Ok so I stole that title line from Ben Elton but it has been an exciting week. In keeping with my general “OMG I’m too busy to blog right now” demeanour of late, I just want to direct you towards my appearance on the BBC Radio 5 Pod’s & Blogs show this week. It’s only a few mins long but I was very kindly asked to come on and talk about Rathole Radio by host Jamillah Knowles. We recorded the interview last Thursday and had a really nice chat about all kinds of stuff. I recorded my end of the call, processed it and sent the audio to Jamillah as I normally do for Linux Outlaws. Apparently this impressed the engineers down at BBC central, so if you’re in need of any audio work folks give me a shout

Download the podcast here

I hope you enjoy the interview. We talked about Creative Commons and how it influences the show. The original chat was about 10mins but I expected it would be edited down. It sounds great anyway. I also managed many plugs for the Rathole Radio gig of course. Many thanks to @yaMatt for suggesting Rathole Radio to the beeb. The podcast is only available for 7 days apparently, I have no idea why but please download it now if you’re interested. Apologies if you’re reading this after that date.

I’ll give more updates in the coming days as and when time allows. There’s so much to tell you that I might have to write a really long recap (or perhaps a book) after the OggCamp dust settles. (Don’t mention dust to me at the moment, or volcanoes)

I’ll speak to you soon, take care of yourselves.

Dan

UPDATE: I’ve uploaded a copy of the podcast here because it’s now gone from the BBC servers. I don’t know why they delete podcasts after 7 days but it’s their policy. You can download the show here. I will remove this file immediately if the BBC contact me with a complaint. I just want people to be able to hear the show and if anything that promotes rather then hurts them

TLLTS

…someone decides to make a program just to track what you’ve been eating and post it to a Google Calendar It seems that’s what the good folks from the Linux Link Tech Show have done. I was told about this a week or so ago, but forgot to mention it. There’s been something of a running joke between the shows that Fab and I post too many pointless messages about food on our microblogs. I thought it was pretty funny, and then I was sent a link to this calendar:

Best Pic Of Them I Could Find

Apparently the guys have made a script that scrapes our food posts from Identi.ca and adds them to the calendar. Madness, but brilliant nontheless. Thanks guys! We love you too I should also take this opportunity to congratulate the guys on their 300th episode, which is coming up next week. They’ve been around since before the dawn of time… ahem, sorry I mean the dawn of podcasting. They are certainly the longest running Linux podcast in the world. Back when we started Linux Outlaws Pat, Dann and the other guys were immediately supportive and promoted us. I’ve never forgotten that and it really helped us onto the podcasting ladder. They’ve expanded their line up of hosts lately and just seem to go from strength to strength. So keep up the good work guys and here’s to another 300 episodes. Pat also recently started a MythTv podcast (a precursor to going solo? Who can say hehehe), check it out if you’re interested in making a Linux media centre or PVR, it’s very cool.

Right, that’s it. Just a quick post as I wanted to share that calendar. I’m also off to see Billy Bragg in Liverpool tonight and I’m ridiculously excited, a musical and political hero of mine. I’ll report back on that on Sunday. I’m also writing this message in KDE4.2 on Chakra Project, more on that very soon.

Take care all,  see you soon

Dan

As promised, here are the slides from my recent talk about podcasting and web broadcasting at the Think Visibility event in Leeds. These slides may not seem that useful on their own but hopefully you can glean some helpful information from them. The talk lasted about 35-40mins and I spent a long time talking about each slide but I’m afraid I don’t really have any written notes, I improvised a lot, as most people will attest I can waffle with the best of them. I did say I’d write out proper written notes to go with each slide but in reality I’m far too much of a lazy arse for that, sorry The event was about promoting yourself or your product on line so I tailored the talk a bit to this goal, it’s not just a general talk about the techinicalities of podcasting.

If you download the ODF source file (made in OpenOffice.org of course) you can see some notes attached to some of the slides but it’s hardly comprehensive. I will make a proper screencast as I’m much better at talking than writing and I hope it will make the whole thing more interesting, I can also show videos and have some fun. I’ve been testing out Record My Desktop and it’s going well. Should have more on that soon. I just realised it had been a while since I promised to post these slides and I should get it done.

