Some New Dates for Podcast Courses

I mentioned in an earlier posting that I'll be doing some personal podcasting training in conjunction with The Learning Lab in Telford, UK.

I'm delighted to say that the courses are filling up fast and consequently, I've been asked to put on some additional courses! So here are the revised dates (new dates in italics)..

Podcasting For Beginners - 20th February 2007 - Sold Out
Podcasting For Beginners - 13th March 2007 - Sold Out
Advanced Podcasting - 22nd March 2007
Podcasting For Beginners - 17th April 2007
Advanced Podcasting - 1st May 2007
Podcasting For Beginners - 15th May 2007
Podcasting For Beginners - 5th June 2007
Advanced Podcasting - 19th June 2007

Please contact The Learning Lab directly for more information.

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Cringley and the Apple TV

Here is what I think is happening with the Apple TV hard drive. I think sometime this summer Apple will ship a firmware upgrade for the Apple TV and it will suddenly gain an important new capability. That's when the Apple TV becomes a node on the iTunes peer-to-peer video network.

Original Link

Bob Cringley has an interesting post from his pulpit today on what he thinks Apples plans for the Apple TV are. He focusses on why the Mac Mini, Airport Express and Apple TV are stackable and why the Apple TV has a 40GB internal drive. His main conclusion is that the Apple TV will be part of a peer-to-peer distribution system and is a 24/7 mini network node that will allow Apple to pre-populate with content using bitorrent or similar. While I'm sure we haven't been told the full picture by Apple, I have some issues with Bobs premise: Unusually, His column is strangely inaccurate. According to the specs, the Apple TV has a larger foot print than the others, so they don't have the same form factor. He speculates about the purpose of the Hard Disk as if it's some secret, guarded move by Apple but we've known about the disk since macworld and Apple have stated that it's for caching and syncing content making your Apple Tv into effectively a permanent iPod for your TV. The suggestion is also that Apple are holding back the true purpose of the device until the penetration of the Apple TV reaches 500,000 to 1 million units and will then unleash a firmware upgrade that switches on the functionality. Can you imagine the outcry if that happened? Especially the recent rumblings following on from the need to charge for the 802.11n enabler patch for the Core 2 Duo machines. Imaging releasing a patch that changes the whole function of the machine. The more I think about it, I'm sure that Apple will include some peer-to-peer functions in either Leopard or the Apple TV but they won't be as stealthy getting it into peoples homes as Bob thinks. With a peer-to-peer nextwork, you need to have the buy in of the user up front and they need to be in full control of the amount of uplink bandwidth they are prepared to donate to the network. Uplink speeds are still very low and easily flooded having a detrimental effect on your internet experience. So I'm a little bit on the fence on this one and we'll just have to see how it goes. One thing he didn't mention which is worthy of note is just what is that USB socket on the back of the Apple TV for? Now that's a real secret!

Technorati Tags: Apple, BitTorrent, Apple TV, Leopard, IPTV

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Me, Steve and Seven Macbooks

No, not that Steve! Spent all day yesterday over at the Learning Labs with Steve Molyneux preping some of the Macbooks we'll be using for the Podcasting courses I'm running over there over the next few months. I've not really had chance to use a Macbook properly other than a cursory examination over at the Apple store. Really nice machines! We did hit one problem though in that the 10 headsets didn't work with the machines - headphones yes but not the microphones. It transpires that the audio in on the Macbook is a Line In and not a Microphone In so the levels are mismatched. Looks to be the same on the MacBook Pro. Ah well, we think we can source 10 USB audio connectors before next week. Had a play with some of the presenters options in Keynote when using a secondary screen - very cool! Also tested SpyMe 2 from Readpixel. You may remember I did a screencast on the original Spy Me a while ago. SpyMe is a remote mamagement tool that allows you to view or remote control a Mac desktop remotely. SpyMe 2 has been enhanced significantly to allow you to monitor, view and control multiple Mac desktops all from a single desktop (once you have the 10 or unlimited server licence $35 and $95 respectively). Pretty impressive and works straight out of the box! I could monitor all seven Macbooks and see all the screens at once. I click and I had control of any screen. Another click and every Macbook was locked, stopping any surreptitious web surfing! Ah the power! I might just have to do a screencast on this little gem as its has some other pretty cool features added in! I'll see if I can do a deal with Readpixel on a ScreenCastsOnline discount! Oh an by the way, the session for the 20th is now full so there's an overspill class setup for the 13th March (with only 4 places left on that!). There's some extra overspill dates setup for the other sessions as places are limited and filling up fast.

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ScreenCastsOnline on the Apple Website!

Just doing some prep for the upcoming Podcasting training I'm doing next week and came across this little gem! ScreenCastsOnline is listed on the Apple Podcasting in Training page on the Apple website :-) How cool is that!

Technorati Tags: Apple, mac, ScreenCastsOnline, Podcasting in Education

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BBC on Twitter

The BBC have started posting news on Twitter. Very cool! Just search for BBC on your Twitter home page and you'll find about a dozen BBC twitter entries. Add them as friends and you'll get news popping up during the day via Twitterrific

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