A Podcast from Network Administrators

MakoStorm writes "The guys over at wehatetech.com have been working really hard on their Podcast. "After This Week in Tech", and others. It was time for a Podcast that others might enjoy. With a bit of ranting, whining, and over all dislike for the dreaded stuff we need to fix every day." The site also offers an open forum to dump your horror stories in an effort to prevent technophiles from going postal.

Comments

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[benna]

So true. Seriously, why is slashdot advertising someone's podcast?

Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Seumas]

I used to want Geeks in Space to return as a podcast, but I don't think that would fly anymore. The half dozen or so episodes they managed to pull together were all before 90% of the community developed a sincere hate for the editors.

Also, it was back when there weren't 400 different editors that nobody could remember.

Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Saven Marek]

because there are so many podcasts out there that are crap may as well give some time to the good ones.

assuming they are good. I am still listening to episode 13 of the one in the story but unfortunately their mp3 encoder really sucks and the ringing is terrible on all my mp3 players. pity

Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Saven Marek]

ok I finished listening to the podcast and I must say it's disappointing this is on the front page of slashdot. If the poor quality mp3 wasn't bad enough, the shrieking and random burping out loud while babbling on like 14 year olds is.

No wonder some of the commercial station podcasts are climbing up the charts as popular if this is what counts for an amateur one.

Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Crixus]

I don't have a problem with advertising a Podcast, as long as it's a good one. ;-)

Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[Omicron]

I agree. I threw a few of the ep's on my MP3 player for my walk to work.....I tried listening to a whole thing, but had to shut it off after 15 minutes. It was bad.....some guy belching into the mic, mostly unfunny comments...

I was hoping for something similar to DHBiT...but this wasn't even close.

Rant rant stupid users

[ReformedExCon]

Work is so tough.

But I got time to make a podcast! ;-)

Re:WTF is a Podcast?

[Anonymous Coward]

Stolen from Wiki:

Podcasting is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely due to automatic downloading of audio onto portable players or personal computers.

Podcasting is distinct from other types of online media delivery because of its subscription model, which uses a feed (such as RSS or Atom) to deliver an enclosed file. Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated "radio shows," and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution method. Listeners may subscribe to feeds using "podcatching" software (a type of aggregator), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically. Some podcatching software is also able to synchronise (copy) podcasts to portable music players. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play podcasts. The same technique can deliver video files, and by 2005 some aggregators could play video as well as audio.

"Podcasting" is a portmanteau word 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. For that reason, various writers have suggested reinterpreting the letters POD to create "backronyms" such as "Personal On-Demand."[1] The term "Radio Me" was coined by Peter Day of the BBC for the same reason. A little-used alternate is "blogcasting", although this usually only refers to recordings that are based on, or similar in format to, blogs.

Shameless

[Anonymous Coward]

Putting down another podcast while making a comment on one you like is just shameless advertising.

Re:As Good as a Rest

[Council]

Well that will certainly make a nice change from Slashdot's usual calm, reasoned discussions.

Well, on the Windows vs. Linux discussion earlier (guy who switched for ten days story), did you notice that the discussion was intelligent, civil, and pretty moderate? I think that Slashdot has just gotten overfamiliar with every W/L argument and the discussions just go like chess games played by rote.

Now I'm just waiting for the same to happen to discussions of copyright law.

Businesses Jumping into Podcasting

[dotslashdot]

Podcasting has really taken off. Many companies are trying to jump into podcasting to target consumers with ads, etc. What was once simply common folk making interesting podcasts will soon (if not already) become yet another communication medium saturated with advertisements and promotions, reducing its value.

Re:Businesses Jumping into Podcasting

[uprock_x]

What was once simply common folk making interesting podcasts will soon (if not already) become yet another communication medium saturated with advertisements and promotions, reducing its value.

Possibly, but I disagree, a few posts pack there is an article about independent net radio and similar media, someone brought up 9/11 Truth radio.

