Brentc.com

I wrote up this list for a friend yesterday and I figured maybe it was worth sharing with the world at large. While a number of these are video podcasts, I usually listen to these while riding a crowded bus into and home from work each day, so even the video ones often get consumed in audio-only mode from my pocket.

• Buzz Out Loud – A daily tech discussion show. A great way to stay up to date with current topics in tech. Usually pretty easily digestible at around 45 minutes. Website & iTunes direct-link

• Co-op – A weekly gaming review video podcast. Really good, but not very audio-only friendly (lots of video clips from the games they’re reviewing), so skip this one if you’re looking for something to listen to while driving. Website & iTunes direct-link

• The Totally Rad Show – A weekly video podcast. Three dudes talk about movies, video games, tv shows, comics, pop-culture, etc. The kind of show I wish I was hosting. Works pretty well in audio-only format as well. Website & iTunes direct-link

• Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show – A weekly video podcast.  Kevin Pollak interviewing people in entertainment. Each episode runs pretty long (1.5-2hrs) but they’re almost always interesting and often really funny. Also works great in audio-only format. Website (don’t bother with the website though, it’s terrible) & iTunes direct-link

• ROFL – A weekly video podcast. Standup comedy cut down to one joke (presumably the best of the set?) from comedians all over the US. Also works great in audio-only mode. Website & iTunes direct-link

I’ve got more… but these will do for now. Do you subscribe to any podcasts? If so, which ones? And if not, why not?

Art & Media, Blogathyant Recommends, Op-Ed ipod, podcasts, public transit

"Bookstore" by ImaginaryGirl on Flickr

When I was young I read a lot. Then I went to University. Some of you may be familiar with my 9 year dance with post-secondary studies. The details of which being longer than I ever care to write about, the take-away point is that during this period, I pretty much stopped reading anything I wasn’t required to read (two exceptions being The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings books, and the Harry Potter series, the inner-nerd in me types gleefully).

Over those 9 years, I kept telling myself it was ok because I was just tired from all the required readings from school. Then, once school was finished, my tune smoothly transitioned to the I’m-so-busy-at-work and recently the oh-my-god-being-a-new-parent-is-so-exhausting excuses. But I’ve grown tired of these excuses and want to find something to read… damnit!

"Hardy Boys Collection" by hyperboreal on Flickr

One problem: decisions. Some of you may be familiar with my 30 year dance with decision making. When I was 10 and there were still a couple thousand Hardy Boys books left to read the decision of what to read was really easy, just read whichever book was next in numerical order. Later, I had endless time to wander the aisles of the Lindsay Public Library and found some authors I enjoyed. As an adult, though, how does one choose what they want to read? While Harry potter was fabulously fun to read, I did of feel somewhat like a twelve year old when deciding I was going to read it: Magic?! Awesome!

So I turned to the interwebs for advice and signed up at Goodreads.

Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have over 1,900,000 members who have added over 44,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. ["about goodreads"]

Unfortunately, Goodread’s “find friends” service (really awesomely providing Google Friend Connect and Facebook App as options) was merely an quick and easy way to discover I don’t know a single one of those 1,900,000 members. The site seems to be reasonably well designed though and I think it would be a lot of fun if I knew some people on the service.  One feature I liked in particular was the ability to customize the “book links” that appear below each book.  In addition to standard Amazon, and Indigo.ca, I saw you could add links for the Toronto Public Library search, and added my own for the Ottawa Public Library.

So, take 2. I’m casting out this post into the murky social-netwaters to find out who of you are avid readers, how you find and share good books online, and what the hell you think I should read.  Add comments below, email me, or if you don’t already have an online service to manage your virtual book shelves give Goodreads a try and add me as a friend so I can list something more than the Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings books on my profile.

Art & Media books, facebook, goodreads, reading, social-networking

The Canadian National Film Board recently made over 700 films available for streaming over the Internet. Not only are they available online, but they’re also available for sharing on various social networking sites as well as for embedding wherever you want. So I present to you my second NFB pick:

A little known fact: This film made up approximately 90% of the french immersion curriculum when I was growing up.

Art & Media animation, Canadiana, music, National Film Board, nfb, NFB Pick

The Canadian National Film Board recently made over 700 films available for streaming over the Internet.

Classics such as Mon Oncle Antoine and Nobody Waved Goodbye are free for online screening, along with pioneering animation by Norman McLaren and animated films such as The Big Snit and The Cat Came Back.

