January 11, 2006

Video: Getting Started with LearnOutLoud

You may have noticed a new icon on our homepage today. Seth put together a great video overview of the LearnOutLoud site. If you’re new to the site or feel like you haven’t gotten a chance to fully explore it yet I’d strongly recommend that you check it out. Here’s the link:

https://www.learnoutloud.com/#Quick

Enjoy!

December 25, 2005

Christmas Musings

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m having a wonderful time today with friends and family but wanted to take just a few minutes to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah.

We’ve got quite a collection of Christmas-related audio to listen to on LearnOutLoud. So if you feel the need later today to take a break and are looking for something to listen to here are a few suggestions:

Two Podcasts of A Christmas Carol

StoryNory
The Penguin Podcast

Two Free Teaching Company Lectures

Christmas in 19th Century America
Christmas in Victorian Britain

Other Christmas Audio Books

A Child’s Christmas in Wales
A Prairie Home Christmas

Also, welcome to those of you who received an iPod (or other mp3 player) under the tree this year and are looking to fill it up! A few places to start:

Our Podcast Directory – 568 free educational and inspirational podcasts for you to listen to and download. And click here for a free video tutorial that will walk you through how to listen to and subscribe to podcasts using iTunes.

Our Free Audio Directory – We have tons of free audio books, speeches and lectures to listen to and download here. This is a great way to sample some spoken word audio and see what you enjoy listening to.

We’re very grateful to all of you for helping make 2005 such an incredible success. We have a whole lot more planned for 2006 so please stay tuned. Please enjoy this wonderful day with your friends and family and cherish the time together.

Cheers,

The LearnOutLoud.com Team

December 13, 2005

Tookie Williams

For those of you who have been following this, Tookie Williams was executed earlier today in California. I don’t know enough about the details of the case to offer any sort of qualified opinion on it but I did want to point people to a two-hour audio interview that Tony Robbins did of Tookie Williams from San Quentin Prison. It’s a very interesting interview although it’s a bit haunting to listen to now that he’s gone.

Anyway, here’s the link:

Tony’s Interview with Stanley Tookie Williams

December 9, 2005

1,000 Registered Members!

We cracked the 1,000 member mark tonight (1,002 at last check). A minor milestone no doubt but kinda cool nonetheless.

If you haven’t registered yet you can do so here. Registration is free, takes only a few seconds and allows you to do a bunch of stuff like post to our forums, rate and review titles and more. So go register and join the Audio Learning Revolution today!

Updated: I just found out that we also crossed the 10,000 title mark on the site this week as well. Right now we’re at 10,082 and counting. Lots of options for you to get your Learn Out Loud on. 🙂

December 8, 2005

Lennon Out Loud

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, one of the most influential rock musicians in history. Very few people have had a bigger influence on their craft than Lennon. For more background on Lennon’s life and untimely death, check out the John Lennon Wikipedia entry. And check out Zaadz for some Lennon quotes.

We don’t have a lot of Lennon titles on our site but for those curious in learning more about this incredible man here are a few you might be interested in listening to.

The Beatles and The Beatles – Two biographies of the same name but by different authors. The first is the newly released and highly anticipated book by Bob Spitz. The second is an older title (originally published in 1968 and revised in 1996) by Hunter Davies published by Blackstone Audiobooks.

John – A biography of John Lennon written by his first wife Cynthia and published by Random House Audio. An unabridged version is also available.

Lennon wrote an array of amazing and innovative songs and his “Imagine” has always been on my short list of favorites:

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

I can’t think of many messages that the world needs more right now than that.

Rest in Peace John.

December 2, 2005

E-Magazine #7 – December 2nd, 2005

Holiday Gift Ideas

Audio books make great holiday gifts! Rather than giving someone a book they may never read or another piece of clothing to stuff an already full closet, why not get them something you know they’ll use. Just about everyone has a good amount of time in their vehicle and a well-chosen audio book is an excellent way to help them enjoy that time.

