I had the chance to try out the Sprout flash content creator and I have to say that I am impressed. There are so many applications for this…uh…application.

As the site simply states, “Sprout is the quick and easy way for anyone to Build Living Content.”

You can create music, video, and podcast players, slideshows for your pictures. All with a simple drag and drop interface that is, for the most part, easy to learn.

Here is something that I created in about 10 minutes. It’s not beautiful, but it is a good starting point to what is possible with a little time.

I was checking recent tweets over at Twitter when I came across this post by Trula:

working on blogs: setting topics for rest of nov and will write rest of this week’s tonight

I tweeted back my interest in her method she replied:

@WillBrown: I find writing posts in advance helpful & timesaving. it’s a tip @problogger had on his blog a while back

Small world. I’ve been subscribed to Darren Rowse’s Problogger blog for some time now, but due to the extraordinary amount of feeds I’m subscribed to, I haven’t read it recently. I now follow him on Twitter.

Darren’s, and Trula’s, idea of planning out blog posts weeks in advance has never crossed my mind. I think it is because blogging, to me, has always been so now and immediate. You’re supposed to write about things going on in the here and now. Not something you thought about three weeks prior.

Thinking about it now, it does make sense. Not every topic has to be timely. A good topic can be topical even though you may have thought about it weeks prior.

Thanks, Trula!

Oh…follow me on Twitter.

I came across a great search tool built specifically to search postings within Twitter call “Terraminds“. (hat tip to Shashi)

This is a great research tool if you’re looking for specific resources for a specific project. For example, I’m always on the lookout for poets to showcase on my poetry podcast “Cloudy Day Art“. I do a simple query for “poetry” (click to try it) and lo and behold I get tweets like (real finds):

I just saw your reply on Nov2. Thank you ^^; I used to do some slam poetry competitions so sometimes maybe it comes out.

i need some poetry that conveys the general message of ‘go aftwr what you want.’

So I came to Starhucks to handle a few clerical things…but it turns out hat I came on poetry night. Poetry night is just a subtle way to stand on a soapbox. Annoying!!!

It can also be a great tool to use to find Tweeters to follow who share your same interests. Looking for fellow kayakers to follow? Search for “going kayaking“. “58 finds in the last 2 months”. Cool.

NaBloPoMo#4

Yesterday, at Podcast Academy 6 in Ontario, Canada, Marantz revealed its new portable recorder the PMD620.

I was immediately excited when I read the headline as I’ve been looking for the perfect recorder for my portable podcasting tool bag. Unfortunately, for me, this is not it.

From the Podcast Academy blog:

The PMD 620 sports a pocket size form factor, easy to use menu interface buttons, internal mics, and a convenient built in speaker. It is designed to be used in many markets, including podcasting and broadcasting.The top of the PMD620 houses a pair of high quality omnidirectional condenser mics for convenient recording. This device also provides an 1/8″ input for external plugin mono or stereo microphones, with +5v phantom power for electret condensers. The PMD620 can record 16 or 24bit resolution audio [mono or stereo] direct to SD flash memory in the WAV or MP3 file formats.

Ugh…no TRS/XLR inputs!

Basically, it sounds like Marantz’s own version of the Edirol R-09 or the Zoom H2.

Won’t somebody please make a device for under $400 that has the combo TRS/XLR inputs AND a 1/8th jack! Is it really that difficult? The flexibility of that unit would be amazing.

I could even settle for paying slightly more than $400 for a hardware with those specs. That’s why I’m still torn between Samson’s Zoom H2 and Zoom H4.

*sigh* The search continues…

Just found this great meeting scheduling service called “Timebridge“.

…the first Personal Scheduling Manager designed to help busy people find a time to meet— fast.

Though still in beta, it seems to do everything I need and more to assist in scheduling interviews for my podcasts:

• E-mail my available time-slots to interviewee
• Multiple date/time options in one glance
• Professional appearance
• Confirmation e-mails once the interviewee has picked a date
• Integrates nicely with my Google calendar!

Very nice. I’ll use this to schedule the current slate of interviews I’m planning and let you know how it works out. I used it for my upcoming interview/discussion with Thom Ingram for Cloudy Day Art. No issues. So far, so good.