A group of filmmakers and curators chose the first films to be made available from among the 15,000 productions made by the NFB, said Deborah Drisdell, director of strategic planning. [CBC.ca]

Not only are they available online, but they’re also available for sharing on various social networking sites as well as for embedding wherever you want.  So I present to you, probably my most favourite NFB film of all time, The Log Driver’s Waltz:

You can read more the whole process, and whats been added each week, over at the NFB Blog.

Art & Media animation, music, National Film Board, nfb, NFB Pick

I use Twitter. I enjoy using Twitter.  I created a Twitter account because it was constantly being discussed and dissected on several podcasts to which I am subscribed (I’m looking at you This Week In Tech).  I’ve noticed, though, that my Twitter experience differs from both the experiences discussed on these shows, and what I can observe following various people.

The differentiating factor appears to be notoriety.  Twitterers who have some level of notoriety, often due to some level of fame (even in a niche community like some podcasts) have a much easier time gaining followers on the service.  The more followers you obtain the more the service changes from a micro-blog to a social experience.

The stories that intrigued me the most about Twitter were about instant-gatherings (where one Twitterer might post “I’m going to such-and-such a place, anyone else want to go?”), or the ability to get responses to questions almost instantaneously (John Hodgman, @hodgman, often throws questions out to what he has come to refer as the “Hive Mind“). These experiences simply aren’t possible without a high number of followers, and often even more than that, a high number of followers within geographic proximity (for questions like “Where’s the best X in Y“).

My approach to following people on Twitter is to be selective rather than promiscuous. I don’t want to just blindly follow every user I find in the hopes of getting a follow-back from the user and increasing the number of followers I have. I only want to follow the tweets of people of which I have some common interest. Furthermore, very very few people I know in person or at work use the service (less than 5 people so far). So for me, of little notoriety, my rate of follower count increase will be quite low.

All this being said, I return to my second statement: I enjoy using Twitter. Its just that what I’m getting out of Twitter doesn’t match what some of it’s biggest proponents describe.

Thoughts?

Op-Ed social-networking, twitter

Just got the Wordpress app installed and configured on my iPod Touch.

Does this mean I will write more? Unlikely. While I’ve gotten quite good at typing on the touch, this hardly feels like the right interface for long-form posting.

FYI – getting good typing on the touch basically means relying on Apple’s auto-correction system, ignoring the urge to make sure you’ve types each character properly, and just plowing through.

Uncategorized apple, blogging, ipod, wordpress

After a brief stint using wordpress.com, I’ve once again moved my blog back to my own hosting.  I stopped using my own install of wordpress because of the fairly constant security vulnerability upgrades and extremely painful upgrade process.

Wordpress Version 2.7, released Dec. 11th, 2008, promises an integrated upgrade process:

We heard how tired you were of doing upgrades for yourself and your friends, so now WordPress includes a built-in upgrade that will automatically notify you of new releases, and when you’re ready it will download them, install them, and upgrade your blog with a single click. [Wordpress.org]

My preference would actually be to have a Wordpress-mu install to host a number of different blogs me and Ainsley have, with the same one-click upgrade option, but mu has yet to be updated to reflect the wordpres 2.7  changes.  Furthermore, the whole wordpress-mu project feels like a hack upon an hack, despite the fact that it’s the engine powering Wordpress.com.

I may get around to retheming at some point, but for now the inove theme suits me fine enough.

Uncategorized blog, Site News

Some interesting new options for trip planning with OC Transpo:

A new official mobile interface from OCTranspo: http://octranspo.mobi/. I’ve yet to see if it will be quicker/more easy to use than http://m.ocinfo.ca/ (formerly remino.net/oc560), but it certainly has more options and a mobile interface of the travel planner.

Also, Google Transit now supports Ottawa (when did this happen?!): http://www.google.com/transit

Much happier times in OC Transpo travel planning!

Ottawa Life ottawa, public transit

Live in Ottawa? Interested in PHP? Join the PHP Developers in Ottawa Facebook group.

Technology ottawa, php

The internet to the rescue…

The [Canadian do-not-call] registry is scheduled to take effect in mid-2008, yet many Canadians may be disappointed to learn about the exemption of a wide range of organizations (registered charities, business with prior relationships, political parties, survey companies, and newspapers)… However, organizations must remove numbers from their lists if specifically requested to do so… iOptOut [allows] Canadians to create and manage a personal do-not-call list… where you can opt-out of further contact from exempt organizations… [by sending] an email notification to each organization on your behalf requesting that your name, email address and phone number(s) be removed from their active marketing lists.

Link: iOptOut.ca

Politics