Archive

Archive for November, 2005

PSP 2.60 and impressions

November 29th, 2005

Some of my impressions on the RSS (Podcast support):

Initial impressions are quite nice. Find the XML chicklet on a page, click on it and if there’s audio associated with the feed it will ask if you’d like to add it to the RSS channel. Once it’s been added, quite the browser, go into the RSS channel, and your subscriptions will show up.

On the negative side (so far) – album art is missing in favor of Sony’s icon. Given that this is streamed from the source and not downloaded, network hiccups will rebuffer the stream.

[update] Some album art is showing up. I’ll have to look a little closer to see why it’s only certain feeds.

How to transfer feeds from NetNewsWire to the PSP? The easiest I’ve found so far (besides painful text entry) is to open the feed homepage in Firefox, using the de.licio.us extension, tag the page, then via de.licio.us it’s pretty easy to browse the feeds and subscribe. No text entry…

Overall a nice addition without much fanfare.

Firmware 2.60 for PSP released:

Homebrewers beware; the newest 2.60 firmware update for PSP is now available for download via the console’s Network Update feature. From what we can tell, the most useful feature upgrades for this 18MB update are the ability to play WMA files and an RSS channel. Disappointingly, WMA digital rights management is not supported, so any chance of being able to download and use music from subscription-based services like Napster or Yahoo pretty much goes out the window.

The RSS channel, which is really just a corporate-y moniker for Internet radio, gets our vote for most practical addition. Those who missed out on PSPRadio because they moved up from firmware 1.5 should be happy to note that they can now get streaming Internet soundage as well, although you may have a heck of a time searching for a usable radio or podcast feed.

Of course, upgrading means being yet another step farther from being able to run homebrew on your PSP, especially if you’ve already been suckered convinced into taking the firmware 2.5 plunge. With significant gains already being made towards wheedling a path through 2.0, perhaps updating to 2.6 now may seem a little foolhardy. That RSS channel’s mighty tempting though.

Via PSP Fanboy

mark podcast, psp

ReplyTV can finally timeshift AC 360

November 14th, 2005

CNN’s 360 To Repeat At 5am:

Three weeks ago, CNN announced the cancellation of Daybreak and the expansion of American Morning, effective Nov. 28. After Thanskgiving…….

While this may not matter to many people, the news of Anderson Cooper 360 being replayed at 5 am is great news.

Up until a month or two ago, I couldn’t record 360 in the 7 pm timeslot, as I was recording World News Tonight. Yes, I could sit down and watch 360 at 7 pm, but how many people are really ready to sit in front of a tv at 7 pm on a weeknight. There’s the commute, the dinner, the dishes, the after work beer – all sorts of possible distractions to stay away from the tube at 7 pm.

It’s so rare that I’m recording anything at 5 am, that I can now timeshift AC 360.

Too much competition to try and catch AC in the 10 pm slot….

In the background Wierdo from the album “The Very Best – The Early Years” by Miles Davis

mark general

Hockey and podcasting

November 6th, 2005

Lack of blogging can most likely be attributes to the restart of the NHL this year. Between the Thrashers, and Center Ice, there’s almost always some hockey available to fill spare time.

I came across the posting below in my feed scan, and I’m off to find the url of the feed.

Chicago Blackhawks Start Podcasting (Alex Williams):

Back a few months ago, Matt wrote about how podcasting could help the National Hockey League restore its image after last season’s cancellation due to a player strike.

The Chicago Blackhawks seem to understand that a podcast adds a bit more to the standard fare you find on a sports team web site. And so they launched Hawkcast.http://www.suntimes.com/output/zinescene/cst-fin-ecol02.html

The weekly show features both audio and video with interviews, game highlights and news such as scouting reports. According to the Chicago Sun-Times:

The results are encouraging. The first podcasts averaged about 1,000 downloads, and the most recent shows are downloaded twice as often. More importantly, 25 percent of the people who download the podcasts are subscribers. People sign up for the podcasts at the Blackhawks’ Web site.

Via Corante Podcasting

mark podcast