July 16, 2005

Odeo is cool…sort of

I took Odeo for a test spin this afternoon and I’ll have to admit that for the most part I liked what I saw. It was incredibly easy to submit our podcast and they have a very cool and friendly user interface. (You can see our podcast up on Odeo at http://odeo.com/channel/6070/view.)

I did encounter a problem though when I went to listen to our podcast. For some strange reason the podcast played at a rapid rate making David and Seth sound straight out of a Chipmunks cartoon. It’s pretty humorous actually. I’m pretty sure this is a problem on their end as our feed works fine on Podcast Alley, iTunes, etc.

That issue and a couple of misspellings on the site were less than outstanding but for the most part it’s a cool site (Note: I haven’t had a chance yet to try out their Sync or Create tools. I hope to do that soon and promise to blog about it.) I’m not sure where exactly it will sit on the competitive landscape with iTunes-Audible-Podcast Alley-Podshow but it should be fun to watch the battle play out!

July 15, 2005

Learn about Lance

He’s at it again. As the Tour de France heads into the Pyrennes, Lance Armstrong is in the lead as he gets closer to a record-setting seventh victory. Lance’s story an incredibly remarkable one and if you haven’t heard it yet you’re in for a treat.

Seth just got done wrapping up our new Lance Armstrong author page. In addition to his two well-known audiobooks, It’s Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts, there are also a number of DVDs about him as well as some audio interviews. The most intriguing one is an interview with Robin Williams.

Lest we forget, there are also a couple of podcasts being produced about Lance’s run at #7. Here are links to those:

Chasing Lance at the Tour Podcast
Lance in France Podcast

So be sure to check out www.learnoutloud.com/lancearmstrong for a complete selection of audio and video material about Lance.

July 15, 2005

A Brave New (Audio) World

Catching up on messages/articles/blog posts today and came across a few things that are pretty interesting. This audio thing is getting really fun huh?

Podcasting on your TiVo

Wharton Talks About Podcasting

The “Dangers” of Audio Learning

(I don’t know what I liked better. The story about the rabbi or the line “It’s enough to send your average bookworm on the career fast-track to professional truck driving.”)

Oh yes, and lest I forget. Pauley Shore is now podcasting… 🙂

Have a great weekend everyone!

July 14, 2005

Not just for adults…

Audio learning isn’t just for adults! I came across a cool article today that gives 10 reasons why learning through audiobooks is perfect for children. With summer vacation in full swing, why not take some time to introduce your kids to the world of audio learning?

10 Reasons Kids Learn With Audiobooks

July 13, 2005

Africa

I recently had the good fortune of being able to attend the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia. The concert was held to raise awareness about global poverty and the situation in Africa. Many of you probably watched it on television or the Internet.

I got an encouraging message in my Inbox from one.org yesterday. Here’s a bit of it:

In Scotland this past Friday, overcoming the shadow of a tragic day in London, President Bush joined G8 leaders in an unprecedented deal to cancel debts and double aid to Africa.

For African nations fighting poverty and corruption, this means a $25 billion increase in aid and wiping out 100% of their debts. With this funding, Africa can halve deaths from malaria, put millions of children into school, and 10 million people across the world will have access to lifesaving AIDS drugs. Behind each of these numbers is one person, one life that will be changed forever.

For the complete announcement, click here.

It’s an amazing and historic step and I want to applaud all of G8 leaders for taking it (especially to Tony Blair for spearheading the effort). There is a lot more to be done in Africa but the tone has been set and let’s hope that this generation can be the one to finally put an end to senseless poverty and disease.

To wrap it back to LearnOutLoud I thought I would share a few audio titles that you can listen to that will help you more fully understand a continent that most people will never visit. I’m particularly interested to listen to Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux and Love is the Driest Season by Neely Tucker. Here are some other noteworthy ones:

An Affair with Africa by Alzada Carlisle Kistner
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
A Short History of Africa by Roland Oliver
Land of a Thousand Hills by Rosamond Halsey Carr

For more information on how you can help end global poverty, please go to www.one.org.

July 12, 2005

The World *is* Flat

I’m mid-way through Thomas Friedman’s excellent new audiobook The World is Flat. It provides a perfect example of why I love audio learning and why I think it is so important. Here are a couple of (somewhat different) reasons why I feel this way:

1. I would likely never read this book. It’s really long and I just don’t know if I would be able to find the time in the day to get through it. But I’ve been able to crank through the audio version pretty quickly. For instance, I was traveling on Sunday and was able to listen to a few hours while on the plane, waiting for the airport shuttle, etc. Normally that would be time spent being bored or reading crap like the Skymall magazine…

So the fact that I am able to “read” a book that I normally wouldn’t have and that I’ve learned a ton of new stuff and been exposed some very interesting ideas means a lot to me.

2. Friedman’s book makes one of the best cases I’ve seen in a long time for why education is so vitally important right now. The fact of the matter is that countries like China and India are quickly becoming global economic superpowers. These countries have legions of well-educated (and hungry!) youths and we’re already seeing many jobs shift eastward. Here’s a quote I came across today (link) that drives this point home:

“The work is getting done faster and better, Prestowitz argues, because Indians are not only hungrier than we are, but better educated. China, India, Japan and Europe all churn out more science and engineering degrees than we do. Worse — and downright embarrassing — is the state of American education. Globally, our 12th-graders rank only in the 10th percentile in math (that’s 10th percentile, not 10th). Our students also rank first in their assessment of their own performance: we’re not only poorly prepared, we have delusions of grandeur.”