There is an enormous appetite for this kind of stuff these days because it's simply not being delivered by the so called mainstream broadcasting at all. On those very rare occasions I switch on the TV, it's just one terrible slice of goverment press releases. It's unwatchable.

When I discovered podcasting (which I'd long avoided as it seemed another shallow buzzword like blogs etc) I was really impressed at some of the content out there which I would call as good as if not better than any commerical mainstream outlet would produce. Even the crap podcasts are well...no more crap than the crap you would hear on the radio.

Ads aren't neccesarily a crime. It really depends on context. Targeted ads (although I tend to block all web page ads) are at least better than generic stupid TV ads or worse still 'state broadcasting' and if it's a podcast rather than a stream you can always skip them of course.

In a nutshell IMHO, if you have something to say ads are ok, if you don't then ads aren't gonna help you anyway.

Re:Businesses Jumping into Podcasting

[Lumpy]

you bet, but there is a HUGE difference. the media companies can not force the indy podcaster out of business or off the air like they do in FM or AM broadcasting.

They can not shut up the little guy, which scares the hell out of them.

Re:Businesses Jumping into Podcasting

[klept]

At least you have a TV. I dont. And the reason is because I agree 100% about your opinion and the reasons for it

Someone has to get to it....

[djupedal]

BOFH podcasts....now that's a match made in digital heaven :)

Or how about a website that reads other sites and podcasts them automatically? You supply a url and the 'bot stufs it where iTunes can grab it.

Re:Someone has to get to it....

[NatasRevol]

30 minutes of applescript and RSS should take care of that.

If you hate technology

[multi-flavor-geek]

Why are you on slashdot? Burn your computer, especially if you are at work. Smash all of your appliances. Cut the power feed for your house. Throw that cell phone away. Sell your car for scrap. Hunt neighborhood cats and cook them over an open fire in the backyard. And then you will sit there crying all night wishing you could blog about this new liberating experience on myspace.

Re:If you hate technology

[multi-flavor-geek]

But cats, mmmmm flesh.
Actually there safe, I am a vegatarian, but wha has ever heard of stalking and killing a carrot?

Re:If you hate technology

[Goaway]

You mean you hadn't noticed yet that Slashdot is pretty much a hive of technology-fearing luddites? These people think RFID is the scariest thing since barcodes, and keep going on about how analog cameras will always be better than digital ones, and how they want a phone that JUST MAKES PHONECALLS!

Re:Their site has an Alexa ranking of 2,853,057

[strider44]

Yes we should only visit the same sites as people with spyware damnit!

Podcasting eh..?

[hagem01]

The minute the guy that repairs my bike started to babble about how podcasting was cool I knew it had no future. Bike-guy: "Did you know you can download music and radio stations from the interweb and play it whenever you want? LIVE!" Me: "Live? As in, the radio people wait for you to turn on your MP3 player and then start their show?" Bike-guy: "YES! Is that not fantastic?"

Re:Podcasting eh..?

[bleckywelcky]

I know you joke, but This Week in Tech will be doing a live broadcast sometime in the near future. TWiT is a conglomeration of old ZDNet / TechTV folks that discuss the latest technology news. I personally think that the production is one of the most professionally done by a group of "hobbyists" (I say "hobbyists" because the podcast is not a production of some company, but most of the people in the podcast have professional video/sound production experience). Having said that, the content gets a bit dull sometimes. They will start off with an interesting subject but sometimes end up in back-and-forth banter. Still, most of it is pretty interesting, even if it mirrors the front page of Slashdot on occasion. They are currently up around their 18th podcast (headed by Leo Laporte), and have plans to meet in a SF Bay area pub/tavern/restaurant to do future tapings. As well, they will be doing their live podcast eventually.

Horror story.

[Vo0k]

So, I created this site, podcast, forums, submit your own horror story. Spare bandwidth of my company, not much, maybe 1000 hits a day, server working at leisure, no problem. And then some moron submitted the URL to Slashdot...

