Oh yeah, I produce a podcast now!

For some odd reason, it didn't dawn on my until now to pimp my podcast on my blog. It's called The Anachromystic Podcast and we've already got four episodes out. It's just me and my old friend Craig Walker talking about software development philosophies, techniques, technologies, and news. It's sorta half-way between Drunk & Retired (but not as salty) and StackOverflow (but not as much self fellating). It's on iTunes and plain old raw RSS. Please give it a listen and let us know what you think over at podcast@anachromystic.com. Thanks!

A slightly-better podcast recording setup

A few weeks back I posted about recording Skype calls on OS X using only freely available tools, and it worked out pretty well, but it had one annoying flaw: I could hear my own voice coming through the headphones, which often tripped-up my speech pattern. So I did some more Googling and I managed to cobble together enough scraps of information to workout a slightly improved version of my original configuration.

The two main differences from the original setup is the replacement of Audacity with GarageBand and the use of the 16ch in Soundflower instead of the 2ch.

1. LineIn: Choose the "Advanced" button, set the Output to the "Soundflower (16ch)", and set the Left and Right Channels both to "2". Why both on channel 2? Because channel 1 is what's going to be coming out of the headphones, and we don't want to listen to ourselves talk.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

2. Skype: Set the input to your mic and the output to "Soundflower (16ch)" - it's going to use channels 1 and 2 automatically.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

3. Soundflower: Under (16ch), set Channel 1 to "Built-in Output[1]". That's going to be your left ear in the headphones. Set Channel 2 to "None" because, as we established above, your voice is going through there andyou don't want to hear yourself talk.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

4. GarageBand: First make sure you've set the Audio Input to "Soundflower (16ch)", then select the track you want to record to - if you're using the old version like me, you can only record to one track at a time - and set the Input to "Channel 2 (Mono)". Remember that's the aggregation of Skype and LineIn, so GarageBand is going to record both you and the caller.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Recording Skype Calls on OS X with Audacity (for free)

UPDATE: I've posted a follow-up with a slightly better configuration.


Over the last decade, I've had many entertaining and enlightening "debates" with an old colleague of mine, so I asked if he'd be willing to record a few over Skype and see if they might be worthy of releasing as podcasts. Since it was my bright idea, he left it to me to figure out how to pull it off. I figured it couldn't be too hard since so many other people are doing it - boy was I wrong.

I wasted a few good hours today trying to figure out how to record Skype calls on my Macbook Pro using free tools, piecing together fragments of vague and out-dated blog posts and pleas for help on various support forums. I finally got it all working and thought it would be a good idea to put it all down on [virtual] paper for posterity in case I ever need to do it again, and by putting it here others might save themselves the trouble I went through.

All you need is to download and configure four pieces of free software:

1. Soundflower doesn't require any configuration - just a reboot after install.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

2. LineIn (scroll down the page and look for the microphone icon). Set the input to the microphone (I'm using the built-in) and the output to Soundflower (2ch), then press the "pass thru" button to activate it.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

3. Skype. Set the input and output, both, to Soundflower (2ch). I worried this would cause feedback, or an echo of my voice, but apparently I don't know the first thing about audio.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

4. Audacity. Leave the playback device set to built-in output and change the recording device to Soundflower (2ch). Also don't forget to check the "playthrough" box or you wont be able to hear what you're recording, which includes the Skype call.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

5. Leave your system settings alone. They should look like this:

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

6. Back in Audacity, hit the record button, then switch over to Skype and start the call. Now you're in business.

Podcasts for Ruby and Rails Aficionados

I love podcasts. A two-hour daily commute will do that to you, or an eight-hour drive every few months to the "big city" for a conference or barcamp. Unfortunately I've had a hard time finding my fill of good Ruby and Rails focused podcasts. Listed below is what I currently have on my list; if you have some I've missed please leave a comment.

Audio

Rails Envy Podcast

A very short weekly newscast. Gregg Pollack and Jason Seifer - of the infamous gag videos shown at the last couple Railsconf gatherings - read through a list of highlights from the preceding week in the Ruby and Rails community. Unfortunately there's rarely any in-depth discussion of the items, just a smattering of corny jokes which may not be everybody's cup of tea.

http://www.railsenvy.com/podcast

raleigh.rb

Recordings from guest speakers at the Raleigh Ruby meet-up. Unfortunately months pass between episodes, and without the accompanying video/slides some of them are hard to follow, but many are timeless so don't be afraid to listen to the older ones.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/raleighrb

Ruby on Rails Podcast

Geoffrey Grosenbach - the most distinctive voice you'll ever hear - interviews the who's who in the Ruby and Rails inner circles, often ambushing them at conferences, which sometimes results in less-than-stellar audio quality. Episodes aren't regular in schedule, but frequent enough to avoid disappointment.

http://podcast.rubyonrails.org/

Rubyology

This podcast started out rough with more of a tutorial focus but thankfully host Chris Matthieu switched to an interview format and has since managed to catch some good movers and shakers in the Ruby and Rails field. Unfortunately there's no regularity to the schedule of episodes.

http://www.rubyology.com/

Video

Obviously I can't watch video podcasts during my long commutes... well technically I could on my iPhone, but that wouldn't be wise while driving... so when I get to the office and find a few minute to myself these are the ones I watch.

