Premiere Episode of Slashdot Radio:Geeks in Space 142
We've been working on this for awhile and we're excited
to announce that the premiere broadcast of
Slashdot Radio: Geeks in Space
is officially online. We plan to do this weekly at first
and pick up steam depending on demand. Essentially, hemos,
nate & I sit in a bedroom at the Geek Compound and babble
about whatever we think is interesting on Slashdot. Its
available in Real Audio or as an MP3. Thanks to The Sync for setting us up with this. The link below
has a few comments about what we're planning on doing.
- We can't currently do real time. We're getting a faster connection run to the Geek Compound (Rock on Andover ;) and then we might consider it.
- We can do call-ins, and will probably do it soon
- Too long? Too short? We don't have any real limits here, so my guess is that in the future we'll talk until we run out of things to say. I'd rather do daily 5 minute broadcasts than a weekly half hour tho- I think the rapid nature of Slashdot lends itself more towards short bits anyway.
- We didn't simply want to read Slashdot, so we go off a bit on tangents. We think it's fun, we hope you do too.
- So anyway, you can email us with questions, comments, and suggestions, we're open to constructive criticisms. And we promise next week will suck less.
No crashing, but... (Score:1)
I DO have some problems that could be HTML related. For instance:
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Re:WOW! (Score:1)
The Real Video interviews of CT & Hemos (Score:1)
Re:Top Reasons to Listen to Slashdot Radio (Score:1)
Btw, what's the metric equivilant of that? Metaphorical ankles?
Re:whatever you do... (Score:1)
Re:This is all nice, but... (Score:1)
hold alt - double click "my computer" -> click performance -> click graphics -> move the slider from full to none -> click ok -> click close -> click yes to restart.
I do tech support. This fixes all scrolling problems with all software. Scrolling causes lots of new rectangles to be drawn. We all know that windows accelerators speed up rectangular blits. When the drivers suck - they choke on these blits.
Of course, ymmv ;-)
Re:cool (Score:1)
C-- just learning now(C++ structured programming), I'm not very good yet.
SQL-- I know what it is. have written a query before.
Powerbuilder-- Huh?
I like to think i'm a pretty cool human being... geeky but I like beer
Re:This is all nice, but... (Score:1)
I don't know if this is a problem with Slash or the input it's given. In any event, if you've got Slash to work more effectively, ring Rob up and offer to give him a hand. Remember: he can't even spell bayta.
pyropimps (Score:1)
i would actualy go through their archive rather than listen to the latest show, although that is pretty cool too.
Bandwidth (Score:1)
Ken
Meeeept! First call. (Score:2)
Of course, Rob isn't an idiot. But I would think that a call-in would have to be more, forgive me, Donahue style focused than Joe Random calling and asking why he's having trouble with beta drivers connecting to a proprietary storage area network on a version of Debian Linux that is four revs back.
Slashdot Radio? (Score:2)
Re:This is all nice, but... (Score:1)
Banshee under NT was locking solid for me whilst viewing Slashdot and various other TABLE heavy sites. Worked fine under 98.
I upgraded the card to a TNT2 and that works fine. Someone mentioned that it may be because the Banshee drivers accelerate all windows GDI functions - but then so does the TNT2.
Re: 3 talkin seems too much... (Score:1)
Well, it doesnt bother me too much though... I liked it anyways...
Re:This is all nice, but... (Score:1)
ech...
whatever you do... (Score:3)
cool (Score:1)
Oh yeah... call the pope some night.
this is cool but... (Score:2)
Sounds good, but please don't Amazon/Yahoo us. (Score:3)
Webcam would Rock!! (Score:2)
Suggestion (Score:1)
just got done listening (Score:1)
Phone number...? (Score:2)
Nice show guys! (Score:2)
1) Keep the 3 of you on the show, but post sticky-notes all over the place that remind you that only 2 can talk at a time. It works.
2) Ditch the guitar rifs and sound effects. Geek funny is a good thing, but try your best not to turn it into a morning zoo.
3) If you're going to take phonecalls, avoid playing tech support. It just aint entertainment.
Nice show..
man, did that suck (Score:1)
Dump RealAudio, use GSM instead. (Score:1)
While the semi-free MP3 format is the agreed-on standard, why not use GSM as an alternative format. The quality for speech compression is superb (with 11025Hz (2273 b/s) there is virtually no difference from an FM transmission), the format is free and supported by sox. (My own GSM-tools can be found here [tuwien.ac.at].)
