misener.org

Chop & Steele

Fri, 19 May 2023 10:14:20 -0400

I watched the documentary Chop & Steele last night. I first became aware of Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett through the K-Strass morning news pranks: Through that, I then learned about their Found Footage Festival live shows. Chop & Steele mostly follows the story of Gray TV’s copyright lawsuit against The Found Footage Festival. But a secondary storyline follows Nick and Joe as they relentlessly tour their live show, driving from town to town, staying in not-very-nice hotels, and playing to small local audiences of anywhere from dozens to hundreds of people.

Desk Controller for IKEA IDÅSEN standing desks

Sun, 14 May 2023 09:02:48 -0400

On episode 533 of ATP, the hosts discussed standing desks: Casey expressed his initial plan to buy one from IKEA, and Marco stressed the importance of height presets. About a year ago, I bought an IKEA IDÅSEN standing desk, based largely on its price point, 10-year warranty, and this BTOD review, which made it abundantly clear that height presets were not a feature: While the paddle system used for height adjustment on the Idasen is nice, it doesn’t offer easily accessed presets.

MailMate message selection direction

Thu, 11 May 2023 18:17:02 -0400

I’m a longtime user and big fan of MailMate, a keyboard and Markdown-centric email client for the Mac. Nearly everything about it fits the way my brain works. But there’s one thing about MailMate that’s always bothered me. I sort my inbox in reverse chronological order, with newest messages at the top. When I delete a message, MailMate then selects the next-most-recent message: For whatever reason, this just feels wrong. I want the selection to go in the opposite direction.

How many top podcasts use SSL feeds?

Thu, 29 Sep 2016 11:05:59 +0000

In early 2016, Apple added support for SSL-secured podcast feeds.1 I wanted to get a sense of how many shows are taking advantage of this, so I grabbed a list of the top 200 podcasts in iTunes (US), along with their feed URLs. A few observations: Only 11 of the top 200 shows (5.5%) use HTTPS for their podcast XML. The remaining 189 feeds use plain old HTTP. Libsyn seems to offer HTTPS versions of all its podcast feeds, but none of the 34 Libsyn-hosted podcast feeds on the iTunes US Top 200 use the SSL-secured version.

iTunes Smart App Banners work for podcasts, too

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:39:51 +0000

Starting with iOS 6, Apple introduced Smart App Banners. If you’re an iPhone person, you’ve probably seen these things at the top of mobile websites, prompting you to download a corresponding app. They link right to the iTunes app store. I recently learned that iTunes Smart App Banners aren’t just for apps. They work for podcasts listed in the iTunes directory, and they deep link directly to the built-in Podcast app:

The long tail of audio

Wed, 12 Nov 2014 22:46:56 +0000

I spent this past weekend at the Third Coast public radio conference in Chicago. In many of the sessions, and hallway conversations, and up-way-too-late-at-a-public-radio-conference-mostly-drunk rants, you could feel a sense of renewed excitement around podcasting, and the wave of independence and entrepreneurship we’re seeing in this space. Then, this morning in my inbox, via Seth’s blog, a prediction about terrestrial radio: Just as newspapers fell off a cliff, radio is about to follow.

I'm going on tour

Sun, 11 May 2014 11:03:51 +0000

CBC Radio has comissioned 10 episodes of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, based on the tiny little reading series I started back in 2007. That means a 10-city tour. It’s really difficult to explain how excited I am about this.

An argument for a digital-first CBC

Wed, 16 Apr 2014 20:49:44 +0000

Paul Adams, writing about the future of the CBC for iPolitics: Right now, CBC treats its website as if it were an industrial by-product of the broadcast networks, like a slaughterhouse that sells off the bones for fertilizer and the hooves for glue. It’s an afterthought. From where I sit, this feels accurate.

This is Radio

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 21:26:08 +0000

I just finished watching this episode of Andrew Norton‘s This is Radio, all about Roman Mars’s 99% Invisible: Really lovely. Looking forward to watching the other installments.

Bagless Bromptons

Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:50:56 +0000

Remember that time I wasn’t allowed to bring my Brompton folding bicycle inside the CBC? After raising a big fuss, I was eventually allowed to bring my bike inside, with the stipulation that it must be kept in a bag. I bought a Brompton cover from our neighbourhood Brompton dealer, Switchback Cyclery, and all has been well since. Today, Peter sent word that there’s a new BBC series called W1A in which Hugh Bonneville plays the BBC’s Head of Values.

How to fix a Tivoli radio tuning problem

Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:02:09 +0000

Years ago, we bought a Tivoli Model One radio for our kitchen. At first, the tuning was rock-solid. But recently, the radio started drifting. Over time, the tuning knob got very touchy. Even if I was able to successfully tune a station, the LED would glow bright for a moment, then quickly fade. Left long enough, any station would degrade into static. Frustrating, to be sure. I emailed help@tivoliaudio.com about the problem.

Paneling

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:31:03 +0000

Last week, I was part of a panel discussion at my alma mater (and sometimes employer) Ryerson University, talking about “Radio in a Digital Age” alongside Steve “Dangle” Glynn, Raina Douris, and moderator/former-prof/sometimes-boss Lori Beckstead. The video’s online now: Lori sent out a few questions in advance of the panel, and I used them to prepare a few notes (most of which I forgot). So then, for posterity: What are the challenges for radio in the digital age?

Patrick Stewart pledge drive messages

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 22:58:39 +0000

Patrick Stewart’s WNYC pledge drive spots seem custom-made for people (like me) who: a) enjoy public radio b) grew up loving Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m willing to bet there’s a fair amount of overlap in that particular Venn diagram. Listen to all four spots over at PRX. (Via Stephen Quinn)

Digital-first audio

Wed, 12 Feb 2014 22:57:25 +0000

Two interesting stories from the world of American public radio last week. First, the creation of Radiotopia, a new podcast network: With $200,000 in funding from the Knight Foundation, PRX will attempt to create a new model for what they call “digital-first audio programming.” The seven shows will make up a collective, helping to market one another, providing guidance on technical issues, and sharing lessons on growing audiences. Radiotopia will provide the framework for raising money through grants or Kickstarter campaigns, selling sponsorships across the network, and sharing revenue between the shows.

Podcasts are based on loyalty

Thu, 23 Jan 2014 22:04:56 +0000

Speaking of audio (not) going viral, in episode 76 of Unprofessional, Marco Arment makes an important point about podcast listenership: [47:46] Podcasts are a very different kind of medium than most other things on the web. Most “new media” is all about getting this flood of hits, and things “going viral” (or whatever that means), and just getting tons of drive-by hit traffic. Podcasts don’t work that way. Podcasts are based on loyalty, and getting people subscribed who are going to listen to every episode.

Our former selves

Mon, 20 Jan 2014 23:01:36 +0000

As anyone who’s been to Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids probably knows, I’m fascinated by the relationships we have with our former selves. Most often, when a person gets up on stage to read juvenilia at GRTTWaK, there’s a distance. A distance between who they were, and who they are now. At a really basic level, I think that’s the tension that makes a GRTTWaK reading funny, or uncomfortable, or bittersweet.

Vitality, not virality (or, a Few Thoughts About Online Audio, CBC Radio, and “Going Viral”)

Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:45:31 +0000

If you work in or care about public radio, podcasting, or online audio, I strongly recommend Stan Alcorn’s terrific piece Is This Thing On? Why Audio Never Goes Viral. In it, Alcorn digs into some of the reasons audio is a second-class citizen online: the web is a primarily visual medium, audio content is difficult to index, search, and skim through, etc. But he also drops some telling data points about just how non-viral audio really is.

How I ditched my voice plan and went data-only

Mon, 06 Jan 2014 23:37:23 +0000

One year ago, I decided to take my iPhone data-only. No voice plan. No texting plan. Just sweet, sweet data. I don’t like paying for things that I don’t use, and I rarely use the telephone part of my iPhone. That is, I don’t make many voice calls over the cell network. So I figured I could save some money. I looked around for data-only smartphone plans in Canada, but couldn’t find any.

Transatlanticism

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 20:52:49 +0000

Exactly one year ago today, October 22, Jenna and I booked a one-way transatlantic crossing aboard the Queen Mary 2. Originally, the idea was more joke than anything else. “Wouldn’t it be funny?” we’d ask each other. But the truth was, after almost a year living in France, we needed to get home to Toronto somehow. We presumed we’d fly. That is, until we looked at the cost of one-way Christmastime flights from Lyon to Toronto.

My bike is not a health and safety issue

Wed, 18 Sep 2013 22:52:59 +0000

Update September 19, 2013: Success! Thanks to a terrific, sympathetic manager or two (or three), our building’s “no bikes inside” policy will be re-written to accommodate folding bikes like my Brompton. The new rule: I have to keep my bike in a bag. Fair enough. There are a handful of things about our national public broadcaster (disclosure: my employer) that bother me. A few infuriate. But today took the cake.

Light bulbs and laser beams

Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:34:53 +0000

This past week, I borrowed John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity from the Toronto Public Library. It’s a slim book, but it gave me a lot to chew on. While discussing his sixth law (Context), Maeda says: I was once advised by my teacher Nicholas Negroponte to become a light bulb instead of a laser beam, at an age and time in my career when I was all focus. His point was that you can either brighten a single point with laser precision, or else use the same light to illuminate everything around you.

So long, Empire Theatres

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 21:42:05 +0000

So, Sobeys is getting out of the movie business by selling 24 of its Empire Theatres locations to Cineplex. I started working part-time at the Empire Theatres in Bedford, Nova Scotia in the spring of 1999 for $5.50 an hour. I know this because I still have one of my first paystubs: I worked at Empire Theatres for three and half years, until the end of 2002. By then, I was making the princely sum of $7.

That time I was 30

Sun, 23 Jun 2013 21:51:21 +0000

A year ago this evening, I was enjoying dinner with Tristan at Joseph Leonard in the West Village. I had a steak, many tiny French pickles, and perhaps one too many Hendrick’s and tonics. I was in New York to take part in ITP Summer Camp at NYU. Tristan was in New York to get out of Toronto for a few days, and to help me celebrate my birthday. A year ago this evening, I turned 30.

Curiousity-driven work

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:19:24 +0000

Jason Fried wrote about what he calls the “Two i’s” – important and interesting: For a long time I’ve felt like the only thing worth working on is the next most important thing. Why spend time working on something that’s less important if there’s something more important that needs work? I’ve changed my mind on this. I think it’s always good to be working on two things: The next most important thing, and the next most interesting thing.

“The details are not the details. They make the design.”

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:52:57 +0000

So the other day, on the walk back from the grocery store, I listened to this past week’s On The Media. It began with a question: is the Golden Age of content sustainable, or just a supernova, a dying star burning exceptionally bright? Then, thirty-one minutes and forty-five seconds later, a small bit of instrumental music underneath an extro and sponsor read. The tune sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d heard it before.

The CBC's crummy low-bitrate MP3 streams, and what to do about them

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 18:59:21 +0000

About six weeks ago, without any apparent warning, CBC Radio One’s audio streams switched from MP3 audio to AAC. This left a number of people unable to listen to streaming audio, namely those with internet radio receivers that don’t support AAC. Luckily, a commenter named Brian let me know that Radio One MP3 streams still exist: The trick is to change the “H” to an “L” in the URLs. Thus,

“At every age we’re wrong”

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:35:28 +0000

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of laughing at our former selves. So then, I rather enjoyed John Tierney’s NYT piece about new research into people’s self-perceptions: “Middle-aged people — like me — often look back on our teenage selves with some mixture of amusement and chagrin,” said one of the authors, Daniel T. Gilbert, a psychologist at Harvard. “What we never seem to realize is that our future selves will look back and think the very same thing about us.

“Loyalty”≠ Loyalty

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:23:08 +0000

Apparently, CBC management is thinking about a “loyalty” program: [T]he CBC is considering adding game-like challenges on its websites, offering reward points to keep people engaged with the broadcaster’s programming, an approach known in the retail business as “gamification.” Setting aside my belief that most “loyalty” programs are creepy, I find this announcement troubling on a deeper level. Personally, I’d prefer that the CBC focus less on “loyalty,” and more on loyalty.

All-you-can-watch movies

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:39:42 +0000

If you ever find yourself in France for a year, and you want some serious bang for your entertainment buck, I suggest you look no further than an unlimited movie subscription from your local cinema. At the end of January, Jenna and I signed up for something called UGC Illimité 2. For a flat rate (€35.50/month, plus a one-time setup fee of €30), membership entitles a primary cardholder plus one guest to all-you-can-watch movies, without restrictions.

What if every show on CBC Radio had a live chat room?

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:14:50 +0000

Now they do. I’ve been thinking a lot about radio and live chat ever since I started listening to shows on Dan Benjamin’s 5by5 network. You see, many of the shows on 5by5 are recorded live. If you’re so inclined, you can tune into these shows and listen along in real time as they’re recorded. What’s more, 5by5 has an IRC channel, so in addition to live streaming audio, there’s often a chatroom full of people engaged a meta-discussion about the shows as they happen.

Kickstarter gets a little less open

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:54:13 +0000

Late last month, Kickstarter quietly removed its “Open Hardware” category, and added a broader “Hardware” category. At the same time, Kickstarter re-categorized every single “Open Hardware” project (past and present) into this new “Hardware” category. I reached out to Kickstarter about this. “This is not a policy change, just a name change,” a representative told me. “The hardware projects that were not open source had no subcategory, so we decided to simplify the name to house both.

Kickstarter now identifies intellectual property disputes

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 02:47:15 +0000

Late last week, I wrote about how Kickstarter was quietly removing projects from their site, despite claiming otherwise. The removed projects were replaced with a simple message stating: “Sorry, this project is no longer available.” To date, at least 14 projects have been taken down in this way (Kicktraq has a good list). Most of the takedowns seem to be related to intellectual property disputes. Commenting on the story in a piece for Wired, I suggested that Kickstarter should be more transparent when it comes to this issue:

Despite claiming otherwise, Kickstarter quietly removes projects

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:27:28 +0000

“Transparency is vital on Kickstarter.” Or so says their FAQ. But if you look closely enough, Kickstarter isn’t living up to its own transparency promises. It seems that Kickstarter has quietly removed several projects from its site, despite claiming that they never do this. Again, from their FAQ: How long does a project remain on Kickstarter? Forever! Projects are not closed or taken down, they remain on site for reference and transparency.

Introducing The KickBack Machine

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 08:23:00 +0000

A few months ago, I wrote a bit about Kickstarter, and how they hide (or at the very least, make it very difficult to find) failed projects. I believe that when it comes to crowdfunding, there’s much to learn from past projects — both successes and failures. And I’m not the only one who feels this way. Early on in The Crowdfunding Bible, Scott Steinberg writes: Whatever your approach to crowdfunding, your first order of business is to take a hard, analytical look at projects that have succeeded, as well as ventures that have failed.

Kickstarter: it's a social thing

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 12:47:44 +0000

Felix Salmon, pointing to Jeanne Pi’s recent Kickstarter analysis: [Y]our chances of raising $10,000 on Kickstarter are just 9% if you have 10 Facebook friends, rising to 20% if you have 100 friends, and 40% if you have 1,000 friends. Clearly, your existing network matters. As Seth Godin says “Kickstarter is the last step, not the first one.” (via Bert)

Some Kickstarter follow-up

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:12:52 +0000

Last week, I wrote a bit about a design decision I’d noticed on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. Basically, Kickstarter projects that fail to meet their funding goals are: Hidden from search engines by way of “noindex” robot meta tags Not included in Kickstarter’s own Discover interface The post got a fair bit of attention. It made it to the front page of Hacker News, was republished by Gizmodo, and was linked by GigaOM, TechCrunch, the NYT’s Bits Blog, and others.

Kickstarter hides failure

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:50:13 +0000

(TL;DR: Kickstarter does not want you to see failed projects. Failed Kickstarter campaign pages include robot meta tags to keep search engines from indexing them. Plus, Kickstarter’s front page and “Discover” interface never show failed projects. Ever.) Update @ 17:30 CET: In response to some great feedback over at Hacker News, I’ve made a few edits below to clarify a few points. First, to emphasise that failed results do show up in Kickstarter’s own search results.

Comcast, use-based pricing, and Canada

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:47:22 +0000

In the U.S., Comcast is experimenting with “use-based pricing” (which sounds an awful lot like usage-based billing). The NYT reports: In the test markets, 300 gigabytes will be the monthly allotment of data for a basic broadband Internet customer. From there, Comcast will try charging a premium for additional data. In one of the tests, customers will be able to buy more data access in what Comcast calls “increments” or “blocks”: for instance, $10 for 50 gigabytes.

How not to do geoblocking

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:48:45 +0000

I’ll admit that up until yesterday, I was unaware of the CBC Television program The Big Decision. (Aside: I predict that within five years, every single CBC Television program will be based around Dragons’ Den personalities.) Anyway, I didn’t know about The Big Decision, but after following some tweet or another, I found myself on the show’s website, and decided to check it out. Here’s what happened when I hit the play button:

Flipboard does audio, and why segmentation matters

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:24:45 +0000

Today, Flipboard added audio playback controls and a new Audio category to its app: The section is searchable but comes with recommended SoundCloud users, as well as popular shows from NPR (National Public Radio) and PRI (Public Radio International). I’ve played with the new Flipboard for a while, and it’s yet another example of why segmentation matters, and how for public radio, the atomic element is the story. Radio networks and shows that split their programming up into sharable, spreadable component parts are reaping the rewards of new platforms.

Radio, comics, and abstraction

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:25:38 +0000

It’s been on my “to watch” list for quite a while, and today I finally got around to watching Jad Abumrad’s presentation at MaxFunCon 2010. In it, Jad uses many examples from Radiolab (and borrows heavily from Walter Murch) to create a model that explains the relationship between words, music, various types of sound effects, and their relative levels of abstraction. Needless to say, if you’re interested in radio (or sound at all, for that matter), find an hour, and watch this in its entirety:

Everything old is new (again)

Fri, 04 May 2012 05:10:32 +0000

Cyrus has a piece up at Ars Technica about Boxfish, a search engine for closed captions scraped from broadcast television: Boxfish captures all closed-captioning information, indexes it, then makes that data searchable in a Twitter-style interface. All in real-time. If this technique sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because Google did something very similar way back in 2005: The service, Google Video beta, searches closed caption information that comes with programmes. It only searches US channel content currently.

A very fussy morning coffee ritual

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:44:47 +0000

One of the great luxuries of a sabbatical year in France is time. I have time now like I’ve never had it before. Time to go for a stroll, time to sit in a cafe for hours on end practicing French… Most notably though, I now have time to make coffee in a very fussy way. Back in January, based on a recommendation from the fine folks at Cafe Mokxa, Jenna and I bought an Aeropress.

Back asswards

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:31:48 +0000

I don’t often get my CBC budget cut analysis from the sports section, but maybe I should. From Bruce Dowbiggin’s take on the recent cuts: CBC’s core business, its relevance to the public, would probably be in the following order: 1. News and current affairs; 2. Radio; 3. Sports; 4. Light entertainment. The problem with the current CBC is that its executive structure has the order reversed. Though I’d quibble with Bruce’s list — there are news and current affairs programs on radio, for instance — this rings true to me.

Full list of CBC Music direct URLs

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:04:51 +0000

Update July 18, 2013: CBC Music has posted an official list of streams (thx, Colan) === CBC just launched a new music service, imaginatively titled CBC Music. It offers access to 40 web radio stations, a vast array of music and blog posts by CBC personalities through a website and via mobile apps. Rather than listen to these stations via a website or mobile app, I’d prefer to listen via VLC.

That time Timbuk2 replaced my 5-year old bag, for free

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:57:37 +0000

I love it when I experience great customer service. It seems to happen so infrequently that I feel compelled to share whenever it does. Every once in a while, you deal with people who stand behind their company or product so much that you can’t not tell people about it. For example, when the Australian Boot Company replaced my 2-year old boots in 2009. Or when they did it again a year later.

My real-life experience using CanadianForex

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:40:45 +0000

Bank wire transfers suck. They suck in (at least) three ways: Banks charge a fee for every transfer (my bank, TD, charges $30-80 per transfer) Banks’ international exchange rates are terrible Sometimes, your money needs to pass through an intermediary bank, which may charge additional fees Ugh. So then, when when Jenna and I decided to move to France, I started looking around for alternatives to bank wire transfers. After looking at several options, we decided to try out CanadianForex, an online forex service that advertises better exchange rates and lower fees than the banks.

My new favourite iPhone app: Instacast

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:25:54 +0000

I love podcasts. I listen to a lot of podcasts. And almost exclusively, I use my iPhone to listen to podcasts. But heres’s the thing: subscribing to and downloading new podcasts to my iPhone is fiddly. Syncing with iTunes on my Mac is fiddly. Downloading new episodes a-la-carte via the iTunes app on iOS is fiddly. Which is why I was absolutely delighted to learn about Instacast. It’s a standalone podcast downloader and player for iOS, and it’s exactly what the iPhone’s built-in should have been.

The joy of setting up a French bank account

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:33:10 +0000

I’ll begin by saying we were warned. Several people made it very plain to us: setting up a French bank account is complicated, and takes longer than you’d think. So then, the point of this blog post is a) to verify that setting up a French bank account is indeed complicated and time-consuming, and b) to vent about that. Making an appointment The first thing worth mentioning is that you can’t simply waltz into a French bank and set up an account.

Vendredi XIII

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:23:05 +0000

Earlier this week, I found myself in Lyon’s 7th arrondissement, at a bar called l’Antisèche. I was there for L’UkeDunum, a new-ish monthly gathering of Lyonnais ukulele players (or, as they call themselves, ukulélistes). I’d been in touch with the organizers, Cécile and Guillaume, earlier in the week via email. In broken French, I told them I wanted to attend their jam, but that sadly, my ukulele was still en route from Toronto, stuck in Brittany.

How to avoid paying for 30 days of service when porting a Rogers/Fido mobile number in Canada

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:48:06 +0000

TL;DR: When you port a mobile number from Rogers or Fido, they try to charge you for 30 days of service beyond your port date. Here’s how I avoided paying this “port fee.” This is a longish post, but I’m hoping it’ll be helpful for anyone who’s planning to port their number from Fido/Rogers, and wants to save a few bucks. Recently, I ported my mobile phone number from Fido to voip.

“That tech show”

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:00:08 +0000

Back in June 2007, I got an email from Nora Young. The subject line read: that tech show At the time, I knew Nora had been working on a pitch for a show called Spark. I’d heard the pilots, and they sounded great. But in June 2007, when I first got Nora’s message, I had no idea that I’d end up spending the next four and a half years of my working life on “that tech show.

The Gap

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:59:08 +0000

PRX’s Jake Shapiro, on what he calls the public media developer gap: I look around our public media field and beyond and see a worrisome gap. As public broadcasting goes through its own turbulent transition to a new Internet and mobile world, the technology talent gap is a risk that looms large. Yes, there are many other challenges: political and policy battles, business model pressures, cultural and structural obstacles, the need for strategic vision and leadership.

Opening up the margins

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:11:36 +0000

This week’s CBC Radio tech column is all about digital marginalia. Opening up the margins by misener The cbc.ca/tech version is up right now, too.

Alternative for alternative's sake

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:21:42 +0000

Back in the early part of the last decade, when I was studying at Dalhousie and King’s, I spent a big chunk of my time at the small but mighty CKDU, our (then) 50-watt campus/community radio station. My time there was, in a word, formational. I knew I wanted to make radio, but the thing was, I had absolutely no idea how. Radio was this thing that I loved — something I knew I wanted to be a part of — but its inner workings were still very much a mystery to me.

The value of Google's post-earthquake Person Finder

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:16:09 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about online tools that are being used in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey. I interviewed Google Person Finder‘s technical lead, Ka-Ping Yee: The value of Google’s post-earthquake Person Finder by misener The cbc.ca/tech/ version is up now, too.

The Golden Age of Complaining?

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:00:19 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column (I know, I know, I haven’t been vigilant in posting them here — that’s what the podcast is for) is all about small business and social media. According to David-Michel Davies, we live in a “golden age of complaining.” Davies, who is the executive director of Webby Awards, attributes this to social media. As part of CBC’s Small Business Week coverage, I wanted to find out what this golden age of complaining means for Canadian small businesses, so I called up Montreal-based digital marketer Mitch Joel.

A love story, told through beer, now on our wall

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:20:32 +0000

The day Jenna and I met, we drank 50. When we flew to the other side of the world to get married, we drank Steigl. And when we got back, we drank PBR with our friends and family in her parents’ backyard. I’m thankful that Dave Murray makes prints, that Tom visited us so they’d catch our eye on the wall in Telegramme, and that Rae lent me her drill.

GRTTWaK11

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:20:11 +0000

This morning, I announced Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 11. It’s almost sold out. Avoid heartache and get your tickets now. Sorry. I warned you.

Subscriptionization, eBook-style

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:47:22 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is about Amazon’s rumoured book rental service. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and below, for posterity. The podcast version, posted below, includes a full interview with bookfuturist and Wired.com staff writer Tim Carmody. Subscriptionization, eBook-style by misener (download mp3) === Details are slim, but on Monday the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon.com is in talks with book publishers “about launching a Netflix Inc.-like service for digital books, in which customers would pay an annual fee to access a library of content.

“how does one get a job producing public radio?”

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:01:52 +0000

On a semi-regular basis, I get email messages and telephone calls from people who want to ask me about my job. Usually, it’s someone considering pursuing a career in radio who wants to pick my brain. And I’m happy to oblige. Often, the questions are the same: Is it worth going to school? Are there actually any jobs? How do I get an internship? I don’t have good answers to most of these questions, so I usually just end up telling people my story — how I came to work at the CBC — in the hopes that it might help.

Buying travel medical insurance

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:35:53 +0000

As part of our ongoing plans to move to France, Jenna and I need to get some health insurance for the year we’ll be away. According to the 2E Working Holiday visa application, we need: An additional medical insurance certificate that will provide full coverage (for health risks, medical bills, medication, hospitalisation, repatriation, etc.) during the entirety of the stay is compulsory because the provincial medical plan is insufficient (original + copy).

Home Recording 101 Redux

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:14:36 +0000

A few months ago, with the help of Tony and David, I led a workshop called “A beginner’s guide to multitrack audio recording.” The goal was to help singer-songwriters develop the skills necessary to make basic home recordings of their songs. It went really well. Not to toot my own horn or anything (toot toot!), but here’s what some people said about the workshop: Dan did a great job and gave us enough to enable us to try it on our own.

.ca -> .fr

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:00:52 +0000

Here’s the news: Jenna and I are packing up, leaving Toronto, and moving to France. For an entire year. Starting in January 2012. If you’re family or a close friend, this is probably not news. We’ve been planning this for almost three years, and though we haven’t kept it a secret, we also haven’t widely publicized the fact that we’re moving. Until now. With less than five months to go, I suspect I’ll be writing more about our plans here on this blog, and I bet Jenna will do the same over at ahbon.

