A number of folks have been working determinedly at getting video recording capabilities functioning on the Palm Pre since it's debut. Well, it would seem that the long wait is over. The recently released software is homebrew and a little rough around the edges, but apparently does record 320x480px@30fps. It doesn't take full advantage of the Pre's hardware, but it's a start.

[via IntoMobile]

Michael Jackson's death caused radio's roboprogrammers to take a back seat for a while. Increasingly, over the past few decades, broadcast radio has ceased to be a local affair. As the FCC regulations on local ownership of media outlets has faded towards corporate behemoths, radio programming more and more these days is done by databases and distant decision makers. For those of us who remember real radio dj's who made personal decisions about what song would come next, this has driven us more towards our own music collection, rather than being stuck listening to the corporate drivel. Pandora and Last.fm are okay, but they lack the personal touch.

With Michael Jackson's death announcement, the clacker driven music machine was taken off line, if only for a few hours and only on a few stations. Human beings again ruled the airwaves of some radio stations.

"It's a good reminder of what live radio can do, of the role that radio can play in bringing a community together,'' said Scott Fybush, editor of Northeast Radio Watch in Rochester, N.Y.

Many stations no longer have live announcers, using canned voices for part or all of the day, and so can't react to a major news event, he said.

DJ Deirdre Dagata, 39, has been working at Mix 98.5 part time since May, after being replaced at Kiss 108 by recorded programming the month before. And yesterday, she was back in action for the biggest radio day in memory.

Dagata was in constant motion during her 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift. Sitting in an elevated office chair in front of four computer screens, she punched blinking phone lines, tapped on keys, and slid knobs - simultaneously editing recorded calls and fielding a steady stream of new ones from listeners who wanted to share stories about Jackson.

Back in the day, I recall listening to the radio knowing something unique was happening. The radio announcers had their own tastes in music, and they helped to create a following around their musical tastes. Sometimes there was dead air as the dj missed the cue for a variety of human reasons, some more innocent than others. This caused me to volunteer at and work at several radio stations in the 1980's and 1990's. I actually chose my university because I liked the on air feel of the campus radio station, which turned out to be a very influential organization for me. At the station, I did on-air work, production of public service announcements, newscasts, dj training, and eventually became Program Director. The audience's active listenership of the music and programming was exciting to be involved with.

Back then, radio was a public service to be provided to the community, not just a marketing opportunity. Almost radio programming was done with people at the microphones, nearly always they were playing actual records, tapes or cds. Even the commercials were created in-house, except those for national campaigns.

Do you miss real radio? There are a bunch of college radio stations around, and most of them depend on the student body and sometimes local community members to create their programming. With web streaming, it is possible to listen way beyond the broadcast range of your favorite station. WERS in Boston plays a good mix curated by communications students. KEXP in Seattle has a wonderful mix of live performances and genuine djs choosing the music they play. Transom and Youth Radio are helping to cultivate the new voices of radio that we need. Public Radio Exchange has a channel on XM radio, and features a mix of voices that you may not have heard before.

With podcasting and the great suite of computer software and hardware available for free, just about everybody has the radio recording studio in their laptop, desktop, cellphone and digital camera that I had in my bedroom as a high school kid. If you want to broadcast, you may want to build your own transmitter. Sending out your homebrew radio programming out to your house or close neighbors could be a neat experience. You could record some short pieces like songs, jokes, or seque buffers, drop them into your music library and set your music player loose, sending your personalized radio program out to the transmitter.

Radio used to be a LOT of fun as a listener and programmer. Now the tools are much easier to get and use for us regular folks. Hopefully, the corporations will lighten up on their centralized programming and return to the human touch of radio, but even if they don't we can realize that we can choose what radio we listen to or create. If you have any stories of making your own or listening to real radio, pirate or otherwise, tell us in the comments.

Qik, the "phonecasting" folks, have released an early alpha of their software to the Android Marketplace. Unlike most streaming video services out there, Qik focuses on streaming live video from mobile phones. What makes this release unique is the diversity of the Android OS. It can be found on mobile phones, netbooks, picture screens, embedded systems, and set-top boxes. New possibilities arise when you add something like live video into the mix.

[via diTii.com]

This weekend Marc Geller of Plug In America and I were interviewed by Nikki Bloomfield for EVCast, a biweekly podcast about Electric Vehicles.

Host Nikki Bloomfield is joined by lifelong educator Chris Connors from MAKE Magazine and Marc Geller, EV advocate and blogger from Plug in America. They discuss encouraging young people into the world of EVs through education, hands on experiments and workshops.

