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WoW Insider Show Episode 74: True opinions
Last weekend's podcast was an excellent one: Turpster and BRK were on with me, and we had a great time chatting with chatters, answering your emails, and covering the most popular posts of the past week. We answered some emails about the best Rogue spec to choose at level 35, the People in Chicago who Drink and WoW group (and don't forget to join the official WoW Insider page), and we talked about the 3.0.8 bugs and what's up with the Lunar Festival, going on all this week.And we have a great time throughout. Don't forget that we do the show live every Saturday afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern, so if you're around next Saturday, be sure to join us for the live show (and when you do, you get a free aftershow with us at no extra charge). In the meantime, you can hear this past week's show by clicking any of the links below, and listening in on the media of your choice. If you have any comments or questions or want to send us an intro to play, drop us a note at theshow@wow.com.Thanks for listening as always, have a great week. Oh, and I almost forgot. Listener Traenall made this video after hearing Turpster's plans for gaining rep from the Timbermaw this week. Very funny.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
ProfCast 75% off until January 24
Humble Daisy's ProfCast is a well-respected tool for turning PowerPoint and Keynote slideshows into podcasts, among many other features (including the ability to record live presentations). The software was recently updated to version 2.3.0 and if you haven't been motivated to try it before, it is definitely worth a look now.Humble Daisy is currently offering the software for 75% off its retail price from today until January 24 to celebrate the Mac's 25th birthday. ProfCast normally retails for $59.95USD, and education discounts are available, but the sale brings the price down to $14.99. ProfCast requires OS X 10.4 and later.And for the confused, myself included, ProfCast's Web site does say that the discount is for 25% off rather than 75%. However, by clicking on the coupon for a single-seat license, you can see that the price really is $14.99.
WoW Insider Show Episode 73: Yes, Virginia, there is a Martin Thunder
Great show on the podcast this past weekend, if I may say so myself. We started off with a kickass intro from David over at Trekcast.com, and I think it set the tone well: we had Michael Sacco (a.k.a. onetime Blizzard GM Belfaire) on the show, and he revealed some great stories about what it's like to be on the other end of Blizzard's ticket system. Turpster was on with his wacky self as usual (along with some excellent Warrior insight), and we all talked about the most embarassing thing we've done in game, and how to know when you're ready to head off into Heroics, as well as the Death Knight changes coming up in the next patch.If you want to send us an intro or anything else, the address is theshow AT wow.com. You can listen to last weekend's show using the links below, and if you'd like to hear us live, definitely make plans to listen in next weekend: we record the show live every Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern / 20:30 GMT. Oh, and don't forget to become a fan of our site on Facebook -- we're almost 3/4 of the way to our goal of 4,000 fans, and if we can reach that goal, Turpster's promised us a brand new, exclusive song. Tell your friends!Enjoy the show and have a great week. And if you're wondering who Martin Thunder is, here you go.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Ladies and gentlemen, start your lectures: ProfCast 2.3.0 arrives
Educators and professionals who need to record and podcast lectures often turn to Humble Daisy's ProfCast, a tool for adding enhancements to PowerPoint or Keynote slideshows to create powerful podcasts. ProfCast today received a major update to version 2.3. The original app allows recording of live presentations, syncing slides with an audio track, and full RSS feed generation and publishing support. The new version incorporates several improvements, the most significant being support for PowerPoint 2008. The app now automatically detects whether Keynote or PowerPoint is being used for a presentation, and then begins the process of recording and publishing the lecture with all slide timing and voice narration. Humble Daisy also killed a number of bugs from the previous version of ProfCast, and version 2.3.0 is a free upgrade to existing owners of the application. The program is $59.95 for first-time buyers, and educational discounts are available. ProfCast can be purchased from the online store.
Record a multi-participant podcast with GarageBand
A few months ago, I started recording a podcast with some friends. At that time, our process was to gather everyone into one Skype call and record the session with WireTap Studio. That worked reasonably well, but there were a few problems.The quality of the end result was dependent on everyone's Skype connection. Throw in a bad rainstorm, a large download or an iffy wi-fi connection and quality suffered. The other issue was people talking over each other. Even the most disciplined podcasters do it occasionally. Since the raw audio was a single track, editing the overtalking out of the final show was difficult, if not impossible.A few episodes into it, we read Dan Benjamin's tips on recording a podcast with participants in multiple locations. He and John Gruber use a time-tested method called a "double-ender" when recording The Talk Show. As they talk via Skype, John and Dan record their own audio locally, and those two files are edited together as separate tracks. We've adopted a similar method using GarageBand, and it's been working wonderfully. Read on for details on our setup.
BoinxTV 1.0 released today
We had a little teaser for BoinxTV during WWDC this summer. If you missed it, it's a joint project between Boinx Software and The Coding Monkeys, aimed at smaller producers of video (video podcasters, school TV shows, anyone who doesn't have their own production studio ... ), with the goal of improving presentation and removing the need for any post-production. BoinxTV 1.0 was released today after months of beta testing and nightly builds. It's stable, powerful and, most of all, fun. The easy-to-use system of layers, (which can consist of on-screen graphics, video sources, lower thirds, etc.) allows for simple setup and easy, live production of professional-quality video presentations. There are over 30 available layer types, all customizable, and custom layers can be created with Apple's Quartz Composer software (free with OS X). BoinxTV includes professional-grade chroma-keying which, with a decent green screen and lighting setup, makes transporting yourself or your cast to exotic locations a breeze. The software is targeted at video producers who could benefit from losing the tedium of post-production. If you have an existing production setup and demand finite control, you'll probably want to stick with what you have. For educational institutions, video podcasters and anyone who needs a rapid transition from recording to publication, though, it's an ideal solution. BoinxTV retails at $499. If your needs don't justify that kind of hefty price tag, a "sponsored" version is available for $199. The only requirement for using that version is that every production must credit BoinxTV. Not a bad tradeoff, really. A free demo is available, and the software is available for purchase today. Visit the BoinxTV page for more information.
Apple adds OTA podcast downloads to iPhone firmware 2.2, continues to burn developers
Oh Apple. Is it that you can't see the things you're doing, or that you simply don't care how they look? If you'll recall, few months ago Jobs and co. kicked up quite a dust storm over a seemingly innocuous application called Podcaster, which allowed you to receive over-the-air updates of new podcasts when they were released. The company rejected the app based on the grounds that it "duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes," a claim that seemed unreasonable at the time, and should now feel downright criminal. According to a German blog which has posted pictures of the latest beta build of firmware 2.2, Apple has included functionality which allows you to download podcasts over-the-air. The new addition works with both video and audio, and over 3G / EDGE and WiFi, though the size of podcasts is limited to 10MB when using the cell network. Now we don't pretend to assume that Apple just got this idea after seeing Podcaster in action -- and it's clear that Apple is killing projects which are similar to its own -- but it's still hard to stomach the concept of the company outright refusing an application with nearly the exact same functionality, only to turn around and add it to their installed software. This kind of veiled violence against developers only serves to chip away at the support Apple has engendered in its community, and drive those hands and eyes to other platforms. C'mon Steve -- we know you can do better than this.[Via Mac Rumors]
WoW Insider Show goes live on Ustream tomorrow
Yes, it's a time of change for the WoW Insider Show -- just a little over a year ago, we started out as a partnership with WoW Radio, but time has passed, we've grown bigger and bigger, and now it's time to move out on our own. What does this mean for you? Nothing much -- it only means that tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern, instead of joining us on WoW Radio, you'll be joining us on our brand new Ustream channel, where you'll be able to listen to our podcast live, chat with everyone else listening to the show (no IRC required), and even try out some fun new features we've baked into the festivities. Other than that, nothing else has changed -- we're still providing news and views on the World of Warcraft, and yes, Turpster is still along for the ride. Tomorrow on the show, we'll ask him why he couldn't find a ship captain to carry him across the ocean to BlizzCon, and we'll welcome WoW Insider blogger Adam Holisky (who was at BlizzCon), and our good friend Patrick Beja, who not only attended nearly every panel at last weekend's BlizzCon, but has actually been inside Blizzard HQ as well. Plus, we don't know if you've heard of a little thing called patch 3.0.2, but we'll take a look at what Echoes of Doom has given us, including achievements, glyphs, and all the strange things you've been discovering this week. And we'll even look at what it hasn't given us quite yet.Oh, and did we mention the giveaways? We'll be giving away not one or two but three different loot card codes to live listeners, which is more than we've ever given out before. Remember, instead of WoW Radio, come visit us at our new Ustream channel, tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern, for the revamped WoW Insider Show. Same time, same people, same fun, different URL. See you there.
EVE Community Spotlight: Winterblink
Some players in EVE Online are known for a particular contribution to the community. Others for their presence on the forums or for their reputation as a pilot. EVE's players know Winterblink for all of these reasons, and more. While there are a number of celebrated players in EVE Online, few names are as recognizable in the game as Winterblink. Whether you're a fan of the Warp Drive Active comic, you listen to his podcast, or perhaps you just want to podkill him... most players agree that he's one of the friendliest people you're likely to meet in EVE, except for when he's got you in his sights. Massively recently caught up with Winterblink and spoke with him about how Warp Drive Active came to be, finding humor in a game that's taken so seriously by its players, and what it means to him to be a part of the EVE community.