I spy with my little ISP

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:13:39 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column and podcast is all about lawful access legislation. The podcast features a special extended interview with Tamir Israel of CIPPIC. It’s online now in written and audio form [mp3 download]. === “Stop spying.” That’s the message from OpenMedia.ca, a Vancouver-based internet advocacy group, to government and law enforcement officials. They’ve set up an online petition at stopspying.ca to protest something called “lawful access legislation.” I’ll admit, it’s an unfortunate name.

Google, PittPatt, and facial recognition

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:39:19 +0000

This week’s CBC Radio tech column is all about Google’s aquisition of PittPatt, a facial recognition company. It’s online now in written and audio form [mp3 download] [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110726_93720.mp3] Also, if you’re awesome, you’ll subscribe and rate Misener on Tech in iTunes. Pretty please. === Eric Schmidt and I have at least one thing in common: we both find facial recognition software creepy. In an onstage interview at this year’s D9 conference , the executive chairman of Google said, “I’m very concerned personally about the union of mobile tracking and face recognition.

Why the wait on Google+ for businesses? Ads.

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:11:49 +0000

So far, Google+ is for people only. Google has advised businesses, organizations, and brands — basically, any entity that isn’t an individual human being — to hold off on setting up a Google+ presence. Eventually though, Google will allow businesses to join. Over at VentureBeat, Jolie O’Dell quotes a nameless Google spokesperson: While Google is mum on exactly what the business profiles will include, the spokesperson did say, “You can expect to see a level of analytics and measurement that you’d typically find in Google products as well as a nuanced approach to how things are shared.

Audio: How can we build a city that thinks like the web?

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:00:49 +0000

Back in June, I moderated a panel at the 2011 Subtle Technologies Festival. It was called How can we build a city that thinks like the web?, and included Cory Doctorow (Boing Boing), Mark Surman (Mozilla) and Sara Diamond (OCAD University). This week, on my CBC tech podcast, I’m really pleased to be able to play the full (1 hour+) panel: [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110719_46301.mp3] MP3 download

My thoughts on Shortmail and email clutter

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:06:31 +0000

Cross-posted from my weekly CBC Tech column. Podcast MP3 download here. [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110712_40873.mp3] My intention this week is to write about Shortmail, a new email service. But to set the stage, I need to share three examples of Personal Email Policies I Greatly Admire. Example 1: When danah boyd needs a break from digital communication, she goes on an email sabbatical. Her mail server sends all incoming messages to the trash, and an auto-responder lets all would-be correspondents know that while danah’s away, their messages will not be received.

Free DIY PVR workshop

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:59:48 +0000

As a follow-up to my piece, Your PVR is an insomniac, Ushnish from Free Geek Toronto email to let me know about a free workshop on building a Linux-based PVR: What: MythTV (building your own Personal Video Recorder) Course When: Thursday July 14th Time: 6:30 to 9:30 pm Location : Free Geek Toronto, Unit B, 51 Vine Avenue Vine runs one West of Keele, one block North of Bloor Closest subway station: Keele

Tracking down your wayward gadgets

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:37:06 +0000

This week, my CBC tech column (and podcast) is about how to track and recover lost or stolen gadgets. There’s a copy at cbc.ca/tech/ and one below, for posterity. [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110705_35202.mp3] (mp3 download) And, as always, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe to the Misener on Tech podcast in iTunes. === It’s summer. And for many Canadians – myself included – that means travel. And if you’re anything like me, along with travel-sized tubes of toothpaste and sunscreen your luggage will contain gadgets – a smartphone, a tablet, an e-reader and all the requisite accessories and chargers.

The very first eBook

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:56:05 +0000

Yesterday, July 4, 2011, the digital book community celebrated the 40th anniversary of the eBook. According to most accounts, July 4, 1971 is the date Project Gutenberg founder Michael Hart first digitized the US Declaration of Independence. But, as I was researching the anniversary, I came across an interesting tidbit from a 2010 LA times article: Hart began transcribing and scanning books on July 4, 1971 — “technically July 5,” Hart corrected himself in an e-mail; “it was all night.

Your PVR is an insomniac

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:28:50 +0000

This week, my CBC tech column (and podcast) is about a new study from the NRDC that looks at electricity of use of set-top boxes. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and below, for posterity. The podcast version (mp3 download) includes full interviews with Bill St. Arnaud and Noah Horowitz. [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110628_94967.mp3] And, as always, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe to the Misener on Tech podcast in iTunes. ===

Get ready for .confusion

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:30:04 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about ICANN’s vote on new generic top-level domains. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and below, for posterity. You can also listen to the podcast version below, which includes my interview with Jacob Malthouse of .eco, a Vancouver-based organization that plans to apply for a new gTLD in January. [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110621_42807.mp3] [mp3 download] Also, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe to the Misener on Tech podcast in iTunes.

The CRTC's CBC online consultation has an RSS feed

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:13:13 +0000

CBC’s radio and television licenses are up for renewal, and as part of the process, the CRTC has launched an online consultation. They’re asking eight questions: How can the CBC be relevant and meaningful in the future? How can the CBC best deliver content to all Canadians? Should the CBC only provide different programs and services than private broadcasters? Does the CBC’s programming meet all of its objectives? What more (or less) should it be doing?

“The atomic element is the story”

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 10:02:53 +0000

A little while ago, I wrote about why I think segmentation matters for on-demand radio. In an interview with the Nieman Journalism Lab, This American Life production manager Seth Lind agrees: [U]sers often don’t want the whole show. “Right now people often share an episode, but they’ll say, ‘Act 3!’ Or, ‘Fast-forward to this time!’” Lind told me. For users, he discovered, “the atomic element is the story, rather than the episode.

The Trouble with “Hackers”

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:37:06 +0000

This week, on my weekly CBC tech column, I explain what bothers me about the word “hacker.” And for the podcast version this week, I tried something a little different. In addition to the 6-7 minute hit I do with CBC afternoon shows, I included tape from two (much) longer interviews: one with Steve Hoefer, and one with Site3’s Jonathan Guberman. I’d love it if you’d have a listen and let me know what you think of this expanded format.

Work at CBC

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:51:41 +0000

About a year ago, frustrated by the CBC’s terrible online job board, I used Yahoo Pipes to jerry-rig an unofficial CBC Jobs RSS feed and Twitter account. The feeds chugged along just fine (and largely unattended) for almost a year. Then, CBC HR asked to take over the Twitter account. So I handed it over to them. The very next day, automatic posting stopped. Today, after receiving two (two!) separate comments about how crummy the new, official CBC Jobs Twitter feed is, I set to jerry-rigging again.

World IPv6 Day

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:47:55 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about World IPv6 Day. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and below, for posterity. Audio to follow. ===

O.K. World IPv6 Day may not have the same poetic potential as other days of the year. But on Wednesday, June 8, technologists and network operators around the world will be watching internet traffic especially closely.

For a 24-hour period on Wednesday, several large companies – including Google, Facebook and Yahoo – will enable support for IPv6, the internet's next-generation addressing scheme.

#1book140

Tue, 31 May 2011 21:41:41 +0000

My CBC tech column this week is all about The Atlantic’s new Twitter-based book club: #1book140. A version is up at cbc.ca/tech and below for posterity. You can listen to the audio version or download the MP3. [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110531_75338.mp3] Even better, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe to the brand new Misener on Tech podcast in iTunes. === Online book clubs are nothing new. CBC has one. NPR has one. The Guardian has one.

Bake it in

Thu, 26 May 2011 09:05:29 +0000

According to Tony Schwartz, the key to getting things done is habit, ritual, and routine: Most everyone I meet feels pulled in more directions than ever, expected to work longer hours, and asked to get more done, often with fewer resources. But in these same audiences, there are also, invariably, a handful of people who are getting things done, including the important stuff, and somehow still managing to have a life.

The Bookbinder

Wed, 25 May 2011 09:25:32 +0000

Honestly, I haven’t paid as much attention as I’d like to the Toronto Standard, the newish web-only daily. But yesterday morning, one of their video features really caught my eye. It’s a short feature on Don Taylor, a local bookbinder who’s been in business for 31 years. Directed and Edited by Tate Young. Produced and written by Ian Daffern. Really lovely portrait of a craftsman.

Mozilla's quest for better comments

Tue, 24 May 2011 20:30:54 +0000

My CBC tech column this week is all about the Beyond Comment Threads challenge run by Mozilla and the Knight Foundation. There’s a copy up at cbc.ca/tech, and one below, for posterity. You can also listen below or download the MP3. [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/misenerontech_20110524_76594.mp3] Even better, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe to the brand new Misener on Tech podcast in iTunes. === Not to put too fine a point on it, but comment sections on blogs and news websites can be pretty terrible.

New podcast

Mon, 23 May 2011 21:03:15 +0000

As promised, my weekly CBC Radio technology column is now available in podcast form. Updated Tuesdays. You can subscribe to the RSS feed, or subscribe in iTunes. P.S. I really should have shaved and got a haircut before they took that photo.

Physical memories, digital backups

Mon, 23 May 2011 14:36:55 +0000

A fews months ago, in the midst of a digital backup frenzy, it struck me that if our apartment burned down, there’d be no need to try and save these framed pictures. We could just print out identical copies from the digital files (stored safely off-site). In an odd way, we have a digital backup of some very physical items.

CBCjobs is now workatCBC

Thu, 19 May 2011 21:55:05 +0000

CBC HR asked me to hand over control of the unofficial @CBCjobs Twitter account I made last July. I agreed. I plan to keep the automatic job postings going @workatCBC. More details in the update here.

Segmentation matters

Thu, 19 May 2011 20:39:38 +0000

This American Life has split its back catalog of shows up into individual stories (or “acts” in TAL parlance): First off, on each episode page, in addition to the big PLAY button at the top, there are now play buttons for individual stories. No more shuttling through audio to get to that one story your friend told you about. Of course, we believe that the episodes are best heard as a whole, but we understand that sometimes you’re just after one particular act.

How can we build a city that thinks like the web?

Wed, 18 May 2011 16:56:26 +0000

People have different names for it: the networked city, the real-time city, the smart city, “a city that thinks like the web.” Call it what you want, the idea of improving the places we live through technology, open data, and connectivity is definitely hotting up these days. MIT has an entire lab dedicated to the exploration of that idea, where researchers attach tiny cell phones to trash, and build award-winning networked bicycle wheels.

Disaster-proofing your digital life

Tue, 17 May 2011 10:44:07 +0000

My CBC Radio tech column this week is all about disaster-proofing your digital life. There’s a copy up at cbc.ca/tech, and one below, for posterity. === Over the past week, Canadians watched as thousands were evacuated from their homes during floods in Manitoba and wildfires in Slave Lake, Alta. On Monday, I listened to one Manitoba man on The Current explain how he spent a day and a half packing up his belongings before leaving his home, uncertain what he’d return to.

The Elusive Brompton B Pod

Sat, 14 May 2011 07:47:45 +0000

Jenna and I are planning some travel to far-off distant lands, and I’m really keen to take my Brompton folding bicycle along. But how to transport the Brompton without damaging it? The Brompton catalog lists something that I’ve had my eye on for a while: the “B Pod, a semi-rigid flight case; comes with castors and handle.” And after reading this Flying with a Brompton forum thread, a hard case sounds like a good idea.

Wanted: Better ways to search online video

Tue, 10 May 2011 11:43:18 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about the current state of video search. There’s a version up at cbc.ca/tech, and one below, for posterity. You can also download an MP3. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-MisenerTechColumn20110510708.mp3] === When I need to tie a bow tie, I watch a how-to video. When I need to poach an egg, I watch a how-to video. When I need to swap out the hard drive on my laptop, I watch a how-to video.

How effective was social media in the Canadian election?

Wed, 04 May 2011 22:24:21 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column was a look at how tricky it is to measure the direct impact of social media on elections. There’s a version up at cbc.ca/tech, and one below, for posterity. You can also listen to an MP3. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-MisenerTechColumn20110503389.MP3] === Some called it Canada’s first “social media election.” But now that it’s all over, I have to wonder: did any of the tweets, Facebook groups, or YouTube videos actually make a measurable difference?

A beginner’s guide to multitrack audio recording

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:42:43 +0000

Recently, ukulele pals Tony and David asked if I might be interested in putting together a little workshop, aimed at singer-songwriters, explaining the basics of multitrack recording, editing, and mixing. “The goal,” Tony said, “would be that someone who had never recorded before would be able to leave with enough confidence to make a simple multi-track recording on their own.” As someone with a hard drive full of half-finished song ideas and various music recordings that’ll never see the light of day, of course, I was interested.

E-book piracy may have unexpected benefits for publishers

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:00:28 +0000

My CBC tech column this week is all about e-book piracy. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and below, for posterity. == According to a new report from the American Association of Publishers, electronic books outsold both paperbacks and hardcovers this past February. This, just a few months after online retailer Amazon announced that it now sells more Kindle digital books than paperbacks. But it’s not just e-book sales that are on the rise.

Subscription-ification

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:43:16 +0000

My CBC tech column this week is all about Adobe CS, subscription-ification, and the access economy. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and below, for posterity. === Adobe announced the latest version of its Creative Suite line of software on April 11, including updated versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. But it’s not what Adobe’s selling that caught my interest. Rather, it’s how they’re selling it. You see, Adobe makes some pretty expensive software.

Vote for the Internet

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:00:14 +0000

My CBC tech column this week was all about OpenMedia.ca’s “Vote for the Internet” campaign. A copy is up at cbc.ca/tech, and archived below for posterity. === Remember all that ruckus earlier this year about usage-based billing? Remember how a bunch of Canadians were really upset about how we pay for internet service in this country? I know, it seems like forever ago, so let me refresh your memory (and mine).

Thou shalt not share

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:22:38 +0000

Earlier this year, I wrote about sharing WiFi with my neighbours through a small mesh network, and how glad I was that Teksavvy’s Customer Agreement & Internet Usage Policy doesn’t explicitly forbid sharing or redistribution. Well, that’s about to change. Effective May 1, 2011, Teksavvy’s instituting new “Terms and Conditions of Service” that (among other things) states: 2.4 You shall not in any way resell, license or allow any third party to use the Service without receiving our prior written consent.

Ess Ess Dee

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:28:37 +0000

The first time I heard the virtues of solid-state drives extolled was on One Thing Well. Then, Gruber and Dan Benjamin kept mentioning them on The Talk Show. My pal Thomas started swearing by SSDs. And when Khoi Vinh blogged about his SSD experience, I finally broke down and ordered a Mercury Extreme Pro SSD from OWC. Holy smokes. I’m now a believer. Our family’s mid-2007 MacBook got a serious kick in the pants.

Rise of the socialbots

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:46:56 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is election-related, but to my delight, it’s also about robots. There’s a copy up at cbc.ca/tech, and one below, for posterity. This past weekend, Canadians tweeted almost 18,000 election-related messages in 48 hours, according to analysis by Ottawa-based digital public affairs strategist Mark Blevis. But — and this isn’t as big a “but” as you might think — what if some of those messages weren’t written by human beings?

Do Not Track me online, please

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:40:49 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about the Do Not Track feature baked into today’s release of Firefox 4, and last week’s Internet Explorer 9. Column is online at cbc.ca/tech, and posted below for posterity. If you’re looking for the links I mentioned on the radio, here they are: Browsers: Firefox 4 Internet Explorer 9 Do Not Track browser add-ons: Adblock Plus Do Not Track Plus NoScript Other anti-tracking add-ons:

$2.99

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 14:13:14 +0000

Once upon a time, I was in a rock and roll band called The Canaries. This past week, Tristan found a copy of our first and last recording at the Value Village near Queen and Logan. I’m not quite sure how this correlates to fame and fortune.

Do I want an app that tells me what I like?

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:34:00 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about the double-edged sword of online personalization. There’s a copy up at cbc.ca, and one below for posterity. === Last week, a Vancouver-based app-maker called Zite launched a new iPad application of the same name that it bills as “a personalized iPad magazine that gets smarter as you use it.” As a member of the so-called Generation Y, I am, of course, a narcissistic egomaniac with an affinity for anything that promises to shape itself in my image.

Warning: this book will self-destruct

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:03:10 +0000

My CBC tech column this week is all about the self-destructing e-books that HarperCollins now licenses to public libraries. There’s a copy up at cbc.ca/tech and one below, for posterity. — As of March 7, HarperCollins e-book titles licensed to Canadian schools and public libraries come with a new restriction: after 26 checkouts, they self-destruct. The e-books simply won’t work anymore. If a library wants to keep lending that book, it’ll have to buy a new license, potentially buying the same book over and over again.

Computers get smarter, CAPTCHAs get harder

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:40:38 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column (CBC.ca version) is all about CAPTCHAs, and how some of them are getting harder. CUE OMINOUS VOICE. The robots are getting smarter. [Audio to follow] === Tell me if this sounds familiar: you’re online, ready to buy some concert tickets or to sign up for a new email account. But before you’re allowed to proceed, you have to prove you’re a human being by deciphering a mess of distorted, squiggly letters and numbers, then typing them into a text box.

What exactly is a “broadcaster” anyway?

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:34:25 +0000

My CBC Radio column this week is all about whether the CRTC should consider streaming video services like Netflix to be “broadcasters.” It’s posted below, for posterity. Audio to follow. === Let’s play a little game. One of these things is not like the others: CBC, CTV, Global, Netflix. If you guessed Netflix, you win. In the eyes of Canada’s telecommunications authority, the CRTC, Netflix isn’t considered a “broadcaster.” But some industry groups think it should be.

Back to the Future

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:52:37 +0000

I’m a sucker for nostalgia, as evidenced by GRTTWaK. So, you can image my delight when Jenna sent me a link to a series of photographs by Irina Werning called BACK TO THE FUTURE: I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today… A few months ago, I decided to actually do this.

Google algorithms use public usernames to link profiles

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:50:22 +0000

My CBC tech column this week is about new research from the French National Institute of Computer Science that looks at how using the same public usernames across multiple websites could lead to unwanted online profiling. The point of the research was to demonstrate that username profiling techniques are possible. Well, now they’re out in the wild, on a large scale. Just this morning, Google announced some changes to its Social Search features, including username-linking:

Live radio + realtime social media

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:29:41 +0000

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of doing a short talk on “social media” for many of the hosts and producers of local and regional CBC Radio afternoon shows. I’ve talked about social media and radio before, mostly in the context of Spark. But here’s the thing: local and regional afternoon shows are completely different from Spark. Spark is a one-hour, pre-taped, weekly show. By comparison, local and regional afternoon shows are several hours long, and live, each and every single day of the week.

CBC Radio tech column: The IPocalypse

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:57:28 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about IPv4 exhaustion, and the so-called IPocalypse. The column and audio are up at cbc.ca, and archived below for posterity. Download MP3. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-MisenerTechColumn20110201IPocalypse798.mp3] === In my books, Feb. 1, 2011, will go down as the day the internet got too big for its britches. The net has officially outgrown the scale of its original design. Earlier in the day, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the international organization that hands out IP addresses on a global scale, handed out two of the very last IP address blocks to APNIC, the internet registrar for the Asia-Pacific region.

An animated Homer

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:15:44 +0000

The Compass (“The Newspaper of Trinity and Conception Bays”) has a lovely feature article on my pal Tristan Homer called An animated Homer: In his time with 9 Story Entertainment, Homer has been able to work on several popular shows, including Max and Ruby and Wibbly Pig. The latter was nominated for a Gemini Award in 2010, representing a career highlight for Homer, who was a line producer on the show.

Stranger Danger

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:12:54 +0000

One more reason not to talk to strangers, at least on Facebook. They’re launching a new feature called social authentication, and if your friends list is full of people you don’t actually know, you could be locked out of your account: Instead of showing you a traditional captcha on Facebook, one of the ways we may help verify your identity is through social authentication. We will show you a few pictures of your friends and ask you to name the person in those photos.

CBC tech column: Groupon, Google Offers, and targeted social shopping services

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:36:59 +0000

This week’s CBC tech column is all about Google Offers and online social shopping services. The column and audio are up at cbc.ca, and archived below for posterity. Download MP3. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-20110125_misener_googleoffers486.mp3] === Thirty-nine dollars for a three-hour meditation session. Sixty-five per cent off a Speed Reading Class. Twenty nine dollars for a 45-minute microdermabrasion facelife. Those are just a few of the daily deals that have flowed into my e-mail inbox this week from the likes of Groupon, TeamBuy, and LivingSocial.

Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:00:02 +0000

Via Gabe and the wirelesstoronto discussion list, a link to Won’t You Be My Wireless Neighbor? It’s a lovely essay about sharing (some might say “stealing”) your neighbours’ wireless internet. In it, confessed WiFi-moocher Helen Rubinstein fondly remembers SSIDs gone by, and laments the loss of an open, unprotected network called Belkin_G-Plus_MIMO. She closes with this: Perhaps the solution is a simple, old-fashioned gesture. Just knock on a neighbor’s door, and ask if she might be able to spare some wireless.

The pros and cons of in-store WiFi

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:37:40 +0000

This week, my CBC tech column is all about in-store WiFi, as predicted by Deloitte Canada. The column is now up at cbc.ca/technology, and reposted below for posterity. You can listen to the audio below, or download the MP3. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-20110118_misener_instorewifi_1596697361.mp3] — Canadian stores are starting to offer free WiFi to make it easier for customers to comparison shop, but people need to be aware that open wireless connections come with security and privacy issues.

Just plain Sackville?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:37:09 +0000

I grew up in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fielding questions like: “Why Lower Sackville? Is there an Upper Sackville?” Of course, there are no fewer than three Sackvilles in Nova Scotia: Lower, Middle, and Upper. But now, Residents in the Lower Sackville area of Halifax Regional Municipality have been receiving notices from city hall asking them for feedback on a proposed district name change.

Should I post my goals online?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:05:17 +0000

I’m a nail biter. I bite my fingernails. And 2011 will be the year I stop for good. Wait a minute. Maybe I shouldn’t have posted that here. This week, my CBC Radio technology column is all about goal-setting websites, and whether on not it’s a good idea to share you goals with others online. On one hand, sites like stickK.com, streak.ly, and 43things.com encourage us to share our goals and progress through Facebook and Twitter.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 10

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 19:35:31 +0000

Four years ago, as a New Year’s resolution, I decided to host “an evening of drinks, laughs, and adults reading funny, sad, and/or embarrassing things they wrote as children.” That evening turned into a series called Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids. And in about one month’s time, we’ll gather for the tenth installment, GRTTWaK10. If you’re in Toronto, I hope you can make it.

PureText

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:20:08 +0000

If, like me, you’ve been driven to the brink of insanity by janky text formatting during a copy/paste manouver, you’ll appreciate PureText. It’s a tiny little Windows app that I’ve been using for the past few weeks on my CBC PC. Copy anything to your Windows clipboard, and PureText will strip all formatting: This includes the font face, font style (bold, italics, etc.), font color, paragraph styles (left/right/center aligned), margins, character spacing, bullets, subscript, superscript, tables, charts, pictures, embedded objects, etc.

Jim Dupree wishes you a Merry Christmas

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 10:00:08 +0000

As is my custom on this day, I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas by re-posting the 2005 holiday classic Jim Dupree: Christmas Enthusiast: “There’s skin cells in my egg nog!” “You got tricked! We bathed in it! We bathed in the egg nog!” Hard to believe it’s been five years since Tristan and I made this. Standard definition 4×3 was all the rage back then.

#2thingsby1thing

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:44:36 +0000

First, there were two bananas on the dashboard. Then along came Dom, with two clementines on the counter. With some help from my in-laws, I countered with two pine cones by the fireplace. Not to be outdone, Dom found two shopping carts against the wall. Then, near Leamington, Jenna and I drove by two Volkswagen Beetles in a snowdrift. Back inside, Dom placed two powerplugs on some plywood. And most recently, Andrew managed to capture two circles on the table.

Facebook's new Suggested Tags feature

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:30:58 +0000

This week, my CBC Radio technology column was all about face recognition technology and Facebook’s new “Suggested Tags” feature, announced last Wednesday. It aired on Tuesday, 21 September 2010 on CBC Radio afternoons shows across Canada, and you can listen to one version below, or download the MP3. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-20101221_misener_facebooksuggestedtagsfacialrecognition940.mp3] Suggested Tags 101 Basically, Facebook has announced a new feature that’s part of their photo sharing application. For a while now, you’ve been able to tag photos with the names of people who are in them.

Another amazing experience at Australian Boot Company

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 10:00:59 +0000

About a year ago, I wrote about how the Australian Boot Company replaced my defective pair of Blundstones. My boot sole was coming apart, they determined the problem was covered by the warranty, and they replaced them on the spot, at no charge, with no receipt (I was in the database), and no questions asked. Well, fast forward 13 months, and my replacement boots started showing the same problem. The sole was coming apart in a way that they call “talking boots.

Disruptive digital technologies don't come from the incumbents

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:56:01 +0000

According to Barbara van Schewick, disruptive digital technologies don’t come from incumbents. As she said in a recent Berkman talk: Classifieds were revolutionized by Craigslist and eBay, not by the newspapers. Music distribution was revolutionized by Napster, Kazaa, Bittorrent, or iTunes, not by the music industry. The commercial potential of the World Wide Web was realized by Netscape, not by Microsoft. And online bookstores got off the ground with Amazon, which was founded by a former senior vice-president at a quantitative hedge fund with a degree in computer science and electric engineering, not by Barnes and Noble.

How to be smart about buying an ebook reader, digital camera, or HDTV

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:34:54 +0000

This week, my CBC Radio tech column focused on holiday gadget-buying. I looked at three gadget categories: ebook readers, digital cameras, and HDTVs. The focus wasn’t on what to buy, but rather, how to be smart about buying it. I do my columns eighteen times every Tuesday (on most CBC Radio One afternoon shows). Here’s an MP3 from one of my hits, with Peter Brown of CBC Edmonton’s Radio Active: [audio:http://blip.

Poking your eye out with a pencil

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:28:37 +0000

From WYNC’s On The Media, Bob Garfield on online advertising, behavioural targeting, and the danger of surveillance: The threat, while looming, is like poking your eye out with a pencil. Enabling conditions do not guarantee the worst outcome. Amen.

Google Latitude on iOS

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:07:58 +0000

A week after launching, then pulling its Latitude client from the app store, Google has officially released an iOS mobile location tracking/sharing app. Personally, I’m quite excited about this. Previously, I’d been using a clunky combination of a friendless Foursquare account + Mayor Maker as a “tell my wife where I am” system.

App stores jump out of your pocket, onto your desktop

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:00:17 +0000

Updated: Download MP3 or listen below. [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-20101207_misener_appstores474.mp3] This week’s CBC Radio tech column is all about app stores. They’ve been incredibly successful on mobile devices, and now, both Apple and Google are set to launch app stores for desktop computers. It’s widely anticipated that the Google Chrome Web Store will launch today, and there are rumours that Apple’s Mac App Store will launch on December 13. But will these desktop app stores enjoy the same success as the mobile versions?

