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Podcasting from Space
An anonymous reader writes "Podcasting has officially made it into orbit! According to a Geekzone article, Mission Specialist Steve Robinson delivered a short monologue off the southeast tip of Indonesia in which he described the morale of the Discovery crew at the end of their well-publicized mission: 'It's been a fantastic mission up here, absolutely amazing. Some of the hardest work that any of us have ever done. We haven't had a whole lot of sleep, and we've been extremely busy and really happy.' A transcript of the podcast as well as the MP3 itself can be found at Nasa's site."
You mean he recorded a message?
I wonder if they brought iPods into space with them
~Hergio
Will have escape podcasts. *rimshot*
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
isn't the main thing about podcasting that it is a subscription based service and not just an mp3?
this looks just like a downloadable mp3 that has had the name podcast attached to it because well because podcasting is the meme of the month
What is podcasting?
New NASA technology?
Something like blogs.
What are they doing about gravity on the space station? I refuse to believe that they just float around all day.
what in sam hill is a podcast? iPod? huh? stupid names
Doesn't the definition of "Podcast" require RSS?
Anyways, I thought it was very interesting and cool how they have done this, it should make others feel better about the space program.
I hope they continue this on future missions.
Nothing for you to see here, Please move along.
What the hell makes a podcast so different from an MP3 that it deserves its own word? I'm honestly not trolling here, it's just that the word is driving me nuts.
"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
From the article: Currently the NASA is not offering a RSS feed with enclosures for the podcast, so users must download the file directly from the host page. This is just an mp3 file of the recording... to make it something of a Podcast, the mp3 file has to be embedded into an RSS feed. This mp3 was just a http link on a web page.
1. Nasa publishes an MP3.
2. Someone finds the link to it.
3. Someone realizes they can listen to it on their portable media device.
4. This automagically turns into "podcasting".
5. Someone submits it to Slashdot under Apple using "Ipod" in the summary, solidifying it's chances of making it to the front page.
6. ???
I believe this may mark the birth of the first podcast actually worth listening to! What would be sort of hilarious is if I got modded down by angry podcasters. Not THAT hilarious though... :-(
This is truly amazing once you understand the details.
They take audio from the Shuttle, digitize it, convert it into an MP3 audio file, create an XML document that refers to the MP3 file, and then jam it all on an accessible web server.
The most amazing part: they have a pretty good workflow to do this whole thing!
Strangely, the web server was not actually located on the shuttle itself. What gives?
Podcasting (also known as blogcasting) is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s)....
The word "podcasting" is a portmanteau that combines the words "broadcasting" and "iPod." The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable music player.
So you're right, the astronaut merely recorded a message, which NASA published as an mp3 file, consequently making all the IPod-toting blog kiddies go hyper.
I could similarly claim Podcasting "officially made it into space" with Neil Armstrong's "One small step for man..." quote, since it's available as an audio file in a variety of places.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
It's actually the first personal black box recorder.
I don't see the link to the RSS feed anywhere on that page.
No RSS = not a podcast.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I'd like to know what steps an organization like NASA (who documents everything in quintriplicate) takes to send MP3 players to orbit.
First, I know that there's no requirement to have an MP3 player to make a podcast, so shush, this is just a segue.
For decades, astronauts and cosmonauts have brought cassete tapes with them, and then CDs. It's almost certain that they have MP3s now because of the dramatic weight savings, but how does a government organization as high-profile as NASA handle the copyright infringement aspects of electronic copies of music?
Do they have a papertrail that documents the physical existance of the original CDs or iTunes purchases back on terra-firma? Or is this one of those 'we don't talk about it' things?
I'm sure that the RIAA could, if it wanted, investigate and potentially make a case about this. The PR could be managed a few ways, but it would be interesting to see this in the public spotlight.
What would they argue, that the fact that MP3 players are being shared might exceed copyright limitations? Or would they adopt the 'aw shucks' approach and use it as a platform to show how the record industry has heart and supports our astronauts?
Either way, the specific documentation and procedures in place would be fascinating to examine to see how the big boys handle this everyman problem.
Isn't it a podcast only if there are at least two shows, and you can subscribe through RSS or something similar and get updates automatically? This sounds like a big miss-naming incident.
How is a podcast now an apple thing? I'm a longtime Mac user, so don't peg me as a hater, but podcasts were around long before Apple got wind of it... and you don't need an iPod to listen.
Maybe we need an online broadcast icon/category... since it's taking off like mad and anybody on any platform can take part.
Please, stop calling every kind of audio stream or download that hits the Internet a podcast.
Goo goo g'joob.
So, we should now credit Alexander Graham Bell for the first podcast?
Once the beast is in the wild, it's pretty hard to bring it back. Like "Hacker". It's out there for good.
But at least it's like Kleenex. Just because it's earned itself a business-related name doesn't mean that you can't use the technology.
