Podcasting: That’s Hot

Even though I am iPodless (sigh),  I’m still interested in the new technology called "podcating." 

Podcasting (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) -
The term podcasting plays upon the terms broadcasting and webcasting and is derived from the name of the iPod portable music player, the playback device of choice of many early podcast listeners. Podcasting uses an XML-based technology called RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. Content publishers describe new content in an XML RSS file which includes dates, titles, descriptions, and links to MP3 files. This auto-generated file is called an RSS feed. The key to making podcasting work with RSS is enclosures, a feature supported by RSS 2.0.

I added several tech-related podcast feeds to my RSS reader, and I listen to them at work and home. I really like the WebTalk radio show whose Podcast can be found here.

Do you have a favorite Podcast site? Or a favorite show? Comment here with the details!

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When my computer crashed a while back, I had to reinstall Windows. Before reinstalling, I backed up all my mp3s to a separate hard drive. Once Windows was back up and running, I tried playing some of my mp3s I bought from Napster. Surprise, surprise, they did not play. I contacted Napster for help. You should see the process you have to go through to recover your files! (See post continuation below for details). It wasn’t that difficult for me, but I would pity any non-techie who had to attempt this!

At the end of the email, it said to contact them if I had further problems. I followed the steps and was able to recover one of the CDs I purchased from Napster (The Killers), but not another (Joss Stone). So I emailed them back:

This worked for one of my purchased albums (The Killers, Hot Fuss),
but not the other. I also purchased a Joss Stone album, and these
tracks don’t show in my "Purchased Music" folder, only in "My
Playlists." We I try to play the Joss Stone MP3s saved on my hard
drive, they won’t play. I know I bought them from Napster. How can I
get them back?

Simple. Straightforward. To the point.

In their complete incompetance, they send me an email about streaming music. Where the heck did I say I had a problem streaming?

Their email to me:

We apologize for the inconvenience that you are experiencing. We will
need to collect more information to further troubleshoot this issue.
Please answer the questions below:

3.  Which version of Windows Media Player are you using?
· Open Windows Media Player—
· Start/Programs or All Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Windows Media Player

How on earth does this help my problem?!!!

So I wrote them back:

I’m confused. I’m not trying to stream tracks. Where did you get that from?

I’m trying to play tracks I’ve already purchased. Before my PC crashed
and I had to reinstall Windows, I backed up all my mp3s to a separate
hard drive. After I reinstalled Windows, I couldn’t play the mp3s I
bought from Napster in my media players (Windows Media Player &
WinAmp). I contacted support and they showed me how to recover my
music by redownloading it. I was able to recover one of the CDs I
purchased this way but not the other. The other CD I purchased is
"Joss Stone: the Soul Sessions." I have all the Joss Stone mp3s on my
computer, but they won’t play in any media player, including
Napster’s. I want new copies of the mp3s since I did purchase them in
the past from Napster.

Honestly, this whole process is beyond ridiculous. It’s shouldn’t be this difficult to get new copies of mp3s I bought and paid for. Why can’t they just offer me a link to redownload them? I doubt I will ever purchase from Napster again at this point.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m sure you’ve already heard, but the Target.com website was hacked recently. The hacker put up items for sale that you know Target does not sell. Some were adult items and one of the items was marijuana. Yep, a bag of pot for only $25.25. This site has links to some screenshots of the hack, including the one I used for this post (hope they don’t mind).

What’s funny to me is that I can’t Google up anything on this hack beyond bloggers’ posts and forum posts. Where are the news stories? Where’s the CNN coverage? Why isn’t this getting more news attention? Can someone find news links for me?

Can everyone please CHILL OUT?! It’s not true, OK?

Via Snopes:

• A consortium of wireless providers is planning to create a 411 (directory assistance) service for cell phone numbers:  True.
• You must register your cell phone before 1 Janunary 2005 to prevent your number from being provided to telemarketers:   False.

According to the article, the Wireless 411 directory would be "opt-in" — that is, you will only be added if you specifically request to be added. If you do nothing, you will not be included. If you choose to be listed, then you change your mind, you can have your number removed at no charge. The Wireless 411 information will not be in phone books, distributed in other printed form, made available on the internet, or sold to telemarketers. It will only be available to operator service centers performing the 411 directory assistance service.