We’ve combed the Catalog at LearnOutLoud (rapidly approaching 10,000 titles) to pick out a few titles that make great gift ideas. Here are some of our recommendations:

The Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set – By now you’ve probably seen the commercial for Narnia, the new Walt Disney movie that will be released in a couple of weeks. This movie is based on the Chronicles of Narnia series of books by C. S. Lewis. This box set contains all seven unabridged recordings (31 discs in all!) at a very reasonable price.

Freakonomics – If you’re the type who views economics as a boring and stuffy subject, Steven Levitt’s bestseller Freakonomics will shatter those myths. Levitt offers an informative and enlightening look at society through the lens of an inquisitive economist. Highly listenable and a great gift for just about anyone on your list. Other similar titles include two from Malcolm Gladwell: Blink and The Tipping Point.

Titles that are religious or spiritual in nature and that make great gifts include Joel Osteen’s popular new audio book Your Best Life Now, Eckhart Tolle’s classic The Power of Now and the The King James Bible read by James Earl Jones (we like to refer to this one as the “King James Earl Jones” Bible!).

Finally, a great audio book that just about everyone will enjoy is David McCullough’s “Biography of a Year” 1776. It’s also available in an abridged version here. If you’re interested in getting a little taste of 1776 for free, check out the free WGBH production of David McCullough’s presentation Biography of a Year: 1776.

That’s just a small sampling of what’s available. We have over 2,000 titles discounted 20-40% off. Visit our On Sale Section to find that perfect holiday gift.

We’ve Been Dugg and Delicious’zed…

It was a pretty exciting week here at LearnOutLoud headquarters. We ended up on the front page of technology news site Digg.com which led to prominent placement on social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and Furl and brief write-ups on Lifehacker (don’t worry, it’s a site about personal productivity, not hacking…) and Yahoo! News. We experienced traffic levels that were almost 10 times the norm which explains a bit of the sluggishness that you may have noticed.

Welcome to all of the new people who visited and those of you who subscribed to our newsletter and are reading it for the first time. It’s great to have you onboard at the start of the Audio Learning Revolution!

Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast To Launch Monday

On Monday we’ll be launching the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast, a daily podcast consisting of inspirational quotes from philosophers, psychologists, spiritual teachers and optimal living gurus along with related commentary. The Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast is hosted by Brian Johnson, Philosopher & CEO of Zaadz, Inc. It’s a great podcast to subscribe to and listen to first thing in the morning or on your way to work. Some of the individuals profiled in the first month of the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast include Albert Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Martin Seligman, Socrates and Marianne Williamson.

We’ve had a chance to preview the first month’s worth of episodes of the Daily Wisdom Podcast here and you’re in for a treat. We’ve reviewed thousands of podcasts and we haven’t come across anything like what Brian has put together. To subscribe to the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast go to https://www.learnoutloud.com/wisdom or search the iTunes Directory for “zaadz”. While you’re at it head on over to zaadz.com and check out their hot new site.

Announcing the Winner of the Nano Contest

We’re proud to announce the winner of our Nano contest which is Brad Rhoads of Winfield, IL. Brad won by linking to us from his blog here. Congrats Brad!

Titles Under $10

A few titles under $10 from our Sale Section:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (CD for $9.80, Cassette for $9.10)
Acres of Diamonds (Digital Download for $2.98)
The Magic Story (Digital Download for $1.98)
Unlimited Power (CD or Cassette for $9.80)

Latest Resources, Articles and Blog Posts

Resources:

• 
  Sounds True Publisher Page

Articles:

• 
  Recording a Lecture or Seminar

BlogOutLoud.com:

• How to Become an Audio Learning Junkie, Part One
• Bono Out Loud
• Wiki Out Loud: Wikipedia Entries on Audio
• The “Tepping” Point Part One and The “Tepping” Point Part Two

Visit our blog at:
www.BlogOutLoud.com.

Register and
participate in the
LearnOutLoud.com Forums.

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays everyone! Cherish the time you
have with your friends and family. Count your
blessings. Remember the important things (hint:
it’s not stuff…) this time of year.

