Posts by Sandy Kemsley:
Podcasts For Fun
I registered for PodCamp Toronto 2012 today, an unconference that has grown to include more than just podcasting: all varieties of social media are welcome as topics for discussion. I’ve attended in the past, really enjoyed the sessions.
Coincidentally, when I started iTunes, it downloaded an interesting podcast on 3D printers as disruptive technology, and thought it might be good to share the podcasts that I regularly download (although I don’t always get the chance to listen to all of them):
- Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com – Cory Doctorow publishes readings of his books and short stories, read by himself or others. Since he licenses all of this writing under a Creative Commons licence, others are free to record and publish his books on audio, which he republishes here. Great way to listen to his science fiction a bit at a time.
- Search Engine – Jesse Brown of TVO podcasts both audio and (short) video on a variety of technology in society issues. Always enjoyable, and some great interviews with willing and reluctant interviewees on topics of copyright and internet access in Canada.
- Spark from CBC Radio – Nora Young produces longer-form interviews on “your digital life”, that is, how technology impacts your day-to-day life. The interviews are slower-moving than those on Search Engine, but provide more depth and discussion on a subject. She also has a podcast of some (even longer) unedited interviews if you’re very interested in a particular one.
- Surprisingly Free – interviews with well-known authors, academics, researchers and others on a huge variety of topics on technology and society.
- Tech News Today – I used to listen to the Buzz Out Loud podcast because I loved the conversations between Tom Merritt and Molly Wood, but when Merritt left, I thought that the quality of commentary decreased, and I eventually stopped listening. Recently, I tried out this podcast that Tom Merritt is now doing on consumer technology, quite similar in nature to the old BOL, and I listen occasionally.
Each of the links above is to the podcast feed URL; to subscribe, just copy the link and paste into your podcatcher (iTunes, for example, or one of the apps that you can get to do this directly on your iPod/iPhone – I just bought Downcast to try it out and have already removed all podcast subscriptions out of iTunes).
Not surprisingly, all of the podcasts are technology-related, although they tend to focus on technology in society rather than the enterprise technology stuff that I do for a living.
Experiences – Good and Bad – With Online Group Coupons
Like most other people who I know, I latched on to the group coupon craze last year, buying coupons for things that I probably didn’t need at prices that seemed to be a good deal. I’ve slowed down considerably from my initial rush, although I still have a few coupons to use up from those [...]
The Report Of Blogging’s Death Was An Exaggeration
I’ve been blogging for a long time now: on pre-blogging sites where I kept a travel journal 10 years ago, then starting here in 2004 and my business blog in 2005. I know that blogging isn’t for everyone, but it is for a lot of people, and I take a lot of pleasure in helping [...]
Ten Years Later
On my last business post about the upcoming BPM conferences where I will be speaking, I accidentally typed “2001” instead of “2011” for the title. As I fixed up that little goof, it had me think about the past 10 years. 10 years ago, I was finishing off my last few weeks as an evangelist [...]
Zero History
I’m really enjoying reading William Gibson’s latest, Zero History, which includes such lovely bits of writing as this: He looked down at the screen, the glowing map. Saw it as a window into the city’s underlying fabric, as though he held something from which a rectangular chip of London’s surface had been pried, revealing a [...]
Porter Airlines: Great Flying Experience, Crappy Website. Does This Matter?
My message to Porter today sums it up: Your site has sent me 85 flight reminder messages so far about my flight tomorrow, starting at 7am today and continuing approximately one every 2-3 minutes. Please fix this. There are a few other problems with your site: Online checkin required two attempts, with no apparent cause [...]
Living the Mobile Life
This morning after I left the house, I checked the real-time streetcar tracking to see when the next car was coming by the end of my street, looked over a presentation that I’m working on, checked which subway car to board so that I would exit near the escalator at my destination, read a chapter [...]
Agnes of God, Live in Toronto
My long-time friend Pat Anderson is performing in a local production of Agnes of God over the next two weeks: August 14, 15, 21 and 22 at No One Writes to the Colonel, a bar/cafe at College and Bathurst. Pat recited a few of her lines as Mother Superior to me at dinner last weekend, [...]
Fresh Restaurant Becomes Nutritional Nanny
I really like Fresh, a small restaurant chain in Toronto that grew out of a juice bar and now has three thriving vegetarian food locations. We used to eat in there a lot – the rice bowls are really seriously good, and the pancakes at weekend brunch are amazing – but the noise levels seem [...]
Another Toronto Farmers’ Market Map
I found this map on the Toronto Farmers’ Market Network site today; it combines the calendar and map information into one by using different coloured pushpins for different days, and having the market hours in the popup if you click on the pushpin. Nice work! View Toronto Farmers Markets 2010 in a larger map It [...]
