I’m trying to quit Coke Zero and it’s killing me. Two weeks now, with a couple of lapses.
Apparently Diet Coke is the beverage of choice for geeks, but it can’t be good to consume as much as I used to. How long before I stop thinking about it, though?
Leo Laporte is turning his life into an internet show. But this isn’t like Justin TV, this is podcasting at its finest. He joined in the group of people who were live streaming themselves recording a show, which meant you could interact with people via the chatroom and it was all real time. Then he took that idea and brought it to a whole new level. Now he broadcasts live from his office A LOT. I still don’t have the schedule clear in my head, it’s every day except Mondays and Fridays, I think, and obviously there’s a time difference between here and the US.
But, it is brilliant viewing. It’s like watching reality TV that is good. Leo sits at his desk, he talks, he podcasts, he records jingles, he unboxes things, he shows us around his studio, he has guests, he records the radio show, and we get to see it all. It’s really amazing, and I just wish I could stay up late enough to watch it all.
This clearly inspired us at Sidepodcast, and this past weekend, whilst we were recording the video previews, we streamed live to the world. It was a last minute thing, and set up quickly, but it worked really well. You can read about it and see the recorded stream here. And the finished video is here, if you’re interested.
I really enjoyed it. There’s something about talking and knowing people could be watching you right there and then that makes it feel a lot more worthwhile. Not that making the video isn’t fun normally, but it just adds a little extra something. I’m nowhere near the stage where I want to host a live show, or allow people to watch us record the podcast (way too much of a work in progress at the recording stage), but I think we’re going to do it again.
It’s just another way to interact with people, and it’s great. I think it will be a long time before we are as good as Leo though!
You can now buy or rent films on iTunes in the UK, and there’s quite a lot to choose from. Considering how few TV shows there were when that was first introduced on the UK store, I’m quite impressed.
There are some questionable decisions on the part of Apple, when you look at the HD side of things. You can’t buy an HD film and you can only rent one if you have an Apple TV. At the moment, we don’t have an HD TV so it doesn’t really matter anyway, but that does seem an unusual tactic from Apple. I know they like to keep you using Apple products, but what harm would it do to allow users to download to their Macs?
The only other issue I can see is that some of the movies are only available to rent and not buy, for no apparent reason. In “real life” when you go to Blockbuster, you can rent the same DVDs that are in the shops, so I’m not sure what they are gaining from this.
As ever, the prices are high, but if you’re trying to turn away from clunky traditional methods of consuming media and embracing the digital experience, it’s not beyond reason.