"Goody Goody for our side!", as my grandmother used to say.
Luke
----
Send your boss to ChristianNerds.com, the Computer Encyclopedia that speaks in an easy enough language that even they could understand it.
Podcasts and other recorded messages like email as opposed to instant messaging and live broadcasts are certainly highly suited to space use due to the high distances involved and the problems presented by information only being able to travel as fast as the speed of light.
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
Apple didn't invent podcasting and has no control over it. It is named after the most popular audio player out there so that the masses will immediately get a general idea of what it's about.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
OK, so someone recorded audio in space? i think the Russians did this almost 50 years ago. I know our shuttle is 20 years old tech, but if you are celebrating the fact that someone one did something that's been possible for about 100 years and was first done half a century ago .. there is something wrong with you. or maybe i dint see the significance of it.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Don't worry, more gay marketing bullshit will forever be heading your way from a MBA near you. Happy, happy, joy, joy.
While this wasn't really a Podcast since it's just a one shot deal, maybe they are toying with the idea of doing a regular Podcast from the space station; This Week in Space(station)?
Just get some of the web people at NASA to put the weekly(?) audio in an RSS feed and then they would have a real Podcast.
Maybe this was just a first step to see how people would respond to a new media; they have videofile and other daily/weekly shows on NASA TV that they could use for content as well.
So NASA, was this a one shot deal from Steve or is it the start of something(s) bigger? ( A weekly Podcast for each major manned and unmanned mission? )
I don't think he recorded that, so no.
Major Tom come in this is ground control...what are you listening to on your Ipod? Yes I am very serious Major Tom...I have a phone call with prime minister Dimitry in ten minutes. No I can't ask him...he'll see the big board!
What's the difference between "Podcasting" (which seems to be the big buzzword now) and "streaming audio" which has been around forever?
We're going to Podcast wherever we can, just like we install Linux wherever we can?
Poddddddddddds... iiiiiiiiiin... spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!
Posting AC for obvious reasons.
I work for a NASA subcontractor, and let me tell you, NASA Civil Servants do NOT overdocument everything. They barely document anything, because that would cause them personal responsibility.
No, what they do is make the subcontractors (Lockheed, Raytheon, SAIC, etc.) document everything in quintriplicate, so they can show the branch chiefs huge libraries of papers and say "Look how productive our team has been under my guidance!"
The only document I ever saw a NASA Civil Servant produce was a memo for a lunch meeting.
I deally this would be a neat idea for open source.
I think the first "podcast", as in audio feed from RSS enclosures, was a recording about the goings on in the coding of the first podcast aggregator, that program is open source.
Except for the iTunes specific tags, the distribution coding is about as open as you can get, RSS is an open standard. MP3 and AAC aren't necessarily "open" standards, one could doo an oggcast.
What does this have to do with Apple?
You fool! Haven't you ever watched sci-fi?
spacepod broadcast?
"Podcasting from space"?
...
What tripe!
Hay, fanbois
Apple did NOT
1) Invent Computers
2) Invent GUIs
3) Make the "fastest PC".
4) Invent Alternate Browsers
5) Invent "Thinking Differently"
6) Invent throwing things at "1984"
7) Invent pretending to be open source.
8) Invent UNIX
and did NOT podcast from space.
Sorry, but I think I'm getting old. What exactly is Podcasting? Why is it hyped by even non-tech media? It is just an audio-stream recorded at home and put on a blog, is it? Why is it called Podcasting?
I'm not trolling here, but I really wanna know what's so special about Podcasting.
There already is and its called a "Blogcast". Truth is once a term is in general usage its hard to actually replace it with the proper term. Take a Hoover for example or how some people say they will Google for it. Also, I should note that anything that is easy and quick to say will tend to stick. One of the factors that appears to make something quick and easy to say is the lack of hard consonants.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Here it is.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
Podcasts via the Apple iPod have given the masses something simple and recognizable, packaging a short audio message from a single person to be consumed by lots of other people, usually strangers, personally (and on their own schedule). Many of us have been doing that for many years with the Net and other technologies, but it's finally gone massive with iPods. So we geeks should welcome the arrival of a simple word the normals can use to talk with us about all the other great stuff they could never otherwise even remember, let alone understand.
But I do wonder just how much "P2P audio publishing" like "podcasting" is actually consumed with an iPod in the loop. How many people are regularly tuning into "Internet radio" (another oversimplification for the normals) for their "podcasts"? How many just download audio files from a webserver, playing them on their PC (or Mac, or other stationary device)? And what fraction actually consumes podcasts on an iPod exclusively? Since even true podcasts first arrive on a computer, before being directed to the iPod, it seems likely that most podcasts are consumed on a PC, even if the person also consumes them on an iPod, too. Who's got the breakdown?