Re:Phone number...? (Score:1)
slashdot (Score:1)
Just dont let your new found fame go to your head you could end up like the media whore Emmannuel
over at 2600.
P.S Ditch the puke green background for geeks in space
Re:Dump RealAudio, use GSM instead. (Score:1)
Please, please, please, Rob -- anything but Real.
--Tom
Re:Ease up on the post-production there, fellas... (Score:1)
I agree that taking phone comments is an excellent idea. Wish I would have thought of that in my college radio days. It certainly would have worked if we actually had listeners.
How about a crossover to "real" radio? I'm sick of listening to those Motley Fool guys.
Re:MST*3*K... (Score:1)
Re:This is all nice, but... (Score:1)
college radio (Score:2)
Keep it up, you'll get better. And I love the Devo-esque theme music. You might want to go one more step and actually just use Devo for your theme, perhaps slightly modified...
Are we not geeks?"
We are Slashdot!
Are we not geeks?
S-L-A-ashdot!
----------------------
The MP3 was a gas.. (Score:1)
I enjoyed it - but it did rub a current sore spot...when the hell is Real going to get G2 working on Linux - Thank god CDNOW now offers MP3's but I miss having RealAudio/Video.
Sound FX (Score:1)
Re:whatever you do... (Score:1)
*grin*
I'd say a few static "face shots" might be useful annotation to the audio content though. Perhaps the sort of "action poses" you see in print magazines?
-Phyxis
Re:Slashdot Radio? (Score:1)
Mirrot of mp3 (Score:2)
Re:MST*3*K... (Score:1)
---
I loved that show.
What gear did they mix this on? (Score:1)
Re:No crashing, but... (Score:1)
Too-often refresh. Every page I load is loaded dynamically. I can't think of a reason this would be HTML related, yet it doesn't happen at any other site.
It's not, strictly speaking, as HTML issue. It's an HTTP issue.
When a CGI program emits a page, it emits both HTTP headers (the most important of which is the Content-Type:) and the actual content (typically HTML, or Content-Type: text/html). There are several HTTP headers that can be used to control the caching behavior of browsers and proxies -- Expires: is probably the most powerful, but Last-Modified: is often easier to use correctly (depending on the content).
If you're in Netscape, check out the various details under View | Page Info. It's rather informative about the aging information.
When in doubt, if you're serious about your CGI development, you can telnet to the web server and issue HEAD commands manually to get the HTTP headers for your pages. Unfortunately, it's not at all easy to get the precise behavior of cookie-enabled sites (like Slashdot) doing this, since you'd have to manually encode and ship your cookie too....
Slashdot seems not to use any of the aging headers when logging on to the main page as a cookieless coward:
you betcha (Score:1)
Mod (Re:My god Andover has gone to their heads..!) (Score:1)
j/k
-awc
Re:Mod (Re:My god Andover has gone to their heads. (Score:1)
neet (Score:2)
What next? Slashdot Trading Cards [min.net]?
Radio shows are fun! (Score:2)
one and a half hour radio show with my girlfriend
on all things relating to geekdom every
friday... Technically, we talk about the news
for the first 30 minutes (generally reading stuff
from Slashdot and other news sites, but mostly
here
topic (last week was history of gaming, this
week, tomorrow, will be about, er, shite, we
didn't plan anything yet!!) Anyway, you get
the point...
I wanted to write out some suggestions and stuff, since I've been doing radio for years now, I decided that'd be no fun - considering Slashdot's nature (geeky and anarchic), most of my suggestions would make things more boring...
Anyway, hearing your voices IRL will definitely be cool... Er, now that I think of it, can I ask for permission to use the
Anyway, have fun on the air waves... There's -always- gonna be something to talk about... Just don't kill each other, and you'll be fine... GL
Re:Phone number...? (Score:1)
What about ShoutCast? (Score:1)
SaDan
someone moderate this guy's post up (Score:1)
killer idea.
---
Suggestions (Score:1)
1. Too many people talking at once. It easily gets confusing.
2. Cut down on the sound effects. Little bits to seperate segments is just fine, but gratuitous sound effects suck.
Ideas:
1. Interviews with interesting people. Basically, if you'd like to talk to them, we're probably interetested in hearing them. Phone interviews aren't too hard to set up either, especially if they're really short. Geez, lots of people I'd love to hear interviews with post here.
2. Deeper research on things covered on Slashdot. This is just something I'd like to see more of in general, in "print" and audio. For example, track down someone who lives nearby with an Aibo and borrow it. Play with it some and tell us what you think of it.
