# 0033 - Two podcasts to go up the drain

Not that they actually have the massive success [at the least the one of them]. But should you be curious about how a podcast sounds like you may want to try these two out:

1. ABC Lost Official Podcast [sometimes a videocast!]
2. HBR Idea Cast [brought to you by Harvard Business Review]

After having tried a couple of podcasts on you may have a hint into why the whole idea failed: who is in the mood of listening some guys talking for what could be even half an hour or more when you can just as easily grasp the gist out of some text?

# 0032 - Skype 3 is out

You can now download Skype 3 for good. Nothing new since the latest beta release. Just watch out to [not] check the extras section since you are about to be charged even over $75 for doubtful functionality.

Podcasts down the drain

Do you know podcasts? Yeap, they are these radio-show-like audio clips that you can find via iTunes or within their author's website and listen at your ease. The thing is that these things still can not get off the ground. No one likes them, only one person in eight has even given them a try? So, why bother? Read this article on probably one of the greatest computer industry failures ever.

Albumart

Albumart is a cd cover search engine. You type the artist name and you get cover results. Useful for when you have ripped your cd's through Windows Media Player, iTunes or WinAmp and you cannot seem to find the cd cover [do not forget that these programs' cd cover finding feature is not perfect].

Musicovery [90/100]

Yet another internet radio [I see it coming... in the end we will end up as the best source for internet radios]! BTW I have added one extra label for all those radio reviews.

Its name is Musicovery and what is new is that you do not specify an artist or a music genre of your preference but your mood! You choose whether you would like to listen to something happy, dark or otherwise and the playlist changes accordingly. And if you cannot bear some kind of music you can always exclude it or, in the other hand specify one or two genres and combine them with the mood you are in.

The arrow of time

This couple on June 17th every single year takes a photo of themselves.

Curious to see time passing over them on picture?

Click here.

One of the most interesting and educational [I am not kidding on that last one!] web pages I have ever seen.

Good work guys! Keep it up!!!

55 absolutely AMAZING photos!!!

On this page [in Russian] you will find some 55 really superb photos. Most of them are pattern-wise and very interesting for those interested in photography.

Oldversions.net

Well, well, well... I will provide you with a link which may not seem of any obvious use to you but when you will come across its need you will thank me the most. It is a site called oldversions.net and it hosts older versions of well known software, for example Internet Explorer, ICQ, Adobe Reader etc.

You may ask "And why should I be interested in that?"

Think of it: You have visited a friend who happens to run on Windows XP without any service pack so you cannot download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 without all the Windows XP Service Pack hassle. Instead, you go to oldversions.net and download Adobe Acrobat Reader 6. Voila! Problem solved!

Or maybe it could be you and your very old to run XP or Vista PC.

Pay a visit!

Their real name

Reginald Kenneth Dwight:

Who the heck is he? Hmmm, Elton John, isn't it?

Ever wondered what the real name of your favorite rock star is?

Well, you do not have to wonder anymore. You may look it up here.

Blogmusik [92/100]

Blogmusik claims to be a virtual ipod to you. It works pretty much the same as all customisable internet radios. You enter an artist and it is supposed to give you suggestions. But!!! Here, the program returns suggestions by the very artist you searched for!

Plus, it has an iPod like interface. Give it a try by clicking here.

Storms

Some really cool storms photos are waiting for you...

Don't Click It!!!!

The other day I came across a rather weird concept for a site. Dontclick.it is an experiment about an interface that has nothing clickable on it and makes a stand for a web without clicks.

Instead, the website code is sensitive to the moves of your mouse and you can not find anything to click on!

Skype 3 Beta Out

I really think that you should give SkypeCasts a try! It is an amazing experience! Just click on the logo to go to the download page.

Loser Blog

This must be by far the most unsuccessful blog ever! Almost no visits and average visit time almost 0:00!!!

Windows Media Player 11: a must have [90/100]

I must say that I always loathed Microsoft Windows Media Players. Since Windows 98 with its greyish windows-styled appearance until recently in release 10.