First, the corporate site went down. Then I got a call from the ISP that we're taking up 99% of their bandwidth and their customers are complaining. Manager called and told me to stop it at once or I get fired. So I shut the server down, but it didn't help, hordes requesting documents, storm of retry packets. The router began overheating and entered thermal shutdown mode, cutting off most of the LANs of the company. Boss showed up, just nodded watching as a glass of coffee I left on a tiny hub connecting the router with the main modem starts boiling, took his phone, called the CEO and said "Give them all a day off. We're slashdotted." and then looked at me and in terribly calm voice announced: "You. Fix that."

Re:Horror story.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

In all seriousness, I think it's a good time to set up a denial of referrals from Slashdot. Hopefully it would slow them down a bit.

Re:Horror story.

[whitehatlurker]

Only for those people that browse with referrers (sorry, that is "Referer:"s) turned on.

I have Proxomitron turn those off for me. (Yeah, I know, some browsers can turn them off directly, but I do have to use other browsers from time to time.)

Re:Horror story.

[Dwarfgoat]

Is it really as bad as all that? I'm fairly certain my web servers would stand up admirably to a slashdotting. Does anyone have any real numbers on what sort of traffic a good slashdotting generates? Our average daily traffic is six million unique visitors...I can't imagine Slashdot could add that big a percentage of that.

Now mind you, I'm fairly confident, but not certain. I'm not about to challenge the world to "do their worst" against my boxes, so no URL for you!

(Though an intuitive googler could probably figure it out. Oh, and if you *do* think you have it, I'm talking about my work boxes, NOT my personal or band websites. Those? Those would go down with a whiff of magic smoke in a hurry!)

Cheers

Re:Horror story.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Very few people change their referer line though, and in this case, I don't think the Slashdot crowd as a whole bothers with it. I know I haven't, even though I know it can be done. For the most part, I haven't seen the need to do that. I could be wrong on all this though.

I hate podcasts

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it just me, or are 99% of the podcasts out there completely braindead. I couldn't listen to more than 10 minutes of this one. If you took all of the actual things said in this thing and put it together, you'd end up with 5 minutes of content. Do people actually listen to this junk?

Re:I hate podcasts

[Saven Marek]

I'm disappointed in many of them. It seems to be a great way to give broadcasting to the masses, so just anyone can make a radio show as easily as a large commercial radio station.

Unfortunately as the old cliche goes, this means that just anyone IS making their own radio shows. I'm finding the same stats as you, about 99% are trash, and the ones I've kept listening to are commercial/professional stations who just put their existing radio shows online.

We need a good freely accessible ratings service for podcasts in different categories. help people sort the chaff from the soap.

Re:I hate podcasts

[bhima]

I listen to about 1 to 1 1/2 hours daily... you just have to find some you like. And, in the words of the Beatles it's getting better all the time!

Re:I hate podcasts

[Rude Turnip]

"Is it just me, or are 99% of the podcasts out there completely braindead."

Tell me about it...I logged into iTunes yesterday and now George W. Bush's weekly radio address is now available as a podcast! I had to subscribe out of morbid curiousity.

Seriously though...there is a lot of crap to filter through, but there are some good ones. My two favorite podcasts are The Word Nerds and Catholic Insider. The Word Nerds are these three DC-area high school teachers that talk about the history and meanings of different words in the English language. Each week focuses on a different aspect of language and there is a "Rude Word of the Week." Catholic Insider is a weekly show hosted by a young Catholic priest in Amswoort, Netherlands, Father Roderick Vonhogen. It is not as overtly religious as you might think. He takes his listeners on soundseeing tours and is somewhat otaku about Star Wars. I'm not a Christian, but I'm a huge fan of his show because it is engaging.

Re:I hate podcasts

[justforaday]

And how exactly is this different from what's on the radio?

Re:I hate podcasts

[slim]

Is it just me, or are 99% of the podcasts out there completely braindead

You're slamming the medium when your real beef is with the content. Saying "I hate podcasts" because 99% of them are rubbish is like saying "I hate MP3s" because 99% of those are rubbish.