National Public Internet

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:14:18 +0000

Bill St. Arnaud, on the need for a National Public Internet: it is well within the realm of possibility to deploy both a wired and wireless National Public Internet (NPI)– that is committed to the principles of an Open Internet. I am not advocating that we replace the telcos and cableco and their “Internet-like” service. But much like PBS and NPR provides an alternate voice to the mainstream broadcasters, NPI could ensure that there remains an independent and open Internet with all the benefits that entails in terms of innovation, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

How should I live my life

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:19:56 +0000

Ira Glass, in an interview with Marc Maron: There’s this thing that Keith, my mentor, used to say, where he says, “A story, if it’s working, is always an answer to the question, ‘How should I live my life?’” What an interesting lens.

If I built iPhone apps, this is what I'd build

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:05:16 +0000

Thanks to built-in GPS and compass sensors, many modern smartphones have a very good sense of where they are in the physical world. And when connected to a service like Google Maps, it’s easy to get directions to almost anywhere. But sometimes, isn’t GPS precision just a little too perfect? Sometimes, don’t you wish your phone would give you only a vague sense of where your destination is? Introducing ThatAway, the first mobile navigation app that’s only marginally better than asking a Magic 8 Ball for directions.

The Sweat at The Cameron House on November 13

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:48:11 +0000

Update: Apparently, we’re playing a rock show immediately after a play. So the show will start around 10 (not 9, like the poster says). Yes, it’s true. I’m still in the rock and roll band called The Sweat. We’ve averaging about 1 live performance per calendar year, and 2010 is no exception. We’re playing Toronto’s historic Cameron House on November 13. There’s a Facebook event, and even a poster. If you’re in Toronto, I’d love to see you at the show.

Zombie Apocalypse

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 09:30:15 +0000

Though it’s not strictly speaking a Hallow’een song, I still thought I’d share “Zombie Apocalypse” by Craig and the Collaborators, the occasional novelty band/recording project I’m involved with in Halifax. Zombie Apocalypse What do I do now? What do I do now? Zombies came and ate all my friends. I’m so lonely I’m so lonely Will their hunger never end? Chris grew up just down the road from me We went to school together since grade three

Archiving GeoCities: my full interview with Jason Scott

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:04:41 +0000

About a year ago, Yahoo shut down GeoCities. Before the site was shuttered forever, a group called the Archive Team decided to grab as much GeoCities content as possible. They got almost a terabyte, and now plan to release it all as a torrent. My CBC Radio tech column this Tuesday will be about GeoCities, The Archive Team, and web ephemera. As research, I interviewed Jason Scott of textfiles.com, one of the minds behind the Archive Team.

My first experience with Brown Paper Tickets

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:41:27 +0000

A few weeks ago, I hosted the ninth edition of my little reading series, Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids. For the very first time, I decided to make it a paid, ticketed event, with the proceeds going to Frontier College. During school, I had a part-time job in school at the now-closed Empire Theatres in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Sadly, none of the ticket-selling experise I gained there was applicable to this situation.

Exactly why is this video so cute?

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:31:24 +0000

Jenna and I both love to watch this video of a slow loris: So, why do we like this thing so much? Check out this chart: According to “A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse” by Stephen Jay Gould [PDF]: Humans feed affection for animals with juvenile features: large eyes, bulging craniums, retreating chins (left column). Small-eyed, long-snouted animals (right column) do not elicit the same response. So let’s examine the slow loris.

With apologies to the Goo Goo Dolls

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:32:23 +0000

Once, as thebeastieboys, Tristan and I covered a terrible/awesome mid-1990s top 40 song. And thrice now, as TheBARSandTONE, we’ve done the same. Most recently, we tried making what Robin Sloan calls a production-as-performance video: The song is “Name.” There are 11 separate video tracks, each recorded individually. We made the whole thing in ScreenFlow, which is pretty hilarious, because ScreenFlow is screencasting software, and not particularly suited to this sort of thing.

An open API for public media

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:03:15 +0000

So, according to Poynter, all the big US public media organizations are getting together to work on an open API: “I really err on the side of openness and inclusiveness,” [CEO of PRX Jake] Shapiro said. Public media, he said, is uniquely suited for this work because of its public service mission — “to make sure content that reflects public dollars is accessible in the most broad and relevant way possible.

More on password security

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:21:50 +0000

An excellent hypothetical scenario that underscores just how important it is to use different strong passwords for everything: You have email account x@y.com, which is your main email. You have the password XYZ, which you use for everything. You register at paypal with your email address x@y.com and use your normal password. You then register at some obscure webforum using your normal email and password. Obscure webforum keeps new member details in plain text on their site.

Who owns a remix?

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:52:56 +0000

If you don’t know Auto-Tune the News, it’s a series of comedy remix videos by The Gregory Brothers. Most recently, they remixed this local news clip of Antoine Dodson, speaking out about his sister’s sexual assault: into the viral hit “Bed Intruder Song”: Now, they’re selling the song on iTunes, and it’s flying off the virtual shelves. According to Wired.com, The Gregory Brothers sold 10,571 copies of “Bed Intruder Song” on iTunes in the first two days.

Why I don't want you to tag me on Facebook Places

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:37:27 +0000

This morning, Facebook rolled out Places, their location-based service that lets users “check in” to places in the real world. Think Foursquare, Gowalla, et al, but on a much larger scale. Places is only available in the US right now, but still, that’s 131 million users. Here’s what I find particularly scary about this announcement: Facebook Place Tagging. From Jolie O’Dell at Mashable (emphasis mine): You can add places, check in to places that already exist, and tag people who are with you.

Ampeg Micro-VR in action

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:33:04 +0000

As a guy who loves the sound of small Ampeg amplifiers (I play through a B-100R), I’ve been curious to hear how the “cute” new Ampeg Micro-VR actually sounds. Now, thanks to The Swell Season and the Onion AV Club, I know: The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel That’s Joe Doyle (from The Frames) on bass. (via Merlin)

My password is bigger than your password

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:16:04 +0000

My password is bigger than your password. And that’s a good thing. According to researchers at Georgia Tech, GPU-accelerated brute-force password cracking techiques are getting really good: “Right now we can confidently say that a seven-character password is hopelessly inadequate,” said Mr [Richard] Boyd, “and as GPU power continues to go up every year, the threat will increase.” Instead, Boyd recommends “a 12-character combination of upper and lower case letters, symbols and digits.

The iPad and textbook piracy

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:59:49 +0000

CourseSmart has been all over the tech blogs today, with its new iPad app and claims that its catalog contains 90% of “core textbooks.” I definitely understand the appeal of storing and using textbooks on a tablet device: no books to carry around or forget at home. Everything’s there on one device, complete with bookmarks and annotations. But here’s what I’m really wondering: aside from legit textbook sources like CourseSmart, how will the new breed of tablet computers affect ebook piracy?

Americans don't think internet access should be a government priority

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:18:18 +0000

Earlier this week, I posted about the CRTC’s open consultation on basic phone and internet service, which asks: “[W]hat role, if any, should the CRTC play in ensuring that all Canadians have access to broadband Internet service at comparable rates?” Stateside yesterday, the Pew Internet & American Life Project published a new report on home broadband, with some surprising results: By a 53%-41% margin, Americans say they do not believe that the spread of affordable broadband should be a major government priority.

Reminder: The In-Between Stuff Matters

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:44:09 +0000

Christopher Schanck compares his iPhone to his Droid X, and in doing so, highlights the interface paradigm introduced by the Android back button: You know how every Twitter app on the iPhone has its own built in browser? And how each embedded browser works almost, but not quite like, all the other embedded browsers? With each embedded browser having different buttons, different scaling strategies, different rules for rotation? All of this exists to prevent you from having to leave your Twitter app and go to Safari, which would render the link properly.

Google-Verizon, the CRTC's open consultation on basic service, and Canadian rural broadband

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:20:10 +0000

Yesterday, Verizon and Google announced a joint policy proposal for an open Internet, suggesting that there should be a new, enforceable prohibition against discriminatory practices. This means that for the first time, wireline broadband providers would not be able to discriminate against or prioritize lawful Internet content, applications or services in a way that causes harm to users or competition. Taken alone, this seems like a boon for net neutrality. But, Google and Verizon continue:

Gone to pot

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:14:10 +0000

The Chronicle-Herald reports on a grow-op raid in Lake Echo, NS, and includes this choice detail in the description of the grow house: The 1,135-square-foot home is about 40 years old and includes a high basement No kidding.

Hello hello hello hello hello. Yeah, hello.

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:17:41 +0000

I love Google Voice, but sometimes I get the strangest messages: [audio:http://misener.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/78f38d760110bedd4062ac89e2c64ae168a635f4.mp3] Transcription: “Hello hello hello hello hello. Yeah, hello.”

Linkdump: some more programmer-journalist resources

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:41:17 +0000

A while back, I wrote about my plan of self-directed study to become a programmer-journalist. Since then, I’ve started plugging away at Google’s free Python class. I’ve also come across a few articles and resources that may be helpful for others with similar ambitions. Will Columbia-Trained, Code-Savvy Journalists Bridge the Media/Tech Divide? from Wired.com’s Epicenter blog: Journalism schools have frantically updated their programs in the last decade or so, as it became increasingly clear that traditional, newspaper-oriented skills were no longer enough to prepare students for the real world.

In Praise of the Dumbphone

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:49:06 +0000

It’s been a summer of mobile phone announcements. The Droid X. The iPhone 4. The Blackberry 9800 is expected to be announced on Tuesday. And there’s been a lot of talk: “Should I upgrade to the new iPhone 4?” “Should I switch to an Android?” Strangely, there’s little talk of downgrading to a “dumbphone.” You know, a plain old cell phone that makes calls, sends texts, and not much else.

What's better than DRM? Guilt!

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:20:16 +0000

Apparently, Tumblr has chosen to use URL-based guilt trips to fight copyright infringement:

Please Rob Me

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:11:47 +0000

According to this CBC News story, if you post your vacation plans online, you might get robbed: It’s now routine for police officers to ask robbery victims what information they put on Facebook and Twitter before the crime and if their online connections are true friends or potential suspects, according to [Cpl. Janis] Jean [of the Saanich Police Department, north of Victoria]. Sound familiar? It should. Of course, earlier this year, there was all the ruckus surrounding PleaseRobMe.

CBC Jobs RSS feed

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:07:23 +0000

Update June 7, 2011: MediaJobsSearchCanada’s RSS feed no longer includes 8-character CBC job numbers (e.g. EDM00183), which breaks the whole thing I’d rigged up in Yahoo Pipes. I may someday write my own scraper for CBC’s terrible jobs site, but until then, the feed won’t be updated. Curiously, the MJSC change seems to have happened one day after CBC HR took control of @CBCjobs. Coincidence? Update May 19, 2011: A representative from CBC HR asked for control of the @CBCjobs Twitter handle.

Accepting the things I cannot change

Tue, 25 May 2010 21:09:30 +0000

Rob Paterson: My big lesson at NPR was that it is too hard to try and change an entire system. Best to find one or two vectors for change. I have found that a few stations and people will get it and they will discover the new and then spread it.

Peter's Cajun lives!

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:16:13 +0000

I’m a huge fan of Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza. For many years, it was directly across the street from our apartment, and our go-to place when Jenna and I didn’t feel like cooking. Pete’s was tiny, adorned with old-timey jazz memorabilia, and usually packed. There were two small tables, one long table (with old theatre seats), and a bar with room for one (maybe two) people. In the summertime, the garage-door front window would open up and let the breeze in.

Microtrack 24/96 battery replacement

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:46:47 +0000

If you’re like me, and you own a (now discontinued) Microtrack 24/96 portable digital recorder, and your battery life is terrible, here’s a tip: buy a replacement iPhone battery. Reports on the M-Audio forums indicate good results: Works even much longer: I’ve got 3 hours 45 minutes for the continuos record (mp3, to keep recording longer for test), Phantom power ON, headphones in, backlit off. After that time battery had 3.

Good things come in threes

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:17:36 +0000

Kottke on Dribbble: triple letters are the new omit the vowels I credit HoTTT TopiXXX.

Good advice

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:16:49 +0000

Alanna quotes Johanna Schneller’s advice to the producers of the Academy Awards: Stop courting the audience that doesn’t care about you, and stop alienating the audience that does. If you ask me, a whole lot of CBC programs would be smart to take the same advice.

What to do with your income tax refund

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:05:35 +0000

If you’re Jenna and me, you buy two Spanish domain names: ifmoneygrewontre.es (for showing off the things she wants to buy, but can’t/won’t/shouldn’t) ukulel.es (because I wanted an .es domain, too) Aren’t we clever?

Ukulele on GO!

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:51:05 +0000

This past Saturday, along with Jimmy the Uke and Steve McNie, I was once again on GO to pimp the ukulele. It was a lot of fun, as always. Here’s an mp3 of the segment: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-goukulele_20100227945.mp3] There’s a photo gallery at the GO website, and courtesy of Tom, YouTube clips of Jimmy the Uke playing “When You’re Smilin’”: and Jimmy, Steve McNie, and me playing, “We Will Rock Uke”:

Journalists of the future, according to Jay Rosen

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:00:03 +0000

I just watched this video interview with Jay Rosen from The Economist’s Tea with The Economist series. The interviewer asks Jay, “What would be the job description of a journalist in the future?” I think there are different jobs that make up a twenty-first century journalist. One is to be a highly intelligent filter of information coming in. Another is to be an expert in reputation and reliability systems so that you are able to know who a reliable source is because there are so many sources, right?

Jim Dupree returns with Moon Enthusiast

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:45:14 +0000

Yup. He’s back: Episode 56 – Jim Dupree: Moon Enthusiast

Coming soon to Dundas and Parliament

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:34:04 +0000

Just north of our apartment in Corktown, the development at the corner of Dundas and Parliament continues. Yesterday, I noticed these harbingers of gentrification:

Pie charts are terrible

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:46:46 +0000

Yesterday, Google announced Google Chart Tools, reminding us that: A good chart can take an elusive concept and clarify it in a visually appealing manner. It’s pretty cool. You can dynamically generate charts using URLs. Their example turns this: http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p3&chd=t:60,40&chs=250x100&chl=Hello|World into a pie chart: While this _is_ pretty slick (and Google’s service generates many, many types of charts), I think this is as good a time as any to remember that pie charts are terrible.

15 more chapters of Trapped in the Closet

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:32:23 +0000

Apparently, R. Kelly has finished 15 more chapters of his serial hip-hopera, Trapped in the Closet: (via Tom)

How To Report The News

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:55:19 +0000

File under “television cliches”: (via Jason Agnew)

Bad news: Pete's is closed

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:44:55 +0000

I noticed something strange earlier this week. Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza, our favourite pizza place, was dark before midnight. Then, Tina left a comment at this blog suggesting that Pete’s has been “shut down by the landlord.” Tonight, upon closer inspection, I confirmed that Pete’s (and Peter’s Corner) are indeed closed, and there are notes on both doors from the landlord. Not good. Where will I get my panzerotti fix?

Of the web

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:40:55 +0000

The other day, my Dad suggested that I might like the Stack Overflow podcast, so I subscribed. At around 46 minutes into episode 79, Joel Spolsky mentions brochureware-style web design: You know the kind of site I’m talking about? It’s just like you can imagine it printed on glossy paper and being given to you by hand. And it just doesn’t look like a web page. But it’s the next line that’s the kicker:

My plan to stay relevant (and employed)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:24:02 +0000

Over the past little while, I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about a new type of media job: a hybrid position that some people are calling “programmer-journalist.” Witness, for example: From PBS.org in 2007: Meet the First Two Journalist- Programmers about Brian Boyer and Ryan Mark, both winners of Knight News Challenge scholarships From the Knight Foundation itself: 4th Programmer-Journalist Scholarship Winner Learns to ‘Think Like a Journalist’ about another Knight scholarship winner, Manya Gupta Mashable’s roundup of How Programmer/Journalists Are Changing the News Just this past week, Jenny Carpenter sent me a link to a Guardian article: Will journalists of the future need to know how to code?

This American Infographic

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:56:47 +0000

A very, very cool project: This American Infographic. My new years resolution is to make an infographic on every This American Life ever made. The idea is to expand and add context to the stories and information contained in the shows. Basically, anything I am curious about while listening to the pieces. That’s a tall order, given that there are almost 15 years’ worth of episodes. Can’t wait to see more of these.

Early days

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:27:26 +0000

What are the major consequences of internet on society and culture? Perhaps it’s too early to tell. Clay Shirky, on last week’s episode of Spark: If you had gone to Germany in the mid-1470s and said, let’s see what this printing press is doing, right, you would miss novels, you would miss newspapers, you would miss the rise of scientific publication, you would miss Martin Luther’s “95 Theses,” you would miss the Venetian publishing industry.

Correlation ≠ Causation

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:49:34 +0000

Lee Rainnie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life project, from this week’s On the Media, speaking about social isolation and internet use: For centuries, when new technologies come on the scene there’s almost an instinctive human reaction, particularly among those who are challenged by the new technology, to blame the technology for any social ill that happens to arise at the same time. Something has gone on with our social networks in the past 20 years.

The Bloor

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:06:51 +0000

Via Joey deVilla’s blog, a link to The Bloor, a documentary film about The Bloor Cinema. The Bloor is a pretty special place for me. It’s where I met Jenna back in 2005, and it’s where I proposed a few years later. You can watch the whole doc in two parts on YouTube:

An extremely pleasant customer service experience

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:27:20 +0000

Sometime in 2007, I bought a pair of Blundstones from the Australian Boot Company. They were great boots, and they became very very comfortable over time. This morning, I noticed that the sole of the left boot was coming apart: I sent a quick email to the Queen Street location, with a link to the photo, asking for suggestions. About ten minutes later, I received a response from an actual human being named Andria.

Juvenilia in Charlottetown

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Every once in a while, I get an email or a telephone call along the lines of “I really like the idea behind Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids. Can I do one in my city?” My response is almost always, “Of course! Please do! Just call it something else.” So then, from Sandy Nicholson: a GRTTWaK-inspired night of juvenilia in Charlottetown called The Hilroy Diaries (Facebook event). Note that unlike GRTTWaK, there is a cover charge, but it goes to a not-for-profit called Women’s Network PEI.

For 25 points, compare and contrast

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:09:28 +0000

Two interviews with soul legend Bill Withers: With Jesse Thorn from The Sound of Young America (runs 32:42) [audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya090706_billwithers.mp3] With Jian Ghomeshi of Q (runs 41:42) [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/qstreamingdonotsuse_20091022_21931.mp3]

Final Wednesday at the Tranzac tonight

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:42:21 +0000

The Sweat and The Moist Towelettes, tonight at The Tranzac (main hall), 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto (map) / $5 / 8:30-11:00pm Kinnon made an awesome poster:

Ira Glass on how the internet has changed public radio

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:55:48 +0000

After a summer squatting at The Fifth Column, Jesse Brown now has a proper blog over at TVO, and in the first episode of this season’s Search Engine he interviews his radio hero (and mine) Ira Glass about how the internet has changed public radio: [audio:http://www.tvo.org/podcasts/searchengine/audio/SE_Full_20090914_800699_GlassOnTheNet_0x0_40k.mp3] If you’re a public radio geek, it’s really worth a listen, if only to hear Jesse try to contain his obvious man-crush on Ira.

GRTTWaK8 wrapup, and two more shows at the Tranzac

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:04:21 +0000

Laura Godfrey wrote a nice piece about the latest Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids show: On Wednesday night at The Tranzac downtown, a 34-year-old man took to the stage and spewed more than 60 insults and obscenities to a large crowd. They hooted with laughter, gasped at the more taboo terms and broke out into applause when it was all over. Andrew Jehan’s performance was an extreme example of what audiences might hear at Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, a free reading series whose name pretty much says it all.

Me and Sook-Yin Lee, animated

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:40:38 +0000

A few weeks ago, I spent some time in Winnipeg with team DNTO. While I was there, we watched the world premiere of three short animations based on some of Sook-Yin Lee’s stories. This one, directed by Jim Goodall, is my favourite of the three, and I’m not just saying that because they used my voice (very briefly): You can check out all three animations on DNTO’s YouTube page. The CBC “Entertainment” “Portal” has copies too, but lacks permalinks, so I won’t bother linking there.

Hallelujah

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:54:37 +0000

As promised, as of 7:00 this morning, the diversion of Queen streetcars is over. That means no more screeching. Perhaps now I can get a proper night’s sleep.

Shopping with the Brompton

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:08:07 +0000

So, I’ve had my Brompton for four weeks now, and I’m very pleased with it. It rides well, folds well, and I’ve had no trouble bringing it anywhere. It’s come with me into work, restaurants, and shops. And just yesterday, I learned that it fits perfectly inside a shopping cart:

Great artists steal

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:28:52 +0000

Via Jack Shedd’s Big Contrarian, a terrific 6-minute video from designer Jeff Veen: [YouTube link]

Why your radio show should put transcripts online

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:22:07 +0000

Bruce Melzer on why NPR.org makes transcripts of its radio stories free online: There are solid business reasons for making transcripts free. Sales have been dropping over the years. As people search for, discover and share content, offering free transcripts will boost the traffic to NPR.org, traffic that can be monetized with sponsorship. Finally, search engines like text. Many of our stories could not be found by the search engines because they did not have enough text.

Peter's Corner is now open

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:42:25 +0000

Peter’s Corner (“Profile of Excellence”) is now officially open for business on the Northeast corner of Queen and Parliament. Hope to try it out soon, if I can wean myself off Pete’s Cajun. I’ve not yet stepped inside, but judging by the menu boards, it has to be better than the previous tenant, Mr. Tasty.

So long, Frog Hollow

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:20:06 +0000

Stephanie Domet on Frog Hollow Books closing: Sadness yesterday. Frog Hollow Books locked its doors for good. I’d been trying to go in there for two weeks to say goodbye, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. Managed to get my act together ten minutes before closing. Went in and had a good cry with Heidi, drank canned wine from a Tim Horton’s cup, bought three books I don’t even know what they are, just to buy them, cried some more, and got the hell out.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids on the radio

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:22:14 +0000

Earlier this year, I pitched and produced a radio pilot for CBC, based on Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, the reading series I started a few years ago. The show was a mix of some of my favourite readings from the live events, and some reflection about the role and function of nostalgia in our lives. Of the things I’ve done in radio so far, this is one of the things I’m most proud of.

Screeching redux

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:24:37 +0000

Yup, the screeching is back, as of this morning: The TTC has scheduled streetcar service to resume along the Queen Street East bridge across the Don River at 5 a.m. today. Construction at Church and Queen Streets continues to disrupt streetcar service. Via Transit Toronto

Meteorology

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:03:20 +0000

New video from our podcast: Jim Dupree: Meteorology Enthusiast: Many thanks (again) to the city of Pickering.

Content as a composition

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:18:21 +0000

Jowi Taylor, speaking at PAB09 about his award-winning radio series, The Wire: Our idea was to treat content as a composition, and to treat the listeners as active participants in the listening experience. If you haven’t heard The Wire (or the follow-up series, The Nerve) find a copy now and listen. If you can’t find a copy, email me and I can probably help.

Pine cones

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:00:36 +0000

We’ve been to Ed’s Real Scoop in Leslieville several times this summer, and I can’t believe I didn’t notice this visual gag sooner: According to this week’s Now, Ed’s is one of Toronto’s top ten ice cream shops. Personally, I prefer the gelato.

The diversion has itself been diverted

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:58:04 +0000

The horrible streetcar screetching at Queen and Parliament that I wrote about? For the past week, we’ve been spared. It seems that the previous diversion has been diverted by more construction on the Queen East bridge. So until August 27, the 501 will take this convoluted route: 501 Queen Streetcars will divert eastbound, from Yonge St.; east on Queen St., south on Victoria St., east on Adelaide St., south on Church St.

Pickering Enthusiast

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:58:38 +0000

Compliments of Mr. Tristan Homer, a new episode of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast. This time, Jim is enthusiastic about the city of Pickering, Ontario:

That horrible screetching you hear at Queen and Parliament? Get used to it.

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:43:11 +0000

The other day, Jenna and I awoke to the sound of screaming steel at Queen and Parliament as TTC streetcars diverted south. Streetcar after streetcar made the turn, and I thought, “I wonder what’s wrong. I wonder how long long they’ll divert traffic.” Turns out we’re in for more than a month of this. From TTC.ca: Route diverting during watermain replacement Starting 6:00 am, Monday, July 20 until 7:00 am, Tuesday, September 8, The City of Toronto and the TTC will conduct watermain replacement and streetcar track reconstruction affecting Queen Street East, between Berti Street and Jarvis Street.

Short Ukulele story on Big City, Small World

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:22:48 +0000

This past weekend Big City, Small World aired a short radio piece I produced about the Corktown Ukulele Jam: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-BCSWUkulelePak226.mp3] MP3 download

Come see my brand new rock and roll band play this Thursday (please)

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:59:14 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m in a brand new rock and roll back band called The Sweat. We play Spinal Tap-inspired tough-guy rock, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. We’re playing our first ever full-length show this Thursday, July 9 at the El Mocambo with two other bands: Huron and Sandman Viper Command. We’d love to see you there. There’s a Facebook event for the show, if you’re into that kind of thing.

I broke 15k today

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:03:09 +0000

Next stop, A Midsummer Night’s Run.

One man's junk

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:32 +0000

There’s a famous story about the first item sold on eBay: [T]he site began with the listing of a single broken laser pointer. Though Pierre [Omidyar, eBay’s founder] had intended the listing to be a test more than a serious offer to sell at auction, he was shocked when the item sold for $14.83. Pierre knew that he’d created something big as soon as he contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the pointer was broken.

Queen and Parliament is now Peter's Corner

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:51:13 +0000

My favourite pizza place in Toronto, Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza, is expanding. The former Mr. Tasty location, adjacent to Pete’s Cajun at Queen and Parliament, is now Peter’s Corner. They installed the sign tonight: The sign promises: Hamburger Panini Steak Coffee Gelato But the best part? Their slogan is “Profile of Excellence.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but I’m keen to eat there.

So I ordered a Brompton

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:56:17 +0000

I love riding my bicycle. I ride it to work, I ride it to school, I ride it to pick up groceries. I use and enjoy my bicycle enough to warrant owning a nice one. But the problem is, I live in a city (and a neighbourhood) where nice bicycles get stolen. Quickly. Thus, for the past four or five years, I’ve simply resigned myself to the fact that I need to own crappy bikes that aren’t worth stealing.

My smart, beautiful, talented wife

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:10:31 +0000

This week, Jenna signed a contract to spend the next two years working for The Dominion Institute heading up The Memory Project. She’ll put together a team that will travel across Canada to collect oral histories from Canadian WWII veterans, then put them online. It’s good, important work, and I’m really proud of her.