Friedman discusses all of this in greater depth in his audiobook. I’m not one to bemoan the loss of “U.S. jobs” but at the same time I do think it’s important for people here in the United States to step up and realize what could happen if we don’t take continuing education (for everyone!) more seriously.

Education is more important than ever and we’ve got a generation of kids who often (unfortunately) shun books. The great equalizer might be audio and video learning. Children used to listening to their iPod and watching DVDs might find this to be a better and more enjoyable way to learn. That’s what we hope to help enable.

Pick up Friedman’s new book soon. It’s well worth a listen. I’ll promise to post a review here when I’m finished.

July 12, 2005

Bryan Kest’s Power Yoga

Little did I know when I moved to Santa Monica two years ago that I was moving less than a block away from one of the World’s best yoga studios, Bryan Kest’s Power Yoga. I had done yoga a bit back in Minneapolis but being in such close proximity to the studio has allowed me to go a lot more. And I’ll be honest. I can’t think of much that is so fulfilling on a mental, physical and spiritual plane.

If you’re interested in discovering Power Yoga I would highly recommend that you pick up one of Bryan’s CDs or DVDs. Over the weekend Seth put up the titles from their site so you can easily browse them at https://www.learnoutloud.com/poweryoga. Bryan is a remarkable guy and a great yoga teacher. He might not be as well known as the Rodney Yees of the world but we’ll do our best to put him on the map!

July 11, 2005

LearnOutLoud’s Podcast up on iTunes

While after a bit of work we’ve managed to get our “Audio Learning Revolution” podcast up on iTunes. Given the astonishing number of people who are downloading podcasts off of iTunes, this was pretty good news. If you would like to subscribe to our podcast through iTunes, just search the podcast directory for “learnoutloud” and you’ll find it. It’s amazingly easy to subscribe and download through the iTunes interface.

For more information on our podcast or to download previous episodes, check out LearnOutLoud.com Podcasts.

July 10, 2005

Podcasting Goes Mainstream

With Apple’s release of iTunes 4.9, interest in Podcasting has exploded after months of built up interest. If you haven’t already seen us yakking about it in recent weeks, Podcasting is a revolutionary form of broadcasting that allows you to subscribe to and automatically download mp3s to your iPod or other digital audio player. This innovation was made possible thanks to RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication), the same technology that allows you to subscribe to Blogs. Apple’s popular music downloading software has added a section to their store dedicated solely to free Podcasts, and the result has been decisive. Within the first week of its release, Podcast downloads numbered in the millions; all but assuring Podcasting’s place as a new mainstream force.

LearnOutLoud.com is excited to take part in this revolutionary new medium that has dissolved the boundaries placed on how we receive valuable information. As Podcasting becomes more pervasive, expect to see hundreds, if not thousands of Podcasts devoted solely to education. Already shows like the Al Franken Show Podcast, this WEEK in Tech and History According to Bob are making the potential of this new medium as an important educational tool readily apparent.

In addition to showcasing educational Podcasts on our site, we are proud to continue recording the “Audio Learning Revolution” Podcast on a regular basis. Each week our Podcast devotes time to particular aspects in the audio learning field. To download our show for free, visit this page.

Alternatively you can use your iTunes application to access Podcasts, or popular Podcasting clients like iPodder to subscribe to our RSS feed. “Audio Learning Revolutions” is not currently featured on iTunes 4.9, but you can still listen to it using that application by clicking “Advanced” on the top menu, and then “Subscribe to Podcast”. Itunes will then bring up a box that asks you to paste in LearnOutLoud.Com’s XML feed, which is:

https://www.learnoutloud.com/podcasts/podcast.xml

After you paste this URL in, you’ll be able to listen to our show whenever you like using iTunes 4.9. Certainly it is getting easier and easier to access the brave new world of podcasting. At LearnOutLoud.com, we promise to search out and feature the best educational podcasts that are currently being released to the world by people like you.

July 1, 2005

David McCullough

Are you bored with history? Does it seem like you should take it literally and deride it as the old news it actually is? Well you just haven’t listened to a David McCullough book man. I’ll bet you go through your day and you don’t really think about a president like Truman (our 33rd president), but you have almost daily reminders of how great someone like Lincoln was, or how good looking JFK was. Well, I swear to you, if you listen to Truman right away, your mind will totally change and your eyes will open to a history you never even conceived of existing. At one point, I myself wasn’t a true believer either. History was the domain of cobwebbed volumes that sit in the darkened basement of some underused library in some burned out burg. Then I listened to McCullough and I was totally hooked. It was like War & Peace, the best episode EVER of the West Wing, and a Tom Clancy novel all mixed into one big history mash-up. You want honesty? McCullough is probably the best American Historian currently living and we’re lucky he keeps on putting out audio books for us to learn from every few years. If you haven’t listened to Truman or John Adams, do yourself a favor and give them a shot. I promise you, you won’t want to watch some action-packed-history-by-way-of-Micheal Bay movie like “Thirteen Days” again after you hear one of these books. Need help finding them all? Well I’m really glad you asked because I just made a David McCullough Author Page for you to get started.