On any medium, there's a lot of dross around. Buy a CD at random, and the chances are you won't like it. Go to a random web page, it's likely to be dross.

This was the problem with the old mp3.com -- I'm sure there was great stuff on there, but it was diluted with mediocre stuff, and there was no layer to sort the wheat from the chaff.

With a lot of traditional media, we have an infrastructure that wades through the surfeit of available material and picks out the best for us. That infrastructure includes music radio, newspaper and magazine reviewers, word of mouth, etc. Sometimes it lets us down -- the system might completely overlook a great new novel or band -- but at least it does something, and we can tune our exposure to the system by listening to that DJ whose choices we usually enjoy, or reading the film reviews in the organ that we usually agree with.

Podcasting -- and non-label bands who publish straight to MP3 -- need that kind of promotional path. It's nice to see that this is actually happening. Say what you like about Adam Curry's Daily Source Code podcast, but it gets a lot of listeners, and he frequently plays promos for other podcasts, or describes and recommends podcasts he likes or things his listeners should check out. That's a start. He has said that what needs to happen is for other high profile podcasters to do the same, substituting their tastes for his.

This is what needs to happen. I wish developers would recognise this, instead of repeatedly falling into the trap of implementing ratings collectors. Podcast Alley collates votes and produces a top 10. Top tens don't interest me.

Re:I hate podcasts

[slapout]

You have to weed thru them to find the good ones. Try http://itconversations.com/ and also http://www.thisweekintech.com/

Re:I hate podcasts

[mmkkbb]

We have those. The problem is that:
1.) Anyone can make their own podcast directory.
2.) Everyone makes podcasts but NOBODY LISTENS

Re:I hate podcasts

[Skuggamara]

I'm not sure if this is any different from the frontier days of the "web". Everyone that had a computer and a dial-up connection was building a web page.

The problem with most of these webpages was that people were building them simply to build them, not because they had content to distribute.

Web pages are now passee, podcast are the new "thing. But, the content problem is even worse, as it is easier to ramble a podcast than to build a webpage.

I'm skipping on the podcasts for now, until the bandwagon breaks up and falls apart.

Re:I hate podcasts

[GMFTatsujin]

A friend and I recently started up a 'cast on role playing games that has a conversational, freeform tone. I realized at once from listening to the raw recording that there was a *lot* of editing to do.

From 2.5 hours of general chatting, I pulled about 40 minutes of solid, usable material. And that was before I cleaned up all the "ummm"s and "errrr"s and "you know"s from the mix. Verbal static has just got to go.

When I catch a 'cast, tune in to a radio show, listen to a lecture, or whatever, no matter where on the indie/pro spectrum it lies, I'm really tuning in for the core of the content. I suspect most of you out there are the same way.

We can't pick our audience, but we can choose what goes into our 'cast. I don't expect big numbers for our modest production, but the people who do show up will get the tightest show we can give them. If nothing else, the agony will be brief. :)

Re:I hate podcasts

[YrWrstNtmr]

Is it just me, or are 99% of the podcasts out there completely braindead.

Just like 99% of blogs. Podcasts are just audio blogs.
Generic ramblings by 'that guy' you always avoid at parties or at work, because he never shuts up, AND has nothing to say.

Re:I hate podcasts

[mmkkbb]

I am actually wrong about this. If I check my podcast download stats, compared with live listener stats, I get around 4 times more podcast listeners.

Re:I hate podcasts

[Goaway]

> sort the chaff from the soap. ...what?

Re:I hate podcasts

[SFEley]

We need a good freely accessible ratings service for podcasts in different categories. help people sort the chaff from the soap.

A lot of directories offer ratings by review score or by popularity. My personal favorite are the Podcast Pickle listings.

And podcasts aren't all just two people chatting at each other; you can find quite a lot of variety if you look. My own podcast narrates short science fiction. Like audiobooks, but shorter.

