Lesson: Introduction to podcasting. Step 1 – Tools of the trade

If you know about blogging these days, you will no doubt have heard of
“podcasting”. In simple terms, a podcast is really nothing more than
an audio file (usually MP3 or similar) that someone creates – be it
news, stories, articles whatever. It is like being an “online DJ” of sorts, and although podcasting has been around for some time (even people just posting MP3’s on their site), a lot of people just don’t know how to get started, and further more, how to host/create a blog to distribute the podcasts etc.

Podcasting ties into RSS (Really Simple Syndication) which, again if
you have seen blogs, allows you to “subscribe” to a “feed” – again that
feed can be a simple blog, or indeed it can be a podcast as in the very
basic essence, they are the same (podcasts have a special extra to link
to the sound file/mp3). Wikipedia has a good article about RSS here if you wish to know more.

You can subscribe to RSS feeds from a variety of applications and services. I am a PC user, so I tend to use FeedDemon which is free, and allows “offline” access to read RSS, and it’s easy to use. Of course in the online world you can use Google’s RSS reader etc, there are endless choices!

In subsequent lessons, we can discuss getting a blog account (free) with a multitude of blog providers (we are going to focus on some of the more popular and well supported ones).

Right now, back to what we need to create a podcast.

As I mentioned, a podcast is really just a sound file, and we are going to focus mainly on the MP3 format, as many people know what that is, and of course it generally can be played on computers and thousands of MP3 portable players.

STEP 1 – RECORDING YOUR PODCAST

The first thing you will need of course is a microphone etc for your computer. You need a fairly decent one, and my preference is a USB headset. I am using a logitech USB headset which is a decent unit, and only costs around $30 (Australian).

Now you need some software to record your podcast, edit it, add effects and so on. You may also want some intro music or background music. From the music perspective, you can get a variety of clips/soundtracks etc (some free) by doing a search on the web etc. There are some “music loop” sites which offer free music loops (Flash Planet has some LOOPS that you can check, but obviously check usage/copyright). So on to the software. Most computers do have the means to record sound etc, although the software we are going to use is called Audacity, and is free. It really is one of the best free sound editors around, and still easy enough for beginners and advanced users alike. Click here to get Audacity (quite a small download). Again, in further lessons, we will go through how to use Audacity, but for now, we are just trying to get the necessary software.

STEP 2 – MIXING YOU PODCAST AND PACKAGING READY FOR UPLOADING

We are going to need some easy way to “mix” together your podcast, and prepare it by adding the necessary RSS information (to allow people to subscribe to it). We also need a simple package to upload to your blog (again which we will setup in later lessons).

So again there are many ways to “package” your podcast, and again I have a been using one called pod producer which is free, and very simple to use. You can download it here (again, very small download).

Ok, well you will now have the necessary tools to be able to create and publish podcasts. In the next lesson we will go through how to get a free blog hosting account (which you will be able to blog to aswell as publish podcasts to). We will also go through using Audacity for recording your podcast, and pod producer to package it all together.

More soon! check back in about a week.

Blogging: the easy way

By now, you must know there are absolutely millions of blogs, and almost as many blog providers (blogger, tumblr, wordpress etc). Some blog providers have very comprehensive, and sometimes too complex configurations. That is why I think tumblr and posterous have done well to make blogging exceptionally easy for us plain folk.

Although one thing I have found very interesting is (actually a few ways) how you can interact with your blog, without going to your actual blog to update. This makes blogging really easy, and all from your favourite browser! (well if Firefox or Flock are you favourites!).

So, I am hoping to get a little online video “how to” soon, but in the meantime, you can check out:

1. Download flock which is a “social browser” (has hooks into services such as flickr, twitter, media etc, and of course has a real nice blogging tool built in).

2. If you use Firefox (even the latest version 3 as of the time of this post), you can install an add-in called “ScribeFire” (which I am using now). This allows you to blog directly from firefox to quite a few of the major blogging providers.

Anyway, I will share an online “how to” video soon, so check back.

Blogging should be simple… and it is!

How to: (GMAIL) Mark ALL messages as Read.. I mean ALL!

Yes, not just page by page!

If you are like me (human that is) you may be using Gmail.. and you may also be using Gmail with POP access (i.e. to download to say Outlook etc).

I have recently been using straight Gmail in the browser (actually with Flock which is excellent by the way!).  And I download the Gmail notifier to have the little task tray pop up when a new message arrives (like outlook etc).

The problem has been because I have recently been just downloading my messages via POP, loads of Gmail messages are of course left un-read.. which makes the notifier from Gmail a little useless!