Re:What about ShoutCast? (Score:1)
-- Chris Chabot
"I dont suffer from insanity, i enjoy every minute of it!"
the three stooges (Score:1)
Anyhow, it is an interesting idea to an under served audience but the content leaves a lot to be desired. See the content of the audio show is much like slashdot itself. Which for the main site is merely a collection of stories with terse commentary on them. This is great for a website designed to quickly wisked you off to a new site with the real dirt. But on a uninterruptable sound feed it adds up to the audienced being trapped in a one sided conversation ready to hit ^C.
If you continue this type of programming I am sad to say it will not last long. I suggest either adding listener callin in some form. But at least be able to provide insight in a semi intelligant or grossly humorous fashion that isn't available on the website already. Otherwise I am going to flip back to regular radio.
Maybe an in depth segment on Tulip Day =P
Good stuuf (Score:1)
Re:Rob's World! Rob's World! Party on, excellent! (Score:1)
this must be modesty. i don't think it's *possible* to be worse than mike meyers.
rob, does this mean you'll go on to one day have a mini-me?
Re:you betcha (Score:1)
Meept'ed? (Score:1)
I truly hope so. Like myself, this/these MEEPT'er(s) get rarely too insightful but that's kinda OK. MEEPTer(s) is/are part of us, for better and for worse.
In fact,
(Hey MEEPTer, where's MEEPT.org/com/net? I wanna buy a MEEPT! tee-shirt!)
Re:Mirror of mp3 (Score:1)
You know, if this is going to be a daily thing, you are going to need mirrors, or else you are just loading down one server and frustrating everyone in the process, especially those getting
People would have to really like it to put up with this.
Re:Radio shows are fun! (Score:1)
Do you (Hadean) have a site where I can listen to it? I live in Indiana so unless you have a clear ban AM station, I can't listen to it on the air. It sounds cool though (not much geekdom here in Indiana)
Re:Rob's World! Rob's World! Party on, excellent! (Score:1)
Speakfreely supports it! (Score:2)
Would be really cool to call in via the Net!
Maybe you could even use SF's multicast feature to broadcast.
Guys ya need to make a few tech adjustments (Score:1)
(keep in mind this is for the realaudio)
For audio:
If you want to keep it low bandwith mono go with the 16k encodeing, the 8.5k sounds like your talking into a tin can. I could only understand 50% of what you where saying.
Make sure you check your sound levels first before you start recording. I was watching the recording levels on my end and you where peaking alot (meaning it was all the way up in the solid red) at that point the sound got even more trashed.
If your encoding to mp3 first then to ra, run it through a tape player or a cd if ya can to keep the sound "whole" instead of converting the file.
The content what I could hear was really good tho i'm sure as many have stated before hand 2 at most should be talking at the same time, when you ad a third person talking at the same time trying to get a point across its hard to understand that person, but stuff like laughing is ok cause we get that point either way:)
As for the videos... There about as good as ra gets you will have to play with the video settings to get a better grip tho the one with cmdr taco was better, With RA ya have to lose the sliding effects cause ra's nature to take shortcuts when rendering makes it real jerky. The question prompts durring the interview where ok they worked rather well.
other than that it was a good first try (i have heard alot worse)
If you guys (shashdot)would like more advice dont hesitate to ask you have my info
Cormac
So.... (Score:1)
...what are you saying? I know (some of) this CGI stuff you are talking about, but I don't have a sense for who you are blaming. Are you saying that
In any case, it needs to be fixed.
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Re:No crashing, but... (Score:1)
Disclaimer: I hate Microsoft too, but I'm sensible enough to know when to compliment them for doing something right (rare as that is anymore). BTW: yes I know that IE doesn't exist for Linux, so I'm talking from M$Windows experience--which I know isn't applicable to everyone, but all I know (right now anyway) is M$Windows, so M$Windows I will talk about. :-/
EXTREMELY long rendering times (sometimes several minutes)
This is a Netscape thing. Hands down, IE renders faster than Netscape (so far anyway, but I eagerly await Mozilla 5 as much as anyone)
Inaccurate page placement when using "back" (i.e. I'm not taken back to where I was scrolled to, although this works at other sites.
No offense meant, but do you do any HTML at all? HTML has no control over how a back and forward button works in browsers. HTML is a markup language, not a browser specification! The explanation is simple: most other sites aren't nearly as complicated as /. is in HTML coding, so the browser can put you closer to where you were. Put 3 levels (or whatever) of nested tables, and good luck!
