed but still pose a deadly threat to younger males. The proceeds are meant to go toward anti-poaching and conservation efforts.

NPR

That $350,000 does much to protect black rhino. Many hunters are keen conservationists.

Want to know more?

Back in 2014, Corey Knowlton paid $350,000 for a hunting trip to Namibia to shoot and kill an endangered species. He’s a professional hunter, who guides hunts all around the world, so going to Africa would be nothing new. The target on the other hand would be. And so too, he quickly found, would be the attention.

This episode, producer Simon Adler follows Corey as he dodges death threats and prepares to pull the trigger. Along the way we stop to talk with Namibian hunters and government officials, American activists, and someone who’s been here before – Kenya’s former Director of Wildlife, Richard Leakey. All the while, we try to uncover what conservation really means in the 21st century.

Listen to the story on RadioLab.

Think Like a Freak

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, books, economics, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’m a fan of Freakonomics Radio, the audiocast.

… hosted by journalist Stephen Dubner, with economist Steve Levitt as a regular guest. Freakonomics Radio occasionally hits No. 1 on iTunes, with 4 million downloads a month …

Dubner and Levitt have 3 Freakonomics books, the most recent of which I just read.

Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain

It’s short. But good.

Freakonomics attempts to shed light on topics misunderstood by the general public.

cover

Amazon

best Tech pundits

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Tom Merritt vs Mike Elgan

Tom Merritt is probably the smartest Technology pundit of them all, better (even) than his former boss Leo Laporte.

Unlike Leo, Tom is egotistical and not nearly as likeable.

Still, Tom was my #1 tech news authority before getting fired by Leo late 2013. His salary of $200,000 or so was not being recouped. Money was the main issue, I believe.

Tom was replaced by … Mike Elgan.

A guy I’d never heard of. Something of the opposite of Tom Merritt.

Mike was terrible on audio at first. No gift of the gab, at all. Reviews were tragic. Over the months he got better and better. Mike is very smart. And very well connected in the Tech world.

He has 3,289,961 followers on Google+.

Though I don’t do much on Google+, I follow Mike on TWIT.

what-is-google-plus

I just subscribed to Tom’s audiocast Daily Tech News Show.

Toms-DTNS_SquareB

I’ll listen to both. They are quite different.

Barbecue Secrets podcast

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, barbecue, friendsLeave a comment

… Barbecue Secrets Podcast returns, better than ever. In this episode I connect with tech and barbecue geek Richard Campbell, who shares his recipe for Spanish-style Paella on the Grill and recounts his experience of regional barbecue in Romania, and I have an in-depth conversation with one of the leading lights in Canadian barbecue, Angie Quaale.

Rockin’ Ronnie

You can listen from that page. Or subscribe via iTunes. It’s free.

rockin

reading PDFs on an iPad mini

On By Rick McIn Apple, audiocasts, booksLeave a comment

I’ve pretty much given up reading long form, preferring aural. Audio books. Audiocasts.

But when I had an original screenplay to review, I tried reading it on iPad.

Seems iBooks is the best app.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Why don’t apps have a required HELP function?

I had to experiment to discover the various swipe functions for navigation.

Anyway … it worked great. I may try an entire book on Mini next.

related – I get the entire issue of Economist magazine in audio podcast format. Weekly. Free.

40yrs solitary Angola Prison, Louisiana

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, governmentLeave a comment

The Louisiana State Penitentiary (… also known as Angola …) is a prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is the largest maximum security prison in the United States …

I listened to a BBC audiocast:

… two US inmates have been held in solitary … for what will be 40 years this month.

Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace

The two were originally imprisoned for armed robbery.

The men who later became known as the Angola 2 were linked to the Black Panther party, and fought for better prison conditions for the black inmates, and an end to the widespread rape and harsh work conditions.

While in prison there, they were charged with the murder of a prison guard, and convicted on the evidence of a prison inmate who had been promised his freedom if he testified against them.

… The use of solitary confinement is on the increase in the US – we ask are there good reasons for its use, and whether it is compatible with US and international law.

I have no confidence at all that the American tough on crime laws are effective. Angola would be the place to start an investigation.

This American Life – RETRACTION

On By Rick McIn Apple, audiocasts, ethicsLeave a comment

This guy’s a liar. Or is he just taking artistic license?

This weekend, esteemed radio program “This American Life” aired “Retraction” — a stunning refutation of its most popular episode ever — “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory“, which aired on January 6.

A “Marketplace” investigation has revealed that Mike Daisey fabricated or exaggerated aspects of the stage play upon which the segment is based. …

The crimes of the Chinese, Foxconn, Mike Daisey and ourselves

It’s a fascinating story. But the most interesting aspect of all is how superbly This American Life handled the retraction. I listened to the hour long show twice.

TAL – 460:RETRACTION

If you’ve no time to listen to hour long podcasts, here’s a quick summary:

‘This American Life’ Issues Stunning Retraction On Show Critical Of Apple, Foxconn

This will go down as one of the best examples ever of how media should handle stories later proven to be untrue.

It’s fair to the liar. Well done Ira Glass.

Journalism lives.

my Jabra sport headphones

On By Rick McIn Apple, audiocasts, music, product endorsementsLeave a comment

So far, so good.

They work. They stay while exercising.

… Jabra SPORT Bluetooth Stereo Headset. You can wirelessly stream music, take calls, listen to the radio, and more.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Amazon – $99 or less

jobs and the “wealth gap”

On By Rick McIn Apple, audiocasts, economics, ethics, Google, governmentLeave a comment

Jeff Jarvis is at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the elite of the elite.

The theme is “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

… They’re discussing growth strategies and so far we’re hearing the same notions we hear elsewhere in Davos, the complete trick bag: spend money on infrastructure, be nice to business, regulate less, reform taxes, reform immigration. OK and OK.

“The problems of job creation are more complicated than that. …

Buzz Machine – Efficiency over growth (and jobs)

For example, Apple and Google are two of the wealthiest companies in 2011, but they don’t have many employees. Some jobs have been eliminated by technology. Others are gone overseas because people just as competent as you are willing to do it cheaper.

Obama’s State of the Union again chastised the American rich for not doing enough. That might be good politics, but it’s not going to do anything to create many American jobs nor reduce the “wealth gap“. I appreciate that he’s trying. … It’s better than nothing.

Is there any solution?

I don’t think so after listening to a new BBC audiocast documentary: The Wealth Gap: The View from London.

The future looks grim for most wealthy nations. The “occupy” protesters, most jobless, will continue being frustrated. And the rich will get richer. If you try to tax them, they’ll relocate abroad.

source – BBC – The Wealth Gap – Inequality in Numbers

If you have a job, I’d recommend you keep it. And start putting away emergency resources. (I’ll not be following my own advice, as you might guess.)

… One of the few bright spots is philanthropy – Davos 2012: Bill Gates commits $750m to fight AIDS