Analyzing an Experiment in Blogging

February 21, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Blogging, Social Media

Since October I've been experimenting here with some personal blogging. Why, you might ask, when I already blog at my job? Isn't that a busman's holiday? Perhaps. But I had plunked down money for this domain, and I had some ideas and obsessions to explore that didn't fit in with my work. And I also wanted to conduct a few experiments. When a blog is housed within a major news site, the metrics get hard to sort out. With some great content and breaking news, and a huge built-in audience, it is a simple matter to draw millions of views. (Palafo.com has drawn under 5,000 views in its entire existence, with who knows how many hundreds of those clicks attributable to family and friends.)

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 26

January 26, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

This week's installment is the Podcast Zeitgeist of second chances, and probably the last such post for a good long while. I'll continue to listen to a few favorites, but a hiatus is in order. This started as an effort to make some notes about what worked for me as a listener. But it became an exhausting and time-consuming exercise, particularly since I sampled many more hours than I ever wrote about. It was cutting into my Twittering time. At some point I may summarize what I have learned, or not.[See all lists.]

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 19

January 19, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Welcome to the Podcast Zeitgeist list: presented in apparently random order, at inconsistent intervals, its purpose obscure, its usefulness in doubt, its taste questionable, its methods and motives suspect. [See all lists.]

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 10

January 10, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

The list this week is tech-heavy and later than usual, mainly because of the "last" MacWorld Expo. {See all lists].

Podcast Zeitgeist, Jan. 1

January 01, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

There has been a lot of chatter about the podcasting business model, and whether it has been a failure. That talk intensified when a major commercial podcaster, Podango, warned recently that its death seemed to be near. None of this is of concern to me: I leave business models to the money people. My interest is content.I had more free time than usual this week, so the list is longer than usual (in the order I listened). [See all lists.]

Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 26

December 26, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

The mix this week is more culture than tech. Most of the podcasts I sample were off for the holidays, or they had recorded episodes in advance, so I went a little farther afield. [See all lists.]

Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 12

December 12, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

I'm mixing it up a little this week, adding some new podcasts from the iTunes Best of 2008 lists [iTunes Store Link], including a few with video under 10 minutes.

Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 5

December 05, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

There are 8 million podcasts on the naked Web. Each week, I listen to 10 or more of them and write some reviews. Here's the latest survey of independent audio featuring assorted nerds, geeks, freaks, mystics, fans and experts talking about the things they love. In the order I listened this week:

Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 28

November 28, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Here's my weekly roundup of podcasts from selected geeks, nerds, kooks, freaks, comedians, self-styled tech gurus and other denizens of the audio Web, in the order I listened this week:

Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 20

November 20, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

In a continuation of my peculiar hobby, here they are, in the order I listened this week, reports on a few of the podcasts of the geeks, nerds, freaks and boy-men of the Interweb:

When You're Dreaming and You Know It

November 15, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Paper & Ink

I was walking barelegged across a desert-like blue and red plain with sparse vegetation and rocks. There was a sudden sharp pain in my leg. I turned around and saw something out of the corner of my eye. Then it happened again. What was that? Somebody standing off to the side, out of my line of vision, but a friend, called out, "watch out! there's more of them!" And it happened again.

Podcast Zeitgesit, Nov. 13

November 13, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

What I got out of this week's podcasts for nerds and geeks:

Podcast Zeitgeist, Oct. 29

October 30, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Here are some impressions of the latest episodes from my current list of active podcasts. Topics covered included the election, the financial crisis, new Macs, Frank TV, your "Desert Island Sedaris," Santa vs. Odin and a squid with a dog's head that eats penguins at the South Pole. In the order I listened this week:

It's a Hodgman Infestation

October 21, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Paper & Ink

It's a great week for John Hodgman fans. Hodgman -- you know, "The Daily Show" expert, the guy who plays the PC in Mac ads. He is suddenly everywhere: back on Jon Stewart's show last night, talking to "Rachel Maddow" on Monday night, guest blogging on BoingBoing, Twittering about the presidential race, showing up in some new Mac/PC ads out, making appearances in New York, various blogs and podcasts. It's all about promoting his new book, "More Information Than You Require," officially released Tuesday. By the way, if we are heading for another Great Depression, we're going to need more than 700 hobo names.

Podcast Zeitgeist, Oct. 19

October 20, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Lately my music library has languished as I have loaded up my iPhone with podcasts of a certain type: Men (mostly) talking about gadgets, technology, movies, stuff on the Web, games, women, and news of the weird, among other topics. The list: