Aussie Geek Podcast #001 :: Kick Off!
Welcome to the first Aussie Geek! Long time coming and it feels great to have finally got a show out. Have a listen and find out what all the crew have been up to, including who has been stalking who…
Please feel free to send us your feedback either via email or by leaving your comment right here. You can send us an email or click the MyChingo link to leave us an audio comment that we can include in the show!
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NOTE: Flash player is not displaying in the blogroll - Click the post title and presto, the player appears. Nope we don’t know why… yet - some theme related mumbo jumbo. Don’t worry we’ll fix it 
Show Notes
Welcome
Technology News
- Social Networks are a cess pool
- Zimbra and Ubuntu
- Catching the Olympics Online
- EFF Release Switzerland
- Man Buys a 1000 Bucks of Nothing
- Sitemeter Kills off IE
- Hi-Tech Peeping Tom
The Break
Applications
- PDF IMage Extract: Like cofffee but good at getting images out of PDF documents
- Raven: Blogging on a stick
- Clean Notifications: WordPress plugin that makes WordPress emails easier to digest
- SnagIt 9: One of the best screen capture apps out there
Firefox Extension
- Wired Marker: A highlighter for web pages
A Word from the Wise
Sites and Services
- Textbook Torrents: Repository of torrents just for textbooks
- monitter: twitter search engine and realtime keyword tracker X3
- infinitube: an infinite loop of tube…
Feedback
Farewell
Featured Music
Drive-By Argument
“Left, Left, Walk Forward, Get On The Dragon” (mp3)
from “Dance Like No One’s Watching”
(Lizard King)
Buy at 
Ugh - didn’t realise Windows had automatic...
So happy to see this post. I will be walking and listening tonight. Thanks for all your work kids. I love the show. Hopefully KDM will sound better with the new desk.
Woo! Am I first or are there unmoderated comments again?
I need to set up a wiki somewhere to translate what Dave says into English I think.
Schmick: (adj, slang) [Australian] excellent, outstanding, good, great, fine, prime, capital, noted, choice, champion, brilliant, very good, cracking…
Dave’s regular babble would have to be translated on a case-by-case basis.
And I’m not stalking anyone! If you keep saying that I’ll go to your house and…er…nevermind.
Regarding big HDs—I was just Twittering about that the other day… 1 TB Maxtor HDs are running about $180 Canadian. I wanted to know if anyone else has purchased one of these drives and if they were any good. Knightwise suggested I look into NAS, but I’d rather have external storage that’s not running all the time, I just want to turn it on when I need it and leave it turned off when I don’t need it (kinda like a good gf
). I was also thinking about turning my old 1 GHz P4 into a storage slave (as Knightwise described in one of his Knightcasts), but again you would have to boot it up every time you want to use it.
Dave, it’s generally not a good idea to ask another guy to “whack up” photos of his “tool.”
“Social Networks” have always been a cesspool, from the days of BBS forums where strange guys would troll for “single girls” to the early Internet and IRC where strange guys would troll for “single girls” to what the Internet is today, where strange guys send me spam via Twitter. I’m thinkin that if you’re silly enough these days to blindly click links without checking out what they are, then you kinda deserve any grief you get. I also never understood Twitter spambots since 99.5% of the people that use Twitter are smart enough to block spammers immediately. Except for those strange people that auto-follow anyone that follows them on Twitter, what’s up with that? Are you that lazy that you can’t check someone out before following them? The other 0.5% of people have only used Twitter once and then said, “What is this supposed to be?”
I have to agree with Dave and the silly PowerPoint email attachments. We have a woman at the office that seems to feel obligated to forward all the stupid PowerPoint documents she finds on the Internet to everyone in the office… and some of this stuff is YEARS old! I just delete most of her emails unread now.
Regarding the Olympics—I’m agreeing with Cameron Reilly when he says “The Olympics are all about money.” Well, MOST of it is about money, I’m sure there are still some athletes that are still out there living the dream that they’re doing something for their country. Me, I don’t bother watching it. Canada didn’t have any medals last time I looked anyway… I don’t watch a lot of “sports” as it is, sports bore me.