A few of the things we talked about were helping kids get excited about Electric Vehicles, resources for EV information, education resources for teachers, next week's Maker Faire, and the Electric Vehicles Flickr pool. Good books we talked about EVs included Solo by Noel Perrin, Electric Dreams by Caroline Kettlewell and Build your own Electric Vehicle by Bob Brandt and The Adventures of Ellie the Electric Car by Julia Ammons.

You can listen to the show or if you fill out the free registration, you can download the mp3 file. Nikki has also edited the file down and it is on her site.

Record iPhone audio directly to the cloud with the intuitive Audioboo app and have it automatically update facebook, twitter, and iTunes for effortless podcasting fun.

AudioBoo Makes Podcasting With iPhone Dead Simple [via Mashable]

Last week, we had Nathan Seidle on the show, from SparkFun, talking about the company, how it all got started, and about the recent Autonomous Vehicle Competition that was just held at SparkFun HQ. SparkFun will, of course, be at Maker Faire, so look for Nathan and company there.

Our Hosts Picks:
As always, we also talked at the top of the show about what's going on at Maker Media and in the world of DIY.

Mark:
Mark was on about his chickens and how they'd recently ended up on the business end of a coyote's K9s. One of the family's beloved birds, Ethel, required $200 worth of sutures n' surgery. Mark came home after a day at the vet's to a lovely chicken meal he'd loaded into the crock pot in the morning. No, NOT Ethel, or any of the other family birds. They don't eat them. The girls name them and get too attached. But they do enjoy the eggs. We all shook our silly human heads at how we can blow $200 on pampered family fowl while merrily wiping the grease from a grocery store bird from our lips. Ethel is now recovering nicely, BTW.

Goli:
Dale was in Madrid, Spain, so once again, the most-awesome Goli Mohammadi, associate managing editor of MAKE and CRAFT, joined us. She talked about how jazzed she was by the wooden turntable we'd posted about earlier in the week. She also talked about the re-posting of the "Unsafe at any amperage" piece, the debate over the infamous "anti-gravity lifter" project we pulled from MAKE a few years back which sparked (er... no pun intended) a heated debate all over again when Goli reposted it.

Gareth:
My pics were the announcement of the discovery of extra-solar planets in the "Goldilocks zone" of a red dwarf, Gliese 581, some 20 light years away, the first such find from the recently-launched Kepler telescope, and the posting I'd just done before going on the air of the Jansen Walker, an Arduino-driven, laser-cut walking mechanism, inspired by the Strandbeest, Dutch artist Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures/mechanical beach creatures. Becky Stern chimed in via IM to inform me that I was mangling Jansen's name. It's pronounced Te-oh Yon-son. Good to know.

As always, we'll also be taking calls from listeners and talking about MAKE, the upcoming Maker Faire, and news from the world of DIY, so please join us

Make: Talk on BlogTalkRadio

O'Reilly Media has just launched the Ignite Show, a weekly five-minute video program showcasing the best of geek culture as presented at Ignite sessions from around the world.

The format is half the fun with Ignite--speakers are allowed 20 slides that auto-forward every 15 seconds, whether they're ready or not. Organized by volunteers in the local geek community and presented free of charge to their communities, Ignite talks range from "How to Buy a Car" to "Hacking Chocolate" to "Transhuman Technology Trends."

Ignite was created by O'Reilly tech evangelist Brady Forrest and former MAKE video podcaster Bre Pettis as a way for geeks to share their ideas with each other quickly, in a fun atmosphere. Started in Seattle, in 2006, Ignite sessions now regularly occur in dozens of cities worldwide. See the Ignite site for more details and a calendar. Now with the weekly Ignite Show, some of the best of these presentations can be seen on your desktop.

Ignite Show
Ignite

More:
Previous Ignite coverage on Make: Blog

After plenty of hours logged in front of the lens (and boom), Jack Black shares some basic audio-for-video recording tips.

Sure, if available, a boom mic is always a smart choice but the direct-to-mic backup track may be a bit of a challenge to dub later on. For an intentionally campy feel, I recommend overdubbing audio at the edit stage. It can be easier than one might imagine (and fun)

[via Califaudio]

NPR's All Things Considered had a great piece on Tinkering School! You can listen online here.

Software engineer Gever Tulley felt that his friends who were parents were overprotective of their children. So he started the Tinkering School, a summer camp that encourages kids to play with fire, throw spears and take risks.

