Podcasting Call

The future is here today!

At the RCADE workshop on Monday, March 21st, the topic of the day was podcasting.

I knew what a podcast was before attending the workshop, but I had no clue what RSS is. RSS stands for 'Real Simple Syndicate' and is available on many websites. For example, on www.cnn.com, there will be a small orange icon that looks like a radio broadcast signal in the bottom right corner. (I use Mozilla Firefox, it may be in a different location depending on which browser you use.)

If you click on this button, it will take you to another page which you can subscribe to that has all the main news stories on it. This is exactly how podcasts work.

With the incredible popularity of Apple's iPod, just about every one has iTunes downloaded on their computer. What users probably don't know is how to download podcasts, or an audio or video clip downloaded on the internet by using RSS.

For example, if you open up iTunes on your computer and click on 'podcasts' on the left menu, it will take you to an online store where you can subscribe to countless podcasts of many different issues, ranging from NASA to sports to politics, for no cost.

This is unique because any one can submit a podcast to Apple and after a review, it could be put up on this site for anyone to download.

So on your next subway commute or jog, you can listen to Bill Maher, watch a Nickelodeon cartoon or catch up on the local sports topics.

Say goodbye to radio, podcasts are the future!