Good Podcasts

Okay, I have written a few times about listening to podcasts on my mobile phone (Nokia 6630), which for me is the killer app for UMTS (Yes, I got an unlimited data plan) . Maybe some of you are interested what I listen to. Here is my very subjective list of "good" podcasts:

Tech Talk:

• This week in tech (TWIT): a classic podcast with a panel of about five people, talking about this weeks news in technology. Very entertaining and useful to stay up-to-date.
• Cranky Geeks: really a video show, but can also be downloaded as an mp3 (and you don't really miss that much). Hosted by John C. Dvorak (also on the TWIT panel) who is quite cynical, radical, entertaining and often very funny.

Digital Photography:

• The Digital Photography Show: Scott and Michael talk about digital photography (as the name implies). Includes also useless but entertaining banter between the two. They cover news, equipment, have usually an interview and almost always give-aways that you can win. Even I have won a book in one of their contests (I usually never win at contests!).
• Happy Shooting (German): very entertaining talk of two guys that know a lot about (digital) photography even though they aren't pros. Useful tips and explanations.
• Tips from the Top Floor: one of the guys from Happy Shooting in an English podcast mainly about photography in general but with a slight digital focus. Has sometimes interesting side-steps, for example sight-seeings in a kindergarten
• Photocast Network: a network of several (very good) podcasts on photography (including the two above). Currently includes 11 podcasts, one of which is German and one Spanish.

Movies:

• Ebert & Roeper: a classic, though Mr. Ebert is seriously ill at the moment, but other people take his seat. Covers most of the big new movies every week with highly subjective but useful critique.
• Entirely Entertaining (German and English): very good movie reviews with humor and a good opinion. Also covers a "treasure chest" every week with older, unknown movies.

Mobile:

• The Voice of S60: interviews with important people in the S60 (symbian, an operating system for mobile phones) world. The first episodes were much to low in volume on my phone. Don't know if this is a general problem or just my phone and me.

That should be enough to get you through the week. It's enough for my daily commute of 2x30 minutes, at least.

Switch

I decided to switch the language of the blog entries to English. This will accomplish two things: 1. reach a larger audience (which is non existent at the moment anyway) 2. make me practice my English (of course this implies that I write more than the 4 entries a year that I used to write; I will try my very best)

I will not translate my old entries. You have to practice your German for this...

Good (?) Old Times

Ist mir gestern beim Aufräumen in die Finger geraten:

Mai 1998	HP Photosmart	0,3 MP	4 MB Speicher	399 DM
Juni 1999	Fuji MX 600Z	1,3 MP	8 MB Speicher	1030 DM
April 2000	Smart Media Speicherkarte	-	32 MB (!)	199 DM (!!)
Juni 2001	Canon IXUS 300	2 MP	64 MB Speicher	1397 DM
Dezember 2002	Fuji S602Z	3 MP	128 MB Speicher	795 EUR
???	Digitale SLR	6-8 MP	1 GB Speicher	699 EUR

Mobiles Brausen

Inzwischen hat man unter Series60 schon eine ganz schön große Auswahl an Browsern:

• Opera 8.51
• NetFront 3.3
• ThunderHawk 3.5
• der eingebaute Browser
• der neue Series60 Browser (leider nur für die 3rd Edition)

Ich benutze zur Zeit ausschließlich Opera, nachdem ich lange Zeit mit NetFront und Opera parallel gearbeitet habe. NetFront war früher etwas schneller (ist nach der Version 8.5 nicht mehr der Fall) und braucht immer noch weniger Speicher, ist aber sehr unflexibel in der Lizenzierung. Meine alte Lizenz wurde für die neue Version nicht mehr akzeptiert und der Support sagte mir, dass ich mich neu registrieren muss.

Dazu habe ich keine Lust (so toll ist der Browser dann auch wieder nicht). Opera war hier immer schon sehr flexibel, meine Historie reicht von 6.2 über 8.0 bis 8.51. Außerdem gefällt mir das Rendering von Opera optisch einfach irgendwie besser, der Browser quetscht auch etwas mehr auf das Display als NetFront.

ThunderHawk sieht super aus und hat ein erfrischend neues Konzept, leider funktionieren (bei mir zumindest) die Lesezeichen nicht, das macht ihn recht unbrauchbar.

Der neue S60-Browser sieht ja sehr fesch aus (in der Flash-Vorschau), aber kommt wohl erst mit dem nächsten Handy ins Haus...

Na ja, insgesamt kann man mit Opera sehr gut arbeiten, selbst das Online-Banking geht. Wenn die jetzt nur noch die schönen Fonts von Opera Mini einbauen würden...