A Few New Things

Well, one is not really new, but it's new to you. I've been listening to a few podcasts lately and I thought I'd tell you which ones I like. I won't tell you which ones I don't like, because you should try them for yourselves, but by telling you about the ones I do like I feel like I'm cluing you into things you might otherwise miss. The three I like right now are all techie/geeky stuff. IT Conversations, This Week In Tech, and Wizards of Technology. Before I go into each one, I should explain what the hell podcasting is. It's basically like a radio show that records to mp3 format and then offers the file for download to your iPod, or any mp3 player really. They're usually topic based so you can find the ones that interest you. So far it's 99% free and I'm really enjoying it. IT Conversations is great. I first found it a few months ago when I was looking for some info on Kent Beck. I found IT Conversations which had a seminar he did on developer testing that I found interesting. They have a ton of really good interviews and seminar recordings that are just great to listen to. And they release a few a week, so you've always got content. This Week in Tech, or TWiT (I know) is a bunch of the guys from the old Screen Savers show. They have no content regulations so they get pretty technical and they cover a wide range of topics. The banter and obvious relationships they all have with each other make it fun to listen to. Wizards of Technology. This one is almost falling off my regular listening list, but they still have interesting content. They spend less and less time answering tech questions, which is the point of the show, but they still have a lot of interesting comment on the industry. So on to the new things. I've been messing around with ObjectDock again. It's an application that sets up an icon bar in Windows. It looks a lot like the Mac OS X toolbar. I used to run it and loved it but back then the system I used most was a Sony Viao laptop and it was a bit slow to run that on. I've also been reading RATED F and I'm really enjoying it. I don't want to talk about it too much until I've finished, but I can tell that it's something special. I got a new iPod case a little while ago. I got the Contour iSee-20. This is sized for the 20GB version and it's very slim. It's still a hard case, which I prefer, and the top is almost open so I can plug my Griffin iTrip into it without removing the case. I'm very happy with it thus far. I got it from Audio Outfitters. They're mostly a web based company but they're based in SLC and they're only about two miles from my house. If you can got to the office you can bring you iPod and demo cases and other accessories. Very cool. Now that I sound like I'm either sponsored or doing commercials, I think I'm done for the night. Toby update: He is so very glad to be home. I think he enjoys the excitement of a vacation, but dogs need the routine and he seems very happy to be back in his. we all enjoy the madness cause we know we're gonna to fade away