It's a brave new world...

but am I really interested?

Okay, so assignment this was simple enough, I went to Google Reader and subscribed to NPR's Planet Money podcast, which is something I always think about doing when I hear them mention it on the radio. So far so good, now all I need to do is find the time to all 65 back issues and I'll be 100% up to date. Like that's going to happen. Yes, I know, I know, I don't have to listen to any of the back numbers or I can pick or choose etc. I have iTunes at home, and actually subscribed to a couple of podcasts there, but the problem is that I only sync my iPod if I'm adding new music and that's kind of rare. And even if I have a podcast on my iPod I'm more likely to say "ho hum" and choose a favaorite playlist instead.

It's not that I don't appreciate the potential...is value the right word...maybe utility is better...of podcasts for entertaining and informing people. Webcasting video might even be better. It's just that I don't have any burning desire to bend media to meet my schedule. I'm still happy with the old paradigm. Maybe it's because I don't pay much attention to media on a regular basis. If I turn on the TV (which is pretty rare really) and there is nothing on, I turn it off. Ditto the radio, and mostly I just listen to the evening news and the Pirates games. Now, if you could get me a podcast of the Buccos where they edit out the bad innings (which see: bottom of the 9th on Saturday July 11th) and replace it with soothing music to assuage another horrible loss..well send me a link. But otherwise, podcasts and I will go on ingoring each other. The republic will survive.

Firefox...meh

Well, Firefox is just fine, but I can't say I really feel like it's all that better than IE. I suppose it's because they copy each other. I've been using tabbed browsing in IE for quite a while, and though there are differences, none of them are radical enough for me to care. I downloaded an Ad-on (I guess since they have a different name and aren't from Microsoft they are therefore better than plug-ins) which changes the color of the tabs. It's pretty, but it didn't revolutionize my life. I definitely do not like the fact that when I updated Firefox it set itself as my default browser without asking--that is BAD behavior in my book. I also hate that Ctrl-O opens a file rather than allowing me to open a link. I learned to use computers in the old, dark days of the command line and control keys. I still miss WordPerfect for Dos. I also downloaded an ad-on that brings up a wikipedia article when you go a goole search. It's kind of cool, but the resolution on the google search is fuzzy in the display. So in a short amount of time, I'm not converted. I'll continue to mess with it from time to time. Right now there's nothing I want to do on the net that I can't do with IE.