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Geeks in Space, Episode 4 39

Posted by CmdrTaco from the nothing-better-to-do dept.
If you'd like to listen to the latest edition of Slashdot Radio: Geeks in Space, go on over to the page over at The Sync. Else you can just listen to RealAudio 8.5 kbps, MP3 Instant Play 24 kbps or Download MP3 24 kbps for safe keeping (cough cough). This week we talk about MSs contest to crack a W2k box, the Red Hat IPO, man made viruses, and more. Also not that this is probably the last time that we'll mention Geeks in Space on the Slashdot homepage. From now on we'll announce new episodes on the Geeks in Space Section on Slashdot. So bookmark it if you care.
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Geeks in Space, Episode 4 More

Geeks in Space, Episode 4

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  • Well, the show is recorded using this process:

    First, the mics are input into a 4-channel mixer, which signal is put through a compressor (to give us a nice "radio"-esque sound) and finally the whole mess is recorded on a Dell Inspiron 3000 (Crystal Sound card) running the "Potato" release of Debian. We use SoundStudio, a freely available Tcl/Tk program to do the actual recording, and compress it with whatever mp3 encoder we have handy. Then, it's shipped off to The Sync for post-production, which is done in Sound Forge under win9x, IIRC.

    Any other questions about our process? Feel free to email me at pater@slashdot.org.

  • Maybe it was somewhere closer to my computer then.

    Watching the statistics graph it never remains at 8.5 or above for more than half a second before dipping waaaay down and back up again.

    Usually, as soon as it was released I always had much too much time spent in dips to play well.


    ~Chris

  • First of all, Please keep it on the homepage. Or at least in a slashbox. I mean it really doesn't take up much space and if you give it its own category people can block it out through preferances.



    Also, I can never play the ra stream until about two days after the release (over my modem). Is there any way you guys can try to work against slashdotting?



    ~Chris Carlin

  • Everything is fine up 'til

    ...compress it with whatever mp3 encoder we have handy. Then, it's shipped off to The Sync for post-production, which is done Sound Forge...

    So you do lossy compression into MP3, then expand it back into a WAV for SoundForge, then compress it back into MP3. Ugh, nasty.

    Please, please invert in a little more bandwidth so you can send an un-MP3'd file for post...
  • Actually, you could still use this method to create something new, although not from scratch. One of the great aspects of this method is that one could better determine what each segment *did* by leaving it out/mutating it. Plus, sticking in some new code is cool, although that isn't exactly new.
  • They did make a virus from genes. And you can build custom DNA strings (If I don't remember completley wrong). So then it's all a matter of programming. Wich shouldn't be too damn hard either, viruses is usually only a couple of KB's large.
  • But who is the other one?
  • I don't understand why you should have problems getting the 8.5 kbps RealAudio stream...we actually don't get that much traffic on that side of the operation. The MP3 server is actually located on a different network from the RealServer.

    Feel free to send technical questions to info@thesync.com [mailto] and we'll try to help you out.

  • Have to say it sounds a hell of a lot like Wayne's World to me...

  • ...I noticed. Besides, if there's no equal way to leave responses, we'll never have hot flame wars.

    It's really nice to be able to use more senses as input channels - less time-slicage on vision. Then again, we do have speech synthesizers - anyone have a slashdot reader script for festival?
  • I'd like to second this oppinion. I was kinda surprised to see gis4 announced, when I wasn't aware of gis3 ever being released. Of course, figuring out where the mp3 is saved on theysync's servers is easy, but still...
  • I can't use realplayer as it dosn't like my soundcard as a result downloading the mp3 is my only hope.

    Sadly I can't. The server dosn't respond. It acts like it's down.

    What are the chances of setting up some mirrors?
  • It doesn't play on RealPlayer 5, the only RP available for Linux. :-(

  • Ain't it great! Long live geeks/nerds!
  • See subject. Just supporting him...
  • get it Here (http://192.148.252.197/geeks31.mp3) [192.148.252.197]

    actualy, this was about the funniest one I've heard. it's not really a "service pack" to #3, but a take on the whole Andrew Lenard Artical about Slashdot's amazingly stupid PR firm......
    "Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
  • Do you use Linux to record the MP3? Maybe this
    is more a question for the Ask Slashdot section,
    but it would be interesting to discuss how well
    Linux works for internet radio.
  • Take it easy on the "College" analogy, you make it sound like a bad thing. (You must remember, CmdrTaco is about 23 years old.) (Or, just graduated from College)

    Besides, I think it's kind of refreshing, and very "nerdy" (in a good way). It reminds me of my College days.

