Call for Testers: WP-iPodCatter 0.9a

Hey all, I could use some help testing the new version of WP-iPodCatter

Changes in 0.9a:

  • All variables from the replacement wp-rss2.php file moved into the WP-iPodCatter section in WordPress admin Options tab.
  • Updated wp-rss2.php file
  • Support for itunes:block at an individual post level
  • Support for itunes subcategories
  • Support for itunes:explicit at overall podcast level and individual post level
  • Enter itunes:keywords manually or use wordpress categories
  • Preview cover images within WordPress admin area.
  • Turn your comments feed into a podcast using the replacement wp-commentsrss2.php file

I’ve got it running on my dev box and will be migrating it to First Crack podcast in the next day or so.

This link now directs to WP-iPodCatter v1.0
If you’re interested, download the zip file at: http://garrickvanbure.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wp-ipodcatter.zip

Leave all bugs and oddities in the comments.

Winning on a Level Playing Field

Competitive bowling is an interesting game. Each player throws a ball the same distance to 10 identical pins. A player becomes a professional by knocking over all 10 pins consistently. This level playing field makes bowling one of the few sports where winning is screwing up less.

Watching some back episodes of the Amazing Race, I was reminded of bowling. For the unfamiliar, the Amazing Race pits a dozen teams of 2 against each other in a race around the world. At any moment, a multi-hour lead could vanish as all teams await the same train.

It doesn’t take the Bowling Moms to see the similarities between the two games. In the world of economics and game theory, it feels like complete information.

Seems to me, there’s 3 lessons for winning on a level playing field:

  1. Believe in the strength of your competitors.
    If all the competitors weren’t equally skilled, they wouldn’t be playing and the game wouldn’t be any fun. If Joy’s Law (“the smartest people work for someone else”) applies, then the most talent players aren’t even in the game. I remember a college football coach (though not his name) known for praising the losing team.
  2. Sharing is better than not.
    Bowlers and the Amazing Racers operate in parallel with each other, one player’s progression doesn’t necessarily mean a competitors recession. The next gutter ball or compass mis-read could even things out again. It’s actually in the players’ best interest to share information. The value of information is subjective – so sharing garbage and sharing wisdom costs the same. Sharing puts the focus on the game, not sharing puts the focus on what an ass the non-sharer is.

Tying 1 and 2 together, it’s nice to double check the competitors are trying to win the same game. Rob and Amber were trying to win Survivor a second time. Apple went for simplicity, Microsoft for ubiquity.

I should dust off my game theory books.

Like MTV, Radio Doesn’t Find Music Valuable

Long ago, broadcast radio gave up with introducing their audience to new music. I first became aware of it sometime during the summer of 1996 [1] , I’m sure the tipping point occured long before then.

Between Cumulus Media president/CEO Lew Dickey, Jr. promoting the talk radio proliferation on the FM dial, my conversation about Broadcast Radio and Podcasting with Noah Lamson, and the frequency of MTV actually showing a music videos, musicians are in a pickle.

Their traditional distributors aren’t interested in distributing music anymore – let alone new music.

This is unfortunate because I’m more reliant on and interested in new music in the past 6 months than the 6 years before.

[1] My first full-time job in UW-Stout’s tech department. The same radio station was on in the office throughout the day. Because radio listenership is measured by the quarter-hour, after an hour in the shop, you knew the playlist for the next hour – and every 15 minutes thereafter. A painful way to spent 8 hours in a college town

Backyard + Laptop + DVD = New Drive-in

It was such a gorgeous day here in Minneapolis, I moved my home office into the backyard. Aside from a curious squirrel it was very peaceful day.

This evening, I returned to the backyard and, as Jen and I have done so many evenings this week, turned on the Powerbook’s DVD player.

The drive-in’s of yesterday knew this – there’s very little better than watching a movie outside. No matter how small the screen.

It’s both fortunate and unfortunate we can do this in our own backyards. The community of a drive-in movie, like the St. Paul, Vali-Hi, is something magical.

Take Control of Your Reputation – Blog

Though my blogging roots can be traced back October 2000 I started blogging regularly about a 18 months ago because I wanted my Google presence to be more than a handful of stale message board postings.

If there’s any single reason to blog, it’s to take control over your online reputation. This goes for businesses, professional organizations, and individuals. Search engines bias websites that change frequently and have keywords in the right places. Weblogs fit both those criteria.

I’ve written about how not having an RSS feed is like not having a business card. Consider this the prequel to that post.

Without frequent posts to a weblog, your reputation is at the mercy of others. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes bad, and sometimes both. With weblogs, you actually take control of the conversation – it’s your business, shouldn’t you be the one talking about it. GM’s blogs have proved a valuable tool in responding to criticism in the open. Just to prove my point, at the time of this writing, Gary Grates’ Clearing the Air post was #2 in Google for ‘gm blog’.

On a smaller scale and less positive note, my less than stellar experience at Punch Pizza ranks higher than I’m sure the proprietors would like. By default, because they don’t have anything to compete with it.

Peter Cooper (via Gaping Void) talks about how the transparency of blogs benefits the hiring process. Yes, seems to me, reviewing their weblog one of the most quickest, effective ways to determine if a candidate is a hiring fit. As Alan Gutierrez states in the comments at Peter’s site:

“Without a blog you’re forcing yourself to be a surf.” [sic]

FeedJ – Is “Feed Jockey” Dorkier than “Blogger”?

If disc jockeys combine pre-record music into a playlist to improve the mood of their audience, can the same be true for weblogs and RSS feeds?

The right aggregation of websites into a single feed, with everything you want and nothing you don’t, seems akin to the work of a good DJ.

A good weblog is a nice mix of pre-recorded and impromptu thoughts. Suppose it’s just a matter of deciding which is a dorkier term and sticking with it.