IPEVO's TR-10 speakerphone makes nice with iChat
Seems like there's a VoIP device for every temperament -- you can go supa classy, or you can try to be as bland as possible, but most of them are intended for Skype. Not IPEVO's TR-10, though; it's designed for iChat, and it does VoIP with support for four-way conferencing as both a speakerphone and a handset. If geeky rebel radio is your thing, it records podcasts in tandem with GarageBand, too -- all IPEVO asks is that you fork over $79.90 before you start living the iLife with Bruce Willis.
Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac: 2nd Edition
Take Control Books has just published the second edition of Andy Affleck's popular Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac ebook. Anyone interested in getting started with podcasting or improving the quality of their current podcasts should read this ebook.Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac: Second Edition adds coverage of two widely-used Mac podcasting applications, WireTap Studio and Übercaster, with information on recording and editing podcasts with these two apps. Andy also updated the ebook to discuss podcasting with GarageBand 4, and dropped his coverage of Audacity as a podcasting tool. Want to hear how good your podcasts can sound? Listen to Andy's promo.As with all Take Control titles, the $10 ebook will be updated regularly and is available for immediate download from the Take Control website. The ebook includes a coupon code good for up to $14 off the price of Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro and Fission, so if you're in the market for both of those products you essentially get the ebook for free.In the interest of full disclosure, I have written two Take Control ebooks.
Belkin unveils the GoStudio iPod recording dock
Belkin's not letting a little thing like the launch of the iPhone 3G slow it down this morning -- in addition to all that wireless gear, it's even got the stones to throw down an iPod accessory, which is a little funny. The GoStudio recorder is a full-featured recording dock for the iPod 5G, classic, and 2G and 3G nanos, which allows you to record 16-bit 44.1kHz audio directly from two built-in stereo mics or quarter-inch, XLR, and minijack inputs, and dump it all into iTunes when you're done. The $119 box isn't the sexiest thing we've ever seen, but if you're a dedicated podcaster or just suffer from delusions of being the next Martin Hannett, it's probably worth a look.
Lessons learned in Empyrean Age's factional warfare
Podcasting hero Van Hemlock has been blogging about EVE Online quite a bit of late. His recent post 'The Lessons of War' chronicles his experience of learning the factional warfare rules of engagement in the Empyrean Age expansion. He writes about being a solo pilot for the Minmatar Tribal Liberation Force, when the entire militias of the Amarr and Caldari races have kill rights on him anytime and anywhere. It's even harder to do well when you're running with an alt fresh out of the academy but, win or lose, he seems to be having a good time. Van Hemlock's approach is to spend very little on any individual ship (it's likely to be blown apart anyway) and learn what he can from the experience of trying to survive. As he explains a bit about the mechanics of factional warfare, and its objectives, Van Hemlock imparts three key bits of wisdom in "The Lessons of War...": there are ways of preventing a (single) rival from engaging you, flying fast and nimble can trump much greater firepower, and as fast as you may be -- there can always be someone faster who will try and take you out. Although he openly states that he doesn't know a great deal about PvP in EVE yet, it's clear that he's learning very quickly from his mistakes, and doing so with minimal emo rage. See Van Hemlock's "The Lessons of War" to learn a few things from his successes and failures in EVE Online, it's certainly a good read.
Feeder 1.5 kicks some RSS
Feeder 1.5, a venerable champion in the area of RSS and podcast feed creation, editing and publishing just hit the scene with a host of improvements. In addition to an updated interface for Leopard, it improves on editing, video podcasting, enclosure redirects and more. I'm pretty excited about the fact that Feeder's Sparkle support has been updated to automatically generate MD5 sums and DSA signatures, as well as handle password-less SFTP. If that's not your thing, you can get your RSS kicks in the improved template editor and support for the Media RSS extension that allows the inclusion of thumbnails in search engines and programs like Miro. And, in keeping with the times, the improved performance in tagging MP4 files will help anyone publishing for iPod, iPhone or Apple TV. Feeder has a 15 day free trial and costs $29 to register. Version 1.5 is a free upgrade for all 1.x users. Check it out at Reinvented Software.