    *Falls back into the nostagia for a few more minutes.*
    *Carlos: Exit Stage Right*

    "Geeks, Where would you be without them?"

  • Listen to all the complaints...bah..I love it...just because its not the news with some boring anchor people get mad...bah. Keep up the good work.
  • Love it, folks. Keep it coming. I agree with those requesting a slashbox, it gives more options. In reference to people who would trash your style, may I remind them that this isn't a "professional" production, and CT, H, & Co. are still working on it. Do you honestly expect that Howard Stern of Rush Limbaugh (to cover both ends of the spectrum, STS) got it perfect by their 4th show? Let the guys have fun, otherwise it may not be worth doing at all. This is their chance to personalize their views beyond a one-liner on a submission. Keep it up. You'll find a balance between what you want to do, and what the listeners like, soon enough.
  • In fact, I am only a year out of college myself and had a radio show for 2 years while at school. But I tried to provide content and run a good show.

    I listend to a lot of different college radio shows while in school, some were childish, some were quite good. I just see the potential for this one to turn into a 5 minute string of snorting and finger-pulling. I enjoyed the first 2 episodes a lot, and I hope they can return to the original format.

  • I think this show had/has a lot of potential, but for now I see it doing nothing but a tail spin into the ground. You spent half the episode talking about releasing your super-viris...very lame.


    It has taken on the form of a bad college radio show. Take some steps to improve it and I think it will work.

  • Stop killing me with laughter! THIS RULES!~ Ahh! At least you haven't stolen my one other great radio idea. Please, keep a backlog of these so I can collect (steal) them all! ;-)
  • I downloaded the MP3s while I was working today, and it certainly provided a change of pace from the boring stuff in front of me. It did brighten my day, kinda, to hear people having fun - and that's the important stuff.

    And rest assured, you're not driving your audience away - well, not all of it.

  • heh (Score:2)

    by drwiii ( 434 )
    Listened to it last night.. As much fun as I think it'd be to have a guillotine-Rob's-fingers-off cam, the best parts were the token screeching/crashing car sound effect played when talking about the W2k test site, and Jeff's little medical talk.

    I've also been keeping track, this is the first time Microsoft has even been mentioned on the show.

    Keep up the good work. (:

  • uh (Score:2)

    by Suydam ( 881 )
    no offense....but would it be possible to block out all "Geeks in Space" articles from the home page? I know there's category blockage....but I sure would like to keep this off too :)

    Again...no offense Rob...it's just that I'm here for news.

    Also...please don't flame (others) and say "don't click if you don't want to read"....i'm only asking for a way to block these articles just like we can block others.


  • I'll never remember to check the bookmarked page, guys! That's just unrealistic. I say give us a new slashbox for the show, which would have links to the page with the shows for each week (is this a regular weekly thing? Time goes funky during the summer). That way when a new one shows up it'll be right there on the front page of /.

    Brynn, the forgetful
  • From the (really too short to be called an) article:

    Also not that this is probably the last time that we'll mention Geeks in Space on the Slashdotomepage. From now on we'll announce new episodes on the Geeks in Space Section on Slashdot. So bookmark it if you care.

    'Nuff said.
  • Registrant:
    SULLIVAN, LARRY (GEEKSINSPACE-DOM)
    1345 Webster
    PALO ALTO, CA 94301
    US

    Domain Name: GEEKSINSPACE.COM

    Administrative Contact:
    SULLIVAN, LARRY (LS11115) rlsullivan@EARTHLINK.NET

  • Yes, just replace the 4 in the URL with 3, 2 or 1. ;-)
    Thats Geeks #1 [192.148.252.197], Geeks #2 [192.148.252.197], and Geeks #3 [192.148.252.197].

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