While I was 26

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:42:56 +0000

Tomorrow I turn twenty-seven. And because someone once told me that “celebration without reflection is hollow and empty,” here then, in no particular order, are some of the things I’m most proud that happened in the last year. I: Celebrated a year of marriage (thanks Jenna) Started running (thanks Beginning Runner’s Handbook) Started playing the ukulele (thanks Tom, and thanks Steve and David) Pitched, produced, and hosted my very own pilot for CBC Radio Started drinking Scotch seriously Helped make another season of Spark, a show that I think is both important and good Schooled another class of aspiring audio producers at Ryerson Took a weird digital cable channel up on their offer to host a fake talk show Formed a brand new rock and roll band with my friends Tristan, Mike, and Isaac Here’s to becoming old!

Margaret Mulligan's ukulele portraits

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:44:03 +0000

Photographer Margaret Mulligan took portraits of people with their ukes at last week’s Corktown Ukulele Jam, and they look terrific. Here’s the whole photoset on Flickr, and here are two of yours truly:

The Sweat

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:40:10 +0000

Hot damn. Do we look tough or what? Nice photo, Hilary.

Cancer sucks…

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:48:27 +0000

So I’m participating in The Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life with some friends. Donations to the CCS are good. You know that already, though, right? You can pledge here.

Playing a rock and roll show with a brand new rock and roll band

Wed, 27 May 2009 23:30:54 +0000

My pals Isaac and Joan of Little Foot Long Foot are releasing their brand new CD Harsh Words tomorrow night at the Rivoli. As opening acts, they’re getting a bunch of bands to cover the entire record, one band per song. I’ll be performing as part of a brand new rock and roll band called The Sweat. We’ll do the LFLF song “King Hipster.” That’s tomorrow night, 27 May 2009 at the Rivoli, starting at 9:00 PM.

Video: me at the Corktown Ukulele Jam

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:47:47 +0000

So basically, every Wednesday for a bunch of weeks now, I’ve been going to the Corktown Ukulele Jam. It’s just down the street from my house at the Dominion on Queen, and it’s awesome. A few weeks ago, the videotaped the whole night and put it on YouTube. Here’s me, doing a ukulele cover of “She’s Dead” by Jim’s Big Ego: There’s a contest for these YouTube videos — the most viewed after a month wins a dinner at the Dominion, if I recall correctly.

If you make stuff online, listen to this

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:52:41 +0000

If you do creative work that lives online, you owe it to yourself to listen to this episode of Jesse Thorn’s excellent The Sound of Young America. It’s a panel discussion with Jesse, Merlin Mann (of 43Folders.com), Mike and Matt Chapman (of HomestarRunner.com), and Jeff Olsen (of Adult Swim). Go ahead. Listen: [audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya090326_ima.mp3] It’s 55 minutes long, though. So maybe you’ll want to download it from MaximumFun.org. It’s a wide-ranging discussion, but ultimately, it’s about how to make stuff online that people will care about.

Three easy ways CBC Radio can start making some money online, right now

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:42:42 +0000

Over at Now Daily, Susan G. Cole outlines Six steps to save the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She concludes by asking “Any other ideas?” I have a couple, specifically geared towards making money for CBC Radio, which faces a planned cut of $14.4-million from its budget, as part of a plan to make up a $171-million shortfall. Now, these ideas won’t necessarily save CBC, but they could generate some extra cash.

Adam Davidson explains the explainer

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:49:18 +0000

Via Robert Paterson’s weblog, a great video of NPR’s Adam Davidson, explaining how they approached the incredibly complicated subject of the housing crisis for This American Life’s The Giant Pool of Money and the Planet Money podcast: As you’ll see in the video, Davidson thinks that journalists are too reluctant to acknowledge their own ignorance when approaching complex stories. “The Giant Pool of Money,” on the other hand, felt like a learning process for Davidson and Blumberg as much as their listeners.

How to get Skype on your iPhone in Canada

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:45:01 +0000

So here’s the thing: Skype launched its free iPhone app today in every single iTunes store except Canada. So what if you live in Canada and want Skype? No problem. Here’s what to do: Sign up for a US iTunes account using these instructions (no credit card required) Log out of your Canadian iTunes account, and into your new US iTunes account (instructions) Sync your iPhone Download and install Skype from the App Store app on the iPhone That’s it.

Corktown Ukulele Jam: YouTube night

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:13:19 +0000

If you attend only one ukulele-related event in Corktown this week, make it this one. Steve and David of the Corktown Ukulele Jam have arranged for the uke action to move to the front room of the Dominion on Queen, and the whole night will be captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. The Best of The Corktown Ukulele Jam, 8pm Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Dominion on Queen, main room

Why you haven't heard back from me

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:50:59 +0000

Just discovered that I missed about a week’s worth of email addressed to dan@misener.org If you’re waiting to hear from me, sorry. The email is recovered, and I’m working through it.

Jim Dupree: Enthusiast (inexplicably) featured on iTunes

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:33:44 +0000

Last week, Tristan and I noticed that the stats for our video podcast Jim Dupree: Enthusiast were through the roof. We couldn’t figure out why. Then, late last night, Tristan called me on the phone. “We’re featured in the iTunes podcasting section.” Yup. We’re one of those six big buttons on the main iTunes podcast page. We now have equal billing with my employer, the Canadian national public broadcaster. This is a big deal, because believe it or not, getting featured on iTunes was the original goal for JD:E.

More Jim Dupree: Enthusiast

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:02:45 +0000

Jim Dupree is back in full force for season five. Three new episodes since I last mentioned the show. As always, you can subscribe via RSS or subscribe in iTunes or subscribe in Miro. Here are the latest episodes: Episode 42 – Jim Dupree: Balloon Enthusiast Episode 43 – Jim Dupree: Tree Enthusiast Episode 44 – Jim Dupree: Polka Enthusiast

Accessing CBC's pension website with Firefox

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:48:19 +0000

It’s RRSP time, and the CBC’s craptastic Pension Administration Centre website claims to require Windows and IE. Try to log in using Safari or Firefox, and you get this: The CBC Pension Administration Centre site will not work with your current browser. To continue, you need to download Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 2, or higher now. Le site du Centre d’administration des pensions de Radio-Canada ne peut fonctionner adéquatement avec votre fureteur actuel.

Back on the radio this Saturday

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:00:33 +0000

I make my (triumphant?) return to CBC’s Saturday airwaves this February 21st. I’ll be on both Go (talking about how to beef up your manly-quotient) and DNTO (talking about the unfortunately-named Adolph Fitler). Check your local listings. Or whatever. Update: Here’s the audio from DNTO: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-misener_adolphfitler779.mp3]

20/20 Vision

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:21:01 +0000

This past weekend, Jenna and I visited the Spectacle eyeglasses stores in the Distillery. Jenna’s looking for new frames, and I’m in need of a new eye doctor. When I asked the guy behind the counter if he could suggest an optometrist near my office, he wrote this down on a business card: Dr. Raja 416-362-2020 TD Centre Check out that phone number. I love little details like that.

Video: Ira Glass at the Gel Conference

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:43:56 +0000

It’s about surprise and humour. It’s a bit of Storytelling 101 (event leads to event leads to event leads to universal truth). But it’s mostly about craft, and if you tell stories, it’s totally worth 32 minutes of your time. From 2007, here’s Ira Glass at the Gel Conference: Present again is Ira’s familiar “taking the tools of journalism and applying them to people whom you wouldn’t normally apply them to” mantra.

Happy Valentimes!

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:32:41 +0000

Sooooo good!

Best Live Music Club in Canada

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:13:32 +0000

So CBC Radio 3 is doing a big, fancy, link-bait-y poll called Best Live Music Club in Canada. Ordinarily I wouldn’t post about something like this, but my pal Tom’s bar, Phog, made the top 20, which is terrific. Phog is a great venue, both to play and to see a show. I could encourage you to vote for Phog. I could go on and on, extolling the virtues of this tiny, 60-capacity club in Windsor.

The infallibility of iPhoto's Faces

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:06:46 +0000

I haven’t played around with iLife 09 yet, but via an email from Peter, I’ve learned that its Faces feature isn’t perfect: I guess I don’t need to be too worried about the privacy-destroying ad networks that can track my face I heard Jesse Hirsh talk about this morning on Metro Morning (and that we talked about on Spark last summer).

Corktown Ukulele Jam

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:56:14 +0000

My pal Tom gave me a ukulele for Christmas. To me, it’s wonderful. To Jenna, it’s irritating. So then, I can’t tell you how happy I was to discover the Corktown Ukulele Jam. It started about a month ago, and is held every Wednesday at the Dominion pub on Queen (a five-minute walk from our apartment). Last night, I went for the first time with Jenna and Rae. Steve and David, the organizers, were welcoming and knowledgeable.

Two new episodes of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:54:38 +0000

It’s been a long while, and our original Fibonacci-based release schedule has been abandoned. But this week, almost an entire year after the first episode, Tristan posted the thrilling finale to season four of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast, Jim Dupree: Nickname Enthusiast: So now it’s on to season five (which will be posted according to no regular schedule). To kick things off, Cat Enthusiast: With the purchase of a brand-new (to us) HD camcorder, you may be able to look forward to higher-fidelity videos from Collective Productions in the future.

Crack and Cheese

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:40:43 +0000

Jenna sends me the best recipes. Tonight I made “Perfect Macaroni and Cheese” (AKA crack and cheese). I’m pretty sure I dirtied every pot in the house. Yum. There is no way this is good for me.

You can't block users from private Meraki mesh networks

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:51:13 +0000

If someone knows the WPA2 password to your Meraki mesh network, and you want to block them, you can’t. The block function only works on the public network. Meraki’s Jeff Gould explains in an email to me: The blocking function works only on the public network. There is no blocking capacity on the private Meraki Network. There are a variety of folks who would like to have this functionality and I believe that we will have features to address this in 2009.

“You are sombody that needs pledge drive justice”

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:10:35 +0000

Via the latest This American Life newsletter, some very, very funny pledge drive spots from Ira Glass. Click to listen: Megan.mp3 Paul.mp3 Kathleen.mp3 Though they’re funny, I don’t think these as effective as Ira’s twice-yearly, straight-up, arithmetic-based podcast promos.

Revisiting Canadian Heritage Vignettes

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:00:53 +0000

A few years ago, when Tristan and I lived at 298 Jarvis, alongside shooting episodes of Jim Dupree, we started a short-lived side project called Canadian Heritage Vignettes. We only made three episodes, all shot with the video mode of a Casio Exilim EX-S500 still camera. The joke, of course, was that they had nothing at all to do with Canadian heritage. In our defense, though, they were vignettes. So then, collected here for your enjoyment, all three episodes of Canadian Heritage Vignettes.

This way to freedom

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:00:27 +0000

I like the underlying tension of my new iPhone wallpaper. Steve Jobs’s smooth, shiny slider beckons me to head right, to unlock the phone and start fiddling around on the internet. But at the same time, crudely painted Bain Avenue graffiti suggests I should put the phone back in my pocket and continue to live in the real world.

Facebook

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:41:12 +0000

After a long while of resisting, I’m properly on Facebook, with friends and everything. This, of course, means I can no longer use the following joke: “No, I’m not on Facebook. I use Craigslist.”

Ordering a “Northbound Southbound” vinyl sticker from Walloper.com

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:30:23 +0000

In late December, Jenna and I finally received our Northbound Southbound vinyl wall decal from walloper.com. It’s awesome. We love it. But though the decal itself is terrific, and looks great in our apartment, the shipping and customer service from Walloper was abysmal. We ordered the decal on November 20, and it didn’t arrive until more than a month later, on December 23rd. In the meantime, Jenna sent several emails, the first of which was ignored or lost (Derek at Walloper cited a “spot of trouble with our email provider”), and they misquoted delivery timelines twice.

When local public radio fails

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:50:26 +0000

Peter Rukavina writes about CBC Radio’s poor local coverage of the blizzard that hit PEI (and much of Atlantic Canada) on New Year’s Day: There was a scatterling of local-like news from Halifax on the hours, but otherwise CBC Radio choose to go national for the day, leaving the private radio stations with the job of informing Islanders about the day. […] So here’s the thing, CBC Radio: either you’re a vital, local information resource, or you’re not.

GRTTWaK 6: January 13, 2009

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:36:47 +0000

First, we were at the Victory Cafe. Then, the Gladstone Ballroom. My little reading series is on the move again. Next stop is The Tranzac for Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 6.

This American Donut?

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:44:45 +0000

Dunkin’ Donuts’ America Runs on Dunkin’ campaign graphic seems to include a bit of a nod to This American Life, no?

Jim Dupree: Enthusiast on BiteTV

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:14:26 +0000

Reposting this from the Jim Dupree blog: JD:E is now officially back on the air at BiteTV. You can catch us at the following times: * 12:30am (Thursdays*) * 3:30am (Thursdays*) 6:30am (Thursdays) 9:30am (7 days a week) 12:30pm (7 days a week) 3:30pm (weekdays) 6:30pm (weekdays) 9:30pm (Wednesdays) – Or Wednesday night, depending on how you think of it… Bite can be found on channel 322, if you’re a Rogers user, and channel 530, if you’re with Bell.

Back on Go tomorrow

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:19:44 +0000

I’ll be on Go for the first time this season tomorrow morning, Saturday, November 15, 2008. I’ll abandon all my previous personas (Dieting Dan, Discount Dan, Dan the Love Man, etc.) in favour of a new one: Dan the Man Man. Dan the Man Man will be a bad advice column for men. Update: Whole show is here, and my segment is isolated in the player below: [audio:http://e6.video.blip.tv/0720006199837/Dmisener-danthemanman1330.mp3]

Popeyes at Queen and Sherbourne

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:15:03 +0000

The Popeyes Chicken at Queen and Sherbourne is now open for business: To “celebrate,” I now present this 0:30 MP3 version of a fake ad produced by Tristan and I for our first live-to-air radio show in first year audio at Ryerson: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-Popeyes991.mp3]

The Big Walk

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:43:25 +0000

Headed to Windsor tomorrow for my pal Tom’s Big Walk, which got some great coverage in The Star today. Basically, we’re going to walk across Windsor, Ontario for 16 hours. Looking forward to some sore feet!

Letterboxing, Pillarboxing, and Lower Thirds

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:43:28 +0000

Watching ads during CNN’s SD election coverage on a widescreen TV reveals some totally insane letterboxing and pillarboxing, especially due to the persistent lower third:

Wireless Corktown expands east

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:49:59 +0000

I’m really happy to report that SSID Corktown_Free extends a little farther east on Queen Street, thanks to Val, a neighbour I met this past weekend, and Savoury Grounds, the new coffee shop. You can see an updated coverage map here, and more details on the project here.

Where to download The Nerve and Age of Persuasion

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:02:53 +0000

Shhhh… cbcpodcasts.wordpress.com says it’s “for the CBC shows that fall through the podcast cracks.” It liberates Jowi Taylor’s excellent series The Nerve from Windows Media hell. It lets you easily download Terry O’Reilly’s fantastic Age of Persuasion (which is not impossible via cbc.ca if you know how to click “View Source,” but it’s needlessly difficult). Plus, they have a couple of other CBC radio shows that didn’t get podcasts. Grab ’em now before they’re gone.

Zap portrait

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:45:18 +0000

Photographer extraordinaire Rannie Turingan took some great portraits at Zap Your PRAM. Here’s mine: I’d had a decent amount to drink.

New Cafe = Savoury Grounds

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:33:36 +0000

This morning before work, I stopped into the new coffee shop at 354 Queen Street East. Here’s what I learned: It’s another Savoury Grounds location, though they don’t have a sign yet They have free WiFi They’re open weekdays 7-6, and weekends 8-5 The owner’s name is Steven (or maybe Stephen) The staff were really nice and the coffee was good. It’s a promising looking spot, and a nice addition to our corner.

New cafe at Queen and Parliament

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:48:30 +0000

If there was ever evidence that what’s happening farther east of us on Queen Street is spreading into Corktown, it’s the new coffee shop that opened up at 354 Queen East (next to Ray’s Convenience). I went by tonight after Jenna texted me to announce its existence, and peered in the windows. I spotted comfy chairs and an espresso machine, so it at least looks better than Coffee Time. Looking forward to trying it out tomorrow morning, and pitching the owner on mesh networking.

Consider me zapped

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:16:04 +0000

I think a lot about Spark, the radio program I work on. I talk a lot about Spark, too — mostly to Liz and Nora (my co-workers), to listeners, and to other radio people. This past weekend I attended Zap Your PRAM, a non-conference organized by Charlottetown-based silverorange and Reinvented. I was asked to give a talk loosely based on “how being involved with a radio show that tries to use the web in new and interesting ways has actually worked out.

What's a “href?”

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:58:15 +0000

I love, love, love this. From 10 reasons why newspapers won’t reinvent news: Hey news executives! Try this newsroom pop quiz: Give each staff member a pencil and tell everyone to stop what they’re doing and write out the tag that creates a hypertext link. If most can’t, you’re not spending enough on training. If anyone in your management team can’t, you’ve got a crisis. [via Kottke]

This American Financial Crisis

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:11:26 +0000

Kottke chimes in on This American Life‘s two excellent programs on the American financial system: This radio program made the rounds last week, but I finally got caught up this weekend so I’ll add my voice to the chorus urging you to listen to This American Life’s episode on the financial crisis, Another Frightening Show About the Economy. Paired with The Giant Pool of Money from back in May, this is an excellent overview of what’s going on in the financial markets right now.

Full list of CBC Radio 2 streaming “channel” URLs

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:47:00 +0000

Update, 11 April 2012: This page is old, and the URLs don’t work anymore. You’re probably actually looking for my Full list of CBC Music direct URLs instead.

R.I.P. iSquint

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:59:50 +0000

iSquint, the fantastic free video compression tool for the Mac has been discontinued along with its big brother VisualHub and second cousin AudialHub. I know Tristan used iSquint to prep every single episode of Jim Dupree for the web. It’ll be missed. (Via Wayne MacPhail)

C'est What WiFi password

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:14:11 +0000

The password is “hempale”

Toronto Centre All Candidates Meeting this Sunday, October 5, 2008

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:45:16 +0000

Saw this in the CRBA Google group, and thought it was worth reposting (links added are mine). Jenna and I plan to attend. Toronto Centre All Candidates Meeting Sunday, October 5, 2008 5:00 – 7:00 pm at C’est What 67 Front Street east of Church Street You are invited to an informal gathering to meet your riding candidates for the upcoming election. Listen to candidates opening statements and ask questions about the issues important to you and your community.

If All Movies Had Cell Phones

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:48:13 +0000

Earlier this month, I heard a great piece on NPR’s podcast of On The Media. It was an interview with Zachary Pincus-Roth, a freelance journalist who wrote a piece in the LA Times all about the effect of cell phones on movie plots: While cellphones appear to help storytellers, since they allow anyone to talk to anyone at any time, “that seeming freedom only makes it all the more difficult,” says Robert McKee, the screenwriting guru and author of “Story.

GRTTWaK update

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:59:28 +0000

My little reading series, Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, got a nice mention in the Toronto Star today. Also, I’ve cut several more episodes of the GRTTWaK podcast, which will roll out over the next few weeks.

Faith in V-MODA customer service?

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:45:23 +0000

A few months ago, I picked up a pair of V-MODA vibe duo earphones. I liked them a lot. Until they stopped working at the gym tonight. The left side just kept flaking out. Knowing that the earphones are under warranty, I submitted a ticket to their warranty service. I couldn’t help but notice that the third result in a Google search for v-moda warranty is a Get Satisfaction thread called “V-Moda’s warranty is bull!

Back to School

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:29:06 +0000

Once again, I’m teaching Radio Production (or rather, Media Production – Audio) at Ryerson this Fall. I start this Thursday. Looking forward to meeting a whole new class of budding radio producers.

Popeye's to open in former Coffee Time location

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:50:19 +0000

Earlier this year, the Coffee Time at Queen and Sherbourne closed its doors because the owner was arrested (for allegedly selling drugs out of the store). It has sat, windows papered over, for months, until recently, they tore down the Coffee Time sign and repainted: A few days ago, they installed a Popeye’s Chicken and Seafood sign on the building: With Domino’s opening up down the street, it seems that our block is quickly turning into fast-food central.

Two music recommendations from friends

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:41:06 +0000

Erin suggests key witness. Rae suggests The Unsettlers. Thanks. Now I have some things to listen to.

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:26:06 +0000

Rather, tonight is funny.

Untitled

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:15:48 +0000

The world is funny.

Need furniture? Come to Queen and Parliament

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:53:22 +0000

Not only is Queen and Parliament the intersection to buy pizza at, but it seems our corner’s concentration of furniture stores is rising. Arabesque, the carpet store we live above, seems to have closed. The showroom is now full of furniture. So now, there’s Marty Millionaire, Gen-cor, and this new place, all within spitting distance of each other.

How to download old This American Life episodes as MP3s

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:54:30 +0000

Once upon a time, you could download old episodes of This American Life by grabbing MP3 file locations from the M3U files posted on their website. The MP3 files lived here: http://audio.wbez.org/tal/SHOWNUMBER.mp3 But that stopped working. These days, though you can still listen to TAL archives, downloading them has become a bit trickier because the shows are hidden behind a flash player. But, that flash player is still pointing to an actual downloadable MP3, and Christopher Soghoian has figured out where they live:

Excellent t-shirts I have recently received as gifts, part 2

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:59:30 +0000

Knowing my affinity for mesh networking, Tristan had this shirt made for me as a birthday gift this year. Fun fact: Tristan had this shirt made at LogoMagik across the street from me. A few months ago, when I emailed LogoMagik to see if they were interesting in joining my mesh network thing, they didn’t reply.

Excellent t-shirts I have recently received as gifts, part 1

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:30:58 +0000

Last month, Jenna and I had a big party in her parents backyard to celebrate getting married. My pal Tom was kind enough to bring along his PA system so we could play music outdoors. In order to get everything set up before the party, Tom and his wife Jhoan arrived before all the other guests. We got the PA set up, cracked open a beer (the keg had not yet been tapped), and Tom said, “We have something for you, and you have to open it now.

“I like you”

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:37:30 +0000

As seen on a lampost at Shuter and Mutual. I can’t decide if it’s cute or creepy.

Pro Tools on Leopard update

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:00:55 +0000

I wrote about this a while back, but it seems that Digidesign has finally updated Pro Tools for Leopard: Digidesign is pleased to announce the availability of Pro Tools® 7.4.2 software, which provides Mac OS X 10.5.3* (Leopard) compatibility to Pro Tools|HD®, Pro Tools LE®, and Pro Tools M-Powered™ users. We’d like to thank our entire community of Mac users for their patience as we worked to bring a fully tested and reliable version of Pro Tools to Apple’s latest platform.

R.I.P. Salt and Vinegar Ruffles

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:39:13 +0000

My favourite flavour of potato chip is was Salt and Vinegar Ruffles. A few months ago, I started noticing that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find them on grocery store shelves. Then new flavours started to appear: Thick Cut Au Gratin and Thick Cut Creamy Dill. A little web-based research, coupled with my own experience, leads me to believe that Salt and Vinegar Ruffles chips have been discontinued. The official Ruffles website makes no mention of them:

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 5

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:26:34 +0000

The fifth Toronto installment of my little reading series, Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, happens on July 14th. More at grownupsreadthingstheywroteaskids.com.

Post office at Queen and Parliament

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:00:44 +0000

According to the sign out front, the Canada Post in the Shoppers Drug Mart across the street is set to open today:

Lots of pizza at Queen and Parliament

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:38:34 +0000

For some reason, our corner is going crazy for pizza. Today, I stopped into the soon-to-open Magic Oven at 360 Queen St. East, and talked to the owner, Tony about my little WiFi project. He said they plan to open for tomorrow night, Friday the 20th. A bit farther west, there seems to be a Domino’s going in: Makes me wonder what effect all this will do to my favourite pizza spot on the corner, Pete’s:

On GO this morning: Inserting ads into my life

Sat, 31 May 2008 13:26:47 +0000

My final GO appearance of the year, in which I insert tiny little advertisements into my life: [audio:http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/goforstreaming_20080331_6057.mp3]

CBC.ca looks better when it's broken?

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:44:19 +0000

So, cbc.ca crashed yesterday. For a long while, this “Temporary Site” of news headlines was all you could see: But once everything was back to normal, cbc.ca looked like this: Am I the only one who would rather regularly visit the “Temporary Site?”

Married!

Mon, 19 May 2008 12:20:01 +0000

We’re back from Germany, and guess what? We’re married! Now it’s time to party! Photos and more to follow.

Matrimony

Tue, 06 May 2008 21:23:55 +0000

We leave for Germany tomorrow. Just Jenna and me. To get married. It’s all very exciting, and I hope to post lots of photos and things at the wedding blog when we return. See you soon.

The view from my workspace

Fri, 02 May 2008 22:25:49 +0000

They’re building something huge just east of the Toronto Broadcasting Centre. And every single day at work, we get to watch them build it. Once in a while, the cranes lift something huge just a few feet from my desk.

Al Thompkins inadvertendly explains how to buy a Flip Video camera in Canada

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:26:33 +0000

From Al’s Morning Meeting (a daily read of mine) comes this video called How Al Tompkins Produces His Video Blogs. The secret? A Flip Video camera. The crew at Spark has been wanting one of these little cameras for a while now, but we haven’t got our hands on one yet. You see, as far as I can tell, they don’t ship to Canada. However, Al had a good idea: buy one on eBay.

Marital audit

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:54:20 +0000

In preparation for getting married, I checked out the “Getting Married” section of CBC’s HR website. Under the FAQ: I don’t want to know what an audit involves.

How long was it?

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:25:06 +0000

The lineup at Tim Hortons was insanely long this morning. I mean, from the back of the line, I couldn’t even see where I’d order my coffee: Still, I joined the line and waited.

Pro Tools on Leopard

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:00:24 +0000

A little more than a year ago, I picked up an Mbox Mini in hopes of teaching myself Pro Tools at home. I played around with it a for a bit, but I always seemed to fall back on other multitrack editors. Because I didn’t have to get good at it, I didn’t get good at it. Then I started using Pro Tools at work, and once I knew what I was doing, my Mbox at home seemed much more appealing.

Osteria by Terroni on Victoria

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:32:48 +0000

Earlier this week, Jenna and I walked by the former Terroni at 106 Victoria, and saw a sign advertising the opening of “Osteria by Terroni.” “Osteria” is the Italian word for tavern, and according to this thread on Chowhound, it may be a lunch place. When I lived on Victoria, we liked to go to Terroni for their Antipasto Misto, but curiously, since moving to Adelaide, the antipasto has disappeared.

Why Man Creates

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:53:22 +0000

Via Jean Burgess’s creativity/machine, a link to the first five minutes of Saul Bass’s Why Man Creates: Had I only seen this earlier, perhaps I could have forgone FYP.

