mediageek

Author: Paul

  • Free Music Archive

    On today’s radioshow I interview WFMU station manager Ken Freedman about the station’s very cool Free Music Archive project. The idea of the Archive is to take the fundamental idea of sharing Creative Commons-licensed music online, as seen with sites like Archive.org, and add a curatorial element. According to Ken, the goal is to replicate…

  • Wired Gadget Lab on Flip Mimo: Good, maybe not work extra bucks

    Those of you following these little flash-memory pocket-cams like I am might be interested in Wired’s Gadget Lab review of the new Flip Mimo, which is a smaller, slightly more feature-rich version of their signature $150 Flip camcorder. Though slimmer and prettier the Gadget Lab concludes: It’s a solid little cam that’s easier to transport,…

  • Reconsidering Solid State Video

    The face of digital photo and video is changing as we speak. Well, not really the face, so much as the skin and innards. Until very recently video = tape and photo = memory card. Now, tape is on its way out, and digital still cameras are getting much better at doing video, too. One…

  • Goodbye minidisc, Hello Zoom H2

    I’ve finally broken down and abandoned my beloved minidisc for mobile audio recording. I held out for as long as I could, which wasn’t hard. Until recently the format that never caught on (in the US) was the best portable digital audio recording format, especially when Sony finally unveiled Hi-MD four years ago finally allowing…

  • The FCC Can Has Google for Piratez

    Ever wondered how the FCC tracks down and busts pirate radio operators? Anyone familiar with the subject has heard about radio tracking equipment that helps agents triangulate a signal, but what other tools are in their arsenal? Google is a big one. Another tool? Taking pictures of the buildings where they find signals, and photographing…

  • May 2 Radioshow Notes & Links

    Links and notes related to the May 2 mediageek radioshow: FCC Proceeding on localism: http://www.fcc.gov/localism Public Knowledge’s Orphan Works Act page: http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/ow Matthew Lasar’s Ars Technica article: NPR’s war on Low Power FM: the laws of physics vs. politics You can read the full test of the show’s news headlines after the jump.

  • NPR Still Ludicriously Fighting LPFM

    It’s been eight years since the FCC voted to establish LPFM, and in that time NPR has only seen its fortunes rise, with listenership and income rising in sharp contrast to the fortunes of the Clear-Channeled commercial radio industry. Yet, as Matthew Lasar reports in Ars Technica, the nation’s largest public radio network continues to…

  • DIY Spiderlite and Softbox

    This one’s for the video/photo geeks. Back at my last gig we used a pile of Spiderlites, which are pretty easy to use and relatively inexpensive lights that accommodate five bulbs, switchable in banks, that can be either incandescent or fluorescent. They’re not super-cheap–several hundred dollars–but for flexible continuous lighting they’re not bad. Lighting is…

  • Wrap Up on Senate Net Neutrality Hearing

    The Benton Foundation has compiled an excellent wrap-up of testimony and press coverage of yesterday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on network neutrality.

  • Martin’s Straw House of Network Neutrality

    After listening to Chairman Martin’s testimony [PDF / webcast] to the Senate Commerce Committee today, along much of his Q&A with members of the committee, I can’t help but think that Martin is really walking a tightrope. On the one hand, he asserts quite confidently that the Commission has the legal right to enforce its…