Posts Tagged ‘podcasts’
April 11, 2010
Updated April 21, 2010.
The world probably doesn’t really need another iPad review, does it?
There’s a glut out of them out there.
And I’m not a tech reviewer. I’m a gadget nut, so feel free to discount my enthusiasm by the appropriate percentage. After all, I did pre-order this thing sight unseen so it could be delivered on Day One.
So this post will be impressionistic, just some notes on my first week with the device.
First: It’s fast. Snappy. It makes the iPhone and the iPod Touch seem slow. It makes a Macbook seem slow.
Second: The battery life is amazing. You don’t even think about the battery. I plug it it in every night, and have used it heavily many days. It has never dropped below 50 percent.
Remarkable for an Apple product: It doesn’t get hot — unlike my Macbook Air, or my iPhone, which can get uncomfortable to the touch and sluggish with heavy use. I have often thought that Steve Jobs was trying to brand me with his products. No more.
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Posted in iPhone Apps, Social Media | 5 Comments »
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Apple TV, Books, computers, iPad, iPad apps, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPod Touch, iPods, iTunes, Kindle, Kindle for iPad, music, NYT, podcasts, Steve Jobs, technology, TiVo, Twitter
May 31, 2009
[Note to new visitors: You may be interested in this post about Twitter: "The Public Editor Joins the Cocktail Party."]
Updated March 13, 2011. Hello, and thanks for visiting my personal blog, which is mostly about coffee, with a little bit about social media and technology.
It is likely that you arrived at this welcome page by clicking the link on my Twitter profile. This post is my primitive method for tracking traffic from Twitter.
My name is Patrick LaForge. I have been an editor at The New York Times since 1997, after a dozen years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in upstate New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania. I started using Twitter in early 2007, when Sewell Chan and I created the City Room blog for The Times. In May 2009, I left City Room and the metro desk to become the editor in charge of the copy desks.
How I Use Twitter
I generally post updates about Web content I am reading, watching or thinking about, not what I had for lunch. I follow hundreds of people who use Twitter the same way — a collection of active linkers, journalists, bloggers, New Yorkers, Times staffers and readers.
You can see what Twitter looks like to me by viewing my Twitterstream list of the 800 or so accounts I follow and read every day. I find it hard to follow more people than that and read every tweet. If you are interested in a high-signal list that is mostly links and retweets, try my list “Linkers”, the people I rely on to recommend the latest, best content on Twitter and the Web.
I do not automatically return follows, but if you engage with me and provide interesting content, the odds are I will add you to my twitterstream.
And if you are not among the people I follow directly, but you seem nice enough (and not a spammer or commercial bot), I may add you to the few thousand accounts on The Mighty List, when I get a chance. (For some reason, Twitter allows me to go above the 500-account cap on these lists, and I’m not sure why — perhaps it’s a glitch, or perhaps it’s because I was a lists beta-tester or have a verified account.)
If you are relatively new to Twitter, you might be interested in this post, “Basic Twitter Links for Journalists.”
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Posted in Social Media | 10 Comments »
Tags: Blogs, City Room, Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Friendfeed, Google Reader, iPhone Apps, NYT, podcasts, Twitter
March 15, 2009
I happened to find myself in a Whole Foods store a week ago and noticed the wide coffee selection. Not being able to help myself, I picked up some single-source beans from Ecuador. For much of the week, I have been drinking it, mostly as espresso, alternating with the pricier Kenyan beans from an indie shop that I wrote about last week as part ofmy ongoing coffee quest.
This has kept me alert through a few hours of an extracurricular project, listening to the audiobook version of “Shantaram,” by David Gregory McDonald, a potboiler set in India. (It was a MacBreak Weekly pick from Andy Ihnatko). Listening to fiction is harder work than nonfiction, and this book, though entertaining and well-narrated in many accents by the award-winning Humphrey Bower, stretches to 43 hours and 3 minutes (I’m in the third hour). Coffee is needed to get through it.
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Posted in Coffee! | 1 Comment »
Tags: America's Top Model, Andy Ihnatko, audiobooks, Battlestar Galactica, Big Love, Coffee!, comics, David Gregory McDonald, Ecuador, Espindola, espresso, graphic novels, HBO, Jim Cramer, Jon Stewart, MacBreak Weekly, NYC, organic, podcasts, Shantaram, The Daily Show, Tyra Banks, Watchmen, Whole Foods Market, Will Ferrell
February 21, 2009
Since October I’ve been experimenting here with some personal blogging. Why, you might ask, when I already blog at my job? Isn’t that a busman’s holiday? Perhaps. But I had plunked down money for this domain, and I had some ideas and obsessions to explore that didn’t fit in with my work. And I also wanted to conduct a few experiments.
