The Onion News Network keeps on getting better and better:
Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

(via CrunchGear)

My Samson CO1U Podcasting Kit arrived today from the States, just over 1 week since I ordered it. Roughly half the price I would have paid for it in Australia (if you could find the full kit here, the Mic alone in Australia costs the same as the full kit from the US) and it arrived quicker than most things get here from Sydney or Melbourne. Also praise again for the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement; there was no customs duty or excess to pay.

Reviewing the kit is difficult because I don’t have another microphone to compare it to. This is my first serious microphone and all previous attempts at recording sound have been through a headset mic…and we all know how bad they can be.

First thoughts: if quality can be measured by weight we have a winner. The Samson stand and mic are surprisingly heavy. This isn’t the rubbish you buy from Big W or Harvey Norman, this is the real deal.

The kit itself provides a complete package. A shock mount goes on a solid stand that would be impossible to knock over by accident. The pop-filter (not pictured) attaches to the side of the stand. The Mic is USB, so it’s simply a matter of it being plugin and play: my Mac Pro picked it up straight away and didn’t need drivers.

Sound quality: awesome. I did extensive research before hand, 95% of reviews were positive, and those that weren’t mostly said that for podcasting this microphone works fine. In my testing so far I’ve had no issues with background noise despite the ducted heating blowing air and the neighbors dog barking. There is also zero issues with CPU or computer related noise that seemed to be the bane of my life when attempting to record sound previously.

I went with the C01U and not the C03U (the later model) not just because of the price but also because of the functionality. From what I can gather the later model is more ideal for recording music sessions, it’s multi-directional or something like that, where as the C01U records sound from the front. I know that’s not the correct technical way of describing the difference, but you’ll get the drift.

Overall if you’re in the market for a podcasting microphone and you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg, the Samson C01U is highly recommended. Now I guess I better start using it 🙂

I should probably start recording these for my own future reference.
Internet Access: Intercontinental Burswood (Perth)
55c / minute, Max $29 per day.

I need some help. Loren Feldman from 1938 media has tried (thanks BTW to Loren) but it still doesn’t work.

Short story: I can’t view Ustream streams on my Mac Pro. I get maybe 2 seconds and that is it, in both Firefox and Safari. Revver videos also don’t work but I’m not sure if that is related. YouTube videos on the other hand work better than on my ex-PC.

I’ve got Flash and Java installed and working, and at this stage I’m totally lost. I love Ustream, and I’m missing tuning in to Chris Pirillo’s live stream in particular. If I eventually do a podcast, I’ll insist that Chris is my first guest 🙂

If anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment.

I’ve long since known that the template I’m running here at duncanriley.com isn’t up to scratch, I’ve tried implementing another template but that lasted about 2 days; it was simply an abject failure.

I need a new template. One that is fairly unique. I want a 3 column setup with a very unique header and room to run, in at least one sidebar stuff like my Flickr photos and other widgets, say TechCrunch posts, Facebook stuff, Twitter posts etc.

The offer is open. I could probably go on to Scriptlance and get this done but I’d rather open it to readers. I’m willing to pay for a new and unique template; having been a judge of the WA Web Awards, I really think that with a good template I should be a candidate myself next year. Naturally the designer will get a post + permanent links for X time, essentially as long as I use the template.

Email me: nichenet @ gmail. com if you’re interested. Max $1k US please, I don’t wont to be tight but on the same token this site makes less than $100US a month, so it needs to be fair to that. I’m happy to provide sample sites that I like for inspiration.

Silicon User on the History of the Compact Disc

I’m old enough to remember LP’s being on sale but I never owned a record player. At that time LP’s were half a music store, the other half were cassettes.  

My first Hi-Fi/ Music system was a twin cassette tape system that allowed recording from one tape to the other as well as recording from radio. No comment on what I used that functionality for 🙂

I can remember some years later plugging a Discman portable device into the box, suffice to say the experience wasn’t great. 