It was always changing drastically [if not completely] from release to release and never user-friendly enough so as to prefer it over, say, Winamp. Let alone the fact that should Microsoft incorporate some really useful and facilitating to the use of the software feature, that was removed on the very next release!

However, with Windows Media Player 11 the above do not hold true. It is the very first time I actually not only use it, but use it as my main media player!!! A really lightweight application with an intuitive and beautiful interface plus the best, handiest and most functional library seen on media software to date.

The one feature I did not like is the home page of Windows Media having been removed but in any case I had never personally used this one.

Yahoo! Mail Beta [80/100]

Very good are my impressions of the new Yahoo! Mail, recently in beta. Making use of the latest rich-content technologies offers in-site tabs, drag and drop files and folders organization plus a handy timeline on the bottom of your inbox so you can rotate over your calendar without leaving a message.

What it lacks however is a color scheme changer and some more innovation, because no bad feelings but these things have been incorporated into other webmails long ago...

Blogger Beta [86/100]

My first impressions of the beta version of blogger I would state to be very good. The new template and page design drag & drop manipulation are an excellent help for everyone who does not want to spend hours over HTML hard coding.

Yet, please be aware that all of your adjustments will be lost and that should you want to enter something by hand you cannot do it on the template HTML any more but only by adding special HTML/JavaScript snippets.

Another thing to notice is that eversince I joined Blogger Beta I cannot seem to post a comment on many blogs! All I get is an error message about some technician that will fix the problem so that I will be able to comment again...:

Error

We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are unable to process your request at this time. Our engineers have been notified of this problem and will work to resolve it.

The most probable reason for this that I could come up with would be my using of the Blogger beta because I can post on beta users' blogs without any hassle.

Regarding how to tell beta blogs from old ones, just look at the archive links. Old blogger uses text links whereas blogger beta uses expandable links [like the ones on this blog].

Photo Album Update

Some 13 new photos have been uploaded to my photo album on Picasa Web. Please feel free to give them a look and leave your comments.

From Still Life

Pandora Internet Radio [77/100]

Blogging around lately I checked out a link by a lady's blog's links, reading "The Best Internet Radio". The only thing I can tell you is that it is indeed the best. I have tried several of them [not to say all of them] since their very first days back in 1999 and all I can say is give it a try.

What I especially like is the really great automatic personalization and the really cool feature of mix stations, i.e. you can create as many stations as you like and choose some of them and listen at a mix of their songs.

Mentioning should go as well to the exceptional sound quality which comes to your PC without all the "What's your connection speed?" hassle.

Yet, I think that their gizmos for connecting Pandora to your home stereo selling for $249 is not a great idea.

On the downside, there is the common found limitation of track skipping [not more that 7 per hour] but you can always switch to another station of yours or create a new one and bypass it.

Also note that [at least for now] variety is limited compared to, say, Yahoo! Radio.

Everything About You!

One of my favorite pastimes is downloading. Actually, I am a download junkie. And one of the things I enjoy the most is downloading other people's private data. You know, many p2p sharing networks impose a sharing limit in order for you to be accepted so the question is:

"How are we gonna reach this limit???"

The easiest answer is:

"Share My Documents and my Windows directory!!!"

Voila! We have just reached some gigabytes of sharing! However, what all these folks do not take into account, is that their documents and Windows directory contain far more data than what they would like the world to know about them. Examples: your and your family's photographs, your dissertation, your resume, even your bank and credit card details and passwords! So, whenever I come across some folk who tries to "cheat" the p2p community by sharing crap, I very carefully dig into his share and download whatever one can imagine. Examples of staff I have downloaded only recently:

1. A guy's whole mobile phone catalog!
2. A guy's whole mobile photos catalog!
3. Some dozen guys' dissertations and papers for their schools!
4. A guy's resume with full home address, phones and name particulars! Not to mention, that it was scanned bearing the fax addressees!!!

This for, everybody should be more careful [much much much more careful] with what he decides to make public. Because - yeah! I am talking to you! - we may share things in order to bypass someone or something but let us keep in mind that what's exactly what these - once personal - things become: SHARED!