More:
Tinkering around

This last week I was interviewed and chatted about making things on the NY Times Tech Talk podcast. - Link

If you're looking for more PDFs in iTunes, check our "The complete guide to PDFs in iTunes" - Link.

Box Populi has come up with a free Linux installer CD that turns old footrest PCs into simple, automated podcasting devices. Operation is super simple: plug in a USB key, pontificate to heart's delight, and unplug the key to publish out to your listeners. The device can be configured and operated with any browser. The simplicity allows anyone to podcast; luddite college professors who have never heard of RSS, pastors spreading the digital gospel of peace and love, and college radio stations intent on taking down Clear Channel.

Box Populi hosts "install-fests" to showcase the installation process. The next install-fest is in Portland, OR on the 5th of May: click for more information and to RSVP, and then get ready to put that old tower to use. "

Pictured here - Customized Box Populi "Podcast in a Box" on a recycled PC, created by Tables Turned for the Portland Radio Authority.

Box Populi has come up with a free Linux installer CD that turns old footrest PCs into simple, automated podcasting devices. Operation is super simple: plug in a USB key, pontificate to heart's delight, and unplug the key to publish out to your listeners. The device can be configured and operated with any browser. The simplicity allows anyone to podcast; luddite college professors who have never heard of RSS, pastors spreading the digital gospel of peace and love, and college radio stations intent on taking down Clear Channel.

Box Populi hosts "install-fests" to showcase the installation process. The next install-fest is in Portland, OR on the 5th of May: click for more information and to RSVP, and then get ready to put that old tower to use. "

Install Fest May 2007 - Link.

Pictured here - Customized Box Populi "Podcast in a Box" on a recycled PC, created by Tables Turned for the Portland Radio Authority.

The Make: Video Podcast is optimized for AppleTV. You can subscribe and watch the standard mp4 or mov at 640x360 or click on the hd version which is set up to look awesome in hd. I shoot in hdv so it's not up-res-ing. All that detail is there to start with! If you don't have an AppleTV or an HDTV to enjoy the resolution, you can watch it in hd on your computer. Link

I am a high school teacher considering making an application for a technology $1,500 grant. I have this crazy idea that since kids are constantly on their iPods, etc. the best way we could reach them is with pod casting Everyday we just put the assignments, helps, homework. Etc. on the podcast and students should have fewer excuses about why they did not get their homework in on time. I'm not sure how to go about setting up podcasting and what equipment I will need... I would appreciate any directions you may be able to given me.

Here are some resources, links and ideas to check out Steve, Makers post in the comments too...

Bre (former school teacher, now MAKE media) says - I did this with http://room132.com. For me, it let me showcase their work to a wider audience and it let parents see their children's work. It's a lot of fun too! Once a week works well.

In MAKE 02 we go over the basics - Podcasting 101. Produce and syndicate audio interviews you record online, on the phone, and on the road. MAKE 02 - Page 86. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition. or download the PDF. The article is over a year old, but for the most part it has a lot of what you need to get started.

Dr. Carlson posted up a great presentation on using podcasts to educate, definitely read this - Link.

Examples and more:

• Dr. Carlson's Science Theater - downloadable science ... Matt is a High School Chemistry and Physics teacher in Lafayette, IN - he makes these great video podcasts for his students / anyone who wants to view them of topics include: Thermodynamics and Temperature, Newton's Third Law, Freezing by Boiling and more.. - Link.
• UVA Virtual Lab podcasts from Professor John C. Bean from The University of Virginia Virtual Lab - Link.
• Free downloads at the Stanford version of iTunes - Link.
• iTunes U from Apple - Link.

You can also try ODEO - it's browser based and can do most of the recording / distribution in one spot.

Last up, we send out PDFs on our RSS 2.0/iTunes feed - that's another way you could send out information, but for now it would need to be read on a PC/Mac and not an iPod.

• Chuck Hoberman's unfolding world - Chuck Hoberman, artist and engineer, discusses his innovative unfolding structures.
• Tom Newby makes the Muppets move - Tom Newby explains how he brought Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and countless other Muppets to life with his innovations in animatronics.
• Robert Jarvik mends broken hearts - Artificial heart pioneer Robert Jarvik talks about his career helping those with failing hearts.

Related:

• HOW TO - Make a DIY mic windscreen (Zeppelin) on the cheap - Link.
• Tons of microphone projects - Link.

Related:
HOW TO Make Your Own $6 Microphone Pop-Filter - Link.