I never knew the CD dated back to the late 70’s, early 80s. I can remember specifically my Uncle in Newcastle recording music on a Hi-Fi VHS tape, apparently the quality of those recordings was far superior than tape or LP. I can even remember when Laser Discs sort of became popular (I don’t know how big they were, but they were really, really big). I say sort of because they never really took off, but some video stores did have a rack of Laser Discs, at least in the late 80s, early 90s.

Of course the next generation probably wont even know what a CD is. The next gen will only know digital downloads. In 30 years time I’ll be the old fogey reminiscing about what once was, and was never again.

One part of me still wishes I was born earlier: I would still have loved to be a Spitfire Pilot, but the other half of me wouldn’t change it for the world, because Gen X will be remembered in 100 years time as the generation that changed the world.

OK, too many Mac posts so my last for a little while.

Today I needed to get access to my files on the PC as I needed a headshot for a WA Web Awards. It should be easy, Apple brags about how easy it is for a Mac to connect to a Windows network. They lied.

For over 2 hours I tried and tried to connect to the PC. I switched everything on that should have been on, I read a dozen, maybe more guides on how it should be done. The furthest I got was being able to see the Mac from the PC, but not being able to open it in network sharing, despite setting up numerous user accounts and giving full access to all.

Eventually I gave up when the DVD I burnt from the PC wouldn’t work on the Mac. Grrrrr.

Solution: rip the hard drive out of the PC and put it in the Mac.

This is where it gets better.

Getting the hard drive out was interesting to say the least. A long time ago I actually did an entire semester at Uni on hardware (for memory I passed the unit with a distinction), so to be fair I’m tertiary qualified in hardware. The Compaq was absurd. The HD wouldn’t just slide out; no, the entire front cover needed to be taken off to get to it. Beyond stupid.

Putting it in the Mac on the other hand was pure bliss.

I might be a little annoyed about the networking failures of OSX, but every time I interact with the Mac Pro box…well, it changes everything. To install a Sata HD in the Mac is as simple as putting memory in it, and like the memory the instructions are provided in the manual. Simply a matter of sliding out the HD bay, placing the HD on it and screwing in some screws (which I might add where nice big ones, easy to handle) and then slotting it in; no need to try and put cables in the back of it, the Mac Pro is like lego.

5 minutes later and I’ve got full access to all my PC files. iPhoto isn’t brilliant compared to Picasa (no Mac version yet) but I’m up and running again, and tonight I’ll import my email across as well. Overall status: still no regrets.

I was preparing to write a negative piece about Parallels, but for some reason it fixed itself this morning with a fresh boot. Confluence is a treat and it’s dead easy to use. The screen shot says it all (click for bigger version).

Proudly posted from a Mac with Windows Live Writer 🙂

Day 2 as a Mac user and there is nothing much more to report. Thanks to those who left comments on the last post, particularly pointing to the Logitech Cam Drivers, the Cam is now working.

Everything is working fine. Perhaps the only odd thing is getting use to having so many Windows open, on the PC I’d always keep open applications to a minimum to limit memory and OS issues, on the Mac it doesn’t seem to matter how many are open.

I did try the Mac keyboard out today. That lasted no more than about 5 minutes. Mac’s might be a wonderful machine, but I see they still haven’t managed to get keyboard right in 25 years, and I’m not even game to try the mouse. My Logitech keyboard might not have a Apple Command Key but the Alt key works well in its place, that and the keys are spaced nicely (the Mac Keyboard felt bunched up, I literally struggled to type on it) and most importantly I’ve got somewhere to rest the bottom of my hands on the Logitech…yes, I don’t touch type correctly but thats just me and I feel no reason to change after 20 odd years of doing it the same way 🙂

I gave Mac.Mail a shot: OMG, people say Outlook Express is bad! Now using Thunderbird.

iCal is awesome. Widgets are splendid, and I managed to work out how to keep them on my desktop and there is an ABC Radio widget, ABC Classic FM and Dig Radio and I’m set.

Just downloading Parallels as I type this, so I’ll see how that goes. I’m typing this post on Mars Edit….like Ecto it comes no where close to Windows Live Writer, so I’m keen to have access to at least one Windows program.

Happily that is all. It’s funny that I’ve got to drag up small insignificant things to complain about this pure work of art, thats how good I’m finding it. More later in the week 🙂