I was listening to the Hamish & Andy Podcast of which stars two Australian comedian’s of whom do a talk back radio show, aired weekdays from 4pm to 6pm.
They decided that they would pull a prank on their audience of which would entice them to go and download the podcast version of their show.
The prank consisted of them telling the current listening audience that they would pull prank on the ones who were ‘just about to tune in’ when they would begin the prank.
They then proceeded to ask their audience if they could get them to call in and say that the hosts had said the most hilarious thing ever, and those who had just tuned in had missed out and the only way they could find out what had happened would be to download their podcast.
This is the smartest thing I have ever seen, in relation to bringing people over from old media, because as we know, curiosity killed the cat.
The two comedians are currently sitting at position #2 (July 31st 2008) in Australia’s Podcast rankings.
The link to their podcast is located here: Link to podcast
- Ben
Show notes @ http://techwiredau.com/?p=185
Episode: 69
Date: 30/07/2008
Host: Ben Grubb
Co Host’s:
Brent Pudney @ http://www.saltwaterit.com
“That Adam Kid” @ http://gsnail.wordpress.com/
Streamed @ http://www.live.techwiredau.com 7:30 PM Wednesday
Topics Discussed:
1. Starbucks closures will limit Telstra Wi-Fi options
2. Georgia Student Arrested for Hacking Grades, VoIP
3. Comcast communicated by blog
4. Practical Jetpack Available “Soon” – Video: http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=40046
5. YouTube free on Seven’s TiVo
6. Software error cripples NAB
7. Aussie businesses ignore online customer inquiries
8. California Earthquake: Don’t Make Phone Calls, Use Text or IM Instead [Earthquake]
9. HP, Intel, and Yahoo Get Into Cloud Computing
10. India Developing US$10 Laptop
11. Your Gadgets Are Tracking You….
12. Your Computer and Cell Phone Are Lying To You
13. Video shows NYC officer shoving cyclist
14. eBay customers left in the lurch
15. Flufffy Bunny: Walkers swallow RFID pills for science
Listener Feedback
Hi Ben and Brent,
Just some comments on the proposed changes to Wikipedia to avoid
vandalising of pages:
The great multitude of topics on Wikipedia, many dealing with topics
which are of a very obscure nature, means that having subject experts
would be impossible. You’d need thousands and thousands of them.
The beauty of Wikipedia is the way information is up to date almost
instantly in areas that are of a rapidly changing or evolving nature.
As you may know I am interested in trains. I find that the latest
changes and news are rapidly incorporated into the Wikipedia articles
within a matter of hours. If we introduce an editorial process where
changes need to be approved and checked and re-checked it will be
impossible to have this rapidly changing information incorporated
into articles for a few days or more likely, weeks or months.
Wikipedia would become useless as an up-to-date information source.
Encyclopedias such as Britannica are not always 100% correct on every
article. As an example their article on the Independent Baptist
Church contains a number of errors. And I’m sure there are many
others. So Wikipedia may contain errors – but then so do other
encyclopedias.
Also regarding academic institutions and schools not permitting
Wikipedia as a source for essays – this is hardly surprising. Most
academic institutions do not allow the use of any encyclopedia
(Britannica, Word Book or any other) because encyclopedia articles
are not in-depth enough for academic purposes and by their nature do
not contain original research by their authors and are not a primary
source.
Regarding CRT Televisions – people still buy them particularly in the
sub-63cm range. They do have a very distinct price advantage on LCDs
for small sizes and plasma TVs are not made in sub-63cm sizes. I
purchased a CRT Television just under a year ago – I only own a 51cm
TV as I cannot justify the money on anything else considering my
limited apartment size and the small amount of time I spend watching
it. Sub-63cm CRT TVs are still widely available particularly in
stores like K-Mart and Big W.
–
Albert
<><
http://aussietrains.fotopic.net/
I’m sure everyone is aware that some time ago, Google acquired YouTube.
And as many of us had guessed, it wouldn’t be long before Google advertising wormed its way into your fun-loving YouTube viewing experience.
We had hoped that it would remain understated, and be limited to a few ‘click me’ adverts to one side of the page, or perhaps in a header banner here and there.
Well, as of today, I have just noticed that Google have now introduced popOVER adverts, such as the one h
ere:
Now, of the ones I encountered whilst watching videos of people playing the ‘Popcorn’ song on their keyboards this afternoon, this one was the LEAST obtrusive.
I also had speech bubbles flying in from all directions, and things popping up top and bottom – apparently something new that users can add to their own videos (annotions) – Now, do you want me to watch your cool video of your kid sister setting her hair on fire at her 5th birthday party? Well how about you get rid of that crap so I can see it!
The most annoying part of all this came when there was a lower third in a video that I wanted to read, but couldn’t, due to a popover advert.
As a famous Queen once didn’t say: “We are NOT amused!”