Best wishes,

The LearnOutLoud.com Staff

December 1, 2005

Audio and Video Learning Around the World

So I popped on in to Google Analytics tonight to check on our stats and found the map of our vistitors fascinating. Each of the dots on the map represents a city from where at least 30 people came to our site in the last week. Where did we receive the most visits from? Taipei. 710 visits this week. Gives me chills just thinking about people in China firing up their web browser and listening to audio and video learning content, improving their English skills, etc.

I exchanged e-mails today with a sweet lady from China who explained to me how grateful she was to have found LearnOutLoud.com. Here’s a bit of what she said:

maybe its main idea is not to practise one’s listening, but obviously it’s a big potential benifit to english learner, especially who want to improve their listening.

The potential for audio and video learning and podcasting is amazing. It can open up new worlds for people in places like China. And there will be an incredible demand for ESL and other english language programs in these countries. Likewise there will be a lot of demand for programs to learn languages like Mandarin. A prime example of this is the fact that the third most popular podcast on Yahoo’s podcast directory is ChinesePod, a podcast out of Shanghai that teaches Mandarin Chinese through daily audio lessons.

The most apropros sign might have been the title that my new friend in China originally e-mailed me about. What was it?

The World is Flat

Yes, indeed it is.

November 29, 2005

…and Furled…and Lifehacked…and Yahoo’ed!

It’s been a bit of a wild last 30 hours or so. First the front page of Digg. Then the front page for del.icio.us where we still are over 30 hours later (I have no idea how that works). Furl kicked in a little bit. Then we thought the coast was clear.

Then around 1 PM PST today we got posted on the front page of a very cool blog called Lifehacker. (Apparently it’s very popular as well.) Then, to double our pleasure (or pain depending on how the server is acting at that minute) we see that Lifehacker’s article is syndicated to Yahoo! News. So in the span of 24 hours we go from nothing to getting posted on five of the biggest websites on the Net. Crazy…

Anyway, just two reasons for posting this. First, to explain why the site has been sluggish and apologize for any less-than-stellar experience that you have had with the site. We think we’re in the clear now publicity-wise although the way the last couple of days have gone I wouldn’t be surprised if Oprah gave me a call later tonight. 😉

Second, to say that this is all really cool. It’s fun to see all the support for what we’re doing and I hope that many of the thousands of people who’ve been introduced to the site in the last couple of days will return soon and often. It’s also really cool to me personally that maybe, just maybe, for a few of you who visited this might have been a spark to figure out what this whole “audio learning” thing is all about. If all of the Diggs, Furls, del.icio.us bookmarks, etc. cause one new person to view their commute tomorrow as “prime learning time” then for me the headache of trying to keep up a server over the last 30 straight hours that I’ve been awake has been well, well worth it. 🙂

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

(Updated 11/30/05 – Had the wrong URL for Furl…)

November 28, 2005

We’ve been dugg! (and del.icio.us’zed…)

If you’ve been on the site at all today you’ve probably noticed that it’s a bit sluggish (or downright inaccessible). This was due to a huge influx of new visitors that happened when we made the homepage over at Digg.com. We made the homepage around 10 AM PST today and within an hour we were the victim of the “Digg Effect” (something so common that it even has its own Wikipedia entry).

We’ve been working hard to get the site up and it looks like most of the site is functioning properly (albeit a bit sluggishly) with the exception of the Free Audio and Video Directory which we’ve replaced with a static page until things stabilize. It also didn’t help that in addition to being “buried” (the alternative moniker to the Digg Effect) we also have been on the popular list over at del.icio.us for a good chunk of the day.

Anyway, thanks to all the new folks for stopping by. We hope to have the site fully operational soon so you can see all we have to offer. In the meantime, bookmark us (or bookmark us in the del.icio.us), sign up for our newsletter or subscribe to our blog or podcast so we can keep in touch with you. Apologies to all of you for the inconvenience.