Why would I want to watch TV online on a computer anyway? I watch TV on TV when I want to watch it! I have something like 700 freakin’ channels on my cable system…and I can only watch one at a time. It kinda reminds me of watching movies on an iPod…why would I want to watch videos on a 3 inch screen?
Regarding “Hi-Tech Peeping Toms” —I wanna know why the laptops that come with built-in webcameras don’t have a cover built into them so you can maybe slide a little door across them or something so you can (a) protect them, and (b) avoid having any unwanted access. I think I’d hafta put a bit of sticky tape over a laptop camera if I ever had one…
I’ll get right on that Aussie Geek promo in 5 minutes.
Regarding extracting images from PDFs—You gotta be careful with copyrights here. A lot of the images I deal with, being in the Graphic Design industry as I am, have specific contracts and rules regarding the usage of the images and you can’t just grab an image off one PDF and chuck it into another one.
Regarding Raven—I usually use Word or notepad to write blog entries when I’m not online. (I’m writing my comments in Word right now!) I wrote up a blog when I was on vacation last year and I would write up everything in Word, including the links to my images in Flickr once I figured out the proper coding, and then just copied and pasted the whole thing into Blogger when I was done. What I need to do is pick up one of those digital voice recorders so I can record my comments as I think of them and then I need some speech to text software to type it all up for me. But I agree that it might be a useful tool for backing up your blog onto a thumbdrive or something… I kinda want to download my Blogger vacation blogs and edit them up into something else that almost makes sense. Forcing people to register an account just to use Raven = FAIL.
That reminds me… Why is the Zoom H2 digital audio recorder not available in Canada? I stuck one on my shopping cart on Amazon.com and it told me that it was unable to ship it to Canada. What’s up with that? I’d need something portable because if I don’t record thoughts when I think them, then I forget them 10 minutes later…happens when you’re old. Where is the old voice plug-in thingie for the newer iPods anyway? Didn’t Griffon make one at one time?
Regarding screen capture tools—We use SnapzPro X for the Mac at work. I find it to be a great tool for capturing either the whole screen, objects on the screen, selections, or making high-resolution Quicktime movies of what you’re doing on your desktop. You can capture stuff as JPGs, GIFs, BMPs, PDFs, and a bunch of other formats, and for the movies you can scale the video up or down, change the frame rate and a bunch of other stuff. It also has a nice “live preview” so you can see what you’re capturing. It works great in OS X and there’s apparently a new version out the works with Leopard. I use it quite a bit to do tutorial videos for our people in India who can’t seem to draw a proper square in Illustrator unless I do a video capture of me drawing a square… They seem to be a very literal people…
Regarding Wired Marker—Looks interesting. Not sure if I would ever use it, but I can see that it would be quite useful for people who need to cite from websites.
Regarding Textbook Torrents—As someone who works in the textbook-creation industry, stop it! I realize that textbooks cost quite a bit of money, but you’re steppin on my paycheque! Also regarding taxes on textbooks, that is horrible, I hate that. I remember when any book you bought in Canada was tax free, now you have to pay the GST (Gouge & Screw Tax) on books. I also remember when the post office had a “book rate” set up especially for mailing books within Canada, but they dumped that years ago too. The government WANTS people to read more, but they don’t make it any easier…
Regarding Monitter and Infinitube—Meh.
“It’s an infinite looooop of tooooooobs!” (Or perhaps “tewbs”)
I hit “Random” and it came up with “Strip Monopoly… a game that nobody really loses.” How odd!
Couple things to improve the podcast: (a) Stop hitting the boom! (b) Whoever is breathing heavily into the mic, back off a bit (it excites me too much). (c) Where is the MyChingo button? I only see a link. (d) Less smart-assery from Mister Wise.
At some point in the future I will be sending in another audio comment… Not sure exactly when. And after reading these copious comments, I should mention that I have started a Wordpress blog, but I haven’t gotten around to doing anything with it yet… Eventually I’ll get around to doing that and setting up my own website on my own domain.