--
make install -not war
Man.. So freakin' cool! Everyone should listen yo this podcast! OMG!
......
I love little attempts to slip the Bible into unrelated discussions. It's almost funny.
What is your penile percentile?
First Apple, now NASA. Can people please stop hijacking the podcasting meme?
How can I be sure that I'm 'in', if low-lifes such as astronauts and artists associate themselves with my hobby?
one way to counter this 'podcast' label would be to start giving it a new name such as wavecast or beamcast or something else. and everytime some one uses podcast incorrectly then quietly correct them without raising any extra conflict and proceed with the conversation.
/.
if they dont understand, create a framework for agreement by pointing out the similarities in the two definitions. once this framework is established proceed by pointing out the differences but follow that with an example of the new label's use and carry on as if nothing wrong had happened. ignore their apparent confusion and act as if they will eventually get it. do not get ruffled up. keep your voice low and steady so they can feel the authority in your voice.
more jedi mind tricks tuesday nights on
Are you familiar with teis newfangled signature technology?
Apparantly I don't understand the basics of spelling.
Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
I seem to recall we built these things called satellites which sit in this thing called a geo-synchronous orbit.
And we did it to save money.
Now we're going backwards.
Whatever - MTV still is lame.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
"In 1883 Bell invented the graphophone (an early type of iPod), the first practical system of sound recording. The laboratory also experimented with flat disc records, electroplating records, and MP3 digital audio encoding".
The first instance of podcasting in space occurred in 2001 when Dave said: "Open the pod bay doors please Hal!"
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
That makes the first podcast I've paid for. :P
I put up a personal web page that I update somewhat regularly. In 1993, I just had a web page. Now, ooooh, look at me, I'm "Blogging". In 1998, I put an MP3 link on my web page. Today, I do the same thing, and I'm oh-so-hip "Podcasting". It's so much lame marketing hype.
Not that marketing hype doesn't have it's value, and at least _real_ podcasting involves using RSS ( which it seems this doesn't ) but all the same: Bloggers, you have a web page. Podcasters, you have an MP3 served up by RSS. Get over yourselves, you are not doing something new, you're part of a trend that's so common it needed a marketing label.
I'd be a lot happier about this story if it just said there was a recording made by a shuttle astronaut available on NASA's web site. What would be wrong with that? That's plenty cool by itself. Why does it have to be 'Podcasting' ?
Since Yahoo search just passed Google in number of indexed sites, better change Googling into "ho"ing.
I don't see the link to the RSS feed anywhere on that page. No RSS = not a podcast.
And that RSS feed would make just how much of a difference, if I may ask?
I refer you to Maddox's "If these words were people, I would embrace their genocide". It's a good read for all you people who seem to think all these blogs in the blogosphere podcasting Filegate-pundits actually is something more than stupid words for old things.
No, really. Read it.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
And that RSS feed would make just how much of a difference, if I may ask?
It would allow my podcast receiving program to automatically check and download new episodes of their show on a regular basis, and put it onto my portable player automatically, whereupon I could play it at my leisure. Usually while driving in my car, in fact.
This isn't a podcast mainly because it's not a show. There's no episodes. It's a one shot thing.
As for RSS, are you seriously uncertain about the value of having common standards by which to transfer information?
I refer you to Maddox's...
Maddox is a fucking moron. He defines "podcast" as putting an audio file online, which in fact misses the whole point. NASA put this audio file online, but it ain't a podcast. That's what I *said* in the first place.
A podcast is a regularly produced show, like a radio show. The method of distribution, however, differs from radio. That's really all it is. It is difficult? No. It is special? Not really. Is it revolutionary? Yes, in point of fact it is. It doesn't have to be complex or groundbreaking to be important.
People are putting home-made radio shows (mostly talk shows) online and then using a format (RSS) which allows people to subscribe to these shows and thus receive/listen to them on a regular basis. It may not be particularly complicated to do, but that's part of why it's so popular, yeah?
Putting audio online is an old thing.
People creating their own radio shows that millions of people download and listen to is not.
Yes, yes, streaming audio, but streaming audio never really took off, and it never really will. The bandwidth isn't there. The always on connectivity isn't there. The distribution model relies on using a public point to point packet based network to send broadcast type information in real time. Streaming audio just doesn't freakin' work.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Nuff said!
"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low
Angry Guy:
What's your point? Are you out of meds already? Or is diaper rash making you cranky right before nappy time? What IS wrong with you?
Mom
I also listened to the shuttle mission live on my VX2R handheld (about the size of an iPod), courtesy of NA6MF, the NASA Ames amateur radio club retransmitting their internal audio feed on 145.585 MHz.
And just for funsies, I made a sample PodCast RSS of W1AW Morse code practice.
So what you are saying is that applying the well known thing RSS to something as basic as putting audio-files online is revolutionary?
