Linux Appliance Brings Podcasts to the People 70
An anonymous reader writes "Linux has been used to create a podcast capture appliance that aims to make podcasting as dead-simple as possible, in order to give everyone a 'voice in public discourse, not just those who own TV towers. [...] Aimed at corporations, schools, radio stations, and churches, the "Podcast in a Box" appliance starts recording when a USB key is inserted, and uploads the podcast to a server when the key is removed. The product is also available for free as a live/installer ISO image based on Ubuntu.'"
Dapper Duck? (Score:2, Funny)
Strange I can't find that one listed on the Ubuntu web site!
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So if I throw a ball at you and shout "drake" you won't end up bleeding?
More to the point, no Breezy at all.
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5.10 was called Breezy Badger
6.06 is called Dapper Drake
And 6.10 will be called Edgy Eft
them's the facts...
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7.10 as Gay Gopher?
8.04 as Horny Hippo?
8.10 as Innuendo Iguana?
9.04 as Jolly Jackal? (just don't ask why he is so jolly!)
9.10 as Kissing Koala?
10.04 as Leering Llama?
10.10 as Mincing Mouse?
OK I'll stop now
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End of the world. (Score:1, Interesting)
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What we aim to do is solve the production problem, not the recording problem. You are correct in that anyone can record a podcast using Audacity ( http://audacity.sf.net/ [sf.net]). I use that terrific software all the time myself. However, if you put an unskilled user in front of Audacity and tell them to make a podcast, they probably will fail because the process requires und
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So, the goal is to keep users uneducated?
From TFA (Score:2)
I would have hoped the price would have come down somewhat in that time. Oh well.
I love the idea of making podcasting a simple task like this and, working in the Education arm of local govt, I can see how appealing this will be - the opportunities for seconeary schools, especially, to do interesting things with this gadget are endless. However, I really feel for schools when it seems anything with "education" in its profile gets another zero ad
Re:From TFA (Score:4, Informative)
Come down? That was about $500 worth of hardware 2 years ago, it never should've been that high. I can understand they want to make a profit on it, but 4x what its worth seems excessive.
PIAB has been available for about two years, priced at $2,000. Alternatively, it can be obtained for free as a live/installer ISO from the Box Populi website, although that site appears to be down at the moment.
You think they could've at least done enough research to include the correct domain name [boxpopu.li] in their article.
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I understand the sentiment, but can you then tell me why Avid workstations run $100k? After all, the cost of the software and hardware is not much more than a few thousand dollars at most.
The reason is that this is not consumer electronics equipment where the margins are razor thin. We factor into this cost the cost of setup and configuration and production. For example. using multimedia within a disfunctional IT environment can be *very* tricky and it often become
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Because Avid are rip-off merchants who were the first with their back against the wall when the revolution came. Why do you think so many production companies use Final Cut Pro these days?
You may as well ask "why is Quark XPress so expensive?" Same story. They are too backwards to compete with Adobe's better, but lower priced offerings.
For example. using multimedia within a disfunctional IT environment can be *very* trick
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We are really looking hard at our pricing.
Pricing is a challenge because you are not only paying for the hardware and software (which has been costly to develop over the last three years), but you are also paying for the production support assistance. We have a support infrastructure in place that can assist you when you are in the midst of capturing a podcast and something goes wrong, or you need to troubleshoot an upload problem (whether that is a problem with your
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been done (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate to burst your bubble, but I think this has already been accomplished by Youtube, to the tune of 1.64 billion dollars worth of "public discourse".
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who owns Youtube??? a corporation... next please...
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I remember hearing something about a million monkeys with a million typewriters, and Shakespeare, if that's what you're getting at.
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Not new, not for the people (Score:2)
'nough said,
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this is not linux.com (Score:3, Interesting)
Or should we still be wowed by the ability of Linux to act as an OS.
what does this do? (Score:3, Interesting)
am i missing the point or something?
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What this does is recognise the insertion of a "special" memory key - there's probably some kind of key file on the thing.
When the machine sees this key inserted, it begins recording. When the key is removed, it transmits.
The USB key functions like the key in a car, it starts and stops the process...
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The article didnt convey this information very clearly. That's a pretty cool gizmo; they should do a video one.
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Sample podcast (Score:3, Informative)
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He just showed a sample PODCAST.. as in, what could actually be recorded.
I gathered a similar idea from reading the article:
1) You plug in.
2) The device starts recording.
3) You plug out.
4) The device stops recording.
5) And it starts uploading the file.
What Nuffsaid showed could actually happen, if the above is true.
But I probably should not feed the trolls here.
On a sidenote;
The device does not make much sense to me, if the above is what is actually meant in the article. How
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With some of the podcasts I've had the misfortune to hear, I suspect that won't be viewed by many as a shortcoming.
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Apple (Score:1)
Heavy? (Score:2)
Isn't Ubuntu a bit heavy for this kind of task?