Re:As Good as a Rest

[strider44]

but the copyright story is forever changing as one side counters the other. First Napster then lawsuits then Kazaa then lawsuits then BitTorrent then lawsuits (OK one side is pretty boring but the entire thing's interesting and very arguable).

In the W/L argument there's been pretty much nothing happening - Windows hasn't had a release for the past four years and both sides are just getting ready for the next releases (Vista and KDE 4 pretty much). When Vista and KDE 4 get released things will heat up again don't worry!

Re:As Good as a Rest

[CleverNickedName]

Very true. :)

Perhaps there is a handy slashdot argument script doing the rounds.

l_slashdot.argueFor("Soldiers in Iraq");

So, geeks in space

[isorox]

So it's basically geeks in space, with an RSS feed? Wow, isn't 2005 such an amazing year!

When the world is full of metrosexual bloggers podcasting over a skinny latte with their blackberrys, you know there's no hope left.

Re:So, geeks in space

[ch-chuck]

Especially when they're podcasters making podcasts about podcasting.

Geeks in Space

[Anonymous Coward]

What I really want to see is a Geeks in Space podcast. I think it's time to revive the show in some form, and Podcasting is an ideal way.

Re:Geeks in Space

[MindStalker]

Well newest one in in a torrent. So they are halfway there! :)

Seriously... The forum?

[turbofisk]

"With a bit of ranting, whining, and over all dislike for the dreaded stuff we need to fix every day." I browsed the forum for 2 minates, and the ONLY thing I could find was ranting, whining and genuine dislike to anything. Why is slashdot even posting about their forum when the story's about podcast? In short, their forum wasn't newsworthy (I'm not sure the podcast is either though)!

Re:Their site has an Alexa ranking of 2,853,057

[benna]

I would say as a rule podcasts are not newsworthy, unless they are recorded by someone perticularly noteworthy, or they are particularly popular.

If you insist on posting this crap...

[EvilCabbage]

... please feel free to change the /. tagline. This is hardly news for nerds, nor is it something that matters.

This is indeed a sad day...

People hate books too.

[crovira]

99.99% of ANYTHING is crap. But that .01% of the total content of the universe makes it all worthwhile.

I listen to a podcast on wine tasting. If I didn't like wine, the entire thing would be an utter waste. Even then, most of it is only of passing interest, and then only to the people who had fun gathering the material, and to me.

Right now 99.99% of podcasts suck with their repellent production values. They have none. That will change as the geek factor diminishes and the abhorent contents kick in.

A lot of this is eminently forgetable. Some of it, like Slacker Astronomy is good (if you're into astrinomy...)

Here it comes...

[CovertPenguins]

Guess what they're going to talk about for 20 minutes next week? \/\/007! We're famous! At least their site will get ./'d once. :p

dead to slashdot!

[xtracto]

slashdot is broken!

long live slashdot!

'Inane silly rants, now in RSS'

[LarsG]

Absolute horrible dreck. Just two guys that thinks cusswords and whining is interesting. If people want good quality tech rants, they should go read BOFH or the scary devil monastery instead.

Podcast

[xerves]

Yeah, I will admit the last podcast was not really that great. After the first 10 minutes it gets better. What can I say, I am sicker than a dog and we did it around 1 AM with a $10 Mic and a FREE encoding program. If you have any comments on how to make it better such as software and mics to use, let me know.

Re:Podcast

[xerves]

#1 We are using Audacity. The problem is the $10 POS of Mic we are using and the fact we are doing it in a house with fans and dogs. As you might of noticed there are no ads on the site and everything is coming out of my pocket. The bandwidth hit is going to be another fun thing that will come out of my pocket. The point of the podcast is trying to have fun while talking about work. Some people just need to learn how to relax and unite instead of trying to divide everyone against each other. --Josh

Slashdot community poo-poo's Podcasting?

[4ginandtonics]

I don't get it. The Average Slashdotter sez:

Freedom of Speech: YAY!
Timeshifting media: YAY!
Podcasting: BOO!