-Brent
Ok, so we’ve had a couple of complaints about sound quality from the past few episodes of which we’ve pin pointed to a Firewall issue with using Skype (as it uses P2P)
From episode 69 we will start trying out a Ventrillo server of which has been optimised for us to use.
Tell us what you think after we release episode 69 this Wednesday.
Cheers
- Ben
Show notes @ http://techwiredau.com/?p=173
Episode: 68
Date: 28/07/2008
Host: Ben Grubb
Co Host: Brent Pudney
Streamed @ http://www.live.techwiredau.com 7:30 PM Monday
Topics Discussed:
2. Google unveils Wikipedia-like tool
3. Aussie politicians “correct” Wikipedia
4. Boy loses battle over ‘Narnia’
5. Estimate Your Level of Internet Fame
6. Microsoft to sponsor the Apache Software Foundation
7. Yahoo! Music closing shop, suggests bypassing DRM to users
8. ABC iView draws a big audience
9.Google Now Knows About 1 Trillion Pages
10. Bits: How to Save Local Newspapers: Cellphones
11. Top Spammer Sentenced to Nearly Four Years
12. Beijing’s Apple Store Gets Crashed By Windows XP [Apple Store]
13. Google Maps Adds Walking Directions
14. Apple adds another month free for some MobileMe trials
15. MySpace Confirms OpenID Support, Launches Data Availability On Flixster and Eventful
16. Rumor: MacBook touch Coming in October [Macbook Touch]
17. Wi-fi besieged by freeloaders
18. ‘Hijacked’ SF passwords made public
19. Cell Phone Hidden in Cake, Smuggled Into Prison
20. Back to the Future hoverboard up for auction: $30k to play
21. The Cyber Clean cleans out your keyboard
DNS Poisoning:
Listener Feedback:
Hi Ben,
Just got some feedback Re Episode 66 of TWAU Re iPhone 2.0 apps crashing.
In the Apple AppStore process they DO actually use the apps, check compliance, bugs, etc. However, it’s actually not the developers apps/code that is making the device unstable. As much as I hate to admit it, it is actually Apple’s fault. Their 2.0 software is EXTREMELY buggy, which causes these apps to crash & behave very weird. The iPhone/iPod Touch community is all hoping for 2.1 very soon!
Have a good one, talk soon.
From Shaun
Sent from my iPod Touch running a very buggy 2.0 firmware! 
Today Senator Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy released a report regarding Internet filtering technology that has been tested in a closed environment.
“The internet is a wonderful tool that is delivering benefits to increasing numbers of Australian families but the Government wants to find ways to make it safer, particularly for children. This report will assist the Government to deliver on its election commitment to create a safer online environment,” Senator Conroy said.
What we are all wanting to know, and what the Government is not making a big deal about, is whether such a system would block content that is deemed not illegal, and who is to say that my picture of buba.jpg on my public home server is legal or not?
I would love to hear what your stance is on the issue of Internet filtering, especially if it is mandatory?
Media Release: Australia welcomes advance in internet filtering technology
Report: Download
- Ben
So I was reading a blog by Adam, a fellow Internet web 2.0 person that “gets it” who raises the point that people, when using the Internet, have a very short attention span.
This is the problem with blogging and any type of news on the Internet in general.
I find myself and many colleagues much the same.
We all open up programs such as NetNewsWire (an RSS agregator) and start perusing through the headings of articles, instead of the actual content.
The reason behind all of this is most likely due to the fact that we are presented with a source of information that never ends; The Internet.
Adam also suggests that it is because of the medium we receive the information in.
I also agree with Adam on this point as well.
For example, popular shows on Revision3’s network engage a large audience, as they include video and audio of which audiences find much easier and essentially ‘less work’ to consume.
So can we ‘port’ old media into a new medium?
Video, I think we can, audio, as a podcast format yes, but online radio? I’m not too sure about.
I always come back to the whole driving to work, listening to the radio thing.
People like the whole ‘live’ thing, ‘breakfast radio’, with traffic news e.t.c, e.t.c.
So will we see cars with Internet radio built in soon? and if so will it be tuned in to ‘local IP’s’?
I just think the business models associated with this ‘new’ medium will need to change.
- Ben
Burn baby burn?
You’re Feed burner statistics gone spastic?
About a week ago, Tech Wired Australia’s Feed burner statistics were dropped for Saturday and Sunday the 18th & 19th of July (American dates).
With all of this in mind, Feed burner is owned by Google (well actually, it was acquired), and as a user of Google’s products, I haven’t seen too many issues before with data disappearing.
The above message has been on the front page of Feed Burner for quiet quite some time now, and just goes to show that perhaps Google are just buying out everything and doing nothing about it.
This concerns me with all the great web start ups being bought out, and going no where, staying ’static’ so to speak with a lot of potential, kinda like kinetic energy.
Is there a solution to this issue?
Greed?
Who knows, but I guess Google made Feedburner free, but if I was a previous paying user and this happened, would I be happy? I think not.
- Ben
