Cole W. Camplese

NECC Podcast Interview

While I was at NECC, Apple had a group there doing podcasts with Apple Distinguished Educators ... kinda cool seeing my name in the new podcast directory in iTunes! At any rate, here is the link directly to the entry. It was a lot of fun talking with Barnaby Wasson the other day about all sorts of stuff. We decided not to do our little talk back at the hotel and walked down the street to a little spot to have some lunch and talk. I imagine it was a funny sight to see us sitting in the corner with the audio guys (great guys by the way ... Kevin and Ross were tops) hanging boom mics at us ... I love the background noises -- the coffee grinders, people talking, and the music make it so much more authentic. At any rate, if you're interested take a listen. The pictures below let you in on a little secret ... there was actually a crew there.

iTunes Fix ... Sorta

The other day before I left for NECC, I upgraded my main machine's iTunes to 4.9 to take advantage of the podcasting features ... if you recall, my library got crushed. I got back last night and reimported all my music -- minus the playlists, ratings, and play counts. That is a little bothersome, but you do what you do. It is actually giving me a cahnce to sort of "reset" my musical life. I just did my podcast subscriptions and resynced my iPod -- yeah that got crushed too. At any rate, other than my little issue, the new iTunes with podcasting is great!

Podcasting Event at NECC

I went to the podcasting event at NECC last night. I was blown away by the number of people that showed up -- they had to do a second session to get most of them in. Really sort of makes you think there is somthing big to this podcasting thing ... at any rate, I had a chance to talk with the speaker, Barnaby Wasson afterwards and I captured it as, you guessed it, a podcast. Barnaby talked about what podcasting is and some interesting and novel uses for it. I am still just blown away by how packed the room was. Apple demonstrated, in a very complete way, how podcasting works in iTunes 4.9 ... what was even more impressive was how it works with the iPod -- in a word, wow! The bookmarks, with the ability to change and annotate images is just amazing. I downloaded the tool that lets you do that (still in beta), but it a terminal app at the moment. All in all, well done Apple! My little iTunes problems aside, this is an amazing point upgrade.

The other thing that really impresses me about the whole iPod/iTunes space is the team that Apple has pushing it. They really believe they have a device that can change what we do in and out of the classroom. Its always great to see smart people with passion talking about what they are doing. Nice job! Also, Barnaby is a great speaker and I can see why he is an Apple Distinguished Educator. At any rate, listen to the Podcast ... sorry its a little big ... I'm in a hurry to get it out there.

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Blogs@PGSIT Off and Running

I had mentioned we were getting set to launch this year's PGSIT program ... we got off and running yesterday with the first class -- a three hour one to boot. It was fun and the scholars are smart, insightful, and funny. We used Blogs@PGSIT yesterday for several things and the space is really coming to life. Hold on, it is going to be a wild five weeks.

iTunes 4.9 ... Podcasting Support for the Masses

Quick one, then off to Philly ... Apple released iTunes 4.9 with podcasting support. We are mainstream now! It looks very slick -- so far. I really haven't a chance to play with it, but I am hoping it works as advertised. Cool.

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Update: Worked like a charm on my wife's computer and my 12" PowerBook, but when I installed it on my machine with my 30+ GB of music, iTunes 4.9 blew my library away ... the music is still on my hard drive, but iTunes doesn't see any of it. They better get this figured out ... I use playcount and last played to power a good majority of my playlists. Any help?

Off to Philly: NECC Bound

I'll be leaving for my old stomping grounds, Philadelphia, PA tomorrow morning for the NECC conference. I'm sure I'll be dropping some posts in here over the course of the next few days ... if they have good wifi. You know, that makes all the difference at a conference these days -- solid wifi gives us all a chance to open the confernce up to so many others ... let alone the huge amount of word of mouth goodness they get via all the bloggers in the seats. At any rate, if you're there, look for me ... and if you decide to go to the podcasting event, really look for me! See you in Philly!

MIT -- Them is Smart People

I came across the MIT Weblog Survey today ... what is cool about it is when you are finished, they ask that you help them crank up the sample by handing out code and an image that takes blog owners over there. I thought I'd spread the word -- oh and steal the idea as well ... look for the Solutions Institute survey soon! That'll be a nice piece to go along with the student survey I've been using. At any rate, check it out!

Where I ' m Spending My Time

I haven't been posting here all that much lately ... things have been nuts. Between heavy travel and major changes at work, I've been a little too crazy to focus for some good posts. I have been spending all my blog time over at the Blogs@PGSIT. You should keep an eye on it the next five weeks ... I am betting it is a good thing. I am even using the tools to design and manage my course materials. Oh, subscribe to the RSS feed, there is going to be a lot of podcasting going on -- Apple, I could use that iTunes 4.9 (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)

Next week, I start teaching at PGSIT and I run down to NECC in Philly. Hey, I get to go back to my old stomping grounds ... I am doing several things, but one night I am taking part in the Podcasting Event ... should be a good time. I'll be hanging out with some old and new friends. So all in all, I'll be busy but having a good time. Seriously, keep an eye on the Blogs@PGSIT -- I think it'll be interesting.

Why Wait for Apple? They Didn ' t ...

File this under, "Not Tested" ... for me at least ... but I thought it was an interesting pointer ... looks like a company has beaten Apple to the podcasting support punch. BadApple is a plug in for iTunes from the company BadFruit that does what iTunes 4.9 is claiming to do. I can't comment on how this thing works or if it does, I just thought it was interesting. Everyone want to join me in counting the minutes until Apple has them pull the plug?

Argh ... looks like you gotta be real careful when you bite the Apple. Use at your own risk ...

Google ... Step Off

What is it with me and search stories lately? Last week I was impressed by Yahoo and its attempt to make the secure available -- at least on the surface. Today, I came across this in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Publishers' Group Asks Google to Stop Scanning Copyrighted Works for 6 Months. During those six months, the Association of American Publishers wants to know from google a few answers -- namely, are you in violation of copyright law? This type of thing will show up more on our radar screen as the search continues to be the next big thing -- have you noticed search is the interface for everything now? At any rate, its a good read and poses some interesting perspectives ... don't you think?