Rocking and Rolling

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:43:02 +0000

We’re playing again. From the mailing list: The Canaries make a long-overdue return to Clinton’s Tavern this Friday night along with the brilliantly named Books On Tape. We’d love to see you there! The Canaries & Books on Tape Friday, April 4th 9:30 Doors Clinton’s Tavern 693 Bloor Street West South-west corner of Bloor and Clinton One block from Christie subway station Very reasonable cover What more could you ask for?

CBC TV + Bittorrent

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:24:55 +0000

This has already been practically everywhere, but since it’s something I’ve been wishing for for a long time, I’ll mention that CBC TV is planning to release television programs via Bittorrent. Let’s hope that they’ll actually generate a feed that’s compatible with Miro. Not that I’m particularly interested in the program they’re offering (Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister), but this is a huge step in the right direction. Now if they’d only release jPod and Sophie, two of the shows I already “illegally” download via Bittorrent.

How To Make a Radio Show

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:47:41 +0000

This past weekend, the Spark team and Tristan showed up at the CBC and made a little behind-the-scenes video to explain how we make the radio show every week: It’s great, because now I don’t have to explain what I do all day.

Two eyeglass inquiries

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:16:37 +0000

I got two eyeglass-related inquiries over the past week, and thought I’d answer them here. The first comes from from a (potentially crazy) man on the street outside my house last week: You look like Woody Allen. Are you related to Woody Allen? You have the same geek face. No, (potentially crazy) man. As far as I know, I am not related to Woody Allen. The second inquiry comes from my email inbox.

GRTTWaK4 post-mortem

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:55:37 +0000

The fourth installment of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids was, like each of the previous events, a lot of fun. This time around, we moved to a new venue: The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom. It turned out to be a great room for the event, with (almost) enough seating. It’s my constant fear that I’ll put one of these events on, and a whole bunch of people will show up to listen, and no one will read.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids FAQ

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:19:18 +0000

A message from Mara in my inbox tonight: I’m very interested in attending the Grownups Read event on Monday, but the start time isn’t mentioned on the website. It would probably help if I knew when to show up. I’ve had a couple of very valid questions like this over the past little while, so here’s a little FAQ about the next reading event, which happens at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom this Monday, March 10, 2008.

Jim Dupree: Magic Enthusiast

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:00:41 +0000

We’re releasing episodes of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast Season 4 according to the Fibonacci sequence. The seventh and most recent one is Jim Dupree: Magic Enthusiast. We shot it a few months ago in the Distillery District. Here you go:

Personal recaps

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:00:21 +0000

I promised a few people that I’d send them copies of my recent appearances on GO. But instead, I’m putting them online for anyone who’s interested. Yesterday I posted a piece on slowing down time. From March 1, 2008, here’s a piece I did on what would happen if my life had recaps like TV shows do: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-dm_personalrecaps381.mp3]

If I could slow down time

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:44:32 +0000

I promised a few people that I’d send them copies of my recent appearances on GO. But instead, I’m putting them online for anyone who’s interested. From February 23, 2008, here’s a piece I did on what would happen if I applied the time-stretching technology I used everyday on audio to my personal life: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-dm_slowingdowntime919.mp3] I’ll post my March 1 appearance tomorrow.

Hilary Green is Hungry x2

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:02:18 +0000

Hilary Green isn’t just hungry. She’s hungry hungry. And speaking from experience, she’s a good cook, too. Her new-ish blog, Hungry Hungry Hilly was started mainly (though not entirely) […] after I had a falling out with blogTO about my photos for the restaurant reviews I was posting. If you live in our neck of the woods, check it out for the restaurant reviews. If you don’t, check it out for the recipes.

Mesh network update

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:02:58 +0000

My little Meraki-based public WiFi project has expanded south. Marty Millionaire on the southwest corner of Queen and Parliament now has a repeater. If you’re in the neighbourhood, look for SSID Corktown .

Trajan: The Movie Font

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:01:17 +0000

Via the Spark blog, a very funny video from Kirby Ferguson: Not only is it chuckle-worthy, but it features CC music from Halifax synth popsters Windom Earle. What more could you ask for?

Rocking and rolling, again

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:06:10 +0000

According to thecanaries.ca, we’re playing a couple of shows in the next little while:

Radio Lab and The Sound of Young America, together at last

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:05:39 +0000

Last summer I wrote about how great Radio Lab is. Earlier this month I called The Sound of Young America “my new favourite radio show.” So imagine my delight when I heard Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich’s appearance on The Sound of Young America. If you’re at all a fan of either show, grab this episode. There’s some great radio-making insight here.

Me on GO! this weekend

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:02:41 +0000

Need a reason to wake up super-early on a Saturday morning, trudge out into Toronto’s frigid February cold, and visit the CBC Broadcast Centre for a taping of GO? I’ll give you three: The kalimba stylings of Laura Barrett Something called a “Facebook Faceoff” Me I’m on GO this weekend and next. Free tickets are still available for both shows.

Jim Dupree: Photography Enthusiast

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:01:30 +0000

Hands down, Jim Dupree: Photography Enthusiast (released yesterday) is the best episode released this season, and in my opinion, closest to “vintage Dupree.” If you’ve been holding out on watching the exciting fourth season, wait no longer:

What do you do with misdirected email?

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:13:19 +0000

For a few months now, I’ve been getting email addressed to my dmisener@gmail.com account from a guy named Keith. The emails haven’t been for me, but rather for someone named Diane Misener. Apparently we have very similar email addresses. For months, I simply deleted Keith’s email. I know I shouldn’t have, but I deleted the first one because it was one of those joke email forwards that people send around, and I figured it was just a mistake.

Unlimited data from Rogers. Not.

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:01:59 +0000

It’s a few days old now, but Torontoist has a great post on how the new unlimited data plan from Rogers is actually very limited. My unlimited data through Fido should last another two months, but I have no idea what I’ll do when it expires, now that I’m addicted to their ubiquitous (though slow-as-molasses) EDGE network.

Stream full episodes of the Vinyl Cafe

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:00:47 +0000

Looking for full episodes of The Vinyl Cafe on-demand? You won’t find them at the show’s site on cbc.ca. You won’t find full episodes in their podcast, either. But if you head over to PRX.org and sign up for a free account, you can listen to full episodes of The Vinyl Cafe (including upcoming repeats) in their entirety.

Fruity Cheerios & Froot Loops

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:27:01 +0000

I’ve posted before about Fruity Cheerios, General Mills’ answer to Froot Loops. Though I’ve not yet done a side-by-side comparison, I presume that the two products are fairly similar. This morning, during brunch at OK OK, I spotted the two rival products sitting right next to each other. Note that they are the only two cereals on display: Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new Coke/Pepsi.

Rocket Science

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:32:35 +0000

After hearing Jeffrey Blitz a few days ago (on my new favourite radio show The Sound of Young America), I decided to watch Rocket Science, which I just finished. The soundtrack, mostly by Eef Barzelay, is excellent. Expect to hear selections soon on a public radio program near you, if you haven’t already.

Jim Dupree is back

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:04:32 +0000

Ever since the final episode of Jim Dupree: Enthusiast about a year and a half ago, people have asked, “Are you ever going to make more episodes?” The answer for a long time was, “No.” But as of yesterday, that answer changed. Starting on Groundhog Day 2008 (yesterday), we started to release season four of the podcast series, on a schedule that can only be described as “Fibonacci.” Here’s the release schedule:

Mic bomb?

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:26:57 +0000

I work at the CBC’s Broadcasting Centre in Toronto. Just down the hall from my desk, they built something called an “Idea Room.” It’s a nice, big, bright room with a table, and chairs, and whiteboards. We use it for meetings, where presumably, we come up with ideas. Hence the name. The walls of the Idea Room are made of glass. Which is nice, but can be distracting. So today they frosted the glass with decals, tag cloud-style.

Download the CBC TV winter lineup automatically

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:13:50 +0000

As Ouimet observes, much of the CBC’s winter television lineup is available for download via Bittorrent, thanks to some thieving television pirates. But what you may not know is that The Border, Sophie, and jPod (but not MVP) each have corresponding RSS feeds on tvRSS.net. What does this mean? If you paste the search-based RSS feed for each show into a program like the free, open-source Miro, you’ve essentially subscribed to the show, and new episodes will be downloaded auto-magically as they’re released.

Unlimited EDGE data on your iPhone in Canada

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:33:45 +0000

Last August, Jenna and I drove to Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan to pick up an iPhone. A few weeks later, it was unlocked. Since then, it’s been an amazing phone/iPod/camera/web device. I really love carrying just one device. But there’s a problem: Mobile data rates in Canada are atrociously high. Unlimited plans (like the one that comes with the iPhone in the US) just don’t exist north of the border.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:17:57 +0000

Free Neighbourhood WiFi at Queen and Parliament

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:46:13 +0000

Inspired by Peter Rukavina’s experiments with mesh networking, I ordered three Meraki Minis this week, and installed two of them this morning. One sits on a bookshelf in our living room, and the other points north out our back window. You can see the status of the network, named Corktown, right here online. And if you’re in the neighbourhood, you’re welcome to use the connection. I’d love to try and convince other residents and businesses to jump on the mesh networking bandwagon, but I don’t really know how to explain the benefits to them.

Mapping

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:17:02 +0000

This weekend, I listened to a pretty great episode of This American Life: Mapping. In the first act, Ira Glass interviews Denis Wood, a cartographer, who creates “maps that are more like novels, trying to describe everyday life.” Partway through the interview, Ira says of Wood’s work: It’s interesting. Its taking the premise of a map, which is that it’s a way to describe the world, and then pointing it at things that we usually don’t think of as being mappable.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids #3 was fun, packed

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:43:48 +0000

I’m a little late posting this, seeing as the event was almost two weeks ago, but I have to say: the third Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids was an awful lot of fun. It was also well-attended. Some might say a little too well-attended. Thanks no doubt to some pimping by Torontoist, BlogTO, and Here and Now, a lot of people showed up. So many people, in fact, that we spilled into the side of the Victory that lacked sightlines to the stage.

The In-Between Stuff of Radio Shows

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:00:06 +0000

Over at the Adaptive Path blog, Dan Saffer has an interesting post called The In-Between Stuff Matters. It’s about product and interface design, but I think it’s particularly (and maybe unintentionally) relevant to making radio. [N]ow, with increased processor speeds, new interaction paradigms, and richer interactions possible on most platforms, the in-between stuff–transitions, animations, interaction logic, the connective tissue between features and content, how everything fits together–is becoming ever more important.

Why radio?

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:29:59 +0000

For some reason today, I was on Wikipedia, looking at the entry for Radio documentary. And I came across this rather lovely quote from Helmut Kopetzky: Staring red-eyed at the mirror in front of me, having spent another day and half of the night with my computer, I ask myself fundamental questions: Why radio? Why documentary? Answer: No other medium can provide me with more freedom of creation and investigation. It meets my urgent interest in reality and the desire for a ‘musical’ expression.

Miro reaches 1.0

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:45:13 +0000

It’s been a long time coming, but Miro (nee Democracy) has finally reached 1.0. This magical piece of software has almost single-handedly changed the way I watch television. Congratulations!

New Grownups Read Things… website

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:05:27 +0000

In anticipation of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 3 on November 19, I started a new blog for the event at read.danmisener.com

Meryl and Ira in Cleveland

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:14:03 +0000

If you’re a fan of This American Life, if you’re an Ira Glass fanboy, or if you’re generally a radio geek, you need to read Meryl’s blog post about seeing Ira and David Rakoff at the Ohio Theater. It’s a wonderfully told account, with some great moments: Ira and David both said that a lot of times they’d get to the very end of a story and stop and say, “So what does this actually mean?

Gmail supports IMAP

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:42:51 +0000

If you haven’t heard by now, you probably don’t care. But Gmail now supports IMAP, which is awesome. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. The syncing is delicious, with no more messy POPping around. That said, Google’s basic setup instructions are a little too basic for use with Apple’s Mail.app and iPhone. Instead, check out these instructions.

The Prosecast is back

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:45:48 +0000

Good news, lovers of books. Cathi Bond (one half of The Sniffer) and her Prosecast are back in the saddle for another season, so go have a listen. The most recent episode features an interview with Richard B Wright about his new novel, October.

Skype for radio interviews

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:20:21 +0000

When you’re doing a radio interview with someone in another city, there are a few options I’ve used: Phone – Easiest to set up, but worst-sounding. That said, people are accustomed to hearing phone interviews on the radio. Studio-to-studio via ISDN – Sounds pretty good, but requires a studio on both ends. This usually means the guest has to go to a nearby CBC, NPR, BBC, etc. station, so it’s not always convenient.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids #3

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:51:36 +0000

Last night, at Future Bakery, I ran into Bryanna, who read at the first Grownups… reading night back in February. Seeing her reminded me that there hasn’t been an event since the spring. Which is a shame, because it’s fun. So today I called up Blake at the Victory, and I’m pleased to announce: What: Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 3 When: Monday, November 19, 2007 at 8:00 pm

Fruity Cheerios

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:02:37 +0000

I spotted this display of Fruity Cheerios at Dominion last night. Any idea how these are any different from Froot Loops? Aside from spelling “fruit” properly?

I have a PEI Doppelgänger?

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:43:27 +0000

According to Peter, there’s a Dan Misener lookalike walking around Charlottetown. What’s more, Peter sees this person regularly on his walks to school. How odd.

iPhone Unlock Success!

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:48:05 +0000

I’m up way past my bedtime, but thanks to the iPhone Dev Team and these instructions, I’m pleased to report that my iPhone is completely software unlocked, and up and running on Fido. Awesome!

Kingsville Gothic

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:54:09 +0000

A few months ago, Jenna and I visited Halifax. We spent a rainy afternoon with the enormously talented Mat Dunlap, and he took a series of engagement photos for us. I’ve posted a few of them in this Flickr set. My favourite has to be this shot, which once manipulated by Photoshop wizard Mike Zikovitz, turned out beautifully: Thanks Mat! Thanks Mike!

On Go's season premiere today.

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:56:08 +0000

The sixth season of Go started this morning, and they were nice enough to have me back on the show. This time around, I talked about the many uses for a bicycle bell (outside of riding a bicycle). You can download an MP3 of the segment here.

iPhone price drop blues

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:05:26 +0000

Late last month, I picked up an 8-gig iPhone from the Apple Store at Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan. Though I can’t unlock it for use with Fido yet, it’s still a pretty great iPod and portable email/web device, and I’m anxiously awaiting a full software unlock. Today, in addition to announcing a new family of iPods, Steve Jobs announced a price drop on the 8-gig iPhone. From $599 to $399 USD.

Spark: Launch Day

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:01:53 +0000

Today is the day! Spark, our brand-spanking-new radio show launches. On-air, the first broadcast happens at 11:30 local time. And online, the podcast is already available as an MP3. And, through the magic of Creative Commons licensed music, the podcast version and the broadcast version are the exact same. That alone has me excited. Please, have a listen and let us know what you think.

Spark is about to go to air

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:50:04 +0000

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a new radio show for the CBC. It’s called Spark, it’s about technology and trendwatching, and the first episode airs this Wednesday morning at 11:30. A repeat broadcast airs Saturday afternoon at 4:00, and the podcast (which, thrillingly, is exactly the same as the broadcast version) should be available starting early Wednesday morning. I really hope you can listen.

The changing face of Queen and Parliament

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:25:43 +0000

The intersection of Queen and Parliament — a major intersection in my new neightbourhood — seems to be undergoing a bit of a facelift these day. Part of me wonders if its a bit of the Leslieville revamp creeping east. About two years ago, a Shoppers Drug Mart appeared on the southeast corner: Right next door to the Shoppers, there’s a brand new TD Canada Trust. According to the sign on the door, it’s slated to open August 27.

So long 43rd floor

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:40:46 +0000

This past Sunday, I finished moving in with Jenna. And at midnight last night, my lease at 210 Victoria expired. There are many things I won’t miss about the Pantages, like the long elevator rides and crusty staff at security. But boy, I’ll miss the view:

Trapped in the Closet, Chapter 12.5

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 07:30:52 +0000

Some more R. Kelly goodness in my inbox over the past little while. First, EW.com has a sneak peek at the next 10 chapters of Trapped in the Closet. Gritz ‘n’ Gravy is calling it Trapped In The Closet, Chapter 12.5. Here’s a direct link to the video. Also, Tom sent me a link to this pretty great send-up of “Same Guy,” the video I mentioned here last week. Thanks Tom!

I Believe I Can Rhyme

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:16:33 +0000

If you weren’t at the Smiling Buddha Bar this past Thursday, you missed something pretty special. A nice guy named Jay organized an evening called I Believe I Can Rhyme. David Topping over at Torontoist wrote about it, and I showed up at the event expecting a simple screening of Trapped in the Closet. I somehow missed the fact that it was an R. Kelly tribute show. So immediately after screening the first 12 chapters, 12 bands took the stage to each perform one of the chapters.

People collide, buildings collapse

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:28:37 +0000

So they’re knocking down the building across the street from my old house. A few weeks ago, fences and concrete barricades surrounded the sidewalk, and suddenly I couldn’t park my bike there anymore. Then, sometime over the past couple of days, they started knocking it down. Last night, on our way to the Imperial, I took some photos with Jenna’s camera: I don’t know much about this building, despite living across from it for the better part of a year.

A new home, a new job, and… another new job

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 07:30:52 +0000

This past weekend I moved most of my earthly possessions to Jenna’s. As of August 1, we will officially be cohabitating, and no longer spending enormous amounts of money on two separate apartments. The move was remarkably easy thanks to Rae and her car. There are still a few things at my old place, but all of the big stuff is gone. Also, I’m happy to report that I have a new-ish job.

New Trapped in the Closet chapters to drop later than expected?

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:33:48 +0000

I know that the true reason people read this blog is for accurate and timely R. Kelly news and information, and I’m not about to disappoint. A few weeks ago I wrote here about my excitement for Trapped in the Closet: Chapters 13-22. According to the booklet of Double Up, the new chapters were scheduled to be released July 24th, 2007. But as eagle-eyed Tristan noticed, the release date seem to have been pushed back.

Construction Workers Trafficing Cocaine Ahead

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:00:42 +0000

A few weeks ago, Jenna and I visited my family in Nova Scotia. On a walk with my parents and grandmother in Dartmouth, we saw this sign near NSCC’s new Waterfront Campus: So, um… watch out.

Radio Lab is great

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:56:21 +0000

I remember the very first time I heard This American Life. Shelley Robinson was the PD (or maybe station coordinator) at CKDU at the time, and I was doing my show, Dickey Drive, and she suggested that I check out Ira Glass and his show online. I wrote down the web address (thislife.org) on a scrap of cardboard, stuck it in my pocket, and forgot about it for several weeks.

CBC Radio Overnight all weekend?

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:26:55 +0000

Why, when I visit the CBC Radio portal page on Sunday evening, does it think that CBC Radio Overnight is playing in all time zones? This is the second weekend I can remember CBC Radio Overnight supposedly playing all Sunday. Now, for the record, I do think the new CBC Radio page is an improvement over the previous version. The “Find a Program” filter is pretty slick. But why can’t the site reliably display correct program information?

Great video: Widget

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:51:39 +0000

I’m not usually one to post videos, but today, via the Radio3 blog, I found a great short by Nathan Fielder. It’s called Widget, and it’s hosted on the new Exposure site. The scripting and pacing reminds me so much of my favourite cartoon, Home Movies. Conceptually, I liked ZeD, but found the execution and quality hit-or-miss. I’m keen to see how Exposure pans out for CBC when it launches in July.

Radio Summer = “CBCOvernightOverflow”?

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:33:16 +0000

Over on alt.radio.networks.cbc, Dan Say says CBC Radio’s summer schedule is “almost like CBCOvernightOverflow.” And I have to agree. Browse through the lineup, and many of the shows start to look a little, um… similar. Crossing Boundaries is A 30 minute program featuring the best documentaries from public broadcasters around the world, including the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. Global Perspectives is Global Perspectives is a theme-based program featuring documentaries from around the world.

New Nora Young show on CBC Radio

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:50:23 +0000

A big congratulations to Nora Young and the whole team who put together her new show Spark. According to the show blog, the half-hour show was just approved, will starts in the fall, and will be a magazine of smart and irreverent trend-watching. It explores stories in technology, trends, and new ideas that register high on listeners’ personal radars, but often slip between the cracks of traditional News and Current Affairs.

Trapped in the Closet, Chapters 13-22

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:52:22 +0000

Two weeks ago, Jenna and I spent a long weekend in Boston, visiting relatives. My cousin Emily took us around town, and we ended up at Newbury Comics, where I found a relatively inexpensive copy of Trapped in the Closet, which I first saw almost a year ago. We watched it as soon as we got home, and then again this past weekend. As always, it struck me as a masterpiece, but left me wanting more.

Kids + Money

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:58:54 +0000

This week’s New York Times Magazine is The Money Issue, and online, they have a great video feature. It’s a lovely little film by Lauren Greenfield called Kids + Money, and it’s about kids in LA, and what money means to them and their lives. Well worth the 15 minutes it’ll take you to watch it.

What do CBC employees write on Wikipedia?

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:29:38 +0000

If your website has ever been visited by someone inside the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, intout.cbc.ca probably shows up in your traffic records. intout.cbc.ca is the public face of the entire corporation (online, anyway), and it resolves to 159.33.10.92. One neat thing about this is that you take a look at the Wikipedia user contributions for 159.33.10.92 to find out what CBC employees are writing about. Its seems that a popular topic is the CBC itself:

Crumpler's Beer For Bags: What's the best deal?

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:58:55 +0000

Crumpler Bags are very nice. And right now, they’re having a promotion where you can pay for a bag with beer instead of money, which is also very nice. It’s called Beer For Bags, and it runs in Toronto and New York from June 2 to 10. On their website, they list the type and amount of beer required to purchase each available bag. So I started to wonder, “Which is the best deal?

Flying Higher

Tue, 29 May 2007 18:43:43 +0000

So the CBC previewed its new fall TV lineup today. When I arrived at work this morning, the lobby of the Broadcasting Centre was adorned with large posters not unlike this: One of the posters features the “Flying Higher” slogan with an image of George Stroumboulopoulos floating in mid-air. Another features the cast of Dragon’s Den, with an airplane flying above them in the sky. “Flying Higher” is a nice enough catchphrase, especially with all the talk of “building on our successes.

Jim Dupree: Official Festival Selection Enthusiast

Mon, 28 May 2007 07:12:41 +0000

So a year ago, Tristan and I made thirty episodes of a video podcast called Jim Dupree: Enthusiast. It was reasonably well-received, so we stopped doing it. Now it turns out that videoblogger extraordinaire Steve Garfield is a curator at The American Film Institute’s Pixelodeon festival in Los Angeles this year. And he’s included Jim Dupree: HDTV enthusiast as part of his collection, I Watched, I Laughed, I Vlogged. So not only will our ridiculous video be shown on a big screen, but I also get to use this official-looking badge:

Trivial Pursuit ketchup

Sun, 27 May 2007 10:39:03 +0000

On Saturday afternoon, Jenna and I went to the Hero Certified Burger at King and Yonge for lunch. I grabbed a handful of those little ketchup packets, and noticed that Heinz now prints Trivial Pursuit questions on their single-serving ketchups: This is a great idea. But it falls short online. As far as I can tell, the website listed on the package (www.heinzitup.com) makes no mention of the campaign, nor does www.

The Canaries are now on iTunes

Wed, 23 May 2007 19:21:27 +0000

So I’m in a band, and we’re called The Canaries. A few months back, we made a recording, and had a bunch of CDs pressed. Several hundred, if I recall correctly. Though we’ve not yet “officially” released the CD, we’ve sold them at the past couple of shows. And now, according to Frank, you can buy our recording on iTunes. Which is kind of cool. Or, if you’re interested and would like to buy a proper, physical CD, I’ll sell you one for the low low price of five Canadian dollars.

TVO is seriously showing up the CBC

Mon, 14 May 2007 20:44:13 +0000

Today, when I checked out the Democracy Channel Guide, I noticed that The Agenda with Steve Paikin is available as a video podcast. If you don’t know (or don’t live in Ontario) The Agenda is TVO’s daily current affairs program, and it’s excellent. As a podcast, they offer the entire program as a large downloadable .mp4 file. You hear that CBC? TVO offers the entire program as a download. Not just a selection of clips, like The Hour podcast.

Variety is the spice of life

Mon, 07 May 2007 19:00:22 +0000

This past weekend, I went from this pair of eyeglasses: to this pair of eyeglasses:

(Free) Tickets to GO!

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:20:26 +0000

For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a series for GO! on CBC Radio One. In it, I solve problems in my personal life by hiring professionals. Two weeks ago, I realized that no one laughs at my jokes, so I hired a drummer to follow me around for a day and punctuate my humour with stings (MP3 of the segment). Then, last week, I noticed that people always hang up on my voicemail.

A Tuna Kahuna and a Pistons superfan

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:34:29 +0000

Congrats to my pal Tom who made a guest-blogging appearance on the Detoit Pistons’ site. Having season tickets is just about being a more informed fan that stays on top of things and follows the importance of a particular game or matchup and the health of the players. On Wednesday I won my fantasy basketball league, beating 12 guys who probably know more about basketball than me. I feel like I know every detail of every game with these guys because I’m at The Palace so often.

Less than one week until Reading Series part deux

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:22:27 +0000

Well, the second installment of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids is less than a week away. My pal Tristan was nice enough to create a Facebook event for the night, so if you plan to attend, RSVP, si vous plait. Also, through an email from Neil at Mortified, I learned that our fledgling reading series was mentioned briefly in the LA Times. Seriously. And, if all goes well, I’ll be interviewed on CBC Radio One’s new arts/culture/entertainment show Q on Monday, April 30 (the day of the show) about the event.

How Democracy changed everything, and what the CBC needs to do to compete with the pirates

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 19:42:10 +0000

Well, perhaps Democracy hasn’t changed everything, but it certainly has changed the way I watch television shows. Democracy is a free, open-source, Internet television platform. Its guts are made of: An RSS aggregator A Bittorrent client A video player based on VLC When you put these three things together, magical things start to happen. Let’s say, for example, that I’m a big fan of the TV show The Office. I can visit a site like tvRSS, and get a list of torrents of The Office episodes, or an RSS feed of torrents of The Office episodes.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 2

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:11:18 +0000

I’m really excited and happy to let you know that we’re doing Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids again. 8:00 PM on Monday, April 30, 2007 Upstairs at The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto That means you have about three weeks to clean out your closet, or dust off that shoebox of work from grade school, or call up your mom in Newfoundland and get her to send you that old letter from camp.

My vast penny collection

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:12:47 +0000

So, how many pennies do you think this is: Turns out it’s 2053 pennies. Though CoinStar skims a large percentage off your total, I figured their service was worth it for my vast penny collection.

The Canaries play the Horseshoe

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:37:34 +0000

So I’m in this rock and roll band called The Canaries. Turns out we’re playing the Horseshoe this Monday, April 2, around 10pm or so. Now, I know it’s a Monday night, but there are at least three good reasons to come to this show: We’re opening for a band called The Manvils, who seem pretty cool. The Georgia Straight called them the “Best Vancouver Band 2006.” And according to their website, they’re headlining at the Knitting Factory in NYC soon.