This was my first time using the SlideShare web service but it seems to work well and I’m pleased they accept ODP format presentations

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Just thought I’d give you an update on both recent and upcoming events in my little world. Had a great time at both Liverpool and Chester LUGs recently, salivated a little over all the Google G1 phones on display at LivLug as well I have to admit. They’re really nice I think, despite some disagreements with friends on aesthetics (it’s ugly apparently, fashion victims) if I had to choose one smartphone at the moment this would be it. Of course this is all academic as I don’t have the money and couldn’t afford one anyway but I like to kid myself along. I’ll be interested to see what other Android handsets come out later in the year. If I have some money then (stop laughing) I might get one as an all-in-one Linux based media player, phone and Internet tablet, I can dream.

6ix Toys Album Cover

I finished editing Linux Outlaws 76 this afternoon and hopefully it’ll be released later tonight. I’ll have another Software Freedom Law Show to edit next week and probably plenty of other Linux Outlaws related stuff to do as always. I need to sort out our European merchandise store and perhaps something for all our loyal Aussie listeners as well if I can, though that might be a bit harder to arrange. I’m looking for a UK manufacturer or supplier who’ll offer top quality stuff at a reasonable price for the fans. We want people to feel they’re getting good value and a good service, that’s vital! It’s not so much about making money for me as giving people the things they’re asking for, t-shirts, mugs, flame throwers… ok maybe not the flame throwers. I have some leads to chase up and I know I’ve been saying this for ages but I really am looking into the options, hopefully I’ll have something to report soon. Fab’s done some great new t-shirt designs and I can’t wait for people to see them.

This Thursday (Feb 12th) it’s the Liverpool Twestival which I’m gonna head along to. In case you don’t know what a “Twestival” is it’s essentially just a name given to an event organized on Twitter the microblogging site. I don’t know who came up with the term and it smacks a little of “web 2.0″ or “geek chic” style buzzwords to me but there we go. The event looks like it’ll be a lot of fun, there’s gonna be live bands, a raffle, an auction and all kinds of other things. It’s all raising money for charity too so it’s nice to support a good cause. I’m not sure if there’s any tickets left at the moment but it’s free to book so head over to the site if you can make it along. 6ix Toys are playing and I’ve really fallen in love with this band in recent weeks, they’re a 7 piece funk band from Liverpool with an amazing sound. I’ve always loved funk and these guys are certainly funky. I first heard them on the Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show on BBC 6 Music and bought their CD off the website not long after. Well worth checking out I’d say. I’ll report back on the event next week.

Looking forward, I have a review of Handbrake for Linux about 80% done and I’ll post that very soon. From there I’m gonna get distro hopping again and my first stop will be Sabayon 4 I think. It’s a recent release, a distro that makes some rather large claims about itself and one I’ve looked at before. So it’ll be interesting to see how it’s coming along. Right that’s it I think, as always any thoughts or comments on anything you see here or perhaps would like to see, just let me know.

Take care, over and out

The Mono Project

Hey everyone, just a quick note to let you know that episode 75 of the Linux Outlaws podcast was released this afternoon. It contains our in-depth interview with Miguel De Icaza of Novell and I think you might find it really interesting. If you’re interested in hearing what the creator of Mono thinks about the possible patent threats, the Microsoft/Novell deal, the current state of Gnome development vs KDE and much much more please go and check it out. I’m sure a lot of people will say we weren’t hard enough on Miguel but I don’t see the point in getting a guest on just to berate them, I wanted to hear his opinion, I’ve heard everyone else’s so it’s only fair. He’s a really nice guy doing a lot of great work, he gave us a lot of his time and I think he gets a lot of unfair flak. This show was to redress the balance after the anti-Mono episode we did earlier with Dann Washko from TLLTS. You should make up your own mind what you think, this is just showing the different sides of the argument. For what it’s worth after listening to the arguments myself and weighing things up I’m still what I would call a Mono agnostic. Mono seems to be like the Marmite of the open source world, you either love it or hate it. Well I’m in the middle, I don’t remove Mono from my systems and I even use Mono apps like Gnome Do and Tomboy but at the same time I don’t develop with it and I’m not actively looking for Mono apps. To be honest I don’t really develop with anything these days, I would consider Mono if I were looking to do some desktop development. I just want apps that work and fulfill my requirements. When you’ve decided what you think can tell us your thoughts on this in the forum or leave a comment here if you prefer.