Jeez. I better start to refer to my automatic torrents-downloads as torrentcasting! Oh. One for audio, one for movies and one for tvshows. Showcasting! Now that'd be a showoff in buzzwordism wouldn't it? And my news-checking? Nucasting! Awesome. I'm on a roll here!
But I guess the fact that it's outside the "blogosphere" means that it ain't buzzword worthy. So people use RSS to do something traditional. Now we need a new word? Would you care to fiber-opt me the new'n'hot buzzword worthy list of other revolutionary achievements?
Yes. That was sarcasm.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
Mod me down more apple fan boys... :)
I'm working on a good joke about your mom being
Your comment just created a deep disturbance in the blogosphere. May the trackback be with us.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
Podcasting is just another hip-to-be-cool term coined by some luminary metrosexual in the blogosphere.
Thank you. Beautifully worded.
What the article title, especially combined with the whole issue of the word "Podcast", reminds me of is this: I can't be the only one who remembers that back in ~1999-2000, the Slashdot guys had their own internet "radio" show, GEEKS in SPACE
They would record themselves rambling for a half-hour or so about whatever had been big on Slashdot that week, then post an MP3 of that recording. Sure sounds like a "Podcast" to me, though I'm sure it wasn't the first either, despite having been years before the iPod first came out.
David Gould
main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}
"Blogcast" is a colossal mistake, an own goal of epic proportions. While it does at least admit that podcasting is a distinct phenomenon from previous streaming or non-episodic audio distribution, it fails to be more descriptive than "podcast" and, perhaps more importantly, it sounds terrible.
While podcasting has roots in blogging, a podcast is not a blog. Since they do not have hyperlinks or comment sections, they often contain actual original content, and are cheapened by the comparison to blogs.
But that problem has nothing on the way the word sounds. "Blogcasting" might work if we were just talking about it on blogs, but podcasts are spoken, and it's impossible to pronounce "blogcast" properly without very nearly coughing in the middle. If you give up on proper pronunciation, it degenerates into "blahcast".
"Blogcast" looks okay in print, but since it sounds stupid, nobody will want to say it. You need a better term to defeat "podcast"; I suggest "netcast", though perhaps it's trademarked.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
I listened to the entire crew conversations on bbc.co.uk via streaming audio.
It wasn't given any ghey name, I just listened, it was great, I could heard them calling out rolls pitches, deltas, and it was quite spooky, at one point the hairs on my neck stood on end.
Now. FFS. They obviously used the same audio channel to record his 'mp3'. So I wouldn't even say this qualifies as 'recording an mp3 in space and copying the file to somewhere else'. Just recording the perfectly good live stream, which was mulitplexed around the world by hundreds of carriers, and fed into thousands of live streams.
Why did my stream not have a stupid name? Because it was before all those hyperventilating twats/cunts (delete as applicable) figured out how to use a computer, you know the type, not really giving anything back to society... and now they are all over the web, spreading their disease of the cult mind.
They are so spassy, they have spawned plenty of sites just to help them copy and blog and spunk over each others mindless drivel.
The noise on google is worse every day, as 100 million self proclaimed experts carry out their duty to write about everything and everything (actually, whatever they can find on other peoples blogs) and then repost them as stories on as many sites as they can, to drive traffic, which makes them happy, and feel needed in society.
My word of the day seems to fit this quite well:
To confirm you're not a script,
please type the word in this image: panted
random letters - if you are visually impaired, please email us at pater@slashdot.org
Hey listen to my podca*crunk-sound of face being caved in*.
I mean, XML showing the locations of mp3 files... and... wait for it... titles and or descriptions.
And people then suddenly, amazingly, think this new technology is an ENABLER of something they couldn't do before, so everyone has to now record audio.
And the problem is, they are literally forcing themselves to do so, and the content is so fucking contrived. phew, nuff trolling.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
I wonder who those guys called ISO are, that they endorse the MPEG-4 audio spec that includes AAC? Maybe a stardards body?
... getting Geeks in Space back up and going? I mean, podcasting is all the retard rage these days so why not ring it back slashdot?
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
I'm going to hell.
"Some of the hardest work that any of us have ever done. We haven't had a whole lot of sleep, and we've been extremely busy and really happy."
The more you have to occupy your time, the less idle time you have to hang around with the other astronauts and start saying things like "So... think we'll make it back?"
And really, what are you railing at here? The fucking name? ... Jesus, dude. Get over it.
Oh well. I think it's stupid, so be it. But I think you just proved my point. That it's because of the whole "blogosphere" thing that it's buzzwordworhty, and nothing else.
Me? I'm oldschool. I prefer to call a showel a showel, not a dirtcaster. But again, that's just me.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4136108.stm
:P
"Podcast" is now in the Oxford English Dictionary. So there you go, it's now offically a word.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.