Then why all these "podcasting sucks" comments?

Slashdot strangeness

[Dibblah]

Is ./ busted, or is it just me?

Someone should've warned me...

[LilMikey]

This is absolute shit. I listened to 5 of these damn things thinking 'hey, maybe they're just getting off to a slow start'. This guy and his friend are a couple of huge goobers that happen to be Microsoft zealots. They have trouble sqeeking out cognizant sentences and make up for their failure to produce a persuasive argument with stupid voices and cursing. I cannot believe this guy is a 23 year old MCSE.

I got some choice quotes for you:
On Avalanch: "Honestly, is there even a need for bittorrent even in the enterprise? Isn't that why we have file servers?"

On Vendors: "It's like fucking trying to fuck a monkey that's trying to fuck a football, that's what it's like."

On SGI: "You might as well take this card and shove it up your ass because you're going to be bleeding after you buy it"

I'm pretty sure that the only reason this appeared on Slashdot is because it's now oh-so-edgy and cool to post anti linux crap even if it's a couple of twats that encompass everything wrong with podcasting.

Re:Someone should've warned me...

[xerves]

*l* Maybe the Avalanch post is a tad off. But the other 2, can you tell me you love Vendors and it doesn't feel like you are trying to hump a football?

Re:Someone should've warned me...

[symbolic]

,,, even if it's a couple of twats that encompass everything wrong with podcasting. ...not to mention MCSEs

Podcast Awards?

[chocolatetrumpet]

We need a good freely accessible ratings service for podcasts in different categories. help people sort the chaff from the soap.

Umm... Podcast Awards?

Try out the winners.

I think I see how it works!!!11

[tod_miller]

"someone is recording an audio file with some content on it, that they could have typed out, but hey, its more fun using your downpipe to listen to someone day 'erm, ok, so, thats what, now, uh, and' as well as other verbal ticks that make these things so annoying."

That kind of story won't get published on slashdot.

Call it a podcast tough... and through the magic of obscure jargon and hipe 'buzz' this story gets posted!

Wooooooooow!

Forget paying people to blog, lets all start recording audio, shit, I mean podcasting!!

Download my whole website as one auto-generated sound file!! hurrah for TTS!!

podcasting: like a file containing audio data, but like, you know... called something else.

padcasting: If you cannot afford a fucking streaming server, and if it was live you would have to broadcast for 11 weeks to rack up 4 listeners... in total.

CAN WE DROP PODCASTING PLEASE.

In other news, websites that are fetched from xml based 'link' files (such as RSS) are now called 'webcasts' and for those who don't 'webcast' you should, it is cool! than photograph yourself with an ugly self proclaimed 'blogebrity' and be all hip!'

To confirm you're not a script,
please type the word in this image: wherein

random letters - if you are visually impaired, please email us at pater@slashdot.org

BTW this isn't a normal slashdot post!! no it is an iSlashdot-post-cast-log !!1phi

Total time interested in this podcast: 1 hour.

[Oscar_Wilde]

Seriously, how many people here subscribed to this podcast listened to an episode then unsubscribed?
 
Just because they're Network Administrators doesn't mean they are any more interesting to listen to than a 14 year old drivelling on about his day at school.
 
Allow me to summarise the latest episode for those who didn't listen in:

• Hey we're sysadmins!
• Another Windows virus! Oh, how very difficult our jobs are! Woe is us!
  
• Don't use IE!
• Don't use IE!
• Don't use IE! (this continued for a while. Apparently they thought that the kind of people who would listen to podcast by network administrators are unaware of FireFox's existence.)
• We really think Apple sucks! Anyone who buys a computer from Apple is an idiot! Apple has admitted that the iMac G5 is crap!!11!one! (looking at the summaries of their previous podcasts makes it seem that this is a common theme.)

 
I suspect that future episodes may follow exactly the same lines.

Re:Total time interested in this podcast: 1 hour.

[xerves]

You missed the next segment with larry the gnome and mr. crow bar. Listen on man, have some faith!