I have also bought several domains recently and I’m kinda ticked that domain privacy isn’t automatically included when purchasing domains! I ended up spending the extra monies on GoDaddy to use the Domains By Proxy option to hide my personal information from freaks who randomly look up who owns a domain and sends them random email or spam. I’ve had people contact me out of the blue before telling me to sell them my domain or offering to sell me a domain… If they offered me millions of dollars, maybe, otherwise bugger off!
@Lizard King: Flash-only websites = FAIL.
Right…there’s 35 seconds worth of SH*T!!
Hearne you bastard,I wanted to be first,now I guess I’ll go and listen to the podcast !
Which I’m sure will be awesome
Hallelujah!
Thank god the AGP is back. I was seriously getting bored by the other sub-standard techie-ish podcasts out there filled with umms aaahhhhs and mudflaps… It seriously made me realise how polished and legendary the AGP is. Well done guys and SUPER good to see [Hear] you back!
Also, not sure if you guys have done this before, but i’m a new-ish listener (2 months) and do you guys individually have a ‘Hit-list’ so to speak of apps etc. that you use on a regular basis?
Pewpew
@Herne… you need a blog and you need to start using it - but thanks heaps for your awesome comments! I will respond don’t worry!
@Methuselah as a mater of fact our about pages have lists of software that we use and recommend. So check them out. We could add more and maybe we should but if you have any questions then just shoot us an email and we can always cover something in the show.
@Eric kind words mate thank you - enjoy your walk.
Now Herne… In point form:
- No you were not first.
- I speak Australian - sorry about that but glad you found a definition!
- I don’t mind you stalking me - as I said I have a guard Echidna
- I have heard that for BIG drives the choice is either Maxtor or Western Digital. Personally I would choose WD - they have never failed me and are great quality. I can’t say the same for Maxtor. I do however agree with KW - get a NAS. You don’t have to have it on all the time. It will be accessible either via the network OR by direct USB or other method. You’ll final also that a lot of these bigger drives now are coming as Network ready, so you can use it either way. Or use it now and then - whatever works. But if you get a NAS at least you have the option. I am connecting one of these suckers to my new network - I’ll let you know what I get and how it performs.
- OK might have been a bad choice of words but then where is your mind?
- I agree with you about twitter and such - just that we are really seeing it become evident now whereas up until now it has been rare - NOW not so rare.
- I don’t agree with Cameron’s post. But I too am a bit bored with sports in general - however - I think the Olympics are a bit different. And worth catching up on and seeing some stuff.
- I am keen to see what you come up with for that promo mate! Seriously - waiting for it in the inbox.
- Unfortunately people tend to be opting for the PDF over something else these days is all. But yes same rules apply here for copyright as everything else.
- I need to clarify one thing about Raven here –> You don’t need to register an account with Raven in order to use it. You have to register one of your blogs with the actual software. See the difference? Otherwise it won’t work because there is nothing to work with! I realize that it came across differently in the show. But I think it is also important to see the distinction here, and make the correction.
- Working with Word is fine as long as you know how to do it - most people think you can cut and paste - with formatting = FAIL
- Can I suggest an iRiver - a small one - they have recording built in and are cheap as chips - I have one for recording out and about
I got it for bugger all.
- Indians…. yeah very different way of thinking… dead pixel
- Sorry about your pay cheque… still think that Cait has a point though. Me, I would not do it… Imagine the number of bloody ink cartridges it would take to print that bastard! For the cost of the ink I could have bought 2 books…
- Your points about making the podcast better:
d) Knightwise rocks
a) OK - I do it on purpose though - I know it gives you the shits
b) That is Keith - he loves podcasting
c) Click the link - it goes to the same place… are you from India? Plus - the image just did not work with the post so I put the link in - deal with it
- Who the heck is Lizard King?
Thanks for commenting mate love your work. The Echidna sends his regards…
What you don’t like the blooper reel?
Herne ! Go write a book you crazy Fuck !