So, if this is the case for you, follow the steps below to mark ALL your messages read (not just page by page):

1. In Gmail, type in:unread into the SEARCH MAIL box, and click SEARCH MAIL.
2. Select the first email in the list (i.e. tick the checkbox), and then noter that
    a message just above the first message will say something like “apply this
    to all conversations in filter” – or something like that!
3. Click to accept all conversations in this filter
4. Now under the MORE dropdown, select MARK UNREAD

All your messages will now be marked un-read.. and you don’t have to go through each page to do that!

The Gmail notifier is again very useful!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Using Google Calendar with Outlook.. and SMS notifications!

You are probably aware of Google Calendar?  most people certainly know of Gmail of course, and Google Calendar (along with Google Docs, Spreadsheet etc) are additional services which can/have been very useful for lots of people.

One thing has been a little tricky though.. good old integration with other services.  Google usually release pretty good API’s which allow developers to access data of those services, although for instance trying to synchronize the Google calendar with Outlook has been a bit tricky (although again, there have been applications doing this with various degrees of success).

Now though Google have their own “Google Sync” which allows you to sync Google calendar with blackberry and Outlook (I believe at least version 2003 through to 2007).  Very easy to setup, just follow the basic instructions, and off you go!

The other real bonus is that Google Calendar offer an SMS notifications service (in addition to popups/email etc).  So the handy tip here is that you can manage your calendar in Google (and share it with others if needed + subscribe to calendars etc), and within Outlook and have everything syncronised.  The SMS feature is great, as of course most phones support SMS and sometimes you just need basic notifications!

Hope this helps!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Online backups – revisited

A little while ago I posted an article about online backups.  It has been a sufficient time now to provide details of how things went..

I have to say the most reliable, easy to use, is Elephant Drive it just works, and even on my quite slow AMD sempron based computer, it doesn’t seem to hog resources etc. 

I have to say that a close second is aDrive which, lets face it, gives you a whopping 50gb of FREE storage.  Their automated backup is, or seems to be, a little sticky… in that even though the backup was scheduled correctly, it seems to miss files etc.. possibly because they are open (although Elephant Drive seems to be fine with that).  Either way this is the free version.. there is a paid version which allows webdav, or direct file manager access to your online files.

All in all though, there are some great online backup deals out there.. I guess you need to look for security, and longevity.. you don’t want your precious backups disappearing if a company goes under.. although the two services mentioned here seem to have some backing.

Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Google’s online file storage are worth looking into.. although I doubt they provide the size of storage free as the two mention here.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

How to get DTS for SQL express 2005

Great to use SQL server 2005 express.. works pretty much like the full versions (obvious limitations on size of 4gb database, 2gb RAM etc).

But.. one annoying thing was trying to use a simple import/export tool.. for years I had used DTS on SQL 7/2000, and SSIS in the full versions of SQL 2005.  But no direct import/export support in SQL 2005 express.. until now.

You need to do the following:

1. Load the SQL 2005 express toolkit – not sure exactly what version these days.. I have loaded the one with advanced services
2. Look under your C:\ drive within program files and Microsoft SQL Server
3. Now look under 90\DTS\Binn
4. You will see a DTSwizard.exe

You can now run the DTSwizard.exe to import and export!

If you need a really, really easy way to blog..

Blogging has become very simple of late, but still you need to either login to a service (i.e. wordpress, or blogger), and enter you post which sometimes can be fool proof, and other times darn right messy. 

Tumblr started to make things really easy, although what about appealing to the lowest common denominator when it comes to “writing something”… of course Email!  and although many services do have some sort of email integration that you can configure, it still needs someone with either time and/or technical skills to even want to try to configure it.

Enter http://posterous.com/ where your blog is just an email away.. in fact that is how you update your blog.. simply by emailing a message (subject becomes the blog title, and the body of course is the main blog entry).

You simply send an email to post@posterous.com, and you are up and running.. you will receive an email back with a link to your blog, and ways to customise/secure.  But in reality, it has to be the easiest way for people to blog.. and of course it handles images/links etc.. just write an email and off you go!

iSpring turns powerpoint into flash – for FREE

If you love powerpoint or hate it, one of the big problems (big meaning file size!) is the distribution of the powerpoint slides you create.. of course they are great for internal organisations where everyone has Office etc to run powerpoint.

But what do you do when you want to:

1. Email powerpoint to others
2. Show you powerpoint online

Sure, powerpoint can save as html, although the output is again heavy and lets face it, not that slick.

iSpring helps to rectify some of your options for powerpoint.  There is a free version (as well as pro/ultra versions) which in reality will be enough for most users.  It is quite a small download (around 6-7mb) and integrates directly into powerpoint toolbar.

I will be giving this a go, and will post details back here.. although I have to say from the demos etc, it looks like a great addition for anyone using powerpoint.