Too-often refresh. Every page I load is loaded dynamically. I can't think of a reason this would be HTML related, yet it doesn't happen at any other site. Given the slowness of /. and the rendering time mentioned above, I get extremely frustrated trying to do the simplest things here.
This is a Netscape thing. Since the page has so many embedded tables and so on, it takes Netscape a long time to render (or re-render) the HTML. IE, however, is much faster at rendering HTML, so if I resize, the page doesn't disappear to be re-rendered like in Netscape.
So the claims of caching problems is waaay off. It's a software/complexity issue, not an HTTP issue. If you are really having so much trouble, use Slashdot Lite--that's what it's there for.
I love it (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:This is all nice, but... (Score:1)
Re:Phone number...? (Score:1)
Why doesn't Psuedo use MP3? (Score:1)
RFC-Slashradio (Score:1)
I'd like to see more of this for sure. Don't worry about offending people, keep throwing out your own opinions on stuff that's happening. Rob's bit about robots taking over the earth was good "duh?" Even if you just keep doing what you were doing in the last part of the clip..
Top Reasons to Listen to Slashdot Radio (Score:1)
-1) No one gets moderated down.
1) Rob is cute.
2) They're esoteric and hard to understand, but they're a heck of a lot nicer than Dr. Laura.
3) It's geekish and anarchic, but c'mon, it's Slashdot.
4) It's either Real or MP3--you can listen to it without AM/FM interference from having your case open.
5) Hemos has a cool giggle.
6) They talk about head-mounted displays, dancing in tubs of jello, pixels the size of fists, and English liters.
7) I LIKE fractals.
Slow down. Breathe... (Score:2)
you did the show. It would be even better if one of you were a chick
Re:Front or back of your heads? (Score:1)
but it was originally MST3K... (Score:1)
Re:Slow down. Breathe... (Score:2)
Now the only question is, which one of you gets the operation? New Slashdot poll?
the poor sync... (Score:1)
You guys
Whatever will happen to snackboy now?
RealAudio isn't that hard to set up for live feed. (Score:1)
The licensing is the kicker. Even a 100 stream
license isn't cheap. After you have a RA server to
point a stream at, you just need a reliable
connection to stream your content across to the
server. You can do decent quality voice only
broadcasts with a single channel ISDN connection.
It's the bandwidth and licensing on the server
that are super important. I will say though, that
were I work we do not offer this as a product.
We do have a deal with one special client that
does live video and sound across a cable modem,
but it's flaky. The server took about 15 minutes
to set up on digital unix on our end. The cool
thing is that you can get a test server with
30 days worth of 60 streams for free.
Hope This Helps
make that "It was originally MST2K" (Score:1)
My god Andover has gone to their heads..! (Score:5)
(makes mental picture)
Argh!
I think they should just run a linux phone in problem line..
Rob: "Hi this is Rob and you're On the Air"
Caller: "Hi Rob, first, I would just like to say, I really dig your show.."
Rob: "Cool thanks, icq9 your friends to recommend us, now whats your problem?"
Caller: "Well, Rob, See, this is kinda embarassing..."
Rob: "Go ahead, you are amongst friends here"
Caller: "Ok... the problem is, i cant hack my own sendmail files, but I cant admit it to my friends.. I wanna know, like, is this normal?"
Rob: "Wow what a loser... hey buddy, dont bother us with this stuff, go call up cnet instead.."
*click*
Rob: "You know.. everymorning, as I get up and turn on the ANDOVER NET TV channel, I think to myself, gee isnt ANDOVER NETWORK a cool thing to have piped to your 3dscope, and for only 9.95 world credits a month... I personally couldnt get through the slashdot day without ANDOVER NET, and i am not just being paid to say that, i really mean it.... and now over to hemos for todays regular tip spot on microsoft ASP-2003 programming"
Ease up on the post-production there, fellas... (Score:3)
Also: the sooner you can take live callers, the better. I hosted a few talk shows on my college radio station [bates.edu]. It was a lot more interesting when outside listeners called in to debate issues; without callers, my friends and I just ended up verbally harrassing each other on the air - while a lot of fun for us, this got boring to listen to very quickly.
Geeks In Space (Score:1)
at the moment, still listening to the premier
Keep up the good work!
they're still showing it (Score:1)
if I remember correctly maybe 0:00 or 1:00 Sunday nights on the Comedy channel.