Btw : I think people who send PPT presentations around to 100 “friends” with everybody in the TO field should be shot ! Afterwards we would “forward” the sharp end of a Russian military TANK up their Anus and set it off. Whatever remains should be shoved through a coffeegrinder and mixed up with cat poop to be turned into some goo that we would then smear on the nose of the space shuttle JUST BEFORE RE-ENTRY. The smoke that remains after the brown goo has vaporized should be collected and blown up Jabba the Hutts asS. Then we would take Jabba the Hutt, and run him through the same process only we would blow the smoke up Herne’s ass. That would just about do it.
In true Knightwise style… I have come to expect nothing less.
And don’t get me started about people who ask you silly questions that could be easily answered by the very first link that comes up in Google. “Just Fucking Google It” doesn’t even cover the amount of frustration I have about that… But thats a story for another time.
Quick replies to Dave;
Let me know how the NAS deal goes. I’d prefer a big HD that has gigabit connection, I’m not sure why when drives started hitting 1 TB that manufacturers didn’t start using either Firewire 800 or RJ-45 connections. USB2.0 is just too slow these days, although I hear that USB3.0 is on the horizon for 2009 or something.
I’ve poked around at the NAS storage idea a bit, and I’ve found some boxes running around $1000 with embedded Linux–I might as well just use an old box as spend that kinda money. The mid-range ones run around $500 and have space for two drives (usually) but I’ve been seeing lots of comments like, “runs too hot” and “not enough heat dissipation.” Also a lot of these larger drives are runing SATA configs and my box is still running the old IDE drives, which is also why I’m having such a hard time finding a newer video card as everything is now PCI Express… Time to buy a new computer?
Where was my mind? Silly question.
AGP promo… Haha… tempting.
iRiver? Will check it out. I found some Griffin iTalks on eBay but most of them were in the USA and for some silly reason US eBayers have this strange idea about postage–Who is going to pay $15 postage for a $16 item? Seriously? You’re either ripping people on postage or you have no bloody idea where Canada is.
Kieth’s the heavy breather, eh? He must be the guy that keeps Skyping me and not saying anything…
Lizard King is the music producer (?) for the track you played at the end of your ‘cast. I clicked the link and found their silly Flash website annoying.
I find the bloopers to be the most amusing bits of the whole podcast! Keep those in!
Now I should do some work.
@Knightwise These are the same people that send you those stupid “Send this to ALL of your friends immediately!” emails and then don’t bother to delete all the quoted stuff in the forwarded email so you get 400 pages of crap with >> >>> >>>> in front of it.
And I work in the book design field… You want me to WRITE a book and DESIGN it too? Sheesh.
@HERNE
you Design books ? Whats hard about that .. the cover goes on the outside , all the white stuff with the print goes on the inside. There , you’re done.. go home.
Awesomeness!! The AGP is now running. Good intro show, hopefully more listeners will start rocking up soon!
And for that “I am rich” App on the App store, apparently 8 people bought it…
And Herne…wow…….
Go Australia!
@knightwise I don’t “design” the Harlequin Romances that you read KW, I work on scholastic textbooks. You try explaining to your average teenager how to do quadratic equations using little coloured bits of plastic!
Still have a lil more to listen to but….
If you have a mac with leopard Quicklook is totally awesome for looking at email attachments withoout the need to open the file. I am pretty sure that includes PPT but not 100%. may have to have Office installed for that work properly. Stil yay for Macs
Olympic coverage from what I have read and heard has been pretty dodgy everywhere. For the Aussies I saw a great quote on twitter the other day saying that Ch7 Olympic coverage does for sports what Today/Tonight does for journalism. For the non-Aussies this is not a good thing.
As a follow up to what the all importand Doug said there was 8 people who bought the I am Rich app. Apple contacted all 8 and asked if they wanted refunds and 2 declined saying they knew what they were getting into. 1 of the guys even posted on youtube a guided tour of the app http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noZcgSTmDA4
Keith for blogging I suggest try using Ecto or Marsedit on the Mac. I used Ecto when I used to blog and it posts directly to Wordpress when you hit submit. They are both pretty excellent blogging apps and much better than using word.