And, while I’m at it, can we PLEASE stop believing everything we read, just because someone sent you an email? Do you know how many urban legends are out there? A LOT. Snopes.com lists over 2000 alone. Before being so guillable, I suggest you check every email at their site before forwarding it to everyone on your contact list. And if you’re not going to do that, then please, at least remove me from your contact list!

From windowssecrets.com , a really cool site, btw, comes a post about these secrets in the Firefox browser:

"Typing the following strings into Firefox’s Address Bar (which the new browser calls the Location Bar) and pressing Enter brings up a wide variety of novel applets:

• about: shows info on Firefox’s version number, copyright, etc.;

• about:config reveals the Configuration Console, a repository brimming over with scores of customizable settings;

• about:cache displays a summary of both your memory and file cache, with a link to full file listings;

• about:buildconfig lists the compiler options that were used to create your version of Firefox (and, since it’s open source, anyone can compile a customized version);

• about:plugins enumerates your installed add-ons, which can be quite numerous since Firefox is designed to be modular and extensible; and

• about:credits is an "Easter egg" that includes the names of hundreds of developers and testers who worked on the product.

The article then goes on to tell you how to make some tweaks to the about: config file. Very cool reading for Firefox power users!

…but only in the U.K. From Microsoft’s Software Piracy page:

In response to the discovery of high quality counterfeit versions of Windows XP in the UK, Microsoft Ltd in the UK has launched its Windows XP Counterfeit Project.

That’s pretty nice of them, huh?

Isn’t this the funniest?! And everyone is talking about it (see trackbacks)! Virgin Mobile introduced a new service that will help prevent the drunk dialers from calling their exes, their partners, their bosses, etc. when they are 3 sheets to the wind. To use the service, you just dial 333 plus a phone number you don’t want to call when you’re drunk. Virgin Mobile will stop all calls to that number by blacklisting it until 6 a.m. the following day. It’s twenty-five cents each use, so if you’re an alkie, this could add up.

What a crazy idea, but then, when I think of who it’s coming from, I understand. Mr. Rebel Billionaire is a little wacky, himself, isn’t he? My only question is this: is this the end of booty calls? Just curious…

Via PCWorld.com -

I just read about Netscape’s new browser in my PCWorld.com newsletter today. The new browser is based on Firefox, but has a great new feature that would allow a user to view problem web pages using the IE engine with just a couple of clicks (as opposed to having to open a new IE window). How convenient that would be! Actually, the browser isn’t using the IE engine itself, but the engine that is part of Windows, so this browser would only work on a Windows PC. Like Firefox, the browser has tabbed browsing, security features, a pop-up blocker, and support for RSS.

The article said that the browser is currently only available to a select group of beta testers, with a public beta planned for next year. I did a search for more information and I came across this link, which looks like a link to the beta, if I’m not mistaken. I’ll be downloading it soon to find out for sure…I’ll keep you posted!

Wow, I’m impressed…and feeling a little inadequate. Check out these amazing paintings….by a 4-year old art prodigy in NY. Unbelievable!

Marla Olmstead started painting at age three. Most kids, if using that much color on a canvas, would have turned it into a work of brown sludge. However, Marla’s work is expressive, made with bright acrylic paints brushed, splattered and scraped onto canvases that are often bigger than she is. Her work shows an innate understanding of form and composition; the child is truly gifted. So far, she has already sold $50,000 worth of paintings.

I just got an email from the MSN staff that informed me that my storage has been increased to 250 MB for my Hotmail account. Though I appreciate the effort, all I have to say is "whoop-dee-doo." This doesn’t even come close to comparing with the 1 GB of free storage offered to me by Google’s Gmail.

Obviously, Microsoft knows enough to be threatened by Gmail’s offerings; in fact, there are even rumors going around that Hotmail is blocking Gmail invites! But I think that’s just a rumor. However, with the paid MSN service (at only $19.95 per year), you get 2 GB of storage, so that’s something. Yahoo, too, has increased their storage offerings to 2 GB for their paid users and to 100 MB for the freebies.

What I was thinking about is this…Gmail is currently offering a gig of storage for their free users, and this is while they are still in beta! If Gmail went public, and began to offer a paid service, how many gigs would we get then? Hmmm…