Railscasts

You must live under a rock if you haven't heard of Railscasts. Ryan Bates continues to amaze me with his clockwork release of high-quality tutorials on Ruby on Rails tools and techniques. His podcast has been the number one contributor to my personal knowledge advancement in the field. If I were running a Rails development team right now these would be required viewing.

http://railscasts.com/

Ruby Banter

Developers from the company Fingertips pair up to demonstrate clever Ruby programming concepts in a live coding session; they type in the code and run it while explaining it, often evolving the program over time to ease the viewer into a complex concept. Unfortunately there hasn't been a new episode in six months, but there's nothing stale about the back log.

http://media.fngtps.com/rubybanter/

Peripheral

Some podcasts out there aren't declaratively focused on Ruby and Rails but most of their content is undoubtedly so.

The Web 2.0 Show

Yet another podcast that tries so hard and fails so well to keep a regular schedule of releases. Josh Owens and Adam Stacoviak (and formerly Chris Saylor) corner the founders of successful and/or popular Web 2.0 start-ups and try to pry their secrets from them.

http://web20show.com/

Pivotal Labs Tech Talks

The almost-self-explanatory name gives it away, they just need to throw the word "Guest" in there and it's all summed up. Pivotal records (video) presentations by guest speakers to their staff and selflessly publishes them for the betterment of the rest of us. Insert broken-record complaint here about the regularity of releases.

http://pivotallabs.com/talks

Interview with eBay architect worth a listen

Normally I'd save something like this for my Twitter feed but I think the latest espisode of Software Engineering Radio is worthy of a dedicated blog entry. In episode #109 Markus interviews Randy Shoup about his role as a Distinguished Architect at eBay. The interview plays like a scripted version of a conference presentation - you can see the slides and bulleted lists in your head - but that doesn't distract from the excellent content. Randy goes into detail about the architectural compromises eBay has to make in order to value performance, stability, scalability, and up-time above traditional "best practices" of software development like referential integrity, transactions, etc. It will either enlighten or infuriate you; either way it's worth a listen.

Worthy Technology and Business Podcasts

(Update: I finally got around to hyperlinking the podcasts.)

An old colleague just wrote me...

"I'm driving to work now and need listening material for the trip. What podcasts do you get/recommend?"

So I figured I'd respond here for posterity...

With a 2-hour daily commute, I've got a veritable butt-load of podcasts in my iTunes. Here's about half of my favorites (I'm omitting the video podcasts):

Technology:

- Drunk and Retired Podcast (two grizzled veterans rant about programming)

- FLOSS Weekly (really comes out quarterly, interviews with big OSS guys)

- Java Posse (if you're still into Java, good news and discussions with occasional interviews)

- Google Code Blog (mostly same guys as Java Posse, they all work for Google, discussing Google projects, tools, APIs, processes, etc.)

- Rails Envy (two local [Orlando] guys' weekly news blurbs about Rails; the same guys that do the Rails vs. Framework X spoof videos)

- Ruby on Rails (the PeepCode guy does occasional interviews with Rails pundits, usually at conferences)

Business:

- Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (interviews with successful business people)

- Startup Studio (interviews with successful business people)

- Venture Voice (interviews with successful business people; long defunct but the back episodes are worth cherry picking)

- Web 2.0 Show (occasional interviews with the people/teams of popular/rising Web 2.0 sites)

- Vitamin (short interviews with successful people)

Humor:

[These come out pretty rarely, like once a month if you're lucky, but since you're just getting into it you'll have a gold mine of back-episodes to devour...]

- Downloadable Content (the Penny Arcade guys record some of their comic brainstorming sessions)

- Maniacal Rage (f.k.a. Garret Murray Podcast, just short comedic skits)

News, Reviews, Debates:

[When I've exhausted all of my favorites, these are decent time fillers...]

- This Week in Tech (Leo Laporte and a constantly rotating panel of industry journalists discuss current events in the tech world)

- MacBreak Weekly (Leo Laporte and a somewhat regular crew of Apple fanboys discuss current events in the Apple world)

- Security Now (in-depth discussions on network/software security issues. This used to be a really good podcast, but eventually it became one-half advertising and every other episode is just listener e-mail now. It's my bottom of the barrel podcast that I listen to after I've caught up on everything else)

- LUG Radio (a half-dozen thick-accented foul-mouthed guys discuss Linux and OSS and occasionally interview some interesting people)

Grounded in Rails

If you're a Ruby on Rails fan boy, like me, you owe it to yourself to hear the voice of reason that is Dave Fayram on the latest episode of the Drunk and Retired podcast.