Ok enough gratuitous pimping of the show sorry I’m working on some other articles which you should see pop up here as the week goes on. Also please don’t forget the Liverpool LUG is meeting tomorrow night in a shiny new venue. It’ll be at the Liverpool Social Centre, 96 Bold St, Liverpool L1. It’s not far from the old venue in the FACT building, we should be having a talk and then on to some drinks afterwards I expect. It’ll be a lot of fun. For more information please read this post by Andrew Williams one of our valiant leaders. If you can make it we’d love to see you there.

See you there

Dan

EDIT: Ok as someone pointed out in the comments I should use OpenStreetMap and not Google Maps, so here’s the OSM data for Bold St. I’m not sure it’s as detailed to be fair, it doesn’t seem able to locate a road number in the street but then I suppose that’s down to lazy gits like me not putting data in, it’s a fair cop. I’ll have to find out exactly where the Social Centre is in the road and try to add it. Here you go:


View Larger Map

Miguel De Icaza in a fetching hat

Howdy everyone, just wanted to fill you in on recent events and some of the stuff I have upcoming. Last night I recorded a very long interview with Miguel De Icaza of Novell for Linux Outlaws which was fascinating. I’ve never spoken to him before but he was very open and candid in answering some awkward questions at times which I think makes for a good interview. We had a lot of fun and it ended up running for about 75mins so this will fill episode 75 of the show on it’s own. I have to do some work on it but hope to have the show out on Tuesday. I have a list of names for future guests and I’m always chasing down leads on that front so look out for more guests in future. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know with comments, emails, courier pigeons or whatever. I can’t promise to return all pigeons intact I’m afraid but hopefully they’ll find their own way back I’m also working on the next episode of the Software Freedom Law Show which I’ll edit over the weekend and send back to Bradley ASAP, that should be out on Tuesday as well I think so expect some serious action in your RSS feeds that day.

In terms of distro reviewing and article writing I’ve been busy the last week or so but not gotten an awful lot done at the end of it, hardly an ideal situation but you get weeks like this. I have to start writing and rehearsing a presentation about podcasting for an upcoming event in Leeds. It’s called Think Visibility, admission is by ticket only and I believe even at £30 a pop they’re selling out fast. Obviously with people paying that kind of cash I want to give the best possible performance I can and make sure they feel they get their moneys worth, they won’t be paying just to see me (luckily for them) but still I want to make it as good as I can. I’ll keep you up to date with how that’s going in the coming weeks.

I went to the Chester LUG meeting on Thursday night and it was really good to catch up with everyone. Always a friendly night out in the pub and I encourage anyone in the area to come down and say hello, it’s the last Thursday of every month in Chester. I’ll be LUGing again next week actually with the Liverpool LUG on Wednesday which should also be lots of fun, I think we’re having a talk but I don’t know for sure, I’m as useful as ever. Anyway, come along and see us if you’re close enough to make the trip, I’d be pleased to meet you and have a chat. Details can be found on the Liverpool LUG website.

I think that’s about it for now, there’s more to tell and as always I could go on (boy can I go on) but I don’t want this to turn into an epic post, it’s already getting there. I shall ration it out a little and make the posts more frequent. A lot of people have been asking me what happened with my open studio project and the answer is not a lot right now, I’ve just got some new hardware which I’ll tell you about in a future post I promise, there will be developments. Thanks for reading, I hope to see you at a LUG meet or a talk or… well, somewhere very soon.

Take care

Dan