Herne you are working at becoming the new Blogslut
I actually used my iPhone Notes app to take takes notes while listening to the show so I could remember what I wanted to talk about. I am sure most phones have similar features people could use instead of rying to remember what you wanted to talk about.
That’s all for now.
Oh yea good to hear you back tho I missed the Mac Lab Rat segment. That better not have disappeared or I may have to pull my sponsorship dollars of nothing. Also looking forward to hearing KW rant even tho being a Mac rat himself he should have a iPhone.
Way to go guys. The long break hasn’t reduced your capability for producing an hour+ of mostly worthwhile entertainment.
Now I just bought an iPhone. Are you going to feature iPhone apps (aside from $1000 douche-bag made ones) on a regular basis?
Great show - I’m definitely going to enjoy the AGP as much if not more than the GGP.
Keith even incorporated “heaps” into his intro… is that Canadian too or was it a nod to aussie slang? He missed the “can we see your tool” thing though when he was talking about upgrading his hard drive - unless that was unintentional on Dave’s part and I just have a dirty mind.
PS - 001 hasn’t shown up in iTunes yet for me (I’ve subscribed and 000 is there)… maybe apple are just being slow and are too busy filtering all the shitty apps in the app store to update the feed.
@Herne
I’m sorry .. I was reading your reply but It was soooo boring I fell asleep halfway through it and .. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
PS Did Cait jinx Twitter? The same day you release the first podcast you’ve done for ages saying that Twitter has had no problems for a few weeks - they decide to can the non-US SMS number so we can’t get SMS updates here in aus… and thereby destroying their point of difference. Understand why they did it if it truly did cost $1000 a user, but still… meh.
Another happy listener here. Great to see you back and delivering a great show. Nice mix as usual, and also happy to have a Canadian do the intro - well done Keith.
Thanks BlogSlut, Cabletie, Matt and Doug for the big welcome back! Makes us pretty happy to see that we were missed and appreciated now we are actually back. We are (were) worried that we had lost a lot of you guys
As far as the Mac Lab Rat goes; Keith was not keen to be known as such - BUT we are still going to feature Mac apps - they are just going to be a part of the show. Keith really has gone from a send in contributor to very much a part of the weekly show and as such he wants to contribute to the show in the same manner. I want him to be comfortable with what we are doing and he wants his part to be a part of the show.
iPhone apps - never thought about featuring them. Now that you mention it though we might have to look at it. Hell there seems to be a new one every 5 minutes! I personally don’t ahve an iPhone but KW and Keith does. However, if someone wants to contribute something to the show in this regard feel free!
Damn twitter!
Wow I am one bloke and you guys are rocking in the comments. Sorry I can’t respond personally to each of you. Just know that your comments and support are much appreciated!!!
BTW @Tom - I just checked and the latest show is in iTunes with bells on. It must be you
Just listened to the tool statement… It was totally unintentional. See we were acting like professionals and you lot have dirty, dirty minds!
LOL it was pretty funny though
KW said on twitter he dosen’t have an iPhone.. I call shenanigans.
I did get one on Monday though and like it. To be honest for me it’s more of a Touch with net access always on but that is good cause I can twitter and even IM all day long when I am supposed to be working.
Life is good.
@Tom Canadian iTunes was showing Episode 001 a couple days ago.
@Blogslut I don’t own a mobile phone, so I couldn’t use one to take notes (or to make podcasts like someone else does).
@KW Thhhbbbbbtttt!
I think KW only got the iPhone recently, now I am not sure who to believe
@Herne are you and KW still feuding? Your like an old married couple…
Yup, it was me… I unsubscribed and resubscribed in iTunes and it was there.
Oops - I do have a dirty mind… just relistened and the tool thing is not nearly as obvious as I remembered the first time. Made me laugh though!
Married Couple ? What the frack.
And no , I don’t have an Iphone .. and I don’t want one either….
Guys
Good first podcast.
Re screen captures, i have to do it for work a lot, to get a high quality image i print to the microsoft image document writer, that way you can keep the resolution.
Cheers
PS is letting KW have a rant such a good idea, he might begin to make sense after a while, specially with that sexy avatar he is using.