I'm engaged to be married

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:23:42 +0000

This past Saturday, I asked Jenna to marry me. She said yes. She makes me very happy. She also says this post will make you ralph.

Totally awesome giant vinyl stickers

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:35:40 +0000

From one of her design blogs, Jenna sent me a link to the Vynil collection, which is basically a bunch of really cool, huge vinyl stickers for your wall. Vynil turns the Â« wall space Â» into a playground where composition and story telling are open for innovation.Free yourself from the constraints brought upon you by wall paper and let the Vynil collection, beyond the sheer practical benefits that it brings â€“ you no longer need glue nor a specific table â€“ help you rethink the importance and role of the ornamental motive for your home.

New songs from Laura Peek

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:28:26 +0000

My friend Laura Peek is a very talented singer-songwriter. For a good long while now, she’s been talking me about a record she’s working on. And I’ve been waiting patiently since she first mentioned it. Luckily, it seems that the wait will soon be over. According to her blog, the new CD will likely come out in April. What’s more, she’s posted three new songs from it on her MySpace page.

Scheduled syncing with iSync

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:30:51 +0000

I like my cell phone (a Motorola L7) just fine. It’s small-ish, the speaker volume is sufficient, and through iSync, it can keep in touch with my address book and calendar using Bluetooth. Problem is, I never remember to actually sync the darned thing, so the information on my phone is always hopelessly out of date. So I’ve come up with a solution — scheduled syncing: I copied Fraser Speirs’s Synchronize with iSync, then Quit script into Script Editor, then saved it as an application.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids went really well

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 07:10:43 +0000

Last Monday, upstairs at the Victory Cafe, I hosted the very first Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids — an evening of childhood poems, schoolwork, and diary readings. I was really worried that nobody would show up, and that I’d have to read from my Grade 1 journal all alone, for an hour. But that didn’t happen. The night was amazingly well-attended (standing room only on a Monday night), and everyone who read did a great job.

I'll be on Go this Saturday

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:57:46 +0000

I’m on the radio this weekend, joining Go for their Canada Reads spoof called “Canada Skims Magazines.” I’ll be on a panel with Scott Thompson, Jean Yoon, and Olivia Chow, pitching Lou Lou as the magazine every Canadian should be skimming. Should be fun. Saturday morning at 10 on CBC Radio One or listen online.

The Hour Podcast

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:00:16 +0000

Scanning through the iTunes podcast directory today, I came across something called The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos Video Podcast. Now, iTunes doesn’t easily let you see the feed information for podcasts listed in its directory, but if you ping a feed (using its ID from the Music Store URL) like this: https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?id=215119383 You get: Podcast Ping Received Podcast Feed URL: http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/rss/itunes_video.xml Podcast ID: 215119383 Thanks, iTunes. I haven’t seen this published anywhere (not even on The Hour’s site), but it’s listed in iTunes, and discoverable by mere mortals.

Apple logo carved into Vista ad

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:46:38 +0000

David Topping over at Torontoist has a nice write-up and several photos of the Apple logo carved into a Windows Vista ad I saw last week (image above and on my Flickr): A little over a week ago, one user of the tribe.ca forums found the word “LINUX” carved out of a huge Vista ad at Finch Station. A few days after that, photoblogger Photendo found an Apple logo carved out of the “o” in “Wow” for a similar Vista promo at Queen Station, and now, at King Station by the Melinda Street exit, someone has done the same thing to the same ad, and (someone else?

Straight back to '88

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:36:54 +0000

Just in time for my poorly named evening of reading (Adults Read Things They Wrote as Kids), a package from my Mom arrived in the mail: Inside, I found five scribblers.* They were all journals from elementary school at Sackville Centennial. There’s some great stuff inside, and I’m looking forward to reading from these on Monday. Too bad I don’t have an overhead projector, because there are some great illustrations inside.

Ketchup on your RRSP

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:59:47 +0000

This past Friday, after work, I went to the TD Canada Trust to pick up some cash for the weekend. When I looked down, I noticed an unopened bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup on the counter in front of the teller. Then I looked down the length of the counter. There were bottles of ketchup in front of every teller. So I bit. “What’s this bottle of ketchup for?” I asked.

Free over-the-air HDTV in Toronto

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:03:11 +0000

On the front page of Digg today, a link to Prick Up Your Rabbit Ears. It’s an article from Newsweek about over-the-air HDTV. When cable TV arrived in the ’70s, rabbit ears seemed destined to go the way of the polyester pantsuit. So, too, the clunky outdoor antenna, a rooftop fixture that once upon a time signaled the rise of television in American life. But a funny thing happened on the way to the analog dust heap: it turns out that a new generation of rabbit ears and antennas can receive high-definition television broadcasts.

Filling in on Editor's Choice again

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:30:02 +0000

Angela Misri’s on jury duty for a while, so in her absence, I’m filling in for her on the CBC Editor’s Choice podcast. You can download individual episodes from the program page, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

I need stuff you wrote as a kid

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:05:14 +0000

Update: Looking for information about Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids? Visit danmisener.com/read Do you still have anything you wrote as a kid? A poem? A book report? A diary? I want you to read it out loud. In front of people. I think most of us have a collection of stuff from our younger days sitting in a box somewhere. We cart it around from apartment to apartment, strangely attached.

“Send him the money. Thank me later.”

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:14:20 +0000

They night after I moved to Toronto, my friend Laura took me to Graffiti’s in Kensington to see Kevin Quain play. It was a Monday, I remember. Earlier that evening we watched the sun go down and the city light up from the top deck of a ferry on its way back from Centre Island. And I was really excited to see Kevin Quain. Not long before I moved, my friend Neil had seen Kevin play in someone’s living room.

How to keep your glasses from fogging up

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:35:26 +0000

So it’s the first day of February, one of the coldest months of the year. To mark the occasion, here’s a tip for keeping your eyeglasses from fogging up when coming indoors from the cold: Walk in backwards. I have no idea why this works, but it does. It’s a trick I learned when I was a kid delivering newspapers in Lower Sackville. My glasses would always fog up when I entered people’s homes on cold nights to collect paper money.

Is this the world we live in?

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:02:27 +0000

This morning, Jenna got some good news in a text message: IT’S A GIRL! Â we think.Â XXX is excited YYY and ZZZ had their baby Â according to facebook. Â No other details though. Yes, that’s right. Facebook. Facebook? News travels fast. And through increasingly bizarre channels.

Rock and Roll news

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:55:07 +0000

So I’m in a band. Last week, we spent some time in Murray Daigle’s MDS Recording studio. The result: a seven song EP without a name (yet). You can listen to the whole thing three songs on The Canaries’ NewMusicCanada page. We’ll also sell it in fancy packaging at shows, probably for a fiver. Speaking of shows, we’re playing The Savannah Room on February 6, 2007, with Joan’s Smith’s band The Achievers.

Smog Dog

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:27:08 +0000

I’ve lived in Toronto for almost three years now. The whole while, I’ve never purchased (much less consumed) a hot dog or sausage from any of this fair city’s ubiquitous street meat vendors. Last night, all that changed: Special thanks to Jenna for getting me intoxicated enough to make it all happen.

The Prosecast is back

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:00:09 +0000

Good news in my inbox yesterday. My former podcast-labelmate Cathi Bond (of The Sniffer fame) has launched the second season of her Prosecast for HarperCollins Canada. The first edition features an interview with Vikram Chandra (NYT review of his novel “Sacred Games”). Congratulations Cathi, and best of luck with the new season.

Hey you with the floss! Don't even think about flushing that down the toilet.

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:44:24 +0000

A few (maybe five) dentist appointments ago, I resolved to floss my teeth every single day. The first month was really tough, but once I got into the routine, it stuck. For as long as I’ve been flossing regularly, I’ve been disposing of my dental floss in the toilet. I mean, it makes sense: I floss in the bathroom, and the toilet is right there, waiting to receive my stringy offering.

They turned off the tap

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:09:17 +0000

Since moving into my new apartment last August, I’ve enjoyed free WiFi courtesy of one of my neighbours. I’m not sure whether it’s altruism or ignorance, but judging by their router’s SSID (“default”), my money’s on the latter. Anyway, for the past few months, it’s been great — a nice, strong, reliable signal. For free! But the day I got back from New Year’s in Windsor, I realized something had changed.

Goodbye Marilyn

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:31:44 +0000

Marilyn was my bass guitar. I bought her from Musicstop on Cunard Street in Halifax. She’d been on hold for me for months, and I’d been slowly paying her down, bit by bit, while she waited patiently for me in the Musicstop warehouse. I made the final payment the day after I got back from visiting my friend Jamie Bambury in Kingston. It was the spring of 2001, and I’d just finished Foundation Year at King’s.

Last bike ride before winter?

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:38:00 +0000

Today, I picked up my bicycle from College and Clinton and drove it home. The sun was shining, I had a brand new haircut, and every traffic signal turned green for me just in time. I’m tempted to put my bike away for the winter, because it just doesn’t get much better than that.

Tristan presents: The Truth

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:22:51 +0000

On Monday night, Tristan came over to work on the soon-to-be-shipped Jim Dupree: Enthusiast box set (they’re looking great, by the way, and will be in your hands soon). While he was over, he told me about his newest blog: Tristan presents: The Truth. Now, if there’s one thing Tristan Homer likes to do, it’s to start web-based projects, then delete them soon after (for fear that a future employer will discover them).

Black belt, brown sneakers

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:02:54 +0000

In my comments this morning, a link from Dunnit, makers of my new favourite sneakers. Seems they’re giving away free shoes to people who can provide a compelling enough reason. So here’s mine: Far too often, I wear a black belt with brown sneakers. Apparently this is a no-no: Belts are accessories. Belts shouldn’t be worn to hold your pants up, because you should get pants that fit in the first place.

Taking over Editor's Choice

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:23:10 +0000

Angela Misri, who is in charge of CBC Radio podcasts, is away for a few weeks. So I’m filling in for her. Included in my daily duties is something called Editor’s Choice, which is a daily podcast that features a particularly good bit plucked from CBC Radio’s broadcast day. If you feel like listening, visit the website and grab an MP3 or subscribe to the feed. And if you’re a regular listener and miss Angela’s voice, don’t worry.

More gigs with Ainsley McNeaney

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:18:50 +0000

It seems like this blog has become a clearinghouse for Ainsley McNeaney‘s show listings. We have two upcoming dates. Hope to see you: Tuesday, September 26, 2006: Check us out LIVE @ C’est Whatâ€¦Â Â The show starts at 9:30pm with singer-songwriter Ben Sures, winner of the 2005 John Lennon songwriting competition in the folk category ( www.bensures.com).Â Â The evening continues with the musical talents of my wonderful ensemble: Dean Pomeroy, Dan Misener, Tricia Mangat, Tim Francom, Miguel Malaco, Mohsin Bhujwalla and Cait Boyle, with special guest Andrew McCandless on trumpet and flugal horn.

Live at the Free Times Cafe tonight

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:46:35 +0000

I’m playing a couple of sets tonight (Friday, August 25) at the Free Times Cafe in Toronto, with The Canaries and Ainsley McNeaney. From Ainsley’s email: THIS FRIDAY! Check us out @ the Free Times Cafe for a full evening of live musicâ€¦ The show starts at 8:30pm and will feature members of Toronto indie band The Canaries to open, and â€“ of course – the musical talents of my wonderful ensemble: Dean Pomeroy, Dan Misener, Tricia Mangat, Miguel Malaco, Kristine Grey and Cait Boyle.

My Secret City

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:24:42 +0000

In my inbox today, an announcement about “My Secret City,” which is a part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche “all night contemporary art thing.” It starts at sunset at 7:01 p.m. on September 30 and runs until sunrise at 7:15 a.m. on October 1, 2006. I’d never heard of this before, and I really like the idea, both of the Nuit Blanche, and of the “My Secret City” component: Uncover secrets concealed by or revealed within the 20 My Secret City artworks by Toronto artists, many of them the driving forces behind the younger cultural movements in the city.

New Kicks

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:24:13 +0000

Spy Lab in Toronto has a sale on Dunnits. Since I recently discovered a hole in my left sneaker, I picked up new pair last night for $25. How did I know they were on sale? Jenna told me. How does Jenna manage to monitor sneaker prices along the entire length of Queen Street? I have no idea.

Thai food central

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:12:09 +0000

It seems as though Church and Richmond has become the new little Thailand in Toronto. This evening as Jenna and I walked back from the grocery store, we noticed that the ground level of the building that used to house the Rockit (and the the Speakeasy) is now a Spring Rolls. If you ask me, it’s a pretty dumb place to open a chain Thai restaurant, what with the incredible Golden Thai directly across the street, and Young Thailand just south.

I hate phones

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:18:02 +0000

But after moving this past weekend, I realized that I need some kind of telephone. And prices the way they are, the convenience of a cell seemed worth the premium over a land line. But cell phone companies are evil. They rope you into 2 or 3 year contracts with the lure of cheap or “free” phones. And mostly, their “free” phones suck. I had a 2 year contract with Bell Mobility that ended in the Spring.

CBC Blogging Manifesto

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:48:50 +0000

A few days ago, I signed the CBC Blogging Manifesto. Today, Ouimet announced it. Though I don’t post about work here nearly as much as I used to, any CBC-related posts will be guided by this: Preamble: If you blog about the CBC, it’s assumed that you are doing so out of love and perhaps frustration. It’s only natural. The CBC is a wonderful institution with a long, proud history, going through an interesting and difficult time.

A journey of a thousand miles…

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:32:00 +0000

… begins with a single parka. Yes, it’s true. I’ve started moving into my new place. As of September 1, I’ll no longer be living with Phil and Tristan. I got myself a tiny little bachelor apartment at Victoria and Shuter. It’s close to Jenna, close to work, and close to the Queen subway station. Even though I won’t move the bulk of my stuff until this weekend, I started today.

Lost and Found

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:56:39 +0000

This summer, I worked on two pieces for the CBC Radio summer show Lost and Found, hosted by Matt Rainnie in Charlottetown.Â I just put the finishing touches on the second piece today, and the first piece airs this Saturday, on the “Stuff… Lost and Found” episode: **Saturday, August 5, 2006, 3:00 p.m. 05/08/2006 Reality show judge and professional inventor Doug Hall has helped create at least 18 products and services you may have in your home.

Interview with Dave Brodbeck

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 22:27:38 +0000

Dave Brodbeck interviewed me over Skype tonight. We talked about the podcast, the band, and the miracle of Craigslist. Dave is one hell of a cool guy. We met at Podcasters Across Borders a couple of weeks back. Since meeting, I’ve been amazed to discover that he does three (!) podcasts: Broca’s Area, Thunderbird Six, plus a feed of his psych lectures at Algoma University. The interview was really a lot of fun.

Come see my band. Please. We need you.

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:17:22 +0000

Last fall, I joined a rock and roll band. We call ourselves The Canaries. And I’m proud to say that we’re playing our very first show. In case it didn’t arrive in your inbox, here’s the email: **THE CANARIES LIVE AT CLINTON’S THURSDAY, JULY 20TH** Frank Sinclair, Mike Zikovitz and Dean Pomeroy (formerly of The Plastic Folk) are back with a new band, a new name, new songs and a new member, bassist Dan Misener.

Trapped in the Closet

Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:21:28 +0000

I had houseguests this weekend. Laura and Michael had a day off from their tour with Buck 65, and stayed over on Saturday night. Michael brought a copy of R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet. It was probably the single best thing I have seen in a very long time. If you’re like me, and haven’t seen (or heard about) it, TITC is basically an epic 45-minute music video in 12 parts.

Gig at the Red Guitar Tuesday

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:36:14 +0000

Tomorrow, I’ll play a gig with my friend Ainsley McNeaney (and a pile of other bona-fide musician types, including Dean Pomeroy, Tim Francom, Miguel Malaco, Kristine Grey, Cait Boyle and Mohsin Bhujwalla). You can listen to some of Ainsley’s tunes on her MySpace account. It happens Tuesday, June 13 at the Red Guitar in Toronto. It’s an early show with 2 sets, starting at 7:00. Details at Upcoming.org.

Yahoo!

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:01:17 +0000

I had lunch yesterday with my friend Christina, who shared with me the good news that she has a job… at Yahoo! She just graduated from Sheridan, she’s planning to move into Toronto soon, and it’s really nice to see things working out the way she wants them to. More details on her blog. Congrats, Christina.

Look Mom, I'm a repeat

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 08:52:40 +0000

According to the Hotsheet, I’m on Go again this weekend. But it’s a rerun: All the heavy hitters are coming out this week on Go. Â Hawksley Workman rocks the Go atmosphere with brand new tunes. Heather Mallick drops by, along with CBC’s Resident Cheapskate, “Discount” Dan Misener. Â And Grooveshinny rises once more out of the dungeon. Go – You paid for the whole seat, but you’re only going to need the edge!

Loyal she began, loyal she remains

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:37:06 +0000

My Ontario driver’s licence arrived in the mail today. It’s been a couple of weeks since I traded in my Nova Scotia licence. It made me kind of sad. On the upside though, I have an ID again, and don’t have to carry around my passport anymore.

Men's Washroom Etiquette

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:30:26 +0000

A weird thing happened in the men’s washroom at work last week. I know, I knowâ€¦ all good stories start like that. There were two of us in the washroom. The other man finished up before I did, walked over to the sink, lathered up, rinsed, dried his hands, and walked out of the washroom, but he left the water running. He knew I was there. Did he leave the faucet running for my convenience?

We don't need no stinkin' cell phones

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:58:25 +0000

I make my final appearance of the season on CBC Radio’s Go this Saturday. I’ll be sharing advice on living in the twenty-first century without a cell phone.

Jenna got a MacBook

Sat, 20 May 2006 12:00:09 +0000

Jenna got a MacBook, and I took pictures.

Oh, come on Skype

Mon, 15 May 2006 12:29:16 +0000

Honestly, the day after I top up my Skype account with ten euro’s worth of calling, Skype goes ahead and announces free Skype-to-landline calls within North America.

The kids these days and their podcasts

Sun, 07 May 2006 22:03:03 +0000

Tristan and I have started another video podcast. It’s called Canadian Heritage Vignettes. It is short, subtitled, shot entirely with my digital camera, and will probably be updated infuriatingly infrequently. You might also want to check out the newest Collective Production. It’s called The Podcast of My Discontent, and it features (probably) more Tristan Homer than you could possibly ever want. It’s cleverly edited.

I love iSquint

Tue, 02 May 2006 23:35:33 +0000

I do, I really do. iSquint is the program that I use on my Macintosh to turn huge DV files into iPod video compatible files for the Jim Dupree podcast. Now, there are a lot of ways to do this, and I’ve tried several, but by far, iSquint is the easiest and fastest. The program does exactly what it promises, handles any kind of video file I can throw at it, and best of all, the dialogs and release notes have a sense of humour.

Interviewed today for G4techTV

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:31:55 +0000

Amber MacArthur interviewed Tristan and me today about Jim Dupree: Enthusiast for a G4techTV show called Torrent. Basically, Torrent takes video podcasts, and puts them on television. It was nice to be asked to participate, but strange. Our podcast is so unbelievably silly, it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to ask serious questions about it. A friendly fellow named Sean took a pile of photos, and posted them to his Flickr account.

Headed to Montreal this weekend

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:05:36 +0000

Jenna and I are headed to Montreal for the Easter long weekend. I’ve never been. Any suggestions?

I'll be on Go tomorrow

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 18:58:04 +0000

I’ll be on CBC Radio’s Go this Saturday morning, April 8, 2006. This time I’m talking about living the high life on the backs of retail return policies.

A word of explanation about this blog

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:40:17 +0000

Recently, I bought and set up DanMisener.com, and ported over Dan Misener likes the radio, my old blog about the radio. I did this in part because I found the old site to be a little constraining. Often I found myself wanting to write about things that have nothing at all to do with the radio. The sorts of things that don’t really belong on a “radio blog.” I was inspired by blogs like Joe Mahoney’s assortednonsense.

Microtrack Firmware Update

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 23:08:05 +0000

Unbeknownst to me, M-Audio released a firmware update for my MicroTrack 24/96 earlier this month. Among other things, it addresses one of my major beefs with the original firmware: mono recordings. Previously, the MicroTrack only recorded in stereo. For most of what I do, this is twice the number of channels I need. So thanks M-Audio, you’ve effectively doubled the capacity of my Compact Flash card. Update: Spoke too soon. Upon closer inspection of the release notes:

This is it… the iTalkPro

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:31:37 +0000

Well, I’ve been waiting for this ever since I bought my first 3G iPod a couple years ago. We’ve known for a while that the new 5G iPods support high quality voice recordings, but up until now there’s not been a way to actually make recordings. All that changed today, when Griffin announced the iTalkPro. It’s powered by the iPod, has built-in mics, software gain controls, and can record CD quality stereo sound.

New Edirol Portable Digital Recorder

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 14:18:48 +0000

One of my favourite gadget blogs, Engadget, points to the release of a new portable digital recorder from Edirol — the R-09 (product page). The specs look pretty nice: 24-bit/48kHz (or 44.1kHz) uncompressed recording Up to 320kbps MP3 playback and recording Records to SD card (64MB card included) High-grade stereo condenser microphone built in Mic and Line audio inputs; USB I/O Easy operation, user-friendly graphic display Ultra portable, half the size of the R-1 Long battery life I considered Edirol’s R-1 for a while, but eventually settled on an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96.

This American Life Scoring Music iMix

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 17:15:00 +0000

Some things I know to be true: I like the music on This American Life I’d like to be able to buy some of the music used in This American Life I like iTunes I don’t like RealAudio So I spent part of my Saturday afternoon compiling an iMix called This American Life Scoring Music. You can find it in the iTunes music store, or if you have iTunes installed, just click the previous link.

NPR Podcasting Workshop

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:49:00 +0000

Via the always informative BoingBoing comes a link to AudioLuxe, advertising a “Content Crash Course for Podcasters” run by NPR producers, at an NPR station: Why should professional broadcasters have the monopoly on quality? DIY doesn’t have to be dull! Learn the tips, tricks, and time-tested techniques professional public broadcasters use to capture and keep a listener’s attention. Why isn’t CBC Radio doing this?

Witness the awesome power of the Mailmobile

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:47:00 +0000

The CBC’s Toronto Broadcast Centre has a robot that delivers mail. It’s a motorized cart that follows a track through the halls. It’s also equipped with sensors to keep it from running over children and small animals. Earlier this week, the mailmobile failed to avoid a terracotta pot outside our offices. The destruction is documented on my Flickr account.

From Idea to Air

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 01:10:00 +0000

I spent this past Saturday at Tod Maffin’s From Idea to Air workshop at the Royal York in Toronto. It was a day-long workshop based on his popular e-book, and run as a fundraiser for the MS Society of Canada. I started freelancing for the CBC about three years ago. I started by selling short documentaries to Radio Syndication, and continued by making radio pieces for shows like Metro Morning, Definitely Not the Opera, and Outfront.

CKDU Goes High Power February 14, 2006

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:42:00 +0000

From CKDU.ca, about the Valentine’s Day move to high power: At 1:00 PM AST, CKDU 97.5 FM will cease to broadcast. At 7:00 PM AST, CKDU 88.1 FM will rise like a phoenix out of the 97.5 ashes. Tune in for exciting live programming hosted by Nick Barrington (Elegant Voltage) and featuring a stable of our wonderful programmers and volunteers. This has been a long time coming. Congrats to my Haligonian radio colleagues.

Free coffee

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 18:44:00 +0000

I’ll be on CBC Radio’s Go tomorrow (Saturday, January 14, 2005) morning, talking about how to get free coffee.

More on recording with your iPod

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 18:31:00 +0000

Via Engadget , news that XtremeMac has announced something called the MicroMemo, which consists of an adapter with a built-in (bur removable) flexible mic, and records 16-bit audio from 5G iPods at 22 KHz. It’s powered by the iPod and will cost $79.95 when it ships later this year. One question: why 22KHz? Why not the take advantage of the iPod’s full capabilities? We already know it can do 16 bit/44.

Sonic IDs

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 20:35:00 +0000

I’m back at the Broadcast Centre for a little while, filling in at Radio Syndication. On my way out today, I ran into a colleague who’s working for CBC Radio One’s new Sirius channel. I don’t have a satellite radio, so I haven’t yet heard the channel. But apparently, it’s mainly repurposed Radio One content, minus any local information. This, of course, leaves gaps to fill. So what do you fill it with?

MicroTrack review

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:08:03 +0000

Via createdigitalmusic.com, Mark Nelson’s review of the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96. I picked up one of these units about a month ago, and am working on my own, radio-producer-POV review. I’ll also be bringing my MicroTrack to Tod’s Toronto podcaster meetup if you want to check it out in person.

Why doesn't the CBC podcast more?

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 21:45:00 +0000

Over at Dose Magazine, Hugh has written an excellent article on the CBC and its podcasting strategy. It seems to be based mostly on conversation with Tod Maffin on his cross-country podcasting tour, and is especially good at explaining some of the reasons why the corporation doesn’t do more podcasting. Not surprisingly, the main reasons aren’t technical.

Radio Documentary Opportunity

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 10:49:00 +0000

This arrived in my CBC email yesterday afternoon, and since then approximately one zillion people forwarded it to me saying, “Dan, this is right up your alley.” Indeed. I sent my letter yesterday afternoon. I’m passing it along here for others who might be interested: December 1, 2005 IN YOUR EAR â€“ DOCUMENTARY OPPORTUNITY I’m writing today to let you know about an exciting new production and mentoring opportunity that CBC Radio is launching in January.

In another city…

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 10:19:00 +0000

Through the miracle of technology, I’m co-hosting Popped Culture tonight. It runs tonight (Monday) at 5:30 AST on CKDU — 97.5 FM in Halifax, or online.

Honour your CKDU pledges

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:07:29 +0000

Via the halifaxlocals forum comes news that CKDU’s annual funding drive came up short. That could mean for some tough times ahead. The spoils of its funding drive already account for roughly one-third of its budget. And the station drained its savings this year to buy a new transmitter, antennae and other equipment to increase its output power from 33 to 3,200 watts. Staff wages were increased from $9.65 to $12 per hour to be more in step with national standards and the stations’ student levy is down due to a drop in enrolment.

Sad Goat Replacement Reviews

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 21:38:19 +0000

From the CBC watchblog artichokes and cbc for everyone comes a Roundup of Roundup Replacement Reviews. Honestly, I’ve not yet heard the new afternoon show Freestyle.

Pillow Fight

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:57:00 +0000

I just got back from the giant pillow fight at Dundas Square. Hilariously (and perhaps inappropriately) the organizers didn’t know there was a UTAG (Uniting Toronto Against Guns) anti-gun rally going on at the same time. At some point though, the groups realized each other’s existence, and the UTAG emcee gave the pillow fighters big props. The journalistic big boys were there (CFRB, CBC, CTV… presumably to cover the UTAG rally), plus lots of little guys (like me) documenting the pillow fight just for kicks.