Click here to go to the iSpring website

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: powerpoint, tools, conversion, flash

How about storing files online? free storage options

 

** UPDATED **
Just added some notes from testing over the last week…

Well, I know there are quite a few online storage vendors out there.  One of the biggest impacts perhaps has been Amazon (yes the book people!).  Amazon introduced something called Amazon S3 which is part of their AWS (Amazon Web Services) range.  Don’t worry about the details as yet… the reason I mentioned it is because S3 allows developers to write storage based applications (online) that can offer/use large amounts of storage at a really really reasonable price.

So, why store files online?

Well, for myself, I need at least “one other” place to store my code/documents etc.  I have an external hard drive, a DVD burner (but lets face it, 4gb or so isn’t enough these days!), but I really need to store data “off-site”.

What about security?

Well, lets face it, unless you either memorise your data or burn a DVD and keep it on your person 24×7 (and even then it’s not totally safe), nothing is fool proof or 100%  so you have to weigh up what is really secure and what is secure.  Most online vendors have reasonable security, and if you think about email (i.e. your email zips around the internet and is usually stored on an ISP or server somewhere), then how many times have you emailed something with confidential info?

Choices and pitfalls

Well, I have been using a few online storage options with varying degrees of luck.  The table below shows some of the services, the pros and cons:

Service name	Storage	Pros	Cons
Live Skydrive	5gb FREE	Nice interface, easy to use.  You can store files privately, share with friends or have share with anyone type access.	Seems a little slow, although they are in beta.  No access via local PC/MAC as yet (i.e. you cannot access the online files direct from your own computer.. you have to go online), although this is in the works I think.
iDrive	2gb FREE (150gb for 4.95 a month)	Been on the go for a little while now, so established.  Also integrates with Windows or Mac, so nice an easy operation direct into your local computer.	Small size for free version.  Seemed a little clunky using the local version, however I have not in truth tested the latest version.
aDrive	50gb FREE	Whopping 50gb free!	At first, I thought the Java interface for uploading was a little clunky (I know they are working on Desktop integration).  But have to say, it was really quite easy, and quite stable.. and of course 50gb!
xDrive (yep, more ..drives!)	5gb FREE (50gb for 9.95 a month)	Again, quite a reasonable amount of storage.  Not used this as yet, although again will update this table shortly!  Also has a desktop component (Windows/Mac) that you can access without going online.	** Note, just testing this so will update this table shortly **
ElephantDrive	Unlimited for 4.95 per month (15 day trial which converts to 1gb if not subscribed)	A late edition (sure there are lots more), and this one uses the Amazon S3 service.. Also you do have local computer (Win/Mac/Linux) access	So far, I am using Elephant drive more and more.. tell it which drives/directories need to be monitored, and then backups happen in the background! and it really seems to work.. and doesn’t seem to take a lot of resources.. obviously you have to pay something per month.. but for unlimited storage?  4.95 is very good!

 

Summary

So, on the face of it, aDrive certainly is a very good contender given the 50gb FREE storage, however right now it doesn’t have local PC access (coming soon though!).

I have to say that Elephant Drive (late contender) looks impressive too, and I cannot think that 4.95 per month for unlimited storage ($99 per year for upto 4 computers) will but anyone off.  Again, the two wins here are huge storage (unlimited) and local access from your computer..

So far then, Elephant Drive is looking like my favourite, followed by aDrive… mainly due to the 50gb storage, and the upload tool for multiple files.. however having the PC/Mac integration will really make a difference!

C#: how to create/call Javascript from within ASP.NET

A nice and easy way to show how you can dynamically create and/or call Javascript from ASP.NET (using C#/Csharp).  Of course VB.NET would be very similar I guess!

 

item	code
1	string sJSexe = “<script>alert(‘hello world’);</script>”;
2	Type t = this.GetType();
3	if (!ClientScript.IsClientScriptBlockRegistered(t, “PopupScript”)) {     ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptBlock(t, “PopupScript”, sJSexe); }

So let’s have a quick look at what the code does:

Item 1

Creates the Javascript string with what we want to call.. we could call a function here, or just straight Javascript inline.

Item 2

Get a handle to the host type.. actually you may want to look this up further if you want to know “exactly” what it does!

Item 3

This section actually calls the Javascript.  It registers the Javascript once, and obviously the IF check ensures we do not create the function multiple times.  The t is the type from Item 2, and PopupScript is essentially the host function we register, and of course the sJSexe variable is the string containing the actual Javascript.

Quite handy, as you can of course intermingle some ASP.NET with the Javascript for example:

string sTestData = Request.Cookies["myCookie"].Value.ToString();
string sJSexe = “<script>alert(‘My Cookie value is: ‘ + sTestData + ‘);</script>”;

Obviously you can access any .NET object/variable etc.. and I have found this very small bit of code extremely useful!!  hope it helps you too!