Any voice talent needed? (Score:1)
But it just so happens I recently made it through an audition for a play (WOOHOO!) and then found out I couldn't make the dates (Bummer)... But now I find I miss the fun of theater...
And other theatrical stuff for creative minds...
So if you need some voice talent for your new audio creation, free O' charge, preferrably for humourous stuff...
Send an email... Light a bonfire... Use the deep psychic gift that resides deep inside of us all and sizzle a few neurons for the cause of...
Do you smell smoke?
(first time poster... just in case the email address isn't in the post... moorley@rmci.net)
Re:Phone number...? (Score:1)
And anyway, Holland Michigan is AFAIK a US "spinoff" of the Netherlands (which, of course, rock).
Re:The MP3 was a gas.. (Score:1)
If you search for it through Freshmeat you can link right to the Linux Development page for Real Player and download the G2 Alpha for linux...
Doesn't have the java inline viewer, but it will read the
http://www.real.com/products/player/linux.html
Is this MST/.? (Score:1)
Makes me want to play "Attack of the Killer Dorito Inspectors" as video along with your voice.
Where to put a V-chip. (Score:1)
a fun day! (Score:1)
I'm glad people liked the show! Tens of thousands of Slashdot fans hit the site today. Here's the premiere day FAQ:
1) We went with the lowest bitrate RealAudio and MP3 we could get away with and still have a reasonable sounding show, so that Slashdot fans in Zimbawe with 14.4 kbps modems could still enjoy it, and also so we wouldn't get too badly Slashdotted...
2) Our servers didn't get Slashdotted, nor our bandwidth, but a router of our provider did! It kept running out of memory and resetting. Theoretically we had nearly 10 Mbps allocated. It started dropping routes at 4 Mbps, and even reset BGP sessions...
3) This afternoon we were able to run the MP3 server across town to a building 100 feet from the MAE-EAST, and plug it in there...much better!
Thanks for listening to the show!
-Thomas
Re:cool (Score:1)
-:)
We're just outside of Boston, and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a company in need of programmers out here. But we need a die hard, I'm afraid. I'd be more specific, but I don't want to abuse Rob's discussions with attempts to snag me a programmer -;)
Re:Good stuuf (Score:1)
Re:Phone number...? (Score:1)
Review (Score:1)
Loved the "extasy" comment...
Budget for nicknames?
"This time all of our equipment works" Ahh some Microsoft compatable hardware found there way into the Slashdot compound?
Hacked to heck in post production...
When "certen people" lost there reading glasses I have to blow up the screen using ctrl alt +...
I think now I'll call that "pixles the size of fists mode"...
Me thinks Sony will need something more that "I love you" before they'll send you a screen...
Threaton to do no more reviews if they don't give
you the visor.
Ohhh more people who like to dance nakid in jello.. we need some detox group for that...
Jello dancers annonomous...
On politics... Here is how that works.. they take a part of your brain when you run and if you win they take the rest... I lost....
I understand now a days they replace it with a Windows NT but I put in for the new Linux port for Politicians...
Jeff gets -1? Is that really nessisary [kissing up]
I'm having mpg3 tech problems but my box is hacked to heck and I usually have lots of problems
Re:Guys ya need to make a few tech adjustments (Score:1)
I downloaded the mp3 and I almost the laughed myself to death. It was very funny. Keep up with this.
I didn't test the realaudio stuff, but I could tell that the audio levels were to high and saturated.
Cool sound effects. hehe. I love the part where you are talking about all the stuff you could do in post production :-)
people talking (Score:1)
---------------
Chad Okere
not bad (Score:1)
FYI, I liked browsing to the web sites as you guys mentioned things. For example, I went to the sony site to investigate the head mounted display. Maybe you could have a web page to complement your show that had links to all the sites you guys spoke about?
Finally, I think the thing that makes shows like Howard Stern a success is a strong opinion about something. Howeard, strongly believes that what he talks about is what people really want to hear. It doesn't matter if he's right or wrong, people listen to his show because he makes it interesting. I think your first show got off to a good start with that, but it's just something to keep in mind.
Re:My god Andover has gone to their heads..! (Score:2)
Ruin all my fun why don't ya ;)
Mirrors? (Score:1)
slashdot effect? :-) (Score:1)
--
Rob's World! Rob's World! Party on, excellent! (Score:3)
Re:Rob's World! Rob's World! Party on, excellent! (Score:2)
Soon tho ;)
And I'm worse than Mike Meyers.
Slashdotted ? (Score:1)