When it rains, it pours

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:50:00 +0000

In addition to working at Syndication this week, I: Wrote and taped my second talk-tape for Go Interviewed Yegor from SmashMyiPod.com for Popped Culture Voiced a consumer column for the Content Factory Was asked to do a Christmas-time column for the Content Factory

The Syndicate

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 12:34:00 +0000

I spent the past week chase producing for CBC national radio Syndication. It was a fun job because of the variety of stuff I got to do. I set up live interviews for local/regional shows across Canada about pirates, quick fix diets/exercise/surgery, and war correspondents. I also did a couple of interviews myself, sliced my voice out of them, and sent them down the pipe. I got to talk to Canadians and Jordanians about Wednesday’s hotel bombings and demonstrations, and to the author of a new handbook about visiting elderly relatives.

I'll be on CKDU Monday

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 22:37:00 +0000

I have an item on tomorrow’s Popped Culture on CKDU. Last month, I attended the fourth annual World Rock Paper Scissors Championship here in Toronto. I was feeling a bit dejected, because everyone I pitched the idea to didn’t want it (it’d been covered to death in past years). But I’d signed up for media credentials, and I thought it sounded fun, so I went anyway. I ended up with a bunch of tape I didn’t know what to do with.

113111952231454699

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 10:49:00 +0000

Pals of mine know that I’m always on the lookout for the perfect portable digital audio recorder. Well, over at Engadget, readers are weighing in with their suggestions for the best portable podcasting gear.

Stretching afternoon show resources even thinner

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:57:00 +0000

In Tuesday’s Globe, there was a good overview of the coming changes to CBC’s afternoon lineup. The changes are slated to take effect this Monday. I’m particularly interested to hear how local afternoon shows in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver will deal with an extra half hour to fill every day. Local afternoon shows are notoriously hard up for resources. They don’t get the same numbers as morning shows, and consequently, aren’t as well staffed.

Listen for me on Go this month

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 18:41:16 +0000

Taped an item for Go this morning. Each week in November, I’m trying a different fad diet. And every Saturday morning this month, I’ll be talking about it on the air. Have a listen if you can: Saturdays at 10:00 AM.

Technology could be catalyst for CBC renewal

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:25:36 +0000

Via Ted F., here’s a Michael Geist article from today’s Toronto Star called Technology could be catalyst for CBC renewal.

Visiting WBEZ

Sat, 29 Oct 2005 16:55:00 +0000

I recently came upon Meryl’s LiveJournal while looking around for Jonathan Goldstein/WireTap-related stuff. From what I can gather, Meryl has a huge crush on her English prof. This crush somehow led to an interview on WireTap. Anyhow, I’ve been reading her posts lately. She’s a big This American Life fan, and recently visited Chicago. Unbeknownst to Meryl, her pal Colin got them into a live TAL taping, and she met Ira Glass.

700 imaginary hobo names

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:54:00 +0000

Via roommate Phil’s favourite website, BoingBoing, comes a link to John Hodgman’s poem 700 imaginary hobo names. You might know John as a contributor to This American Life and Wiretap.

Archived Wiretap shows

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 13:24:00 +0000

This will come as a delight to fans of Jonathan Goldstein’s Wiretap: A guy named Jared Benedict has been posting MP3 archives of the show to his blog. I can’t imagine they’re authorized, so grab them while they’re up. Personally, I record the show off the air with Audio Hijack Pro and my RadioShark.

I am a video podcast superstar

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:28:00 +0000

Apparently I am starring in a new weekly video podcast called Jim Dupree: Enthusiast. I play Jim Dupree, a man who is enthusiastic about many things. In the first episode, released this week, Jim is enthusiastic about dogs. Glenn, the interviewer, questions Jim about his enthusiasm. It’s a video podcast, so you might want to use the new iTunes to subscribe. You can subscribe from the Jim Dupree: Enthusiast page in the iTunes podcast directory, or copy the following URL into your podcatcher:

Promo Girl

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:07:30 +0000

From Fine Young Journalist comes a thoughtful analysis of CBC’s Promo Girl elements.

Finally, iPod supports high-quality voice recording

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:49:00 +0000

I’ve been waiting for this for years. A scant week after my iPod nano arrived in the mail, comes news that the new iPod (announced yesterday) does proper stereo recording. Anyone want to buy an immaculate black 4 gig nano? Update: iLounge has more details in their article Why podcasters (and bootleggers?) will love the new iPod.

How hot is the Sony PCM-D1?

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 12:26:00 +0000

Via Music Thing comes the announcement of Sony’s new professional flash recorder — the PCM-D1: It records 24/96 wav files on 4gb internal, or memory sticks. It has analog VU meters. It runs off four AA batteries. It’s made by Sony. Out of titanium. I wonder what it’d take to get a review unit out of them before it ships in December.

CKDU Funding Drive 2005

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:57:00 +0000

I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Nova Scotia. Today I made a pledge to the CKDU Funding Drive, which starts October 21st. CKDU is home to many of my favourite radio shows, like Popped Culture, Let’s Get Baked, Smart Patrol, and The Rose Parade. Why should you pledge? Aside from supporting community radio, there are great prizes. And this year’s t-shirts are hot!

Tonight: Davy Rothbart at the Drake Hotel

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 13:07:00 +0000

If you: Are in Toronto tonight Enjoy Davy Rothbart’s Found magazine or stories on This American Life you should check out his appearance tonight at the Drake Hotel. He’ll be reading from his book, The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas. Event on Upcoming.org

Financial cushion

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:34:00 +0000

An email from the CMG cleared up the question, “Will Dan get a signing bonus, even though he has no job to return to?” CBC management has also committed to depositing the $1,000 signing bonus in employees’ accounts by the end of the day on Wednesday October 12. Everyone who was on the CBC payroll as of August 14, 2005, including casual employees who worked at least 13 weeks between April 1, 2004 and August 14, 2005, qualify for the signing bonus.

This blog stays put

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 11:59:00 +0000

After weeks of intense posting, some lockout bloggers are winding things up. I applaud their efforts, and thank them for their work and dedication. A group called the CMG Lockout Archive Project is working to establish a collection of lockout blogs, photos, etc. But for me, the blogging continues. I started this blog about a year ago, long before the lockout. Originally, the point was to document my post-graduatation life. Basically, “follow Dan around as he tries to find a career in public radio.

R.I.P. MD?

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 11:42:43 +0000

Via Gizmodo, an article from Alice Hill’s Real Tech News: Sony’s Mini-Disc Format About to Bite the Dust.

Google Newsmap: Paris Hilton beats CMG/CBC deal

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 09:28:00 +0000

Curious to know how much attention other media are paying to the CBC/CMG deal, I checked Marumishi’s Google Newsmap, which visually displays the popularity of news stories on Google News. As of 9:15 this morning, Google News’s algorithms hadn’t categorized the story as national news. Nor as business news. Nope. You’ll find it under entertainment. And it seems that way more news outlets are paying attention to Paris Hilton and Tara Reid.

I have no job to go back to

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 01:23:00 +0000

Now that a deal has been reached, it’ll soon be time for me to actually find a job at the CBC. Here’s why: My contract at CBC Windsor was up on September 4. The week before management locked us out, my managing editor offered me “a couple more months of work.” Not a job job, but work. Unfortunately, the offer was too late. It was midway through August, and I had no indication that I’d be asked to stay on.

Let's Play Jonathan Goldstein

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:32:08 +0000

Lockout left you with too much spare time? Why not take on this project from Engadget: How-To Build a Telephone Recording Circuit from an Old Modem. I’ve used Skype and Audio Hijack Pro to record telephone conversations before, but I’ve always been disappointed with the audio quality. I’d love to own the RemoteMix C+ I used to borrow from Ryerson, but it’s just too expensive for how much I’d use it.

Lamination Nation

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 11:36:14 +0000

From The Globe and Mail: Nanook and I walk the line The more discerning picket will rummage through a pile of signs looking for one not stained with coffee or smeared with lunch. Six weeks of lockout plays hell with cardboard. Looks like Toronto could learn a thing or two from their friends to the east. When I was in Halifax for the second week of the lockout, I was delighted to find their picket signs laminated.

Ugh

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:53:00 +0000

From this morning’s CMG bargaining update: Management’s position is virtually the same as it held before it imposed the lockout. It’s hard to know what comments like this mean for reaching a deal, especially with all the optimism on the picket lines, blogs, and mailing lists. I’m starting to question what Fontana thinks he’s really doing by locking negotiators in a room, especially if both sides plan on sticking to their guns.

Some thoughts on my experiences with Toronto Unlocked

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 12:05:00 +0000

This morning, Toronto Unlocked wrapped up its three-week run on CIUT. I had some initial reservations about the program. At the start, no one had convinced me that it was a good idea. I wasn’t sure that we (the CMG) weren’t shooting ourselves in the foot. Though I didn’t buy the “we’re scabbing ourselves” argument, I questioned the wisdom of feeding an appetite we were trying to create with our silence.

Feeling lonely

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:55:00 +0000

Radio affects most people intimately, person-to-person, offering a world of unspoken communication between writer-speaker and the listener. That is the immediate aspect of radio. A private experience. When I was in junior high school, towards the end of grade eight, I started to deliver the Halifax Daily News. Every weekday morning, I was up and out the door by six, to have my route done by seven. For my birthday that year, I asked for and got a small radio walkman.

Um, err… maybe not

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:45:07 +0000

OK, so it looks like I won’t be picking up the previously mentioned HHB FlashMic. Engadget lists the price as $1,200 USD. Ouch.

Could this be my next digital recorder?

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 12:03:43 +0000

I’ve long been searching for the perfect portable digital recorder. At first glance, the recently announced HHB FlashMic looks like a good candidate.

Food Fight!

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 23:34:50 +0000

Over on his blog, CBC Workerbee has proposed a lockout blog food fight. I don’t have any great recipes to share (Tim Hortons and KD are staples in my diet), but I know two gentlemen who do: Mat and Dave from Let’s Get Baked with Mat and Dave. If you don’t know, Let’s Get Baked is Halifax’s premiere vegan baking show. While in Halifax last week, I got to visit the famed Allen Street Kitchens and enjoy several delicious vegan pies.

112657150935643966

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 20:28:00 +0000

Spent a great couple of hours on the line Sunday afternoon. Did a couple of laps with Michael Enright, then a couple with Nora Young. Talked lockout, CIUT, podcasting, and Toronto. It’s always nice to be reminded that the people I hear on the radio are actually real people.

A lockout'll do that to you

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:04:00 +0000

I’m back in Toronto. The picketing here runs 24/7. Roommate Tristan and I arrived home late last night after a game of squash. We got in the door, and he asked what time it was. I joked, “I stopped caring about the time a few weeks ago.” Then the the truth of it sank in. I’ve been here almost a week, and my alarm clock is still unplugged.

Soundtrack of our (Locked Out) Lives

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:42:32 +0000

If you missed yesterday’s Soundtrack of Our (Locked Out) Lives on CKDU, you can listen to an archived version at: http://129.173.68.238/20050830.14.33-16.01.mp3. Also, an interesting discussion about the program is going on in the halifaxlocals forum.

CBC Lockout

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:10:06 +0000

In the Halifax Daily News this morning, I read about another CMG-campus/community radio collaboration. CBC Lockout says: Find out which songs Don Connolly, Costas Halavrezos and Carmen Klassen hum on the picket line. Radio reporter Laura Graham hosts the Soundtrack of Our (Locked-out) Lives every Tuesday from 2:30-3:30 on CKDU, 97.5 FM. Should make for some good listening on the line. If you don’t live within the CKDU broadcast range, you can always listen online.

Back home

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:44:00 +0000

I arrived safely in Halifax just after midnight. Will be on the picket line tomorrow.

Flyer in my inbox

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:41:00 +0000

More from The Coast

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 13:00:00 +0000

Here’s another excellent report from Stephanie Domet about the lockout. I’ll soon join Stephanie and my other Haligonian collagues on the line. That’s right, I’m headed to Halifax this Monday, and will stay for about a week.

112524762958022975

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 12:47:00 +0000

From Peter: [T]his lockout is going to result in a sort of “dark ages” in terms of the digital fossil record. Our ancestors (our even ourselves, in a year) will go the CBC website to search for stories about things that are happening now and will find nothing. Worse, when our friends at the CBC are allowed to work again, they will have no audio or video record of news that’s happening now.

Open Source Radio

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 11:27:00 +0000

Via Lisa comes a link to Open Source, a public radio program produced out of WGBH, Boston. It sounds a little fruity, we know. “Everybody join hands” this seems to read, “and we’ll make beautiful radio together.” But it’s kind of true. We’re trying to produce radio in a completely new way. Hop in. What a neat concept. I’ve subscribed in iTunes.

More on “alternative programming”

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 00:46:47 +0000

Via my friend Hilary, from Antonia Zerbisias‘s excellent blog: And, for those Toronto area listeners who are missing their Andy Barrie, Metro Morning is doing a dry run on Monday on CIUT 89.5 FM, and is set to go live Monday to Friday 6:30-8 starting Labour Day. It’s great that these dedicated CBCers want to continue practising their craft and serving the public interest, even as management is disregarding it. But aren’t they concerned that, by doing all this work for nothing (or even less if they have to pay for programming expenses out-of-pocket), they’re showing that CBC can get by with less taxpayer funding?

CBC On the Line now online

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 22:44:35 +0000

Here it is, folks: the official CMG online news magazine. It’s called CBC On the Line, and it’s looking for submissions. Sadly, no RSS (yet). And, earlier today outside the broadcast centre in Toronto, there was talk of getting a morning show podcast off the ground from the University of Toronto’s CIUT studios. As far as I understand, they’re talking 2 hours of daily “business as usual” local programming, slated to begin early next week.

I Love Radio.org

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:40:00 +0000

From Tod’s site yesterday: Today, 6,253 “unique visitors” visited the blog — about a third were returning visitors. I have never seen traffic like this. I will certainly keep it up as long as I’m able to (the bandwidth costs are going to hurt). I Love Radio.org has been a consistently wonderful resource for me and many others over the past year or so. It’s been especially nice recently to have such a comprehensive lockout-related site.

Toronto update

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:49:00 +0000

I’ve really been enjoying my time here in Toronto. I’m halfway through my twenty hours, and have been meeting some very cool people on the line; people I otherwise would never have met: audio post-production television workers, people from corporate communications, graphic designers, national television producers… the list goes on. Plus, a couple people have asked, “What’s your name? Dan? Dan the blogger?” So that’s kind of neat. I’ve run into several former colleagues from CBL, and several former classmates from Ryerson.

The lockout web, tagged and fed

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:01:00 +0000

Some “tagged web” sites (and their associated feeds) worth checking out: the del.icio.us cbclockout tag (rss) the del.icio.us cbc tag (rss) Technorati’s cbc tag (rss) And, two news search sites that aren’t tagged, but deliver decent feeds: MSN Search news: cbc (rss) Google News Search: cbc (rss)

Is “alternative programming” a good idea?

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 01:20:00 +0000

I just finished listening to CBC Unplugged from Studio Zero. And I got to thinking about CBC workers generating “alternative programming” during the lockout. What does that really mean? And is it necessarily a good idea? As far as I understand, the lockout has prompted two different programming strategies. There’s the “business as usual” camp, which thinks CBC reporters and newsreaders should continue doing what they do best: reporting and reading the news, covering the same stories they ordinarily would were they inside the building.

More From the East Coast

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:28:09 +0000

From Warren comes a link to cbclockout.org, a website run by the Halifax local of the CMG.

At the centre of the universe

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 12:13:23 +0000

I’m in Toronto now. I arrived late Saturday night, and checked in with the CMG folks outside the Broadcast Centre yesterday. I plan to picket here this week, and am keen to compare/contrast my experience with union-friendly Windsor, Ontario. Pickets run 24/7 here, and it’s a “show up whenever, stay as long as you want” system. Apparently, Monday-Wednesday are the busiest times. Any recommendations? If you’re on, or passing near the line this week, and see someone who looks like this (I’m on the right), please come say hello.

Lockout report from my hometown

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 01:21:00 +0000

Stephanie Domet has a lockout story in this week’s issue of The Coast: I am, unbelievably, deeply sad about being locked out. It doesn’t feel like a vacation. It feels like a betrayal.

Management Killed the Radio Star

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:07:33 +0000

In a cleverly-titled post, elated? points to a good CMG/CBC lockout primer from rabble.ca.

Open Letter From a Locked-Out CBC Radio Employee

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:03:00 +0000

Just read Caitlin’s Open Letter From a Locked-Out CBC Radio Employee: The CBC is only as good as its programming, and therefore only as good as the people who create that programming. Having zero security and always worrying about where we will work next week means we can’t fully concentrate on our jobs. We can’t be as creative and fully engaged with our work as we’d like to because we are always wondering if we should be looking somewhere else for a real job.

Locked-out CBC workers back on air… via campus radio!

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 17:13:00 +0000

Wouldn’t it be great if CBC radio newsroom staff continued to do their jobs? If we continued to file reports, conduct interviews, and produce news items? What if we kept doing newscasts, same as always? We could use our own personal minidisc recorders, computers, and editing equipment. We could air the news on CJAM (Windsor’s campus/community radio station). Listeners would hear the same kinds of local stories they’re used to, from the voices they’re used to.

The lockout unlocks the ideal CBC

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:47:00 +0000

Russell from the Globe and Mail thinks that Radio Two sounds better during the lockout: “No announcers. No letters being read about people’s pets or retirements. No giggling ‘personalities.’ No folk-jazz, folk-pop or folk-classical. It’s uninterrupted heaven — and exactly what Radio Two should be.” (A Globe INSIDER Edition subscription is required to access this story. You can sign up for a free trial, or try your luck at BugMeNot.)

Dan pickets for a second day

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:28:00 +0000

Today was my second day on the picket line, and my first full 8 hour shift. I don’t think I’ve ever drank more water. Or worn more SPF 45 sunscreen. I arrived at 9:00 AM, and smiled when a colleague piped up, “I saw Dan Misener’s blog last night.” The morning passed quickly. I got a chance to walk and talk with some people I hadn’t seen in a while, including the not-back-from-vacation-but-here-for-support Tony Doucette.

A breath of fresh air

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 00:16:00 +0000

And finally, before I go to bed to rest for what is sure to be another thrilling day on the picket line, here’s a non-lockout related post. Via the del.icio.us “radio” tag feed comes a recent Columbia Journalism Review interview with Ira Glass, one of my radio heroes. It’s called Ira Glass on Working in Television, Public Radio’s Struggle For Innovation, and Hanging Up On People. Read. Enjoy. Think about making great radio.

And the CBC lockout blogs keep rolling in…

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 00:15:00 +0000

Just stumbled across Jennifer‘s blog. She touches on an interesting phenomenon, one that a colleague and I discussed earlier today: … eventually a few of us hang our signs in the trees to throw around a Frisbee. I feel guilty after about half an hour, so I put my sign back on to do the long boring walk some more. There seem to be unwritten rules and expectations on the picket line.

Do you speak Inuktitut?

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:32:38 +0000

I don’t, but close to thirty thousand Canadians do. From the wires, an interesting story about how the lockout is affecting northern audiences: “If you’re a unilingual Inuktitut speaker, you can’t even get information on why you can’t get information.”

Bored?

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:12:00 +0000

Joshua at Torontoist has a few suggestions for what to do during the “projected 6-week work stoppage” (I don’t know where this figure came from).

I pray…

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 22:42:29 +0000

Following the discussion on Darryl’s blog led me to an Anglican priest‘s take on the lockout: As a member of the clergy I am extremely concerned for the welfare of our public institutions because I see the need for and the benefit of them. We need to be kept informed of what is going on in this world of ours and that is something the CBC did very well. I pray that this situation will be resolved quickly and for the benefit of all.

Picketing: Day 1 for Dan

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 19:37:00 +0000

I just got home after my first shift picketing outside CBC Windsor. I arrived at the lunch hour, and though spirits seemed lifted by the barbecue lunch, it was clear that many of my colleagues were dead tired. To collect strike pay, CMG members must picket 20 hours per week, and for some, this was their third day in a row spent outside in the hot Windsor sun. I chose to pile my 20 hours at the end of the week, so I picketed 4 hours today, and will picket for 8 hours each tomorrow and Friday.

Apply now!

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:36:00 +0000

It’s nice to know that the CBC continues to post job openings. I applied for a campus/community radio job at CHRY earlier this week. Alternatively, if you’re looking for work (media or otherwise), here are a few more sites to check out, courtesy of Liz “Please See Attached” Gesicki: mediajobsearchcanada.com jeffgaulin.com careerclick.com ca.hotjobs.yahoo.com jobbank.gc.ca jobboom.com jobbus.com canadajobs.com jobbus.com/joblinks/Job_Posting_Sites monster.ca workopolis.com campus.workopolis.com forces.gc.ca careerowl.ca jobpostings.ca jobs.gc.ca Please feel free to add to the list via comments.

Ottawa Sun Editorial

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:07:00 +0000

And, via the aforementioned cbcwatch, a CBC lockout editorial from the Ottawa Sun called When nobody looks. Though it might be easy to shrug it off and say, “Those conservatives just don’t get Canadian public broadcasting,” much of the editorial rings troublingly true to my ears.

Silver linings?

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 10:55:07 +0000

Over the past few days, I’ve really enjoyed finding and reading blogs by other CBC employees. It’s nice to come across sites like Mind the Gap — they serve as a reminder that there are other young public broadcasters who feel the same way I do. Working at a station full of veterans, it’s sometimes easy to forget there are other people in the same boat: young, interested in a career, and worried.

Hello Toronto!

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:48:00 +0000

Looks like Tod, Yvan, Ouimet, and I are now listed on cmgtoronto.ca under “Blogs.” I plan to spend this coming weekend in Toronto. And since CMG members don’t have to picket where they work, I may stay a few extra days and join my Toronto colleagues on the line. A special hello to the folks at CBL and Metro Morning (that link won’t work, by the way, because most individual program pages are down).

cbcwatch

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 16:41:00 +0000

Another good site to monitor these days: cbcwatch (rss).

CBC listener reax, take 2

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 01:55:39 +0000

From Blogcritics.org: One Man’s Opinion on the CBC Strike What I can’t accept from the CBC, though, is the massive push towards temp work. About a third of the CBC workforce right now consists of temps and contract workers. The CBC needs its full-time employees, and while it needs to be efficient it also needs to be the public network it has been since its inception. It’s ridiculous to turn the CBC radio and television networks into a carbon copy of what’s already out there.

CBC presents one-sided point of view to audience

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:35:00 +0000

Rhiannon brings up an excellent point. On its main site, CBC.ca, the corporation has posted this notice: CBC is currently experiencing a labour disruption. Click here to go to the official CBC negotiations site. The link takes you to the CBC-run cbcnegotiations.ca. And, as Rhiannon points out, “since the CBC is the employer in this situation, it’s all one sided.” Looking for some balance? I couldn’t find a single link to the Canadian Media Guild on cbcnegotiations.

CBC Listeners React

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 16:19:00 +0000

Just finished reading I am the face of my country / Expressionless and small at websnark.com, one of the first commentaries I’ve seen on CBC Radio’s contingency programming. Worth a read.

CMG/CBC close to a stike/lockout

Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:12:00 +0000

We’re less than 10 hours away from the expiry of the CBC’s 72-hour lockout notice period. I keep checking cbcnegotiations.ca and cmg.ca. Last week, a colleague commented that the CMG/CBC negotiations seemed like a “bunch of teenagers bickering.” I think it would have been interesting to set up a parallel set of negotiations with a bunch of teenagers. Who do you think would come to an agreement first?

Bye bye, bouncing tennis ball

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:28:00 +0000

Peter has posted a solution to the CBC’s banner ads.

CBC Files Lockout Notice in Negotiations with Canadian Media Guild

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:11:00 +0000

In my email tonight. August 11, 2005 CBC FILES LOCKOUT NOTICE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADIAN MEDIA GUILD This evening, CBC made the difficult decision to provide the CMG with 72-hour lockout notice under the Canada Labour Code. The 72-hour notice period expires on Monday, August 15th at 12:01 a.m. if an agreement is not reached. Earlier today, CBC presented a revised comprehensive offer to CMG â€“ one that is fair, competitive and realistic, one that recognizes the CBC’s business pressures and need for change, and that acknowledges the needs and aspirations of employees represented by CMG.

Dan needs a job

Wed, 10 Aug 2005 22:22:00 +0000

My contract at CBC Windsor is officially up on September 4. And with a strike/lockout looming, job prospects aren’t looking good for September. A while ago, I applied for an Associate Producer job in Vancouver. Today I got an email from HR, letting me know that they’d “taken a second look at the technical component of this position, and have decided that it would be more appropriate to repost as an Association Producer/Technician.

Ads on CBC websites?

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 15:46:00 +0000

The CBC Windsor main page now features advertising for American Express. Not sure what’s up with this.

LiveSupport

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 22:38:00 +0000

I like this idea: from campware.org comes [LiveSupport](A free and open source automation system for radio stations), a “free and open source automation system for radio stations.” Would love to know who’s using this on-air.

Griffin iFM

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 18:57:00 +0000

Could it be? Could the newly announced Griffin iFM finally be the solution that enables high quality recording on the iPod? It’s plausable. The iFM is marketed as “a recording device, with a built in microphone to record voice, or change modes to capture live FM radio directly to the iPod!” Surely consumers wouldn’t want to listen back to radio at the low bitrates that iPod imposes on recordings. But… sadly that’s the case.

Morning Becomes Eclectic Becomes Podcast

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 21:19:00 +0000

This is pretty cool. From 43 Folders comes news that NPR’s Morning Becomes Eclectic (or at least parts thereof) is now available as a podcast.

112240342875821233

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:36:00 +0000

From last Friday’s Romenesko newsletter, comes a link to Eric Zorn’s Put your feet up, there’s more to flip-flop story: A lot of news, both serious and silly, starts this way–small observations or nagging questions that someone can’t shake and finally pursues, often after crashing through the barrier of doubt that anyone else cares. Couldn’t have put it any better myself.

MicroTrack 2496

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 22:31:00 +0000

I was excited when CDM first reported on M-Audio’s FlashTracker/MicroTrack recording unit. Now it looks like this little unit is official. A pro-quality digital recorder with headphone monitoring, USB transfers, and phantom power? For 500 dollars? Not too shabby. Unlike the Edirol R-1 I’ve been coveting, it doesn’t have built-in mics. And hopefully unlike the Edirol R-1, it won’t be perpetually on backorder.

Listen for me tomorrow

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:28:00 +0000

If you tune into your local CBC morning show tomorrow (Wednesday, July 20), you might hear me talking about the new LCD displays at Tim Hortons. I did the piece in my spare time last week, and it’s being syndicated across the network tomorrow. From today’s Content Factory outlook: TIM HORTONS SCREENS Tim Hortons is adding a new item to its menu. Or rather, the new item is the menu. Video displays are being installed in Tim Hortons menu boards across the country.

