Huffduffer

Why oh why haven’t I used this web-site before.

Since buying an iPod nano, a few years ago now, I've become an avid listener to podcasts. When I'm walking, cleaning, cooking or washing-up I'm listening to podcasts that I've subscribed to. Some feeds I've stuck with for years and listen to every show. Others I've unsubscribed from mainly due to the fact that there are only so many listening hours in the week and they started to pile up in iTunes.

Recently I've wanted to listen to the odd Boagworld podcast or I've found an interview in an MP3 file on a web-site that looks interesting. Before Huffduffer I would have to download the one show via the podcast section, then remember to delete the feed afterwards, or download the file manually, add it to iTunes, listen to it and then delete it.

Being a Web 2.0 stalker of longstanding I read a tweet from Jeremy Keith saying that he was huffduffing himself, which is considered illegal in some countries and is hardly a spectator sport. He was huffduffing the dConstruct ‘09 podcasts which I'd listened to in previous years.

After mentioning it 3 times and ‘it’ also being the title of this post, I'd better explain what it does.

Huffduffer allows you to create your own podcast stream using MP3’s that you've found on the internet. So, in my case, I'm surfing around web-sites and I find a download link to an MP3 file. All I need to do is use the bookmarklet to huffduff it. I have already subscribed to my feed in iTunes so the next time the feeds are refreshed the MP3 file will get downloaded.

It works in a such a way that anything is a podcast feed. You have your own feed, of items that you've huffduffed, you can subscribe to someones else’s feed, a feed of the most popular additions or a feed particular tags. If only there were more hours in the day to listen to it all.

Jeremy said that it was just a ‘scratch your own itch’ project and that it’s possibly too geeky to go mainstream. It’s certainly inspiring to see a niche site like this created just for the love of it.

No Agenda

Live from Gitmo Nation, Crackpot Adam Curry and The Buzzkill John C. Dvorak, present No Agenda.

The number of times that I've been walking around listening to this podcast and laughed out loud… times too numerous to count.

I started tuning in a few months ago and listened to a few of the new shows. I liked it so much that I downloaded the previous 60. Of course I knew Dvorak (Dvorak dot org slash blog, have a drink) from TWIT and Cranky Geeks but didn’t really know anything about Curry.

What’s so different about this is Adam’s frequent and passionate use of industrial strength expletives. If only Leo would drop the f-bomb just once, god love him.

I have learnt so much over the last few months, about :– fine dining in San Fran, wine, sausages, politics, economics and how to smuggle a six foot plus white male into the U.S. using a CostCo card. I shall be eternally grateful for their collective wisdom and insight.

For every 1,000 downloads Adam and John will plant a tree in Gitmo Glade there-by reducing your carbon footprint.

Vegans or Canadians may be offended.