CEntrance's MicPort Pro makes your podcasting dreams come true
You know, sometimes you want a preamp, but not too much preamp. Well, CEntrance has got you all-kinds of covered on that tip with its new, self-contained, microphone-attaching, USB-based MicPort Pro. The premise of the device is simple: it turns any single microphone or instrument into a self-powered, single channel, 24-bit / 96KHz audio interface -- all you have to do is hook it up to your computer with the supplied USB cable. The MicPort also features a headphone out, if you want to create the wackiest closed-loop situation ever, though it looks like the company is intending this for podcasters and the like, given that it allows any and all XLR-based mics to be plugged directly into your USB port. Shipping now (or so the company says) for $149.95.[Via Harmony Central]
RapidWeaver 3.6.2 released
Realmac Software today released v3.6.2 of RapidWeaver, their popular WYSIWYG tool for creating websites, podcasts, blogs and more. Among the new features of this version are: Aperture Support in the iMedia Browser Dynamic PHP Sidebar option for the blog plugin Sidebar is now a fully features styled text area The link panel now supports linking to tags and categories from Blogs Also included in their blog post announcing this update is a PDF manual for the new version and an all-new Help Desk area with links to tutorial videos, manuals, FAQs and more. A demo of RapidWeaver is available, while full licenses costs $49.00 and upgrades from versions previous to 3.6.x are $25.
??bercaster, all-in-one podcasting tool receives new features, enhancements
It's been a while since we've written about Übercaster, the all-in-one tool for recording, editing and publishing podcasts, but that doesn't mean its developer, Eberhard Rensch, hasn't been hard at work on it. Through updates over the last couple of months, Übercaster v1.1.5 has gained a ton of handy new features and polish, such as: Delete and Close Gap: Instantly re-join two pieces of a track after cutting out a portion of the middle. A big time saver when editing out the false starts and other mistakes. Reset Playhead on Stop: An option to automatically return the playhead to its original starting point. Another huge timesaver when reviewing a specific clip. Split All Tracks: Splits every track at the playhead, regardless of which tracks are selection. New PleasantConnect version: An update to the Mac OS X kernel extension included with Übercaster that allows for pulling off tricks like recording Skype conversations in separate tracks, with you on one and any caller(s) on another. New progress bar in Dock icon: This is great for a real-time yet unobtrusive display of a podcast's upload progress. Sparkle integration for automatic updates: Andy Matuschak's popular Sparkle framework has made to Übercaster, providing wonderful automatic software updates that so many apps are enjoying. This isn't all though; there are far more new features and bug fixes listed in just the last two updates than I can fit in this post, so check out the Übercaster changelog or grab the latest version yourself. If that updated kernel extension can fix my problems and allow me to record multi-track Skype conversations, Rensch will certainly be seeing a $79.95 purchase from me.
Official Apple Quick Tip of the Week podcast
We here at TUAW have no qualms about our 'unofficialness.' It is what makes us all so cool (we're cool, right? Right?!). Our very own podcast is full of wit, wisdom, and helpful tips that make using a Mac even more pleasant. There is a new podcast in town, though, and this one is very official indeed.That's right, Apple, Inc is serving up a video podcast called 'Apple Quick Tip of the Week.' At the moment 3 episodes are up, though the podcast is lacking album art (what up with that?). The podcast is hosted by Joy (to the right) and Anthony and judging by the soft, soft light it is filmed in I can only assume it is shot on location at the Apple Store in Heaven.Thanks, Chad.
??bercaster ships
We last mentioned Übercaster several months ago, and now the German-made all-in-one podcast producing tool is finally shipping. Übercaster is designed to replace a variety of different applications, allowing you to produce, record, and edit your podcast all in one interface. You're able to set up a variety of clips (e.g. intro and exit music), clips, sound effects, etc., which you can invoke with one-click as you're talking. It even allows recording audio directly from iChat, Skype, and Gizmo Project. Once you've laid down your tracks, it allows you to edit them in a multi-track editing environment. I played with the beta while back and was impressed with the Mac-like nature of the program, though I did notice it sometimes does not gracefully handle large audio files dropped into it.Unfortunately, all of this podcasting goodness does not come cheap. Übercaster is $79.95 and a demo is available.[Via Macworld UK]
Desktopple on sale for $9.95 at MacUpdate
Well shiver me mousies - it's a good thing I haven't quite convinced my wife why I need yet another piece of software, because Desktopple, the powerful desktop hiding and management app from FoggyNoggin Software that I just mentioned, is on sale at MacUpdate for a mere $9.95. That's 41% off its regular price of $17.00, and a great deal on what is probably the most powerful and easy to use app in its class for podcasters and desktop clutterbugs alike (oh yea, just like the car commercials - I went there). Check out my previous post for a refresher on what Desktopple is capable of, or snag a demo and take it for a whirl yourself, but don't forget that MacUpdate's sale is a one-day-only deal.