(And if you’re not familiar with Digg.com or del.icio.us I would definitely recommend to go check them out. They’re two of the coolest sites on the Net!)

November 26, 2005

The “Tepping” Point Here at Home

On Wednesday I wrote an entry about The Tepping Point, a grossly simplified equation (Technology + Education = Productivity > Progress) that I fell underlies which economies become successful and which fall behind. I framed it in the context of Africa and Jeffrey Sach’s groundbreaking book The End of Poverty. However, the Tepping Point isn’t just a concept that it’s important for economic develpment abroad. It’s just as important right here in the U.S.

I’m reading the most recent issue of Fortune and I came back-to-back articles where the Tepping Point has direct relevance. The first (“Get a Life!“) describes the increasing desire of men to have better work/family/life balance. One of the main issues: Can people be as productive (or even more productive) while working 40-50 hour weeks as they are if they are working 60, 70 or even 80 hours a week? The second article (“It’s His Economy Now–And Yours” includes a couple of interesting charts that plot the growth of real GDP and real wages and salaries over the last five years. The take-away? While real GDP has been relatively strong (3-4% over the last couple of years), real wages and salaries have been falling for the last couple of years.

With a few blips on the radar the U.S. economy has been on relative easy streets for the last couple of decades. It’s easy to think that will continue indefinitely, especially when we’ve been in the midst of such a prolonged uptick. However, history is full of examples of countries that were on top and presumably invincible one year can find themselves in troubled waters only a few years after. One only needs to look to what’s happened in Japan over the last decade as evidence of that.

One again, let me offer a full disclaimer that I’m far from anything remotely resembling an economist but I get the general sense that there could be economic trouble ahead for the United States. Not in the sense of “Oh my gosh we’re going to have another Depression and everyone is going to be poor.” Rather a sense that although we will continue to do well and specific sectors might do very well that we’re going to face an intense challenge from China, India and other countries that are growing at a much faster rate than we are.

China’s economy is growing at a rate of 8% per year. Let me repeat that. China’s economy is growing at a rate of 8% per year. With that type of torrid growth rate we don’t need to look forward more than a couple of decades to a time when China, not the United States, will rule the world economically. After all, as I read in the early pages of The End of Poverty, it was a mere 1% difference in GDP growth rates between the U.S. and Africa between 1820 and 1998 that lead us becoming an economic power and Africa becoming an economic backwater.

OK, full disclaimer #2: I don’t care who wins. I love my country as much as anyone but I also don’t define myself by it. So I don’t write any of this in the interest of trying to imply that it’s bad if China or India or somebody else takes over the #1 spot in the world’s economy. Rather I want to see all nations and all individuals succeed to their best possible ability.

And that’s what I love about the Tepping Point. It’s the furthest thing from a zero-sum game that you can find. Technological development and educational advancement form a tide that lifts all boats. No one loses in a more educated society. That’s the beauty.

And to be honest, just as Africa has a long way to go in terms of education so do we here in the United States. Many K-12 schools are in a lot of trouble as over-worked teachers struggle to deal with larger class sizes and fewer resources. Colleges and universities are still world leaders but many American students are falling behind their often harder-working foreign classmates.

And adult education? Well the most telling sign for me of the state of adult education is when I tell people that I have a company that sells audio and video educational products. The immediate assumption by the vast majority of people is that we offer products for children. It takes many people a surprisingly long time to get the fact that we’re trying to educate people who’ve already finished “their education” (as defined by that high school/college/graduate diploma).

Sure, a lot of people are good at learning what they need to know for work. Which is fine until you switch positions or careers and realize that this often means developing a whole new skill set. Or until you’re forced to deal with the fact that innovation is moving at break-neck speeds and that the knowledge you have today is increasingly likely to become obsolete a couple of years from now. Or until you wake up and realize that 1.3 billion Chinese people are now a prime player in the global economy and that many of those people want your jobs and are very qualified to take them.

But by then it might be too late. That’s what we want to help prevent here at LearnOutLoud. We want you to start Learning Out Loud before you find yourself in a position of learning too late.