Ok, here's a non-stupid idea (Score:2)
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(TWiT is at #1 in the Top40, followed by Diggnation, Slashdot Review is listed at #16)
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Appliances don't come in beige, they come in bisque.
Wow! No, wait, what's that other word? (Score:3, Insightful)
How is this more "accessible to the people" than, say, any [pod2mob.com] of the podcast [evoca.com] by phone [audioblog.com] (or other hardware you already own) services out there?
This is a $2000 device that can record and MP3 and upload it. Ooooh. That's so much overkill for what it does I can hardly comprehend. If they had built that functionality into the USB key, and sold it for, say $80 USD, they might have some takers.
(And I'm not even getting into the "no one cares what you have to say" part of podcasts. We went through this same stupid thing with every form of media since speech was invented.)
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This isn't for the poor, or the few.
This is for corporations and schools that have a lot of people(even students?) who want to make podcasts, but lack the know-how(students lack the authorization on the PCs there.)
So your company has 50 managers who want to do podcasts and you believe it can make them more productive or whatever. Or your school has 50 teachers
So now you have a choice, pay the IT guy an ex
A great task for asterisk (Score:2)
Users can now produce a podcast by picking up the phone and calling a number. For the technophobic it just won't get easier than that. And the cost is a lot less than $2000
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Greg Lund-Chaix ( http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/01/22342 54 [slashdot.org]) from the OSL and I just did a talk on this very thing at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo. You can read more about his presentation here: http://staff.osuosl.org/~gchaix/2006/09/30/asteris k-and-podcasting/ [osuosl.org]
people? (Score:2)
$50 Piece of Hardware (Score:2)
just set the autorun.inf to copy the resulting "record01.mp3" to a location for later renaming and upload.
For $2000 you could buy these for the whole school faculty...
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Finally "dead simple" and "for the people"? (Score:2)
The instant podcast deal in Garageband was causing rickets?
Only $9,000 you say?
They must figure it's a bargain cuz adopting a tech-savvy 13-year-old would cost at least twice that in today's adoption market.
These guys must be onto something here.
Missing the Point (Score:3, Informative)
"aims to make podcasting as dead-simple as possible, in order to give everyone a 'voice in public discourse, not just those who own TV towers. [...]"
YouTube and other solutions still require the user to understand and be comfortable with recording and uploading content. This device is aimed at markets serving people afraid to use ATMs. Perhaps many people here are too young to remember the days where the vast majority of VCRs flashed zeros because of the inability of the general public to set the time.
For those who said it was too expensive;
"Aimed at corporations, schools, radio stations, and churches, the "Podcast in a Box" appliance starts recording when a USB key is inserted, and uploads the podcast to a server when the key is removed."
Frankly my problem is that, at this price point, you should get something that has a better form factor. I would think a device that looks like an audio recorder with rewind/fast forward/play buttons and level meters would be appropriate. However it appears that in many cases this device is being used in environments where the content was prerecorded, for example radio stations. In those cases the form factor and controls on this box are appropriate. The company specifically mentions the desire to tailor the box to the customer's needs.
For those who questioned the prominence of Linux in the subject;
"Linux Appliance Brings Podcasts to the People"
The message here is not that "Linux is great, all hail Linux" the message is a marketing one. The term Linux Appliance is gaining great traction in the semi-technical literate community as a piece of hardware that can be dropped on a network to perform computer-like functions with very little configuration or support, like a TiVo. It implies (often incorrectly) a freedom from recurring fees (see TiVo). A customer's comment on the companies web site supports this statement "Our previous Windows solution crashed all the time; we never even think about our Linux appliances, they just work." Please note that the prominence of the term Linux Appliance was not limited to Slashdot, that is how this product was covered on other sites as well.
While the Asterisk server is a great idea and I encourage you to build it, the point of this box is that it can be purchased, it works in tandem with a either the hosting server or the hosting service that is marketed to the same customers that are the target for this device. It does not require connection to a phone system that may incur a monthly charge and should be simpler for a non-technical staff to install and operate. Additionally this box is not subject to quality issues that might be encountered in a phone based system. The key to this solution is the end-to-end nature and hands off operation, the Asterisk solution you propose would be a nifty enhancement to one element of that solution. Frankly I think it has greater potential because content could be recorded and stored and then released for upload on a second call without any greater complexity than a typical voice mail system.
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But will it give the people something to say? (Score:2)
Dapper Duck? (Score:1)
Spooky timing (Score:2)
My version is slighty different.
Rather than the mediocre onboard audio you get on those via boards I used an m-audio card. That gives me multiple different audio inputs including xlr for nicer audio.
I also used a mini-itx case that has a 5/14" bay for my CrystalFontz lcd display. The display lets me show audio levels (very helpfull to know if "the damn thing is working or not"). The crystalfontz display also has buttons which I use to start/sto
misguided effort (Score:1)
Oh, and I doubt you'll be able to use a decent mic on a PC sound card, you'll need to shell out some cash for a preamp/mixer as well.