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Posted in Blogging, Social Media | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ads, analytics, Blogs, City Room, Coffee!, coho, Cotweet, Facebook, IM, iphone, janky, janky vegetables, Mahalo Answers, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, SEO, Seth Romatelli, traffic, Twitter, Uhh Yeah Dude, Wordpress
January 26, 2009
This week’s installment is the Podcast Zeitgeist of second chances, and probably the last such post for a good long while. I’ll continue to listen to a few favorites, but a hiatus is in order. This started as an effort to make some notes about what worked for me as a listener. But it became an exhausting and time-consuming exercise, particularly since I sampled many more hours than I ever wrote about. It was cutting into my Twittering time. At some point I may summarize what I have learned, or not.[See all lists.]
Cranky Geeks 150: Big Wig Bailouts As tech podcasts go, this is one of the best, hosted by John C. Dvorak, with Sebastian Rupley of PC Magazine, Chris DiBonaof Google and Jason Cross of Extreme.com. Topics: Steve Jobs, Bernie Madoff, the fake Belkin reviews scam, disruptive technology like location apps and more. Dvorak keeps it moving. Good stuff. Running time: 31:40 minutes including several ads. Released: Jan. 21.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 2 Comments »
Tags: 40-Year-Old Boy, Alex Lindsay, Andrew Horowitz, Andy Ihnatko, Apple, Blogs, computers, Cranky Geeks, Daisy Whitney, Dr. Kiki, economy, Geek Loves Nerd, geeks, idiotboxradio, investing, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPods, iTunes, John C. Dvorak, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, Lisa Bettany, MacBreak Weekly, Monty Python, NYC, Pixelcorps, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, recession, Scott Bourne, Seth Romatelli, Steve Jobs, Super Bowl, technology, TiVo, Twitter, Uhh Yeah Dude, Vomitus Prime, YouTube
January 19, 2009
Welcome to the Podcast Zeitgeist list: presented in apparently random order, at inconsistent intervals, its purpose obscure, its usefulness in doubt, its taste questionable, its methods and motives suspect. [See all lists.]
This Week in Tech 177: There’s a Little Shatner in All of Us and 178: Call of Doody. I’m catching up here with two episodes. A special guest on the first of these was Star Trek’s Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton). Burton held his own as a geek on a panel with Leo Laporte, John C. Dvorak, Ryan Block, and Lisa Bettany. A lot of talk about TVs. (Block: “Plasma TVs are on the way out.”) Reviews of the “disappointing” MacWorld Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show. Whether the Palm Pre phone can save Palm (Dvorak: “They’re done.”) They end with the prospects for another Star Trek movie and a discussion of Geordi’s visor. The latest episode, recorded Sunday night, devotes 20 minutes to the news that Steve Jobs is taking a temporary leave from Apple for health reasons, with a focus on news coverage, from Ron Goldman of CNBC to this profanity-laden Gizmodo post. Dvorak predicts that Apple will go into decline in two years. This is followed bya discussion of the Downadup/Conficker worm that infected 9 million Windows computers in four days (download the security updates, people). Laporte is wiggy on this episode (“Conficker? I hardly knew her!”), perhaps because he and panelist Tom Merritt attended a concert the night before by the geek troubadour Jonathan Coulton and the improv duo Paul & Storm. (The “doody” in the podcast title refers to panelist Patrick Norton, who has to change his son’s diaper during the show and never returns.) The liquidation of Circuit City. A discussion of digital TV up-converters (Dvorak recommends a model.) Laporte recommends an audiobook: “Predictably Irrational.” United Kingdom porn filters are blocking Wikipedia and the Wayback Machine. Are Are Google layoffs and the killing of <a href="“>features like Jaiku and Dodgeball a sign of a market bottom? The episode ends with a clip of Coulton’s “Mandelbrot Set.” Running times: Both 1 hour 20 minutes, give or take a minute. Released: Jan. 11 and 18.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 6 Comments »
Tags: 40-Year-Old Boy, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, Apple, Blogs, Christian Comedy Podcast, computers, Dinner Party Download, Facebook, Futile Podcast, Geek Loves Nerd, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPods, Jonathan Larroquette, Lamont Mozier, Leo Laporte, MacBreak, macs, MacWorld, Mike Schmidt, movies, netbooks, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, Seth Romatelli, technology, This Week in Tech, Twitter, Uhh Yeah Dude, Weekly
January 10, 2009
The list this week is tech-heavy and later than usual, mainly because of the “last” MacWorld Expo. {See all lists].
Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adam Christianson, Alex Lindsay, Amaze.FM, Amber MacArthur, Apple, Bernie Madoff, Blip.FM, CES, Daisy Whitney, Dwight Silverman, Facebook, Gertrude Baines, gog.is, HP Media Smart Server, John C. Dvorak, Jonathan Larroquette, Ken Ray, Leo Laporte, Lucas County Choppers, MacBooks, MacBreak Weekly, Maccast, MacOSKen, macs, MacWorld Expo, Mall Cop, Merlin Mann, Net@Night, Netflix, Notorious B.I.G., Phil Schiller, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, Robert Scoble, Seth Romatelli, This Week in Media, This Week in Tech, truck antlers, Twit.tv, Twitter, Uhh Yeah Dude, Victor Cajiao, Zunes
January 1, 2009
There has been a lot of chatter about the podcasting business model, and whether it has been a failure. That talk intensified when a major commercial podcaster, Podango, warned recently that its death seemed to be near. None of this is of concern to me: I leave business models to the money people. My interest is content.
I had more free time than usual this week, so the list is longer than usual (in the order I listened). [See all lists.]
Grammar Girl 149: Top Five Pet Peeves of 2008 Grammar Girl (Mignon Fogarty) has a business model, or, at least, some regular advertisers and a dedicated audience of grammar enforcers. The top peeves suggested by her listeners: carelessness with language, misuse of “myself,” overuse of the word “tapped,” the phrase “baby bump,” and the use of “slay” as a noun, particularly in New York Daily News headlines. It’s an idiosyncratic list, to be sure, but all these targets are worthy of scorn. (I also listened to the slightly less interesting Episode 150, about podcasting a book. I doubt I would ever listen to a book in serialized podcast form.) Length: 8:33 minutes. Released: Dec. 19.
Make-It-Green Girl 34: The Story of Stuff A sister podcast to the one from Grammar Girl, with the same “quick and dirty” preaching to the converted. Anna Elzeftaway suggests you stop buying so much stuff and suggests holiday gifts that require no products, packaging or other waste. “Make it special without making a footprint.” The smug message grates a bit. Length: 5:06 minutes. Released: Dec. 24.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 2 Comments »
Tags: 2012 Mayan Prophecy, ads, advertising, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, Apple, Barista Exchange, Buddhism, business models, cellphones, Christianity, coffee podcasts, Coffee!, Coffeegeek, Doc Ellis, espresso, Futile Podcast, grammar, Grammar Girl, hip-hop, iFart Mobile, iPhone Apps, iPhones, Jonathan Larroquette, Jorianne the Coffee Psychic, Jun Po, Leo Laporte, Lethal Weapon, MacBreak Weekly, macs, Make-It-Green Girl, Mel Gibson, movies, Oprah, PETA, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasting, podcasts, psychics, Rinzai Zen, seatbelts, Seth Romatelli, This Week in Tech, Twit.tv, Uhh Yeah Dude, Wall-E, WFMU
December 27, 2008
I’m in Los Angeles with the family this week, visiting the in-laws. I booked the flight kind of late and decided to try Virgin America, which had been getting a lot of hype for its geeky amenities and Jetblue-style business model. The only way I could get three seats together on Virgin was to pay extra for the roomier bulkhead seats, the so-called Main Cabin Select, which came with “unlimited” food and media, a sort of discount business class. The flight was pleasant and as enjoyable as JetBlue, but the geek reality has not yet caught up with the hype.
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Posted in iPhone Apps, Social Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: air travel, cheese, Christmas, drinks, Facebook, first class, food, gum, Hancock, Harrison Ford, holidays, hooks, iPhones, iTunes, JetBlue, John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, MacBreak Weekly, music, podcasts, pokes, Stephen Colbert, student films, Tweets, Twitter, Uhh Yeah Dude, Virgin America, Wall-E, Will Smith, Witness
December 26, 2008
The mix this week is more culture than tech. Most of the podcasts I sample were off for the holidays, or they had recorded episodes in advance, so I went a little farther afield. [See all lists.]
Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 4 Comments »
Tags: Benjamin Button, Bernard Madoff, Blogs, Books, Books on the Nightstand, Brazil, cheese, Coffee!, Coffeegeek, David Fincher, Dinner Party Download, drinks, e-books, Eating, espresso, Frank Sinatra, grok, John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, Jonathan Larroquette, Keanu Reeves, Kindle, Leo Laporte, Mad Men, movies, mozzarella, Obika, parmesan, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, protean gestures, Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction, Seth Romatelli, The Coffee Song, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Uhh Yeah Dude
The world probably doesn’t really need another iPad review, does it? 