A fun present in the mail today

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 22:29:00 +0000

I have begun to enjoy the sight of packages bearing the mark of Alliance Atlantis. A copy of Back to Breaks: The True Sounds From The Original Block Parties arrived in my mailbox at work via Jenna. Words cannot descibe how perfect much of this music is for radio scoring. Just take a look at the track list.

The Big 8

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 22:22:00 +0000

Manny at work gave me a copy of this NPR documentary on CKLW. Kind of neat to think that I work in the same building that these broadcasts came from.

Popped Culture is podcasting

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 22:11:00 +0000

As Jessica mentions in this comment, the CKDU Pop Culture Collective’s Popped Culture is now podcasting. I listened to the first episode of the new season a few days ago, and it’s excellent. Almost enough to make me want to move to Halifax and join the collective. A quick check of the CKDU podcasting site shows that Popped Culture joins Let’s Get Baked‘s podcast and What’s New Mitsou?‘s podcast, to bring CKDU’s podcast simulcast count up to 3.

Thoughts on Odeo

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 13:18:00 +0000

Last night, I requested an invite to Odeo, Noah Glass and Evan Williams’s new podcasting portal. Shortly after, I received an invitation, and signed up. Odeo claims to offer its users a podcasting holy trinity: “Listen, Sync, Create.” On the “Listen” level, Odeo is a user-friendly podcast directory. It’s got some nice features: tagging (a la Flickr), audio previews and individual Odeo RSS feeds for each podcast, comments, and personalized subscription lists and queues.

Memento pilot

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 14:15:00 +0000

Memento is a show idea I pitched to the CBC Radio Program Development Group earlier this year. Though they didn’t want it, I decided to produce a pilot as my senior practicum project for Ryerson. I finally got around to uploading the pilot to PRX.org. It’s not 100% yet — there’s still tweaking I’d like (and plan) to do. But in the meantime, please have a listen and let me know what you think.

BBC Podcast Trial

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:53:00 +0000

Via the BBC Backstage site, comes news that the “BBC Podcast Trial running throughout 2005 has now got an index page from which you can subscribe to indivdual feeds taken from any one of the radio programmes participating.”

Hey, Let's Go Do Something

Thu, 09 Jun 2005 20:44:00 +0000

I just got back to Windsor from Toronto, where I spent a few days graduating from Ryerson. I return with a strong desire to get my new podcast/radio show off the ground. Although I haven’t written about it here before, I mentioned it at the TO podcaster meetup, and the idea made its way onto Tod’s I Love Radio.org. So here’s the basic concept: A weekly 30-minute radio show and podcast called Hey, Let’s Go Do Something, in which I learn about my new home (Windsor, Ontario) by doing stuff with locals.

Toronto Podcaster meetup

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 08:24:00 +0000

Went to Toronto’s stop on the Canadian Podcaster Roadshow last night. Kudos to Tod Maffin for organizing everything. I met some cool new people, and saw some familiar faces. I’m not yet podcasting, but very interested, and plan to have something off the ground soon. I’d like to have something up by the time iTunes supports podcasts. I told a few people about my show idea last night, and most were responsive.

Let's Get Baked now podcasting

Sun, 29 May 2005 11:47:00 +0000

Halifax’s premiere vegan baking show, Let’s Get Baked with Mat and Dave, is now podcasting. Enter http://feeds.feedburner.com/LetsGetBakedPodcast into your podcatching program for weekly updates.

When a Career Move Comes at Too High a Cost

Thu, 26 May 2005 19:47:00 +0000

About two weeks ago now, I moved from Toronto, Ontario to Windsor, Ontario, for a job at the CBC. Before I decided to take the contract, I asked friends, family, and profs for their opinions. I didn’t know much about Windsor, and didn’t know if I’d fit in. I still don’t, really. A friend passed along Adelle Waldman’s excellent article called “When a Career Move Comes at Too High a Cost.

More on Podcasts in iTunes

Wed, 25 May 2005 20:44:00 +0000

I bought my first song from the iTunes Music Store a few weeks ago, and hopefully podcasts in iTunes 4.9 will be just as simple. Imagine it. No third-party applications. No muss. No fuss. If Apple can make podcasts dead simple, this will be big. Really big. And now, some major commercial content providers are jumping on board. From MacMinute: Hot on the heals [sic] of Apple CEO Steve Jobs announcement Monday that the company’s next version of iTunes (due within 60 days) will support and help organize podcasts, NBC News and ABC news have said they will be offering podcasts to listeners, reports Forbes.

Early mornings and cold showers

Tue, 24 May 2005 19:35:00 +0000

I must admit that it’s a strange thing to go to bed before it’s dark out. It’s weird to set your clock radio to go off at 3:00 AM. But that’s what I did last night. And what I’ll do for a number of weeks this summer. Today was my first early shift at CBE, and I drove to work on my bike in the dark. There aren’t many people on Windsor’s roads at 3:50 in the morning.

iTunes will support Podcasts

Mon, 23 May 2005 15:12:00 +0000

Via Radio Marketing Nexus: iTunes 4.9 will add support for podcasts.

New Job

Sun, 15 May 2005 17:52:00 +0000

I arrived in Windsor, Ontario yesterday. Tomorrow I start a new job here at CBE, the local CBC Radio One station. I’ll be working for the summer as a Technician/Associate Producer on Morning Watch and Crosstown, the local morning and afternoon shows. I have a roof over my head, a new bicycle, and a handful of contacts. I’m pretty excited.

CBC Radio 3 to begin podcasting

Sat, 14 May 2005 00:14:00 +0000

In my inbox this evening: CBC RADIO 3 LAUNCHES NEW PODCAST TO PROMOTE NMC ARTISTS An important part of our mission at CBC Radio 3 is to explore the potential of new broadcast mediums. It was with this mandate in mind that Radio 3 launched its first generation web sites like NewMusicCanada.com, and subsequently exposed an amazing array of Canadian independent music to millions of listeners over the internet. Now we’re pleased to announce Radio 3’s entry into the exciting new world of podcasting.

Audio Hijack Pro 2.5 beta 1

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 01:34:00 +0000

Looks like the good folks over at Rogue Amoeba have released a new beta of their excellent Audio Hijack Pro application. I use it to capture internet radio streams. This new version supports Griffin’s RadioSHARK, so now I’ll be able to completely bypass the buggy Mac software that came with it.

Has the CBC sold out to Microsoft?

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 14:59:00 +0000

Strange. From CBC and MSN: All signs point to the likelihood the CBC and MSN have cut some sort of deal. The CBC is now also providing content for MSN’s Sympatico webpage brand. (See the Sympatico FAQ as well). This is a big problem.

Scarberia

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:29:00 +0000

Today I spent the day in Scarborough with the good folks from CBL. We were taping a special town hall called “Between Two Worlds” all about teen identity. It’s part of the CBC’s week-long The Teen Age programming. We were at L’Amoreaux Collegiate, and the students were incredible — articulate, thoughtful, and engaged. I was an “audience rover,” basically a human microphone stand. A student would raise their hand, and I’d run over as quickly as possible.

Chill Out & Love Up Big Brother

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:21:00 +0000

Just finished reading CBC to Indie Culture Fans: Chill Out & Love Up Big Brother. A good read, and some interesting ideas about Radio 3’s new direction.

Chill Out & Love Up Big Brother

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:21:00 +0000

Just finished reading CBC to Indie Culture Fans: Chill Out & Love Up Big Brother. A good read, and some interesting ideas about Radio 3’s new direction.

Public Radio Podcasts

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:57:00 +0000

Shortly after the news that CBC is now podcasting, it looks like Tod’s PublicRadioFeeds.com has some competition: PublicRadioFan.com now has special podcast listings.

CKDU podcasting opportunity?

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 23:35:00 +0000

When I was home a few weeks ago, Laura told me about a new vegan baking show on CKDU — Let’s Get Baked with Mat and Dave. I’d not heard it before, but was delighted to find a halifaxlocals post about the show, reminding me that past programming is archived at ckdu.dal.ca. Might I suggest that great community radio + mp3 archives = a pretty good podcasting opportunity? Even though the broadcast start and end times are variable, I’m sure the talented Mr.

Interning at CBL

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 19:52:00 +0000

I started interning at CBL a few weeks ago, and I’ve been having a blast. Mostly, I’ve been chase producing for Metro Morning. I’m learning a lot, witnessing the grind of a local morning show, and getting my hands dirty. Plus, I get to write greens for interviews with Geddy Lee. Who could ask for more?

RSS for Journalists

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 07:41:35 +0000

If you’re not preaching the RSS gospel yet, perhaps Jonathan Dube’s RSS for Journalists article will help convert you.

CBC to get major boost in budget

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 06:07:00 +0000

Opened the paper this morning to some potentially good news: CBC to get major boost in budget: The CBC will get a multimillion-dollar boost when the federal budget is tabled Wednesday, CP has learned. The extra cash will be enough to restore local programs, notably regional newscasts, a senior government source said on condition of anonymity. Here’s hoping that somewhere in those first 34 million dollars there’s some money to give me some regional backfill work this summer.

“The Future of Podcasting” articles

Sat, 12 Feb 2005 16:04:00 +0000

Via Radio Marketing Nexus, an interesting set of articles called The Future of Podcasting. Contributors include Dave Slusher, Tim Bourquin, RMN’s Mark Ramsey, Michael Geoghegan, and Michael Butler. Here’s the full lineup. Technorati tags: podcasting, radio

Polka is still hot

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:18:08 +0000

I receive Al’s Morning Meeting every weekday morning, and I think it’s a great resource. This morning, he talks about the Polka Grammy (it’s the second item), and suggests some polka-related stories. My suspicions have been confirmed. Polka is where it’s at. Technorati tags: polka, poynter, newsletter

I'm going to Vancouver for Outfront

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:22:00 +0000

I’m going on a road trip. A trip from Vancouver to Banff to return a stolen headstone to its original cemetery. I am, of course, bringing my tape recorder and making a doc for my senior practicum. Plus, today I got the good news from Steve Wadhams that I’ll be producing the whole thing for Outfront. Technorati tags: radio, cbc, outfront

Hopefully, more on this later

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 19:54:33 +0000

I’m pacing around my apartment, full of nervous energy, my mind spinning. I just got off the telephone with Patrick Watson. Yes, the Patrick Watson. Tomorow, an interview with David Carroll and iNews training at the CBC.

Listen for me on DNTO this Saturday

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:23:17 +0000

Yesterday I went down to the CBC to track narration for my polka dot piece. The whole thing took less than fifteen minutes. I did a read of my script, handed over my clips, shook Nick‘s hand, and was out of there. This is the first piece I’ve done for the CBC where I haven’t actually cut everything together myself in Dalet. Though I had less control over the final product, I guess I’ll get to hear it with fresh ears when it airs.

CBC seeks another $75 million to reinstate regional programming

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:48:49 +0000

Via the beta MSN search RSS feed for “cbc radio” comes the news that A quartet of CBC executives is scheduled to appear before the Commons heritage committee Thursday morning where a recent request for millions of dollars in extra government funding to reinstate regional and local programming is expected to surface. (Full article)

Get $10 off Radio Skills or Radio Style Guide

Sat, 29 Jan 2005 19:40:25 +0000

Late last year I ordered copies of the CBC Radio Style Guide and CBC Radio Skills books from CBCShop.ca. I finally got around to reading them over the holidays, and recommend them both. Radio Skills goes through the process of getting a story to air, and covers interviewing, writing, vetting, and performance. The Radio Style Guide goes deeper into writing and performance, with special focus on storytelling and writing for the ear.

Good things come to those who wait. Better things come to those who wait longer.

Sat, 29 Jan 2005 14:56:05 +0000

Or perhaps, equally appropriate, â€œThe squeaky wheel gets the grease.â€ That’s certainly the way it feels right now. Nearly six months in the making, my internship at CBC Radio has finally been approved. I received this in my inbox yesterday afternoon, the result of my incessant pestering of Joan Melanson: I was in yesterday, and I have some good news – the approval for your internship at CBL has gone ahead.

Keeping track of radio content using Technorati

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 01:35:25 +0000

I’ve recently been digging Technorati (Peter describes it as “Google for weblogs“). I’ve set up a watchlist for CBC Radio, so everytime somebody blogs about our national public broadcaster, it shows up in my Bloglines. And tonight, I learned about Technorati tags, which allow bloggers to categorize their posts. Apparently you can search by tag, so I tried to set up a watchlist for tag:radio. Presuming it works, I’ll get radio photos from Flickr, links from del.

And it's off…

Sat, 22 Jan 2005 01:34:36 +0000

Finally, after weeks of drafting, my application to become the This American Life intern for Summer 2005 has been sent. With my questionnaire complete, my references set up, and my resume polished, I walked to the post office today and XpressPosted it all to Chicago. The whole thing amounted to nine pages. Here’s hoping they read it. And like it. The website says “We will notify all applicants of the decision by the deadlines listed above,” which in my case, is March 1.

CBC Radio Insite

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 13:58:56 +0000

I meant to link to this a while ago: earlier this month Peter Rukavina over at ruk.ca pointed out The Coolest CBC Resource You Don’t Know About — the Insite system.

Build a New CBC

Sat, 15 Jan 2005 22:26:02 +0000

Earlier this week, I received a mass email from Ian Morrison at the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. This is what he had to say: FRIENDS has learned that the federal government is poised to announce a new round of budget cuts, despite its $9 billion surplus. CBC is a target, even though two House of Commons Committees — Finance and Heritage — have called for increased stable funding for CBC.

Applications, more music

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 22:52:42 +0000

It seems like most of my time these days is spent trying to make myself sound impressive and clever. I’m working on a total of five pitches/applications, including my internship application for the summer 2005 term on This American Life (due February 1), a pitch for my senior practicum project (due this Friday), a simultaneous pitch to Outfront, an idea for the CBC Radio program development group (I heard from Chris Boyce today), and possibly a submission to Ideas (also due this Friday).

Northern Exposure

Sun, 09 Jan 2005 00:04:11 +0000

After reading The Lowedown in this week’s Coast, I listened to the first two episodes of Doug Gordon’s New Audio Showroom. Particularly liked the “This Canadian Existence” show. You can listen to all three shows online in RealAudio. And speaking of RealAudio, I’ve gotten rid of RealPlayer, and am now listening using Real Alternative.

The same song over and over

Thu, 06 Jan 2005 01:14:28 +0000

Heard this today and thought it was funny. From NPR’s All Things Considered, Music Fan Pokes Fun at Nickelback Song Similarity.

The Price is Right

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:31:06 +0000

If you’ve not downloaded Mackie’s Tracktion software, you should do it now — the free download ends December 31. I’ve been using this program for a few weeks now, and can’t recommend it enough.

iPod — MiniDisc killer?

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:30:10 +0000

Via iPoding — iPod-Linux Installer 0.3a Released. According the manual, “Podzilla now supports Voice Recording for the 3rd Generation iPods (Dock connector + touch wheel).” This in and of itself isn’t all that exciting, but when you read on — “The format for recording is 44.1 kHz uncompressed RAW.” Wow! That sure is better than the 8kHz, 16 bit mono files that the Apple firmware limits you to. The iPod community has known for a long time that the device is capable of much higher-quality recordings:

Interviewing: BBC versus NPR

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 23:29:42 +0000

Jon Carroll on the difference between NPR and BBC radio interviews: “The BBC style of interviewing is very different from the NPR style; there’s a lot less sucking up, and a lot more veiled allegations under the thinnest veneer of civilized discourse.”

Weird coincidence

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 23:00:10 +0000

Re-listened to the “Bullies” episode of Wiretap last night before going to bed. The episode featured John Hodgman talking about winning. After the episode was over, I picked up the copy of Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans that Carmody gave me for Christmas, and turned to where I’d left off. Strangely enough, the next piece was “Fire: The Next Sharp Stick?” by none other than John Hodgman. Weird.

CBC Toronto job opportunity

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 22:55:45 +0000

Not related specifically to CBC Radio, but a good opportunity nonetheless. This one appeared in my inbox thrice today — once from Marion Coomey (via John McQuaker), and twice again from Liz Gesicki. Spoke earlier in the day to John, and have already sent off a cover letter and resume. Encoder Duties include: monitoring CBC Newsworld TV channel to record and process reports / pictures for use on CBC.ca/news website, searching CP photo website to purchase pictures for CBC use, processing purchased and captured images in Photoshop software for use on the web.

Radio Scoring

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 15:46:07 +0000

Glass on music: Generally the kind of music we use is more emotionally neutral. Its goal is more to keep a sense of motion, to keep things moving. And to underline the turns in feelings. I’m not against manipulating feelings. The whole job is about manipulating feelings. If you don’t get in front of that and embrace it with a big bear hug, you’re not doing your job as a radio producer.

Lappy 486

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 10:26:12 +0000

Just watched this week’s Strongbad, all about Radio. Brilliant.

Private Misener

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 01:36:32 +0000

Two job shadows this past week â€“ one with Kevin Trudell at CFMX, and another with reporter Kevin Misener (no relation) at 680 News. And more and more, I’ve been thinking about working in the private radio world. I came to Toronto last year with my sights set solely on the CBC, and I’m now thinking otherwise. Starting in the privates might not be such a bad idea. Every CBC exec I’ve talked to is looking for reporting skills and hard news experience.

CBC RSS

Thu, 09 Dec 2004 17:20:18 +0000

Hurrah! Finally, RSS feeds from cbc.ca. I’m subscribed to Canadian News, World News and Arts News, plus the regional Toronto and Nova Scotia feeds. Right now it seems to be headlines only, no summaries. But it’s still a whole lot better than the old headlines service. I subscribe using Bloglines. You can subscribe to my site, too.

Finding a job when I graduate

Sat, 04 Dec 2004 16:41:35 +0000

Soon, my thoughts will turn to demo reels and resumes. Last year I peppered the east coast with shiny discs, and looking back, I wish I’d known about Broadcast Dialogue’s Broadcast Directory Search. It lists Canadian radio stations geographically, and gives you contacts, staff listings, corporate ownership information, and the date the info was last updated. Lots of private radio contacts, but sadly, bare-bones CBC info. But… the CBC publishes a little pamphlet called Wondering Where to Find Us: Frequency Guide 2003/2004.

Listening to CBC Radio online

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:36:54 +0000

Often, if I hear something on the CBC that I’d like to record, or if I want to “time-shift” radio, I simply wait a while and pick up an online feed from the next time zone over. And for the geographically challenged, this list of direct URLs beats the pants off the regular map of stations that stream.

Superpowers and Pre-Christmas plans

Thu, 02 Dec 2004 20:23:21 +0000

Finally got my Sean Ward piece in the can this week. I showed up at the CBC this Tuesday, and with the help of Nick Davis, whittled my 6:10 mix down to something like 4:40. Nick is the third CBC producer I’ve worked with, and I always find it helpful to work with someone who’s not as attached to my material as I am. To paraphrase Trevor Ross, Nick has a keen ear and sharp pair of scissors.

For those who love policy

Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:16:55 +0000

When people discuss satellite radio in Canada, CanCon is one of the big issues. To put things into some historical perspective, here’s the CRTC and Canadian Content (from the CBC Archives).

Audio lomography

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 19:33:30 +0000

Ever since I first heard about it last November, I’ve liked the idea of lomography â€“ people documenting their lives with toy cameras. Moreso than the lo-tech approach, it’s the philosophy that appeals to me: Lomography emphasizes shoot-from-the-hip photography. Over-saturated colors, lens artifacts, and exposure defects are used to produce artistic, abstract effects and are prized by practitioners. Others use the technique to document everyday life because the small camera size and ability to shoot in low light encourages candid photography, photo reportage and photo vÃ©ritÃ©.

Make a nuisance of yourself

Sat, 20 Nov 2004 17:54:08 +0000

From Poynter, Tips for Getting Started in Broadcast Journalism. Nothing you don’t already know, but a few pretty good reminders.

Narrationless stories

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:26:26 +0000

Read David Kattenburg’s The Art of the Narrationless Documentary tonight, and was reminded of something I read in Ira Glass’s Manifesto on Transom. Early in his career, Ira “invented this series of stories where I’d interview people and then edit myself out of the tape completely. They’d tell stories and reflect on what the stories meant. No script. No narration.” Which is a nice idea. I like hearing people tell their own stories.

Pitching

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 21:03:13 +0000

This past week, I started my part-time job as a “Digital Media Assistant” here at Ryerson. My job is to sit in the 229 digital media lab and help people with software. Since I work evenings and weekends, there is rarely anyone in the lab. So it’s a great opportunity for me to work on schoolwork, features, and pitches. Tonight, for example, I’ve been listening to This American Life’s Apologies episode.

Story meetings, vetting scripts

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:06:18 +0000

Earlier this week, I was invited to sit in on two regional program story meetings — one for Metro Morning, another for Here and Now. I’ve attended a few “real life” story meetings, and I always find it amazing and impressive that these meetings somehow turn into a radio show in a matter of hours. I took some good notes, and shooks some good hands. Plus was nice to meet Andy Barrie.

The CBC internship run-around

Tue, 09 Nov 2004 22:28:22 +0000

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been trying very hard over the past couple of months to get some type of CBC Radio internship. This is partly on the suggestion of Deb Woolway in Halifax, who listed an internship as a requirement for me to be considered for any type of Halifax summertime fill-in work. Here’s the latest update. What follows all happened yesterday. It may read as long and boring, but is extremely relevant to people (like me) who are interested in CBC internships, especially in Toronto.

Can satellite CBC Radio still be CBC Radio?

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 22:39:12 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about the proposed CBC/Standard/Sirius subscription-based satellite radio service lately. The CRTC public hearings started this week, and details have surfaced about the CBC’s programming contributions. According to Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing CRTC 2004-6: The proposed service would initially offer 78 channels, four of which would be produced in Canada by the CBC. The applicant proposes to charge a basic monthly fee of $12.95. And via Tod Maffin this week:

Good news and bad news

Tue, 02 Nov 2004 17:30:15 +0000

The Good: Yesterday I got word that I won Tod Maffin’s Third Coast International Audio Festival t-shirt contest. The Bad: Yesterday I took my tape recorder (Sony TCM-5000EV) to an electronics repair shop, and they basically told me that it was irreparable. There is some sort of weird hiss coming through the speaker and headphone jack whenever the motor is engaged. Back in Sackville, when I took it to Munroe’s TV repair, Jim told me that he knew what was wrong with it — a filter problem.

Popped Culture

Sun, 31 Oct 2004 20:11:03 +0000

While home this past summer, I spent some time at my favourite campus/community radio station, CKDU. On more than one occasion, I happened upon meetings for the CKDU Pop Culture Collective. I could tell that something exctiting was brewing. And for the past few weeks, I’ve been enjoying the fruits of the collective’s labour: Popped Culture. Hosted by a cast of CKDU celebs, each half-hour episode is an examination of “all things pop and culture – movies and television, music and videogames, books and magazines and everything else that has an impact on popular – and unpopular – culture.

The Future of Radio

Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:18:30 +0000

From NPR’s Day to Day, a report on “two new products for radio listeners” — portable satellite radio and podcasting. You can listen to it here.

Staying up late listening to radio

Sat, 30 Oct 2004 02:39:44 +0000

Up way too late tonight. Listened to Invisible Ink Radio #67: Subservience, the latest Listening Lounge, and both hour one and hour two of October 23rd’s Weekend America. The last three, plus a heads up that both the Listening Lounge and Weekend America are looking for pitches, came via Tod Maffin’s I Love Radio.org. Thanks Tod.

Outfront

Sat, 30 Oct 2004 02:01:40 +0000

Poking around the Outfront website, I came across their Pitch section. I remember looking at this section sometime last year, but I don’t remember seeing all this. It’s got helpful hints, a guide to the pitching process, and some basic recording techniques. The material seems to be culled mostly from their old Tell section.

Conflict of Interest

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 01:28:00 +0000

Phoned Joe Mahoney and Stuart Einer at the CBC today to set up meetings. Voicemail on both counts. Why? Because I’m in class during the ideal times to call. For the past two days, I haven’t been able to get that last 1/2 hour of tape reviewed for the Sean Ward piece, because I’ve been working on my MIDI assignment and Ian McGettigan record analysis for Audio Theory class. I haven’t been in touch with my producer at Metro Morning since he initially gave me the thumbs up, because I really don’t have anything to show him at this point, aside from a lot of tape and several pages of notes on canary yellow paper (not unlike this).

Lists! Lists! Lists!

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 00:02:25 +0000

Progress: Only an hour of tape left to make notes on for the Sean Ward piece Got some halfway decent Silver Snail tape Heard back from Brian from the polka band. He thinks the idea is “a blast,” and I’m tentatively scheduled to sit in on a polka jam in early November Lost a Polka Dot Door contact; will have to find another Gary Gould’s CBC friend Joe Mahoney returned my email.

Error 404

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 20:34:13 +0000

Was looking through some old bookmarks and came across a link to the CBC Freelancer’s FAQ, which I remembered as a nice little resource. But for some reason, they took it offline. Probably because most of the contact names and phone numbers listed are out-of-date. Nevertheless, there’s some good info, and through the miracle of the Wayback machine, you can still view it here.

More Sawatsky on interviewing

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:10:11 +0000

American Journalism Review: Leave the values out, he says, and problems solve themselves. Instead of asking Sarah Ferguson, for example, ‘Is it hard being a duchess?’ ask: ‘What’s it like being a duchess?’ Instead of asking Ronald Reagan, ‘Were you scared when you were shot?’ ask: ‘What’s it like to be shot?'

The Way We Ask

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 14:55:21 +0000

An interesting article from Poynter.org. John Sawatsky, whose “off the shelf” questions came up in conversation over the weekend, is discussed. Apparently Sawatsky has been working for years on a book about interviewing. If it ever comes out, I’d love to read it. I know he did training seminars with the CBC. Maybe he’ll do lectures at their new Canadian Institute for Training in Public Broadcasting

Things I should do

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 10:38:19 +0000

Monday is my day off. Last night, I started to make notes on my Sean Ward tape, listening to the stuff I collected when I spent the afternoon with him as he sold his comic books on Queen Street. Today, the plan is to listen to the two hours I recorded in his his studio, and make a couple more pages of notes. I’m also going to call the Silver Snail to see if someone will talk to me about “how to become a successful comic book artist.

Starting a new blog. A radio blog.

Sat, 23 Oct 2004 22:28:26 +0000

So I’ve started a new blog. Starting is always the hardest part. Posts, I suppose, will fall into one of three main categories. What I’m listening to What I’m working on How the hell I’m going to get work once I graduate This first entry fits under #2. Consider it a backgrounder. I am working on two projects for the CBC. Hooray! One is for Metro Morning: a profile piece about Sean Ward, an autobiographical comic book artist who sells his work on Queen Street.